Leichhardt Falls


Karumba – Walkers Bend 24/6/15

We only stayed one night in Karumba, so we missed out on fishing or checking out the trawlers. But we didn’t forget to fill up the freezer with some Barramundi, Grunter, Mackerel and fresh Prawns from the local fisho. The grocery shop in Karumba was better stocked than the ones in Normanton, so we filled up our supplies with fresh fruit and veg and soft white bread :-). 

The drive to Walkers Bend was un-eventful. We have to take a 50km Detour on our way to Burketown as they are just building a new bridge on the Savannahway. We free-camped beside Flinders River, already spotted 2 freshwater crocodiles and talked to the water-truck drivers filling up their tanks with the remaining water.

After enjoying our fresh prawns for dinner and a fantastic homemade garlic sauce, we figured out, that we forgot to stock up on beer and wine. Not sure where the next bottle shop is. Normanton is 50km back and Burketown 150 km ahead. Dry season for us, too :-(

Leichhardt River Crossing/Leichhardt Falls – 25/6/15

Regine getting dusted with opening and closing gates, Termites mounts

After a nice sleep-in (7 a.m.) and another hour of cuddling and reading books we finally had breakfast. We planned to drive all day on gravel roads, so Martin let the tyre pressure down and we drove off to the first long stretch of gravel road through a cattle station, the 46 km detour to get back to the Savannah Way. It was so windy (and cold – 19C) that opening and closing the gates on the road wasn’t much fun – more due to the dust that was blowing into my face. The Savannah Way turned out to be gravel road as well (different maps showed different road surfaces) but fairly smooth. There’s nothing between Normanton and Burketown so we had a lunch stop at the side of the road, Sarah did a bit of Hula-hoop dancing and hopping around. Another hour on the road and we finally crossed a very dry Leichhardt River. 

Wow! I’d love to see that river in the wet season. I just want to see how wide it really is or can be. We set up camp on the far side, high up on the bank and went for a walk across the dry riverbed. Or better, for some rock hopping. On and on we walked, up and down, over rocks and stone, through little channels to the rim of the main riverbed.  We looked down what in the wet is must be a nice waterfall to the water, about 10-15 m below. What a view. I’m sure Sarah climbed and hopped a good km without any complains. But give her a straight road in town and she can’t walk 10 m ;-)

Rock-hopping across Leichhardt River, our camp side on the bank

After a little rest Sarah and I went to collect some kangaroo-poo to light the fire. Martin had arranged a little fireplace with stones and Sarah was eager to throw the poo in to get the fire going. After 5 min we had a nice little fire going, and half an hour later had dinner around the fire pit (fresh Spanish mackerel and pasta, roasted marshmallows as desert). The sun went down, lighting up the opposite river bank in orange and purple, kangaroos sat in the golden light and the first stars started to twinkle. What a beautiful country!

Sunrise over Leichhardt falls

Gregory Downs 26/6/15

Pub at Gregory downs and some countryside

Everyone is telling us how beautiful Lawn Hill National Park is, so we decided to take a 300km detour to have a look at it. We headed South through some cattle stations. After about 40km we saw another caravan at the side of the road, so we stopped to see if everything was all right. The couple was waiting for the other two vans they we driving with and asked if there has been a problem on the road. They had been waiting for some time now. It turned out that they wanted to go to Normanton and had missed a big green sign and a left turn while their Navman happily kept on telling them they were on the right track… Thanks for the Hema maps that Martin bought. We can see nearly every little track on there.

After another 40km of gravel road we had bitumen under our vehicle for the rest of the trip to Gregory. It is really just a big parking lot for the road trains, but it has got a pub, fuel and more importantly: a big playground - so we stayed for the night. There is a lovely free camp down beside the river – but it was so packed with caravans (school holidays) that we decided to stay up on the riverbanks.