Gorges, Fossils, Paddling, Swimming and Cane Toads !!

The next part of our trip was the most magical of our travels so far! 

Gorges, Fossils, paddling, swimming and Cane Toads !!

Made more special as our new friends Allan, Dawn and Brent travelled with us. We had all decided that having travelled this far we would be crazy not to brave the side trip on dirt and development  roads out to Boodjamulla(Lawn Hill) National Park, World Heritage listed Riversleigh Fossils site and Adel's Grove. On the way we stopped at Gregory River as well, a welcome break in the 500km plus round trip on development roads and dirt. 

After leaving Karumba, restocking in Normanton and having another quick look around, we overnighted on the side of the road opposite the Burke and Will's Roadhouse before heading west.

We had decided to leave the caravan and Allan and Dawn's motorhome at Gregory, 150kms west, and drive into Lawn Hill, Riversleigh, and Adel's Grove in our ute together for a day trip. On arriving in Gregory we stopped for morning tea and began a conversation with a local council worker, asking the usual questions about the road ahead, and water supplies. He informed us that the dirt road had recently been graded and was in good condition. He also commented that once we got there we would want to stay longer. Allan decided they would take their motorhome in taking it slowly and we decided we would all stay two nights.

We remained undecided as our caravan is low slung and as yet we had not had time to build metal protection plates over our water tank and low slung water pump. To have them peppered with rock and chance the loss of our water and/or pump system was not good, and as we'd had this happen years ago on a good dirt road out of Wanaaring we knew it could happen. We also knew they would not be replaceable out here. As we had set up the ute for independent camping away from the caravan, and were disappointed we hadn't done this at Cobbold Gorge, we took the plunge and for the first time in 28 years went back to using a four man tent, leaving our caravan in storage at the Gregory Hotel.

The drive into Adel's Grove was about 100kms of development road and dirt. The ute we knew would be fine, but as we hit some of the dirt closer to Adel's I knew Dawn would be panicking a little over her lovely new motorhome with some of the rougher corrugations and ruts. Allan had had no problems, but at other times I'm sure I would not recommend this small section of road for 2wds.

We camped at Adel's Grove as there was complete shade, which would prove difficult for our battery and solar systems to run our fridges adequately. But having had so many days of temps in the 36 to 40 degree range this was preferable to the open camping at Lawn Hill NP. We had been chasing shade now for 10 days, and it is not likely to change until we get home at Christmas.

 

Adel's Grove is adjacent to the NP and was originally a Miners Homestead Lease in 1904. In 1920 the property was taken up as an experimental Botanical Garden, and over 1000 species of exotic and native plants, shrubs and trees were planted. Seeds produced here supplied the Botanical Gardens of the world. The Brisbane Botanical Gardens still have 536 different sample seeds sent by Albert in their collection. Many of the original plants can still be seen at the Grove.

Once set up, we headed down to the creek for a swim before dinner.

My first real experience of cane toads was over the next two nights, and I have to admit that
 they sent shivers up me while walking to the toilet at night, and the occasional squeal when they jumped towards me. The first night we were sitting under Allan and Dawn's awning 
talking and as the night became dark you could hear a creeping movement amplified from the ground all around us which was littered with dead leaves. As I looked out to where the noise was you could see lots of cane toads on the move, I was thankful they didn't seem to move across Allan and Dawn's awning mat. Our tent was another matter ! you could hear them creeping around outside as you lay in bed. Arggghh ! But like the old camper I was, I lived with it.

We were up early the next morning to beat the heat of the day. Leaving at 7am to drive out to The Riversleigh Fossil site first where the others completed a walk up over the hill to view various fossil remains while I looked at those on the lower part of the hill and waited.  
Below: Allan walking to the top. 

Below : there were many very large termite mounds in this area.

Next stop was Lawn Hill Gorge where the others would complete the Gorge Rim walk before it became too hot. I waited in the shade by the water in the gorge where others were swimming and on their return we had lunch. 

George and I had hired a 2-man canoe to paddle the gorge and as it was outside of the season it was $50 for the day, instead of $25 an hour. This enabled us to paddle the gorge in the afternoon at our leisure ... just as well as we had not paddled a canoe in years and it 

was a long way up the gorge !! BUT well worth the effort ! We were able to swim at the other end as well.

 Pictures, once more, show more than I can tell ( but don't do it justice !) ... And once more I apologise to those friends with limited data for the number of photos. Placing them in a collage also did them no justice. 

 

The small falls at the the end of this section of the Gorge. There is also an option to walk the canoes overland into the next section of the Gorge and keep paddling.

On our return it was Dawn and her son Brent's turn ! While we swam in the gorge where the paddling began.

After our drive back to Adel's and a very long and busy day, Dawn, not to be outdone insisted on another swim.

What a wonderful experience it had been !

The next day we drove back to the Gregory River to camp overnight. On finding it to be one of the most beautiful spots to swim and camp we extended our stay. George will never forget this place as it is where he lost his Wedding Band while swimming in the current. It is the first time in nearly 32 years that it has been removed ! He has definitely lost a lot of weight. 

By Lynne