Lawn Hill National Park

Monday morning Bel and I headed off to Lawn Hill National Park, a 200km detour south, passing through Gregory Downs.
We arrived early and set up camp at Adels Grove, a camping area that’s about 15 minutes drive from the Lawn Hill Gorge. The park itself is very pretty, with a bush setting and a lush grove next to the Lawn Hill creek. 

The grounds used to be a private botanical garden owned by Albert De Lestang, and the park was named after him – shortened to Adel. It’s all unpowered camping, but has great central facilities including a restaurant, bar, evening entertainment, and a 3G repeater (which only works in the bar😜). 
We booked in to a couple of tours and then made our way to the Gorge. Wow, so beautiful – like an oasis in the middle of nowhere. 

You could see Archer Fish in the water, they shoot streams of water at prey on the leaves above the water. 

There are 7 walks that you can do to explore the area so we decided to do the 4K loop to Duwadarri Lookout, and then Indarri Falls. The climb up to the lookout was steep but the view over the Gorge was worth it. 

Walking along the Gorge cliff tops a further km we eventually reached the falls, just stunning. First from overhead…

And then from water level….

The falls are the link between the upper and middle gorges, separated by a calcite wall that builds up from the minerals in the water. The water all comes from under ground springs, flowing at a massive rate. While we were there a couple pulled up in a kayak and went for a swim – definitely on our to do list. 

From the falls it was an easy bush walk back to the car and then a quick drive back to camp. We arrived back at about 4 and headed over for a drink while we got a dose of Internet – it really is hard to live without it – the internet that is!!

Googled and facebooked out we went back to camp for dinner – roast pork and veg, yum.

The next day we took very slowly, we have 4 days booked and were enjoying some time out without packing or travelling. We had a gorge cruise booked for 1pm so the morning was spent sleeping in and then me sneaking off and watching the latest GOT episode – sucked in Ramsay!

We headed back out to the park after lunch and cruised up the gorge on a solar electric boat. It gave you a different perspective on the gorge as well as an informative tour. Such an ancient place, still teaming with fish, turtles and fresh water crocodiles (we didn’t see any). The crocs are supposed to be very timid unless harassed. Once again beautiful views of the gorge up to the falls. 

The temperature since leaving Cairns has been beautiful. All the way up the cape and around the gulf it has been high 20s to low 30s with low humidity – which was a surprise. We thought it would get more humid as we went north but it dropped away once we left Cairns. 

The evenings have started to cool off beautifully down to around 16, and that evening it felt even cooler so we gathered some wood and had a campfire. The first in a while. 

Since we had a fire we thought we would try and make damper. The only problem was we didn’t know how (I know, I know – everyone knows how to make damper) and had no internet! So Bel whipped up a batch of what she thought it would be and we had a crack. 

It rose nicely and looked beautiful, but then I tasted it – it was like licking a box of bicarb, really awful. We need to do some more research!

Wednesday we decided it was time to enter the water. Bel had been very concerned about the crocs, but was more comfortable after some reconnossaince.  We headed off to the Gorge again with swimmers and kayak. It’s one of those things I have always dreamed of doing, and it didn’t disappoint. So tranquil. We paddled up to the water falls where we moored the kayak while we had a swim. The water was 24 degrees, so beautiful to swim in. 

We brought along a packed lunch and enjoyed a picnic on the banks before paddling back in the afternoon. Just brilliant. I made a short video with the GoPro footage. 

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We didn’t see any crocodiles, but we did see lots of fish and a couple of small turtles. You can see them in the video if you look closely. 

That evening the State of Origin was on again and Adels was hosting a dinner – so we booked in for some more punishment and qld didn’t fail to deliver it. 

Was so hoping for a NSW win while we were up here, but it wasn’t to be. 

There were a group of kids sitting behind me that I dont think have ever seen qld lose – their time is coming, they won’t know how to cope!😝

On our last day we were supposed to go on a fossil tour to Riversleigh but it was cancelled due to lack of numbers. So we spent the morning catching up on a few chores before doing a walk along the creek. 

After lunch we headed back out to the gorge for a final swim. 

While sitting on the banks it felt like we were in such an ancient, prehistoric land,  a bit like the movie – The land that time forgot. 

That evening back at camp we decided to have a fire and another crack at making damper.  We did some research while at “the bar” and found a recipe. We also bought some self raising flour. 

Success! So delicious and a great way to end our time at Lawn Hill. Such a great spot.