Blogs from Boodjamulla National Park, Queensland, Australia, Oceania

What an awesome place but a fair old way from civilisation, that however is one of many reasons for its great appeal. For those not in the know Adels Grove is located in North West Queensland. It is about 340 k’s NW of Mt Isa and about 160 k’s SW of Burketown, the Northern Territory border is maybe 80 k’s to the West. See www.adelsgrove.com.au We arrived just before mid April and had expected to be there until probably late September. The turnoff from the Barkly Highway at Julia Creek was only one lane wide most of the way, every now and then they had 2 or 3 kilometres of double lanes for overtaking purposes. The road was in reasonable nick but a bit bumpy but that’s no surprise hey? The bitumen ends about 30 k’s ... read more

As I type this, we are sitting in our roasting van awaiting help. Miles from civilisation, our van decided to spill oil and stop. For the mechanically minded out there, the drive end bearing on the rear differential has dropped out. Or, as Dean explained it to me, our two-wheel-drive vehicle is now a no-wheel-drive vehicle. With no mobile coverage, we were very lucky that a local came by within 5 minutes of our breakdown and gave Dean a lift to his house. Apparently the closest mechanic is 120km away so we’ve got a three hour wait. This doesn’t bode well… and on top of that, the inside of the van is covered in dust from the off-road driving, our side door will no longer open from the outside, and our tyres are looking very sorry ... read more

31stJuly 2012 We left our campsite at about 8:30am. We fuelled up at Doomadgee roadhouse in the morning, then had morning tea near the Gregory River crossing. Mum and Dad have decided to go to Burketown to see if they can get repairs or parts for their van suspension, and then camp at Leichardt Lagoon until we rejoin them after our trip to Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park in about 5 days. Mum and Dad were at Boodjamulla last year. So we parted ways just after 11am. We had lunch at a stopping point near Gregory Downs, and continued on to Adels Grove camp, arriving at about 3pm. We saw a flock of cattle egrets sitting among cattle on the way in, and also a wedge tailed eagle. Located in the remote north west highlands of ... read more

Off we drove to Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) a National Park in the very north west of Queensland. The road was rough with lots of corrugations and wash outs from the recent rain. We were going to take the shortest route which was a 4 x 4 track but 35km into it we came across the O’shanassy River which was not too high but flowing very fast and when Peter walked across to test the depth it was extremely slippery. Another factor which helped us decide against going across was that the backpackers who were tagging along with us would have surely followed and they were in a two wheel drive!? We did point out that it was a 4 x 4 track but they either didn’t understand English or didn’t care. So we turned around and ... read more

7-9-11 happy Birthday Merry, have a great day. We left Gregory Downs being told the road was good & sealed a lot of the way (NOT). It was rough & bumpy but better than the last time we went to Adel’s Grove. We got the vans through ok, with no trouble. We set up & all had a swim in the creek as it was very hot. Poor Margy, we hope she has not cracked a rib as she is very sore. It cooled down at night though. 8-9-11 today we kayaked up Adel’s Grove River & had a fish, no luck, even though another couple caught fish. Margy is still not well, so they had a lazy day. After lunch we went for another swim in the creek, very refreshing as it is 35 degrees. ... read more