Author: drewandgab

25th July

Here are some pics from our 2 day trip across the Gulf Savanah from Lawn Hill in the QLD Outback, across the border into the NT. This will probably be one of the most challenging roads we tow the caravan on during our 6 months. Almost the entire 500km or so were on unsealed roads, with varying degrees of rocky roads, corrugations and big patches of bulldust.

The first part of the trip was through cattle country, traversing in and out of Lawn Hill Station.

We weren’t expecting the creek crossings. The first day’s crossings were fine, nice solid ground with easy entries and exits.

This one on day 2, however, would prove to be a challenge. The exit was at an angle of about 45 degrees, and deeply rutted. It would have been ok except Drew came out at the water at the wrong angle and the front wheels of the car got stuck in the ruts and just started spinning. He then had to back down the hill for another run at it. Not an easy task with a 19ft van behind you. Needless to say it was a little hairy at one point!!

There was long patches of corrugation, that even the guys who work on the roads described as some of the worst they’d seen. Driving on corrugations is hard at the best of times, but made harder by the fact the roads were so rocky and had big patches of bull dust.

Dusty – did I mention the dust? Everything was covered in it by the end!!

But there was some beautiful scenery to be enjoyed along the way. There were lots of old rusty cars along the road – this truck was one of the coolest. The scenery was ever-changing. From the dusty dry to the beautiful lush river areas. And I am loving the contrast of the trees against the red dirt and brilliant blue skies.

23rd July

We have had a wonderful time here – we had originally planned to stay 4 nights, but extended to stay again today. We could easily have stay for weeks! It has been a great spot to base ourselves to explore beautiful Lawn Hill National Park and the Riversleigh World Heritage Fossil site, but Adel’s Grove is a beautiful place itself.

The campsite is so peaceful and the swimming hole is awesome!! Crystal clear (very cold) water to just float around on tubes, or to jump into off the pontoon or out of the trees.

The campsite is perfect for BMX riding, with natural, varied terrain and rocky trails. The kids have had a ball!!

We’ve been out and about in the mornings and then back at camp for the afternoons to read and relax. And nights have been spent sitting around our campfire.

This morning we went for a short walk up a lookout and the boys spend ages building these cool rock castles. It was the perfect hands on math/science lesson of balance and forces – and they didn’t even realise.

We are feeling relaxed after our 5 days here and have seen some amazing scenery. Time to head off again tomorrow – west toward the Territory.

22^nd July

Today we drove out to Riversleigh to a World Heritage Fossil site (about 45km from Adel’s Grove). It was pretty impressive! There were only a few fossils to see, but they were very clear and easy to see. The best part was that they were still in their natural state and not behind a piece of glass in a museum.

The first one we saw had a piece of a leg of an ancient freshwater crocodile and the shell of a turtle also from that era. They estimate the fossils are around 25 million years old. The most impressive fossil was the leg of a bird estimated to have grown up to 2.5m in height. You could see a whole leg section in the rock as well as river pebbles that would have been in its stomach to help it digest food.

All the rock formations in the area are amazing too – a great place for any keen geologists to visit.

There were also great views of the surrounding landscape, from the rocky outcrop we climbed. It’s hard to believe when you look out at the scenery today, that it was a big flowing river.

21st July

What in incredibly spectacular national park – beautiful gorges, with a crystal clear river running through it, pretty waterfalls, a diverse range of plant-life and birds, and great views of the surrounding countryside from the top of the gorge.

We spent yesterday here climbing up to the top of the gorge and walking along to various viewpoints, before climbing back down and stopping for a swim at the waterfalls.

We came again today and hired a canoe and went paddling through the gorges. I thought the views yesterday were amazing, but being down inside the gorge, on the water, with the sheer walls of rock rising so high above you was an even better experience. And so peaceful out on the water. A lot of the time we had the river to ourselves.

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The scenery changed as we went further up the gorge. There were waterfalls and a small rapids section. There is an abundance of birds flying around and on the banks of the river and plenty of fish-life. We even got to see a freshwater crocodile – up close and personal. We drifted a bit close for his liking and he let us know with a sudden flashy snap of his jaws.

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It was a few days driving out of our way to get out here, but definitely worth the detour and dusty roads!!

19^th July

This past 2 days we have done another road trip further into the Queensland Outback, from Karumba, south and then west to Adel’s Grove on the border of Lawn Hill National Park. Over the 2 days, bitumen roads gave way to the single lane roads, where we had to pull off to the side quite a few times to let the oncoming road-trains pass. And then from one lane tar to dirt. The roads are dry and dusty and it is increasingly further between towns.

We stopped overnight at a free camp in little crossroads town called Gregory Downs. There was a nice river close by for swimming and we had the most amazing night of star gazing because there was absolutely no light pollution.

The road in from there to Adel’s Grove was mainly dirt, so it was slow going with the caravan. But we let the tyres down and went slowly, so no problem. We are getting used to everything being dusty now.

But what a beautiful place we have arrived at. Adel’s Grove campsite is right on the river with so many beautiful shady trees, including lots of different gums, palms and bamboo. We found ourselves a lovely site right near the swimming hole. Looking forward to spending the next few days exploring this area.

18th July

What a wonderful little town this is!! It’s friendly and relaxing, the weather is great and it has the most amazing sunsets!! It is easy to see why so many of the grey nomads come and spend their winters here.

Karumba Point, where we are staying literally has about 3 streets. It has couple of caravan parks, a tiny petrol station, a convenience store, a fish and chip shop, a dusty bush airstrip and an awesome pub. And there is hardly a two-wheel drive car to be seen. We love the feel of it, and in a way, reminds us of Maun in Botswana.

