Our Travels

Today we headed out to Karumba. It is the only place where you can drive down to the beach on the Gulf of Carpentaria. On the way we passed a large herd of wild horses which had Terry so mesmerised that he nearly ran off the road. We found a nice park to have lunch then went for a drive around town. There are two boat ramps and we have never seen so many parked boat trailers before. Seems like you only stay in Karumba if you have a “tinny”. There are several caravan parks in town but all seemed full and packed in like sardines. We bought 1kg of prawns freshly caught and cooked this morning for tea and then found a spot on the beach to watch the sunset.

Driving back to Normanton we saw many wallabies at the side of the road. The prawns were good!

After leaving Burketown to travel to Normanton we came across the site of Burke and Wills camp 119 just before Normanton so we stopped to have a look. The story board was quite interesting and gave a brief history as well as explaining how and when they found the site. It was there last camp before they attempted to find the ocean through all the mangrove swamps

Burke & Wills Camp 119

Once in Normanton we went to the information centre to find out where to stay. The caravan park would have to be the most rundown place we have ever stayed at but the showers are fairly new and clean with plenty of hot water. Whilst setting up I kept getting a whiff of something unpleasant – like sewage. Terry tracked it down to a rotting cows hoof near our site. Once it was deposited in the bin, no more smell. We had a swim in the pool which was nice then went off to find dinner. We ended up at the Albion Hotel and had a very nice grilled Barramundi.

We left Robinson River and crossed the border into Queensland, the gravel stopped and the bitumen began, initially we thought QLD spent more money on roads that NT but the bitumen did not last long.

NT / QLD Border

We drove to Hells Gate Roadhouse, this was a planned overnight stop but after a micro-waved pie for lunch we decided that there was nothing worth staying for and we drove on to Burketown.
When we arrived at Burketown the inn (caravan park) was full. One of the local shop owners suggested we could camp down by the boat ramp, 7km out of town. The town was full because all of the “free campers” had come in from the fringes to get power or go to the pub to watch the State of Origin match tonight and partly because they have a lot of regulars who migrate up here for the winter. There was little to see in Burketown so a free overnight camp was ideal.

Moving on from Lorella Station we stopped at a small place called Borroloola to get fuel and then continued on our way. We set up camp across the Robinson River but didn’t unhitch as we were only staying overnight.

Overnight on the Robinson River

More exploring, this time out to the Yiyinti Mountain Range. We headed off down the Yiyinti track in search of Nanny’s Retreat. At the end of the track we were told that there was about an 800m walk to get to a nice rock pool suitable for swimming. It was a lot further than 800m but we persevered and it was a nice spot although not easy to get down to. Terry checked out the cave in the rocks above the pool but said the lower section had water in it.

Nanna’s Retreat – Lorella Station

On the way back we found another pool that was a little easier to get into so Terry had a swim. We saw two places with faint rock art and around the rocks were hundreds of butterflies.

The only butterfly that stood still long enough

By this time it was getting late but Terry still wanted to go to a place called The Waterslide. Once again when we got to the end of the track there was a sign saying 500m to the pool. It was a very rocky track with some parts requiring some serious climbing but we made it. There was a waterfall about 18inches wide flowing down a smooth, sloped rock from a top pool into a bottom pool of cool, clear water. Terry tried out the slide but I just had a swim. It was after 6pm when we got back to camp and another cold night.

Today was for exploring, Lorella Station has over one million acres and there are over 30 places marked on various mud maps for you to visit. We decided to visit Teardrop Falls and Hidden Pools. We took a track called Little Rosie track and stopped off at the first spot on the track – Snapping Handbag Billabong – so named because as the dry continues the fresh water crocodiles congregate there as it is a permanent waterhole. Further down the track we crossed the creek that runs through Gateway Gorge and drove up to the lookout over the gorge.

Gateway Gorge – Lorella Springs Station

We drove on to Hidden Pools, the track became quite rocky and steep and low range was required for a few sections. Hidden Pools had a small waterfall but you could see where it would be much larger in the wet season. It was quite a pretty place with water lilies on the bottom pool. We spoke to a couple who had walked along the Teardrop Falls track for about 40 mins and they said that some of the rocks and drop offs looked like they could do some serious damage. With the prospect of little water at these falls we decide to give that track a miss, we ate lunch at Hidden Pools and then headed back to camp collecting firewood as we went. It was the first outing for the chainsaw and in about 5 mins we had a stack of nice size logs for our fire tonight.

