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Indarri Falls
Lawn Hill National ParkIt was a great feeling crossing the border and driving into Queensland for the last leg of our trip. There were still quite a few things on our list to see and do but we did struggle a bit with our route having been lucky enough to see a lot of the Queensland coast and several of the inland routes already. So, if you’re wondering why we took “the road less travelled” it was simply because we hadn’t been that way before.
Queensland is well known for it’s beautiful coastline and tropical rainforests yet, it also has many other fabulous attractions. The last major part of our trip (strange as it may seem!) was to visit “Dinosaur Country” …call me a nerd but I was very excited about this bit!
After entering Queensland at Camooweal on the Barkly Highway our first destination had us heading north on unsealed roads towards Riversleigh (one of the richest fossil deposits in the world) and Boodjamulla National Park (otherwise known as Lawn Hill). This was a fairly long drive on unsealed roads which had only recently been opened after Tropical Cyclone Paul at the beginning of April. There were also several river crossings
Archer fish
Lawn Hill Creek (including the beautiful Gregory River) but since Rich is now an old pro, we didn’t have any worries despite their fast flow. Before going to explore Riversleigh we spent two nights at Adels Grove, a caravan park outside of the National Park, and spent a bit of time exploring the park. Despite the long and at times uncomfortable drive, Boodjamulla National Park was absolutely stunning with fantastic wildlife and is definitely worth the trip.
We started our walk through some very dry, savannah country which was not unlike what we had just spent the last few hours driving through to get there, but it wasn’t long before we reached a hill crest where the scenery was breath taking! We found ourselves looking down on a place called Indarri Falls in Lawn Hill Gorge. It was simply stunning and you could be forgiven for thinking it was a scene taken straight from a movie! I certainly had to keep reminding myself that it was all natural. It was definitely one of the prettiest gorges and waterfalls we had seen on the trip. Despite the freshwater crocodiles, you can swim in the gorge and at the falls (which a lovely German
couple were doing) however there were signs to say that even these guys can get aggressive if disturbed and once again, I didn’t fancy swimming with something that was bigger, stronger or had more teeth than me! Didn’t take a lot for Rich to agree either! It’s quite simple really … that’s their territory and the dry bit is ours!
We spent the next few hours walking up to the top of the gorge and experiencing the peacefulness and beauty of it all. Throughout the trip we have seen countless different lizards however Lawn Hill Gorge was overrun with a certain type of lizard called Gilberts Dragon. These are cute and very distinctive, as they look like they have been painted in a true aboriginal style with many dots and swirls. Known locally as the Ta-Ta lizard, they are easily identified due to the fact that after a short run, they will stand very still and wave an arm in the air before moving on again! We found this very amusing although we still have no idea why they do it though.
After the National Park, we visited Riversleigh and although not strictly dinosaurs, the fossils here are
of 30 million year old mammals and reptiles. Only one fossil site (Site D) has been made accessible to the public and you can follow a little walk around the rocks, fossils and interpretive boards. The fossils in this area have confirmed that there were at least nine different species of crocodiles in Australia instead of just the two that exist today and that they actually originated in the Australian part of Gondwana instead of South America as previously thought. As well as turtle and crocodile fossils, there is also a fantastic fossil of the leg bone of “Big Bird”, an ancestor of emus or ostriches which grew up to 3 metres tall and weighed 300 kg! Alongside of it are gizzard pebbles which scientists believe the birds swallowed and used to help digest their food as many birds do today. After visiting Riversleigh, we made our way to “The Isa” to visit the Riversleigh fossil centre where there were more (over 400) exhibits which were found at Riversleigh (very interesting!).
Mount Isa is a rather large outback town known for its mining of copper, lead, silver and zinc and although not quite as pretty or charming, Rich and
I thought it was the Queensland equivalent of Broken Hill. With the exception of the mines, there isn’t really a lot to Mount Isa however, it does boast to be Australia’s Rodeo Capital. Hopefully, I will get to experience the thrill of the Rodeo in August with Jane and the girls!!! (Looking forward to it!!!).
