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Published: November 6th 2008
Lawn Hill Gorge
early morning reflectionsWe set off on Sunday 28th Sept from the green of the Tablelands and straight into dry arid savannah country, heading northwest towards the Gulf of Carpentaria. Driving into Gulf Savannah country, we noticed a definite change in climate, from cool nights and mild days to a hot, dry climate. First stop was the Undara Lava Tubes. The tube-like tunnels were created from lava flows after a huge volcanic eruption way back in time. We thought the tour was a bit over-rated and it was relatively expensive, but it was still a pretty interesting place, and I think the only one in Australasia. You could clearly see the effects of the hot lava flows from the texture and colour of the cave walls. Stayed the night at the Bedrock Caravan Park (Mt Surprise) which was an experience - Joe the owner puts on a cowboy hat and hosts a campfire sing-a-long and joke session every night, and the toilets are called Wilma and Fred.
The next day we took a side trip down to Einasleigh - 45k of dirt road off the main highway - but it was worth it - its an old copper mining town which now consists
Undara Lava Tubes
cave entrance - would be good in Lord of the RIngs! of a few houses, a great pub and the Copperfield Gorge. This black basalt gorge was also created from the effects of the lava flow, and we thought it was rather stunning. The Einasleigh Hotel is a country style pub with a difference - the lounge is filled with an amazing miniature collection which was crafted by the original landlord. It is hard to imagine the work that must have gone into making the tiny pieces of furniture in the doll’s houses, and there is also a miniature Queenslander house. He has even made kitchen gadgets such as a can opener!
On our way out to Karumba, we passed through Georgetown and Croydon, stopping the night at the Gilbert River rest area. Most of the small towns along this part of the Savannah Way were busy mining towns in their heyday and have a number of well preserved old buildings which we duly admired and photographed, as well as some old outback Aussie corrugated iron houses as well. There is also a popular train trip which can be taken from Croydon to Normanton, and we called into the Normanton railway station to admire the Gulflander train and the very
elegant station itself. Normanton has a famous life-size crocodile replica in the main street - Krys was supposedly the largest croc ever shot in Australia at 8.64 metres long! There is however some doubt about this as apparently no photos were taken by the hunters which seems rather odd…..
Karumba is a pleasant spot - a small seaside town on the Gulf of Carpenteria which swells to a large town in winter when all the Victorians arrive to enjoy the warm winter climate. They call them the Mexicans, from South of the Border! We were pleased that we were there at the start of the off-season as it was pretty quiet - most tourist had already headed home by now. We are starting to discover that there is a definite advantage to being behind in our original schedule by a couple of months, as the caravan parks are quiet, we don’t have to book in advance for anything and there is a more relaxed feel in the towns and resort areas.
Anyway, there’s not much at Karumba itself except fishing, but it has a certain charm, great birdlife and wonderful sunsets over the Gulf. We were a bit
skeptical about the sunsets - a lot of Australians go to Karumba to see the sunsets because they never see the sun set over the sea at home, but we do - but we were pretty impressed and went down to watch it go down the three nights we were there and enjoyed it each time. It is really something to see the sun drop below such a huge horizon. And the climate was pleasant there - although the weather was by now pretty hot and humid, there was a nice afternoon sea breeze, a bit like Perth’s “Fremantle Doctor”.
Blu went on a half-day fishing trip with the Kathryn-M (a birthday present from Alister and Steph) which he really enjoyed - they went out about 7km into the Gulf and he caught 7 fish - including blue nose salmon which we had for tea the next couple of nights - yum! The caravan park also backed onto a reserve which was home to lots of different native birds - we particularly liked the bright yellow figbirds and the colourful rainbow bee-eaters (see photos).
Set off early for the long drive to Adel’s Grove (at Lawn Hill Gorge) as
it was going to be mid-30s and humid - and it was! The last bit of the trip, from Gregory Downs to Lawn Hill, was down 100 km of gravel road. Started off well, then the road got more corrugated, which caused havoc inside the caravan, as we found out when we finally arrived at the campground at Adel’s Grove. A large cupboard and the front of the air-conditioner both fell off and the fridge door opened, dropped some of its contents onto the floor, then closed again! That was it, we decided no more dirt roads! But that wasn’t the worst of it really - about halfway down the road, the car seemed to lose power and there was a funny burning smell - Blu thought “the clutch is going” - suddenly you realise how remote outback Australia really is. A quick calculation told us we were over 400km from the nearest mechanic at Cloncurry!
Well, we limped along slowly to Adel’s Grove, got some advice from Rod who does a bit of mechanical work on the machinery there, booked into Cloncurry for Monday and settled in for the weekend. Not much else we could do really! Turned
out it wasn’t the clutch - the corrugations had altered the magnets in the caravan brake controller and we had been driving with the brakes “on”. Over the months we have discovered that caravanning around Australia is a lot harder than we first thought!
Despite this, we really enjoyed Lawn Hill gorge, which is a lush green oasis in the midst of a dry arid part of the country. Adel’s Grove is a really nice campground 10k from the gorge, with caravan sites under a thick canopy of large leafy trees. There are great swimming holes in the gorge and also in the river that runs through the campground - part of an underground system of artesian water. Which was quite fortunate for us, as this was the hottest place we have been to so far on our trip! Probably around 40 degrees and humid, and no powered sites! Most of the outback roadhouses and caravan parks run on generator power only. We spent many hours in the river over that weekend, which was also quite a sociable place to spend time, as everyone else was there too! Being remote and off season meant that everyone was friendly as
Miniatures, Einasleigh Hotel
tiny but perfect, made by the landlord's late father you kept meeting the same people either on the river or in the river!
We also spent two mornings up at the gorge itself, which is beautiful, with high red cliffs and deep green water. The second morning we hired a canoe and paddled through the middle and upper gorges, about 6km in total. The trick is to start early to beat the heat and while the river is still so that you can see the reflections of the gorge in the water. You can swim in the river along the way - the water comes from way underground and is very clear, with no crocs! (well maybe freshwater crocodiles, and they are not harmful to humans!)
Monday morning we were up at 5.15am and on the road by 6.45! We had no idea how the car would go, but it seemed OK, especially once we discovered the problem with the caravan brakes. Got into Cloncurry, where we stayed the night and visited John Flynn Place museum in the morning. Reverend John Flynn is the amazing man who founded the Royal Flying Doctor Service in 1928, and the museum provides a wonderful insight into the whole story of
the RFDS. Had to take the car through to Mt Isa - turned out the garage at Cloncurry couldn’t fit us in after all. But the Mt Isa garage was brilliant and started the job an hour after we arrived in town! The excellent city library was a great place to chill out while waiting for the car to be fixed.
Mt Isa or “The Isa” as everyone calls it, is all about mining really - and completely dominated by the huge Mt Isa mine which is smack bang in the middle of town, literally one street away from the main drag! The information centre doubles as the main tourist attraction and it is great. We spent a whole day there - the museum has loads of great displays and video footage telling the story of the Isa from its first days to the present and there was also a very good section on the Riversleigh fossils (the most significant site in Australia). They also have a purpose built tourist mine, which was created volunteer labour over several years, and it was a really good tour - as it wasn’t a working mine we could go into every part
of the mine and see the machines in action. We were even able to try out some drilling ourselves and witness a mock “firing”.
Blu did some repair work on the caravan before we left the Isa, then we headed west towards the border, stopping at the tiny town of Camooweal to pick up some sausages at the butcher (highly recommended by Clive, and they WERE good!). Then it was goodbye Queensland, and over the border to the Northern Territory.
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