10th June: Mount Surprise to Cobbold Gorge
At Cobbold Gorge, we went on an organized tour, including travelled through the gorge on punts pushed by electric motors. The gorge is quite narrow with very high walls. Saw several freshwater crocodiles sunning themselves on the creek bank below the gorge. It’s a shame that the 80km of fairly rough gravel road prevents most people from accessing this lovely spot.
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| Cobalt Gorge |
11th June: Cobbold Gorge to Leichardt's Lagoon
From Cobbold Gorge, it was on to Croydon and then just short of Normanton where we stayed at Leichhardt Lagoon Camp, a fairly basic camping spot 20 km out of Normanton. The lagoon was a mass of wildlife including Brolgas and a pair of Sarus Cranes.
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| Leichardt Lagoon |
This is a lovely spot to camp and will certainly be on the list for a return visit if we are back this way.
12th June: Leichardt's Lagoon
We left the camper at Leichardt's Lagoon and visited Normanton and then on to Karumba, which is probably the only place on the gulf where you can get easy access to the sea. No wonder it is a mecca for fishermen. Boats everywhere! Fresh king prawns at $15 per kg were delicious.
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| Normanton and Karumba |
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| Dinner at Leichardt Lagoon |
13th June: Leichardt's Lagoon (The Gulflander)
On Sunday Peter and Maz and Margaret and Arthur headed off to Lorella Springs where we would meet them in a few days. They were doing other things while we were visiting Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park. But before heading there, Sunday for us was a train trip on the Gulflander from Normanton to Croydon. Mark and Karen took the outward journey while we drove and then Jill and I came back on the train while they drove. It took 5 hours each way rattling along at something like 30km per hour. Very interesting sitting up with the driver in the railmotor – and a most enjoyable day.
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| The Gulflander |
14th June: Leichardt's Lagoon to Adel's Grove
Monday 14th was the drive from Leichhardt’s Lagoon to Adel's Grove, just outside Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park. Stopped at Burke and Wills Camp 119 and then Leichhardt Falls for lunch.
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| Burke & Wills Camp and Leichardt Falls |
Interesting to see that a lot of the road from Gregory Downs to Lawn Hill has been sealed since our visit here 2 years ago - no doubt because of the huge Century Zinc mine that is found along this road. This mine is huge (the second largest in the world) and they pump zinc in a slurry to Karumba 350km away.
15th June: Adel's Grove (Boodjamulla/Lawn Hill National Park)
On Tuesday we hired canoes and paddled up the gorge (You have to carry the canoe from the bottom to the top gorge – about 40 metres). There was more water in the gorge than on our previous trip. Saw tortoises sunning themselves on the rocks and a small freshwater crocodile.
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| Duwadarri Waterhole - Boodjamulla National Park |
It’s amazing how much water is found in this gorge in such an arid environment. It really is a lovely spot. After lunch we did the ridgetop walk which looks down at Indarri Falls (between the first and second gorge – spectacular.
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| Indarri Falls - Boodjamulla National Park |
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| Boodjamulla National Park & camp at Adel's Grove |
Wednesday was a bit of a question mark as to whether we would get from Adel's Grove to Borroloola or whether we would have to go around trough Cape Crawford along the Calvert Road. Apparently, there was still a lot of water in the Calvert River and we were getting conflicting reports as to whether we could get through or not. We were already adding 125km to our trip by retracing our steps to Gregory Downs to avoid a flooded crossing so didn’t particularly want to add another 200km to the trip avoiding the Calvert. Fortunately, we met someone on the road who had been through the crossing and when we got there found it not quite as bad as some were suggesting. There were plenty of rocks to avoid and it was still 6-800mm deep but we all got through without difficulty.
After last night's camp on the banks of the Robinson River, it was off to Borroloola for fuel and a few supplies on Thursday morning. Lunch was a Caranbirini Conservation Reserve after the 2 km walk through the lost city formations. This is the second time we have been here too and it is an amazing place. Certainly, a must-see for anyone travelling this way.
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| Caranbirini Conservation Reserve |
After leaving Caranbirini we headed for Lorella Springs along the alternate Savannah Way towards Roper Bar. The road deteriorated the further we travelled and it was obvious that there had not been a lot of traffic in this area since the wet. Lorella Springs was 30 km off the Savannah Way also along a rough track with some fairly tricky creek crossings. The swim in the hot springs at the campsite made up for it. I guess you would call this a wilderness camp - fairly rustic but certainly a spot we could have spent more time at. Peter and Maz and Margaret and Arthur had been here a couple of days.
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| Camp at Lorella Springs |
18th June: Lorella Springs to Roper Bar
A quick look at the Emerald Pools and Gorge (both lovely spots) – well hardly quick along a fairly corrugated 5km track, and we were on our way west to Roper Bar.
Along the way, we called in to explore the Southern Lost City, a very different lost city formation to that at Caranbarini. While both were sandstone formations Caranbirini had a lot of conglomerate rock and sand cemented together which was absent here.
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| Southern Lost City - Limmen National Park |
Lunchtime was a stopover and swim at Butterfly Springs (and waterfall). The water was cool but most welcome seeing the weather has become much warmer – T-shirt and shorts. It was then time to face the quite a rough road through to Roper River for camp.
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| Butterfly Springs |
Today we were back on the bitumen to Materanka and then on to Katherine. We briefly called into Bitter springs on the way but the opportunity to soak in their 33-degree waters will have to wait until another time. Our 5-day permit to access the Coburg Peninsula commences on Monday so we are on a deadline.
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| Bitter Springs (Mataranka) and campsite at Katherine |
We have covered a lot of territory in the last ten days. Tonight we are in Katherine, Northern Territory and have just had a very pleasant meal at the RSL after a big shop at Woolworths this afternoon. We head off to Kakadu National Park (briefly) tomorrow and then on to the Cobourg Peninsula for five days. Presumably, we will be out of telephone/email range for all of that time.