From Mount Isa we took a bit of a detour and headed south to a place called McKinlay which houses the “Walkabout Creek Hotel” that was used in both Crocodile Dundee films. Since we had seen Charlie the Buffalo, we thought it would be nice to call in for a schooner or two! The outside of the hotel has changed very little from what it looks like in the film and although the staff were very friendly, we found the pub to have absolutely no atmosphere! It was quite disappointing, but still it’s nice to have seen it.
Our next stop along Dinosaur Way was Richmond which does in fact have dinosaur fossils and lots of them! If anyone is interested in dinosaurs this place is not to be missed! Almost all of the fossils in “Kronosaurus Korner” were found in the Richmond
area, with the majority of them being found by local farmers, station hands or managers. The fossils are amazingly preserved, date to approximately 100 million years old and include ammonites, pliosaurs, erasmosaurs, kronosaurus and a bizarre looking creature called a Minmi that was found complete with hair and skin due to being mummified! Amazing!
Our last stop on the trail was the world treasure known as Lark Quarry, 110kms south of Winton. In a purpose built, ecologically sustainable shed in the middle of the Queensland outback, over 3000 footprints from four different types of dinosaurs provide the worlds only physical evidence of a dinosaur stampede. Incredibly they are so well preserved with some of them looking like they were made only yesterday. An animated re-enactment developed by scientists, is shown before you enter the shed and attempts to give you an understanding of what might have actually happened here. The smallest footprint was something you would imagine a chicken or a small terrier would make and the largest was as big as 51cm in length! Great stuff!!!
Having had our fill of dinosaurs we travelled back up to Winton to spend the night at a place called Long
Waterhole before making our way to Longreach. As with many other parts of our trip, it didn’t take long for us to attract the local residents, or at least one of them! Whilst lying in bed and watching the night sky which was illuminated with a terrific electrical storm, we noticed that we had a canine visitor who was sitting very still just outside our tent. We shone the torch on her but she didn’t seem to react. We thought she was probably a local farm dog and thought we would just leave her and see if she would go home by herself. An hour or so later she was still there, in exactly the same position! Much later that night we checked again and she had disappeared. When we got up the next morning we checked through all the windows and couldn’t see her, so Rich got up and went to make the breakfast. As soon as he unzipped the tent, the dog (who we decided to name Winnie!) came running up to him immediately, wagging her tail and jumping all over him! She had been out there all night and had hidden underneath the trailer! She was such
a lovely, friendly little lady but she wanted to be right in the middle of everything getting all the attention. She kept trying to jump up on to the breakfast table and even the stove! Woody was very pleased to have a friend to play with too!
After breakfast, as we started to pack our things away getting ready to move on, another electrical storm started and the sky got very dark. We noticed that Winnie started to shake and become very scared leading us to think that she had actually run away from home during the storm. We tried to comfort her at first but then she dived into the back of the landcruiser, squeezing herself into the tiny space above the fridge. When she eventually got down, she immediately jumped into the trailer box and sitting on top of everything, she refused to move! After a lot of useless coaxing, Rich eventually picked her up and lowered her to the ground where she immediately ran to the back of the trailer and hopped in the back! She was still shaking and at this stage we decided to call the local council since (fortunately) she did have a
registration tag on her. Two nice guys from the local council came out to collect her and she immediately cheered up when she saw the ute approach. Obviously she rides around in the back of a ute! We were very close to adopting her but the council guys assured us that they would get her back to her owner … thank goodness!
Over the last couple of weeks of the trip we headed back into the depths of the Queensland outback travelling through Longreach, Windorah and the quaint little towns of Quilpie and Cunnamulla. After all of the unusual rains, it was much greener than it was when we left 10 months ago, however the nights were still cold! To finish off the trip we decided to revisit the Nindigully Pub (one of our first stops of the trip) where I’m glad to say Foxy Roxie is still going strong … still chasing the same ball around the pub! Our last two nights were spent chatting around a campfire at Flanagans Reserve in a beautiful part of southeast Queensland we had never visited before (close to Mt Barney National Park).
