Limmen River National Park to Lorella Springs station

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25^th July 2012

Richard and Marion left early, at about 7:30am, to head home via Bitter Springs. We left our campsite at around 9am and had a swim in the lovely Bitter Springs. These are warm springs with natural vegetation (tall palms and pandanus) surrounding them, and you can drift downstream to stairs further down. Very worthwhile having a dip there; Kyle especially enjoyed his swim and is getting more confident in his swimming. I had a quick look at the art gallery in Mataranka, then we set off towards Roper Bar.

We stopped in briefly at the Roper Bar store (selling everything from groceries to clothes). The road (Savannah Way – Roper Highway-Nathan Rd) is gravel here but not in bad condition. We camped at Lomarieum Lagoon, near St Vidgeon’s ruins. The lagoon is very attractive, with lots of water lilies, but we don’t want to get too close as there are probably crocodiles. We killed about 4 cane toads with Dad’s shovel. Mike cooked curry on the fire and Mum made pikelets on the fire for dessert. We are in a free camp, no facilities but no one else nearby either. Very peaceful here tonight, with a crescent moon and starry sky. Kyle lost another tooth so is now missing his two front teeth.



26^th July 2012

The boys spent some time this morning filling in cane toad burrows. We left our camp at around 9am and headed along the Roper Highway, in some light mist and under a cloudy sky. We saw a jabiru fly by. We had a look at the Town River campsite. This is nicely located on a raised riverbed, where the river is wide and deep and crocodiles are sometimes seen. A number of people are camped here, and there are toilets.

At lunchtime the weather had cleared and we stopped at the Limmen River campsite, and met an Aboriginal woman, Cherry and her brother who were barbequing bush turkey for their lunch. We had a bit of a chat with them and they let us try the turkey (except me, being vegetarian). She’s a former teacher and now an anthropologist working in the resources industry and he’s a retired business owner, and they both love travelling the outback.

I used the toilets at that campsite, and found a swarm of mosquitoes in there. I was waving an arm or two around wildly whilst doing my business to try to keep them off me! We also saw a tree full of apostle birds here.

We drove on to Butterfly Springs, which is a small free campsite with toilets. The springs come down a rocky escarpment into a small pool, which you can swim in. Apparently it can dry up in the dry season but it is still flowing a bit at the moment. We saw a whip snake near the pool. We had a swim. There are a few other campers here, but not many. Mike made pasta with bacon sauce on the fire, and I had a tofu salad.



27^th July 2012

We packed up and left camp at about 9am, and drove to the Southern Lost City. This is a very interesting and striking rock formation, with rounded spires and towers looking something like an eroded city. We saw a dingo by the road. We did the 2km walk around the formation, seeing some mistletoe birds and some tall red grevilleas as well.

We continued on to Lorella Springs station (over a million acres), where we are staying ($30 per night for 2 adults, children are free). The station camping area has basic toilet and shower facilities, but no washing machines, sadly (so I washed a bucketful by hand). The station is making some improvements, currently building another toilet block and putting in some reticulation/irrigation. There is plenty of open space for unpowered camping. The station is 29km in off the main road, and the road wasn’t too bad. However Mum and Dad dented one of the stabilser legs of their caravan somewhere on the road, and also bent a pivot arm suspension bolt. Dad has fixed it up ok for now. We lost a shackle from the chain on the camper, however Mike had packed a spare. We also damaged the Anderson plug today and borrowed one of Dad’s spares. Our exhaust gas temperature gauge is also on the blink (literally).

We went for a swim in the eponymous springs, located just near the campsite. The water is a very comfortable and relaxing temperature. There are a number of other waterholes in this area of the station, some of which are crocodile free, so we may visit some of those tomorrow.

We had a drink at the bar during “happy hour” and had a chat to some other travellers. I grilled some pizza for dinner. Mike and I had a game of cards with Mum and Dad.



28^th July 2012

I caught up with the laundry using the bucket system. It’s good drying weather today, sunny and windy. We drove out to Wildfire Gorge for a look, then on to Emerald Pool for a swim and lunch. Both places are attractive waterholes with nice clear water, and no-one else there. Alex and Kyle identified some cane toad tadpoles (black, large, short tail) and spent some time catching them and putting them on the rocks to die. We then had a look at Ink Pool, and drove back to camp. Later we had another swim in Lorella Springs. Alex lit the campfire under supervision and we cooked sausages in the camp oven and baked potatoes in the coals.

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Photos

Southern Lost City
Limmen River National Park

Emerald Pool
Lorella Springs

Fern Leafed Grevillea
Lorella Springs