Any way you look at it, Australia is a huge country - and occasionally you just have to bite the bullet and drive. With the weather up here starting to warm up and get more humid, it is a sure sign the build up to the wet season is approaching - and if we want to get to Cape York before the rains come, we needed to get cracking.
We left Bitter Springs early, with the aim of getting as far down the Savannah Way as possible before we all needed to stop. We decided to take the blacktop to Borooloola - some 550km from Bitter Springs. From Borooloola the road turns to dirt, and as we had made good time, we decided to push on to the Foelshe River.
Back on dirt roads again - Rocky was made for this sort of touring!
I am going to miss some of the road signs of the Northern Territory, This sign is found everwhere the road turns from bitumen to dirt. This example was found in the middle of a long dirt section - with dirt roads stretching for many miles in either direction. Just in case you'd forgotten I guess.
The road was in reasonable condition - with the occasional creek crossing requiring us to slow right down (a careful technique?). We pulled into Foelshe Crossing and stretched our legs whilst finding a campsite.
Whilst the camping was great - everyone was still travelling really well, and the sun was still high, so we voted and elected to drive on a little further. Another 40km down the road we came to the Pandanus lined Robinson River and we had soon set up a great overnight camp high up on the banks. We had driven a respectable 668km on our travels this day.
The following mornig we broke camp and we on the road at 8am. The road continued in much the same way - long straight sections followed by washouts and creek crossings. We made it to the Queensland Border for morning tea, cause for some celebration - particularly for the one who normally sits in the passenger seat! We adjusted the various clocks to GMT +10.00 and continued on our way. We were amused the road was sealed for the first kilometre into Queensland - perhaps to give you a good impression. It didn't take long to revert to good dirt interspaced with creeks and washouts.
We sort of refuelled at Doomagee. As with many communities in the top end, you need to prepay for your fuel. I asked Jo to organise 60 litres - and she dutifully prepaid $60 - which at $2.04 a litre equated to under half the required volume. Still it was a precautionary top up - and we soon turned off the Savannah Way and started winding on little more than station tracks south towards Lawn Hill or Boodjamulla National Park.
On the way I spied a hill just off the road with a track leading to the summit. A large cross was at the top. It looked steep, with a good view promised. Unfortunately I hadn't counted on the surface being so loose. Apologies for the quality - the NBN hasn't made it to Karumba yet!
If that doesn't work, click here: http://youtu.be/hai8F5x8re0
Needless to say The Little Helper thought it was hilarious - particularly when he realised we werent going any further up the hill. I got a nice bit of reversing practice too.
We had been unable to secure a site at the National Park for the camper trailer, and were not keen to stay in the caravan park at Adels Grove. Wikicamps - a wonderful little app suggested a site about 3km downstream of Adels Grove. We turned off and slipped down into an absolute paradise.
Pandanus and Livistona Palms among giant Paperbarks lining a crystal clear stream made for a stunning campsite. After another 428km driving this place was simply devine - and we decided we would spend a few days here.
Everyone has different ideas what is the best campsite - but this one ticked a lot of the boxes. It was secluded, private, peaceful and we decided to stay for three nights.
The next morning a sleep in was enjoyed by everybody, followed by piklets cooked over an open fire - very popular. It was a lazy way to start the day - and that wasn't a bad thing.
After an early lunch, we drove the 12km into Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park and checked out what was on offer. We were thinking a paddle up the gorge would be fun - but the canoe hire bloke had gone home when we arrived. We settled instead for a walk to the Wild Dog Dreaming occupation and rock art site an easy 1.5km stroll downstream.
The local Waanyi people request visitors not to take photos of the site, which we respected. This is an incredible National Park where human occupation has been dated back over 30 000 years, among the oldest in Australia. The Wild Dog Dreaming site has ochre paintings and older petroglyphs possibly up to 10 000 years old - which say as much about the climate and sea levels as human occupation. I am sure with the right knowledge and understanding you could align tool artifacts with technology and climate much as in the Kakadu area.
Unfortunately the significant Aboriginal story is just told on small information plaques - which after coming from Kakadu where this heritage is embraced and explained in Ranger talks and activities left me feeling quite sad. The difference of course is in number of visitors to each park.
