From Heartbreak Hotel Bel and I head due north up the western edge of the gulf through Limmen National Park. A very rough and dusty trip over 3 days covering over 400km of continuous dirt roads and over 500km before we found civilization again at Mataranka.
Our first stop was at the Southern Lost City, with a slight pause beforehand waiting for a guy with an off-road caravan who was bogged in the sand and blocking the path in. We had hardly seen any other cars and here were 5 cars queued up in a traffic jam – he must have been there a while. Thankfully he was freed not long after we arrived.
The City is a stunning geological formation consisting of thousands of weathered sandstone pillars.
Apparently they are formed when sandstone under the ocean buckles upwards from an earthquake exposing the newly formed mountain to the elements.
We walked through on a 2.5km self guided loop, very pretty and quite surreal as you felt like you were walking through an ancient city. It was also like a maze and I think you could easily get lost.
From here we headed to Butterfly Springs where we planned to camp for the night, about 150km into the national park. The drive through the park was a sequence of continuously changing landscape. Mostly flat but with occasional ridges and Mesas interrupting the skyline. Vegetation changed constantly from rugged and dry to green and fertile, can only assume it was from changing soil and available water.
Along the way we collected some firewood ready for camp.
We arrived at Butterfly springs mid afternoon, set up camp and went straight for a swim. Temps were low 30s and very hot in the sun.
The springs were a small swimming hole supplied by a continuous flow of fresh water. Quite beautiful and like a private beach. The water was full of tropical fish, so many different types and all very colourful. On the cliff face there were hundreds of butterflys – and thus the name.
The campground consisted of a pit toilet and campsites with fireplaces. A lack of rain water to flush meant the toilets were a bit smelly😳 so deodorant was a handy companion. But at only $3.30/person I’m not complaining – the cheapest NP so far.
The springs are the only safe swimming place in the park due to crocs so we took advantage and had a few swims through the afternoon.
In the evening we lit the fire and made another damper. Even better than last time, and this time we had golden syrup – yum.
The next day we headed to our next camp – Tomato Island, near the top of the park on the Roper River.
The drive was again rough with beautiful bushland. We had a very misty start and rain looked like threatening bug it thankfully cleared up.
Along the whole drive we saw a lot of feral cattle and even some feral donkeys. We came across these bulls, with massive horns, fighting on the side of the road.
There were again a lot of creek crossings, mostly very shallow or dry but we were quite surprised when we found some with a lot of water.
We arrived at the campground around midday. After setting up camp we had a look around the grounds.
The camp grounds had just been upgraded and had brand new amenities – including hot showers – a first for us in a NP.
It’s right on the Roper River and a dream spot for fisherman. Unfortunately for us you needed a boat, and there way no way we were taking the kayak out – we’d be croc bait. The fish were biting though as a couple pulled into the ramp with two Barra while we were there.
I had been particularly looking forward to getting to this camp as an author friend of mine, Greg Barron, has a book out, called Camp Leichhardt, that is set in a fishing camp on the Roper. A good read that he is serialising by releasing a chapter a week.
It was just as I had imagined, with lots of permanents set up for a long winter stay.
The next morning we were on the road again. We had planned to stop at Roper Bar but somehow missed it. Up here our GPS is completely lost and signage is limited. So we ended up heading all the way back to civilization, Mataranka, the first actual town we’ve stopped in since Karumba on the eastern corner of the cape – such remote country up here.