It is apparently one of the only towns in the gulf with a beach, and a pretty unique one at that. The beach is a combination of shelly white sand and white rock, which has formed with a mix of crushed shells and full sized fossilised shells. At low tide, the water rolls back to reveal the mud flats.

The sunsets here are amazing!! Even though we are still in Queensland, because Karumba is on the west side of the gulf, the sun sets in a huge ball over the ocean. The best place to see the sunset is from the pub.

The other things Karumba is famous for is fishing and seafood. Although we did try fishing, we are definitely not a fishing family!! Drew and the boys are just don’t have the patience and I prefer to lie on the beach and sunbake. Today the kids lasted about a half an hour before they got bored and turned to rock skimming. We were never really going to catch anything today anyway with the pelicans hanging around and the locals reckon the conditions just aren’t quite right at the moment. Lucky for $24 a kilo fresh cooked king prawns and great locally caught fish and chips!!

The caravan park was super friendly. The first night we arrived, they had a free fish bbq – not just any fish – beautiful fresh, locally caught Barramundi. It was a whole night of entertainment. The night kicked off with loads of people from the audience getting up to sing “give me a home among the gum trees”. I couldn’t believe our kids had never heard the song before, but pretty soon knew all the words and the actions. There was poetry reading, raffles, live music and more. It was a really good, old fashioned, wholesome night of fun.

Our caravan neighbours were also great. And they had a couple of dogs who the kids loved playing with. Everyone was so friendly and we have felt at home for the few days we have been here. We would definitely come back!

Today we will begin making our way south and west toward Lawn Hill National Park.

15^th July

From the Atherton Tablelands we headed west across the Savannah Way. This would be our first taste of the Outback…

We were soon driving through red-dirt country, had passed our first road train and were driving on a two-way road that was only one-lane wide. I guess this will be what it will be like now a lot of the way for the next few months.

We drove 2 hours down the road and stopped at Undara National Park and did a nice walk up the rim of an old volcano that gave us beautiful views of the surrounding countryside – and a nice stop for lunch.

We then continued for another 2 hours, just west of Georgetown where we stopped at our first free roadside rest camp of the trip. What a pretty place this turned out to be. A little oasis in the outback, with a lagoon littered with water lilies and an abundance of birdlife. After a lovely sunset by the lagoon, Drew collected some wood and we had a fire out under the stars.

It was a fairly easy 400 km or so today across to Normanton and up to Karumba, on the coast on the west side of the gulf. The most distinguishing parts of the drive were the flat countryside, the thousands of termite mounds and the number of dead roos – we saw at least 100. We arrived just after lunch into Karumba and love it already!

We did a nice drive yesterday up the coast to Cape Tribulation and then along the 4WD Bloomfield track up to Bloomfield falls.

The coastline in this area is stunning. From Cairns to here, the road follows right next to the coastline, with the beach one side and the rainforest the other. North of here, once you cross the Daintree car ferry, and all the way up to Cape Tribulation, you are literally driving through the rainforest just metes from the beach.

We continued after Cape Tribulation and did the 30km 4WD-only Bloomfield track. The conditions, at the moment, are pretty easy. The road was dry, so not slippery and the really steep parts are now concreted. The river crossings were also quite low. Still a nice drive with nice views and beautiful creeks.

Bloomfield falls was pretty impressive. And we got to see our first Aussie croc in the wild! We stopped here for lunch – and are enjoying the convenience of the car fridge to keep everything cool.

As it turned out, Wonga Beach has been a great place to base ourselves to explore this area over the past few days. We had originally wanted to stay in Port Douglas, but school holidays and peak tourist season has meant we have found it difficult to get a booking along the coast.

Wonga Beach is where the Daintree River reaches the ocean and is centrally located to all the Daintree sights. It is a huge, palm-lined beach perfect for afternoon beach walks. And the caravan park was grassy, with huge trees and lots of birdlife, including the resident peacocks.

For more pics of the Daintree area – including Mossman Gorge, click here.

We are leaving the coast today and heading up to the Atherton tablelands.

Had a great time today at Mossman Gorge walking through the beautiful Daintree National Park, before a refreshing swim in the crystal clear water.

Afterward, headed to Port Douglas for a picnic.

We had a wonderful day out at Green Island yesterday. We were so lucky – we jagged a day of perfect sunshine and no winds. Apparently, it has been raining up here for over a week!! Drew and I had been to the outer reef last time we were in Cairns, but decided it wasn’t worth doing the 5-hour return boat trip with kids.

Instead, we paid half the price, had only a 45-minute boat ride in each direction and could hang out on the island and do our own thing for the day. The island is beautiful, with nice beaches and a rainforest interior.

The coral was by no means amazing, but we have all had some great snorkelling experiences so that didn’t matter. But we did have the most amazing turtle sighting!! We floated along with it for about 10-15 minutes, watching it feed on the sea grass. It even came up and surfaced right next to us before going back down to continue its way. We could have stayed with it for longer if we’d have wanted to, as it was completely unperturbed by our presence.

We also did a glass bottom boat tour, on which we saw a turtle, huge clams and heaps of colourful fish. This was good for Matty as he’d been too scared to come out snorkelling with us earlier. However, he came out with Cam and I later and got to see some nice coral and fish and a stingray. There was no way he would have jumped off the boat into deep ocean on an outer reef tour. Green Island was a great option for us this time.

Today we drove from Cairns to Wonga Beach, where we will base ourselves for a few days to explore the Daintree and Cape Tribulation areas.