After our short stay at Normanton it was off again and heading towards Boodjamulla, or previously known as Lawn Hill NP. We had heard lots of great reports about this National Park so we decided we just had to go that way to have a look.
On the way we stooped off at Burke and Wills Camp 119, which is a place where Burke and Wills set up a camp on there ill fated journey. After this small detour we stopped at a place called Leichhardt Falls which was a free camp area on the way towards Burketown. What a great little spot this was and we also managed to get a great camp site on the hill looking down over the Leichhardt River. The falls weren’t running but there was still quite a bit of water in the river which made it very nice to look at and just sit and read for three relaxing days.
Next it was onto Burketown for a couple of days to restock the food supplies and do a bit of washing and cleaning. Burketown was a neat little place, not a great deal to see but very well presented. The bakery sells great pies so check them out if you ever there. We also went to the local pub for a meal and it was pretty good. They must have had a Greek chef in the kitchen as the menu had a definite Greek theme to it and was well done. Burketown used to have a boiling down works area where they boiled down animal meat to extract the tallow from before it closed down many years ago. Since then it really seems to have developed into a small service area for the gulf country around here.
From Burketown we headed off down to Gregory where we were leaving the van while we went into Boodjamulla NP. Gregory is very small and besides the very nice river running by it doesn’t have much there. The caravan park is behind the pub and its only $10 p/n which was great as you get water, flushing toilets and hot showers. The sites aren’t powered but that doesn’t really worry us to much.
We had to wait a couple of days in Gregory before heading off to Boodjamulla NP as we booked in to stay in the NP but had to wait for dates to come available as it is a very popular place to stay. It was worth the wait to get there though as Boodjamulla is quite spectacular. The gorge is very big and with plenty of water it was great to swim in each day. It was good to be able to swim somewhere on northern Queensland for a change without having to worry about crocodiles. There are also some nice walks to do at Boodjamulla so this kept Kaye happy. We did the obligatory kayak hire while here as well and did the two hour trip to the start of the gorge and back, it was nice but it seemed like I did most of the paddling though. You can also stay at a place called Adele’s Grove just a short drive from Boodjamulla but we were happy we chose to stay actually at the NP.
The bird life at Boodjamulla was excellent to watch as well. The Crimson Finch, especially the male was a vivid red colour and was very prolific as well. There was also the Purple Hooded Wren which was spectacular in the sunlight but very hard to photograph. We also used our annexe on the rooftop tent for a change as we were camping in the same area for three nights and not moving the car. It was good to set it up and use it again as it does add quite a bit of extra room to our camp area instead of using the car for everything.
From Boodjamulla it is back to Gregory to pick up the van then we will start heading towards Boulia then Birdsville. We hope to be catching up with Rob and Vicki Riebe in Boulia so hopefully our plans all work out.