With the price of bread outside our reach, Jacky decided to have a go at making some bread herself in the camp oven. It wasn’t too bad for her first effort, it didn’t rise as much as it should have in the proving stages so it was a little like damper but hot with butter it tasted great.

With only 80kms to Lorella we took our time packing up. We stopped at Southern Lost City on the way and decided to do the walk through the formations. It was quite pleasant as it was not to hot and there was a gentle breeze now and then. The rock formations were quite impressive, some of them over 30 mtrs high and quite precariously balanced.

Southern Lost City – Limmen NP

Southern Lost City – Limmen NP

It was mid-afternoon when we got to Lorella Springs so we set up camp and went down to the amenities block for a shower. Jacky took one look and decided that we would need to set up our shower tent. In this particular block there was no hot water, the shower block was quite open to the wind and there was only a light shower curtain across the shower. I still had a shower, a couple of pegs secured the curtain and provided you had your shower before the sun went down the cold water was bearable. After setting up we went up to the bar / restaurant for a drink, they brought us a sample of the bread that is baked each day with some oil as nibbles and it was very nice. It needed to be ordered by lunchtime and you could pick it up at 5pm. We almost ordered some till we saw the price – $8 for a medium loaf and $12 for a large loaf.

From Elsey we headed on to the Roper Hwy for our next week in the Gulf country. Terry had picked a campsite called Butterfly Springs as it was the only campsite in Limmen National Park with a safe swimming hole. Most of the road was gravel, lots of dust and quite a few corrugations. On arriving the only available campsite would have been great except that the BBQ was placed right in the centre of the spot so was impossible to use. We made our own spot near the entrance and then went down for a swim.

Butterfly Springs, Limmen National Park

The water was not as clear as the water we had been swimming but it was quite refreshing after a day’s travel. Near the rocks at the edge of the pool were hundreds of butterflies. We met two other couples who were also going on to Lorella Springs tomorrow.

Elsy National Park is a former cattle station and is famous as the setting to the book “We of the Never Never” and the film location based on the book.

There is a natural thermal spring near the homestead that the World War 2 soldiers dammed to make a swimming hole for themselves, it is well maintained and popular and a constant 34C. We went in for a dip but it gets a little uncomfortable after a while, you expect a swim to be refreshing but this is like a warm bath.

Mataranka Thermal Springs

From there we went to Territory Manor for lunch, the attraction here was Barramundi feeding, they have a large pond in which they have 5 large barramundi that they have trained to feed on baits thrown into the water, (Barra normally will only feed on live bait). The biggest of these barramundi was apparently 1.5 mtrs but when we show up for their afternoon feed not one of them would poke their heads up from under the many water lilies on the pond.

From there we went to another thermal spring called Bitter Springs, this spring was a few degrees cooler than Mataranka and much more comfortable to swim in. The highlight here is that you let the current take you down the stream about 500 mtrs, get out and walk back. Unless you took footwear in the water with you the walk back was barefoot on gravel. Jacky wasn’t keen on the walk back and when I pointed out the many Golden Orb spiders sitting in their webs above the stream she was even less keen. I gave it a go and it was nice relaxing float/swim downstream, no spiders dropped out of their webs and the walk back wasn’t too bad.

We went back into Mataranka and did the tour of the Mataranka park where they had the characters from the book, it took about ten minutes mainly because I had instructions to photograph each character, then Jacky spotted the sign for the old Elsy Station Cemetery, so we headed off there to read the inscriptions of quite a few people who happen to call in at the station and die.

From Gunlom we headed south and called in at Edith Falls, this was going to be our camp before we decided to visit Gunlom, it is a very picturesque pool with a small but high volume water fall.

Edith Falls near Katherine

Beautiful shaded campgrounds. I couldn’t persuade Jacky into the water and as we were a little pressed for time we headed into Katherine and then on to Elsy National Park. We stayed at the 12 mile stock yards but in hindsight it may have been better to stay at the Mataranka Homestead campgrounds as they were a little more central.