Tuesday 12 March 2013 - Boodjamulla

Tuesday 12 March 2013 - Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill National Park)

We did a great big drive on Sunday from Mt Isa to Gregory Downs. The first bit was sealed road but the rest was mostly dirt. We tried to take the shortcut into Lawn Hill National Park, which would have avoided the detour out to Gregory Downs, but after a few easy creek crossings we came across one we weren’t prepared to risk getting washed away from. The water was gushing and the crossing itself was covered in thick moss so the tyres would have had no grip. When Glenn attempted to drive onto it, we could feel the car start to get dragged along almost instantly. Considering we were on our own and didn’t know if there were any more similar crossings further on, we decided to backtrack the 30km and take the longer route. 

We reached Gregory Downs a few hours before sunset and could have kept going to the national park, but decided to pull up at the free camp there and leave first thing in the morning. There was a good kid’s playground just over the road so I took the girls there while Glenn took some time out after a long day’s drive. In the meantime, the locals carried out their Sunday arvo game of golf on the campground, driving balls with one hand, a beer in the other. Fortunately they walked past our camp before they teed off!

On Monday morning we enjoyed a bit of a lay-in, as Sienna didn’t wake up till ten past 7! Yasmin woke up around 6:30 or so and climbed up into our bed and we all read quietly until the noisy one started. After giving the girls brekkie and starting the pack-up, I took the girls over the road to the free (cold) showers. Glenn finished packing up and met us there and had a tub too. We were back at the car by 8:15am after taking just over an hour to pack up and shower as well – must be getting the hang of this travelling thing!

We drove to Adel’s Grove, which is 10km east of the national park campgrounds and stopped in for a quick chat. We could have camped there but at $45 a night we decided to give it a miss. The lady there told us there was no shade at the national park, but we found enough. The creek’s just a short walk away and there’s plenty of water available on tap as well so we’ve filled up the esky for the girls (they’re currently cutting sick in it as I write this). A storm blew through in the late afternoon, bringing a little bit of rain, but the worst was the still humidity that followed. We also heard about the low forming off the Gulf then too and after checking the bureau website and listening to Radio National, decided not to panic and wait and see what was happening in the morning.

Today, Tuesday, I got up and took the girls for a walk. We ended up doing one of the national park walks, which was actually quite a steep climb up to a lookout. The whole thing was only 900m so it didn’t take us that long, but it was hard going with a toddler in a harness on your back! Yasmin did a great job, doing it all on her own (although she had no choice really because I already had Sienna on my back) and didn’t whinge once. We hadn’t even had breakfast before we left! When we came back, we ate, put our swimmers on and took the boat oars down to the creek and ‘borrowed’ one of the canoes available for hire. We paddled no further than a kilometre up the creek, but Sienna got the screams so we turned around and went back. Nothing like an empty gorge to amplify a toddler’s tantrum! If you’ve ever seen Lawn Hill Gorge on TV or in someone’s photos, you’d know that it’s pretty darn stunning. We’ve had it all to ourselves for 24 hours (apart from a few staff, but we haven’t seen them, just hear their cars and generators) and it kinda feels like you’re at a private resort! 

It’s been very warm, today is predicted to be about 38 degrees, but with the creek just there, a breeze, some shade and cold showers at the toilet block as a last resort, it’s not hard to keep cool. The humidity is steadily dropping this week too, according to our online research (Lawn Hill has its own weather station). The tropical low forming off the Gulf won’t be `posing a threat to us and doesn’t look like it’s going to dump any rain on where we want to head next, so that’s good news too.

The girls were quite exhausting yesterday. Glenn was ready to throttle Yasmin in the afternoon when she refused to have a sleep, especially when she carried on so much she woke Sienna up. I took them both for a swim so he could have a bit of ‘me-time’, one of the few luxuries we actually miss on this trip. I’ve found it very warm, but still tolerable, although the flies are pretty relentless. Glenn had a fly-screen head-cover in the centre console, which I pulled out yesterday arvo, to see if it helped. I’ve hardly removed it since! The flies are still crawling all over the bare skin on the rest of my body (which is everywhere, cause we’re living in our swimmers), but at least they’re not in my eyes, ears or my personal pet hate, the corner of my mouth! 

Sorry there haven’t been any photos for the past few days. I’ve taken a couple, but nothing too exciting and have been too slack to upload them to the computer. I’m going to try and get a few good ones this afternoon.