The Gulf Country

For those  that don't have the attention span to read - check out the short video - this what it was all about

Our journey literally changed direction when we swung out westward, away from the green (read damp) wet tropics of Atherton and out to the Undara Lava Tubes. Suddenly we felt like we had some space around us, a lot of space! The humidity disappeared and the light varied from harsh and bright to warm and golden. A couple of gorgeous nights camped at Undara were what we needed, Having spent a few years guiding in the Top End, I felt back at home again amongst the Savannah.

An active day begun with a mountain bike exploration of the trails,then a drive out to Kalkani Crater for a brisk walk to circle the rim of this recently extinct small volcanic Scoria Cone. 

Then the guided active tour, through a couple of the tubes. I was surprised by the scale of these geological marvels, but credit to our guide for highlighting the unique set of conditions that allowed their formation. The Undara Experience tour business was impressive, having only been created in the early 90’s. As with my own experience in developing the Larapinta Trail, it confirmed the value of being the first operator and establishing a quality business that is almost impossible for competitors to replicate.

A big driving day was required to match the scale of the country and so we set the controls toward Normanton up on the Gulf of Carpentaria. The gold rush history of the region was surprising, with amazing wealth generated in the late 1800’s. After many hours behind the wheel we got a wake up call when we came across a recent accident, with a camper trailer and bikes similar to ours completely squished beneath the bull bar of a road train.  We don’t understand what happened but it appear the 4wd clipped the road train and the camper trailer met a nasty end while the 4wd somehow escaped without damage!

Another big drive took us to Mt Isa and a visit to Lisa’s cousin Anna and husband Rob and kids Emily and Sammy. Setting up the camper in their backyard felt like being at home, the kids naturally connected, as only relatives do. Time for a restock and re-set was punctuated with a visit to the mine. Charlotte and I went underground for an awesome tour of the Hard Times Mine, with Charlotte happily putting the overalls on and hardhat and having a go at drilling and driving a loader. I hadn’t been down a mine since studying geology a couple of decades ago but again I felt remarkably at home, however no regrets on my part that my career ended up in tourism and the outdoors rather than geology and and mining.

Continuing west and north we aimed for our most remote objective yet, Lawn Hill National Park (Boodjimulla). After a few hundred kilometres the blacktop gave way to a gravel road that seemed ok, rocky but not too corrugated or washed out. The World Heritage Riverleigh Fossil site was a great experience in the middle of nowhere. Having seen the museum in Mt Isa, the kids knew what Riverleigh was about, but the short walk, bountiful fossils and excellent interpretive signage brought some long dead beasts back to life. The girls became junior palaeontologists and found many fossil crocodile teeth and Thunder Bird bones. The abundance and exceptional preservation of the fossils highlights the the importance of the site.

As we were leaving Riverleigh another vehicle pulled in, and with so few travellers out here we had a chat, the driver mentioned how rough the road was and how he had just lost a tyre. We heeded his warning and took it easy on a gravel road that looked ok - but soon after - there was horrible sound of disintegrating rubber. Out here the sense of isolation suddenly becomes very real when you realise that there is only so much rubber between you and a road like a cheese grater. A changed tyre and we were starting to think, do we have enough spares for where we are going? 

We made it to Lawn Hill Gorge without further incident and lovely swim in the gorge. Soon it was discovered we had excellent range and outstanding internet which was timely for Charlottes Birthday and all the grandparents and Aunties and Uncles to call in on Skype and face time. A bizarre contradiction that the most physically remote place we had been was also the best connected! 

An awesomely active day at Lawn Hill Gorge began with a dawn trek to the upper Gorge. Our girls happily walked 3 hours of outback exploration at breakfast time to be reward with stunning views and rich colours of this oasis. Back at camp we were lucky to our Allambie Heights friends had recommended we introduce ourselves to Debbie and Jason who had taken their family to Lawn Hill and the challenge of managing the National Park Ranger Station. Our kids and their kids  were soon riding bikes around and learning about growing up in the remote outback and we had a great chat to Jason and Debbie about their life in Queensland’s remotest National Park. An afternoon kayaking on the gorge was the perfect end to a very active day. The sort of outdoor adventuring that we came out here to share with the kids. The very helpful workshop at nearby Adels Grove campground remarkably had a spare tyre in stock and so we could resume our planned journey through the remote Gulf Country with a full quota of spares.

The drive to from Lawn Hill to Hells Gate was uneventful except for the notable lack of good roads or traffic. The only other people we saw at a roadhouse sported an impressive set of facial tattoos, enough to send Mike Tyson back to jail for some more tattoo inspiration. We opted out of remote free camping and chose to camp next to a roadhouse and about about as remote as we can get. Probably 1400km to Darwin and 1000km back the other way to Cairns and bugger all in between, love it!

Lorella Springs was a mission to get to, but worth it. A Gulf Cattle Station that has opened to tourism, like a mini private run Kakadu. Not much of a wet season this year so it was pretty dry, but we still found some joy at the main Lorella Springs and the more remote Nannys Place. A few nights were required here before took on the drive west toward toward the Top End again - more on that in later posts!