As we made our way home on the
last day of our trip we had a fabulous sense of achievement which was accompanied by over 6500 photos and a bucket full of memories. We’ve had a fantastic trip and although we’ve talked a lot about it, we have struggled to narrow down our favourite places, there are simply too many! The really good thing about doing this trip is we have realised just how lucky we are and how fantastic southeast Queensland is … it is a difficult place to beat! We were also very conscious of how many people have contributed to our trip in many different ways and made it possible for us. A special thanks has to go to “Stan the Man” for all your help and support, thank you! Other thanks has to go to my family who have looked after and suffered being swamped by our furniture and belongings for these many months! To our family who made the special effort to come and share our experiences at various times and also to the fabulous new found friends who have been so hospitable to us along the way. I also have to send a big thank you to everyone who has followed the
blogs, made comments and encouraged me to keep up with them. Without you I’m not so sure I would have gotten this far! It has been a great experience and writing the blog will give us something to look back on and cherish in the future!
I would like to say we have our next adventures planned but at this stage we’re just grateful to have had this experience and that the three of us have returned together, happy and all in one piece!
So I guess all that remains for me to do is to provide a brief summary of the trip (maybe helpful to other travellers) and to say that this is Hay, Rich and Woody ….. signing off!!!
xxx
Summary
Total time: 277 days on the road
Total distance: 35333 kms
Total Price: $7321.37 on diesel (overall average of $1.34 per litre)
Efficiency: 15.5l litres / 100km (for landcruiser 80 series, turbo diesel)
Highest fuel price: Kulgera roadhouse (Northern Territory) $1.70 per litre (in Nov 2009)
Lowest fuel price: Echuca (NSW) $1.11 per litre (in Aug 2009)
Total Accommodation cost: $3457.90
Total price for doggy boarding: $505.75
Trailer set up: 148 times
Other costs:
Food / drinks
Trips
Scenic flights
Car services
Car repairs / maintenance
With the exception of the cost of the landcruiser and camper trailer, this trip cost us approximately $25,000.
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Roy and Linda
non-member comment
The end of the epic adventure of a lifetime.
Hi, Richard, Hayley and Woody. Yet more wonderful photos, Indarri Falls, straight from a Tarzan movie. Ta Ta lizard, cool, very aboriginal as you said, bat in a bird's nest. It was good to hear what goes on at Mount Isa, that is definitely a familiar spot on the tv tracker when flying between Brisbane and Singapore, perhaps there is a radio beacon there for the aircraft? I thought Winnie looked lovely, poor little lady as you said her reluctance to move showed she was probably terrified of the electric storm. 'Micky' the first of our dogs was afraid of nothing apart from thunder. He would just freeze solid. I thought the frogs looked like they were in a (toilet), queue! Good that you caught up again with Woody's lady friend at Nindigully Pub, 'Foxy Roxie', going strong and happy with the same ball nine months on. I hope yopu see her again one day. With a view like Mount Maroon at Mt Flanagan first thing in the morning, you just know it is going to be a good day! I love a start like that, inspiring! The loop is now completed, it is a tremendous achievement for the three of you and the green machine. I have really enjoyed the photos and the blogs, they are so well written, I have actually been 'with you' for most of the journey through the very special unique, real Australia, (love the little bits of Britain too, usually lumps of old machinery). I knew it was there somewhere! seems so far away from the big Australian cities. I feel a little sad that it has all come to an end having looked forward to the next log throughout the 9 months in anticipation of the tales, adventures, sights, photos etc. Each worth waiting for, brilliant! Above all though it is good to see the three of you back home in one piece, having looked after eachother so well as I would expect. All good things come to an end and all our favourite stories have a happy ending, this has certainly got one! I suspect that as well as the wonderful memories to treasure the best is yet to come for the three of you! Thank you for sharing your adventures with us, a treasured privilege indeed. Lots of love, Roy and Linda xxx