Boodjamulla is hard to get to, and its small camp-ground has around 20 sites, making it very difficult to book a site at short notice (as we found out). You have to be keen to get here - and in part its isolation is part of its attraction.
It seems most people come here to relax in the oasis that is formed by the spring fed permanent water. The Cabbage Palms (relatives of the Red Cabbage Palms at Palm Valley near Hermansberg) line the creek beds, competing with the Pandanus and Maleluca. Freshwater Crocodiles laze in the cool waters - although sadly their numbers have decreased due to the cane toad.
Our first day here left us wanting more, so the following day we started much earlier, prepared for a walk to and swim at Indarri Falls. Made of 'tufa' - calcium carbonate precipitated out of the mineral rich waters, the falls are formed by this natural barrier. The 'tufa' here is growing at around 2.5cm per year making them quite active.
The walk took us past Duwadarri Lookout which had some spectacular views of the Gorge. Lawn Hill was growing on me.
The walk to the falls was delightful
Lawn Hill Gorge from Duwadarri Lookout
We made our way back down to the waters edge to have a close look at the Indarii Falls. Whilst not the tallest falls I have seen, I have never seen water falls created in this way before. The calcium carbonate is deposited in a similar way formations in caves are made. Where the water was flowing, the resultant tufa was just like many flow-stones we have seen in limestone caves.
The tufa falls - Indarri Falls
We hit the road early the next morning, but not long down the road pulled up at a delightful spring fed creed. The reason for our stop was dressed in high-vis orange. It was none other than Aunty Shelly.
Aunty Shelly and Cassie had flown in for the week and were doing water quality samples in the area. They kindly allowed us to observe one part of the process. Essentially they had fifteen minutes to take as many little bugs, larvae and creepy crawlies from a sample of water taken from the creek. I was amazed at how many little critters were living in the water - and the boys became adept at recognising dragon fly larvae and tiny shrimp and goodness knows what else.
It was wonderful to bump into Shelly, and meet Cassie. It also was a great example of seeing ecology in action. Science lesson for the day had just been completed!
We left Shelly and Cassie to their bugs, and continued south to the Riversleigh Fossil Field, a World Herritage listed site. Only a small part is open to the public, but it was definitely worth the effort to have a look.
The same process that made Indarri falls also is believed to be responsible for this area having one of the richest fossil fields in the world. For the past 20 million years animals have been dying in mineral rich lakes in this area, and their bones fossilised, leaving an unprecedented record of their passing.
At Riversleigh
Something like 300 species have been identified here - almost doubling the number of species known to have existed some 20 million years ago. This is one incredibly special part of the world. We wandered around this site amazed at how many fossils even we as untrained tourists could see.
It didn't take long wo walk the 800 metre loop through the open area. Ironically the limey mud these animals were preserved in that was formerly at the bottom of a lake has remained whilst the rest of the surrounding land has since eroded. Thus the limestone outcrops are rich in fossils, and when you get to the top of the outcrop and look around, there is plenty more to be explored.
Some of the animals found here include 5 metre fresh water crocodiles - thankfully extinct, carniverous kangaroos - also thankfully extinct, along with marsupial lions, giant turtles and a raft of animals that have evolved into our modern wildlife. This site preserved its record after Australia broke from Gondwana so holds a unique evolutionary record. It was thoroughly worth wandering though the fossil field.
We left the Riversleigh Fossil Field and continued on our way to our planned camp for the night at Leichardt Falls. Inbetween Burketown and Normanton, the falls lie on the Leichardt River. They have stopped flowing - but there were campsites on both banks.
The fact we nearly got bogged in soft sand when looking for a camp site had the Little Helper in hysterics. Somehow a heavy right foot and a lot of luck and we managed to haul ourselves back on the road and we went down another track. Thankfully we found a fantastic spot high on the bank overlooking the water for the night.
It was the perfect place to unwind. In fact the past five nights of free camping had been as good as it gets. Magnificent camps on beautiful rivers. Sure, swimming isn't really an option here, but hey, you can't have it all! Best news is it just kept getting better!
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