Gregory Downs - Lawn Hill National Park & Adels Grove - August 2010

Well about bloody time me thinks; I've been a bit slack what with travellin, relaxin, workin & boozin. The blog is way behind so time to kick things along from where it was left off.

 

Gregory Downs

 

We did get a reasonably early start from the Burke & Wills roadhouse to Gregory Downs; we had made the decision to stay behind the pub rather than at the free camp on the river. As the pub only has 8 powered sites it pays to get in early, also if you are planning to free camp at the river it does get quite busy and sites are at a premium; also it is a bit of a hike uphill to get to the free loo's and showers. The pub charges $30 per night but if you are not intending camping at Adels Grove then it is a better option to camp here than free camp and leave your van unattended for the day, we did hear of a couple of bad experiences of some unfortunate free campers taken to the cleaners.

 

The pub camp ground amenities were okay and the shower toilets were unisex; in other words go in a vacant one and it is complete with toilet, shower & vanity etc. We did not eat at the pub so unable to comment on the meals; drinks prices were high as to be expected in this area. Overall the Gregory Downs pub is a good place to stay for a couple of nights as we did, you would most likely need to take out a bank loan if you intended staying longer.

 

 

Our site at the Gregory Downs pub; plenty of other campers arrived throughout the day but if you want power make sure you are in before noon as they do not take bookings.

 

 

A pic of the free camp area which is only about a km from the pub; it was quite full when we went for a look.

 

 

The river that runs next to the free camp area; a very nice place to set up camp.

 

 

The above picture shows the pub at left and and yes it is a helicopter that is parked on the road in front; this bloke decided it needed a wash so he landed in front of the pub (we watched him coming in), grabbed a hose from behind the pub fence, produced a yard broom a washed his chopper where it sits. Happy with the result he put the hose back, packed up his brush, started the helicopter and took off. The things you see out in some of these places is quite funny to say the least.

 

 

The above sign is located approximately 10km from Gregory Downs; mainly used for the Royal Flying Doctor service in emergencies. The below picture clearly shows the runway markings on the Gregory Downs Highway.

 

 

Lawn Hill National Park

 

I know, I know; a National Park is a National Park and they all seem to look the same but this is not the case with Lawn Hill. Considering where it is situated and the vast amount of dry & barren countryside that surrounds it the visit is well worth the trip.

 

The park itself along with Adels Grove seems to come out of nowhere; from dry dusty roads with a spattering of common variety trees and scrub springs palms and lush green rainforest, hard to believe this exists some 1100km west of Townsville. 

 

 

One of the pathways that leads down to a major part of Lawn Hill.

 

 

You can hire canoes if you want to see the area from the water; there are places where you have to pull the canoe out of the water and drag it to the next section, they have made it easy by installing slide rails for the boat or mats in places.

 

 

A sign that reminds you not to be too complacent; we did not see one but the sign is enough to make you think twice before jumping in.

 

 

The view from the top part of our 6km walk (climb); I could not convince Linda to let go of the bushes and get closer to the edge.

 

Linda & I being the top notch bush walkers we are set of on what was noted as a 6km walk with an approximate time to do this particular track of 3.5 hours. We had a bit of a chuckle as we were sure we could do the 6km in about 1.25 hours; how wrong we were, a bit different from walking flat track to scaling mountains like a bloody mountain goat, I almost called the SES for an oxygen tank and tissues for the high altitude nose bleed.

 

 

Another great picture over the park.

 

 

Lawn Hill N. P does have a camping ground but not for vans; you may get a small pop top in but it is really only meant for camper trailers and tents.

Adels Grove

Hard to describe Adels Grove, it is the last stop before going in to Lawn Hill (10km) and does have cabin and caravan site accommodation so if you do want to be at Lawn Hill for say a week this would be the preferred option, but be advised it is not cheap to stay here.

Caravan sites for 2 adults was $32; does not sound too bad but there is no power out here; also the cost of staple food items is expensive to say the least, Adels Grove has a cost to bare so it is obviously passed on to the consumer. 

 

 

The above is part of the coffee shop, bar and meals area; make sure you bring a recent bank statement which can prove you are good for any debts incurred.

 

 

This is part of the Grove (looked more like a swamp to me).

 

 

The sign from the shop give you a good idea of the pricing structure used out here; all the bread is frozen. The prices shown reflects on the overall cost of other items you buy, tinned food, ice creams etc.

 

 

Not a real good shot but the caravan sites are just beyond the trees; reception is the just visible building to the right.

 

 

One of the road signs on the way out of Lawn Hill; hard to see for you guys but the top is “Gregory – 77km” and the bottom is “Hells Gate Roadhouse –  194km”.

 

 

I must say the road is not bad from Gregory Downs; the first section (40km) is well graded as it leads out to Century Mine, the road after that was still fairly good. We did see a number of vans heading in and out without problems but who knows what the end result was when they got back to bitumen. All in all if you did want to spend more than a couple of days in Lawn Hill then it maybe worth pulling the van in; in our case we were happy with the 2 night stay and drive in considering what was on offer at Adels Grove.

 

Sorry for the slack upkeep of the site and I am hoping to do another post (Normanto / Karumba) within the week and will mail out when done.

 

Take care, travel safe and keep well.

Love & warm regards to all.

 

David & Linda –  The DavLin Rig

 

 

Cloncurry and The Burke & Wills Roadhouse - August 2010

CLONCURRY

 

We arrived in Cloncurry towards the end of July to meet up with Joe & Glenys; they were bringing the bus they have been working on converting for a few days break away from the farm. It tied in well as I needed to get the car serviced at Mount Isa before heading further north.

 

We stayed at the Gilbert Caravan Park which is the first park on the left if you are heading west. The park is run by a great couple (Peter & Cheryl) along with the the rest of their family, they are constantly on the go and nothing is too much trouble. The sites are roomy and mainly drive through for the larger vans; the amenities are clean and checked periodically throughout the day and tidied up as required.

 

The park is pet friendly and the rates are quite good; it was $26 p/n but they did have a special of $140 for the week. The park has a pool, camp kitchen and entertainment 3 –  4 nights a week during the tourist season. The roadways are gravel and this is the first park we have seen were they use a water carrying ute to keep the dust down, great idea and it works well.

 

 

Many of the sites are drive through; they try to keep the grass as best they can but it is typical “outback couch”, dusty grass or just dust.

 

 

Cloncurry does have an outdoor cinema that runs a couple of nights a week; it is part of the cafe / take away so settle back with some fish & chips with and couple of tinnies.

 

 

There is a market one one Sunday of the month; we went along for a look and they had 6 stalls. Apparently we did not get there early enough as there was 7 stalls but the lady selling home made Anzac biscuits sold out and went home; better luck next time.

 

 

Joe & Glenys rolled in on the Friday and parked next to us; Joe was not real good at putting the pegs in so I proceeded to show him how to bend them whilst trying to peg into rocks. Joe was not impressed.

 

 

Some of Glenys & Joe's handy work in getting the conversion on the way; a little way to go yet but it's looking very good.

 

 

The outside of the bus; we all had a great time over the weekend and hopefully we will see them again over Christmas.

 

Well the car has been serviced so time to head of towards Adels Grove and Lawn Hill National Park but we are stopping at the Burke & Wills Roadhouse on the way.

 

BURKE & WILLS ROADHOUSE

 

This is like an oasis in the middle of nowhere; it sits at the junction of the Burke (Matilda Hwy) Developmental Road & the Wills Developmental Road. From here hading further north takes you to Normanton & Karumba or turning left (west) to Gregory Downs and Lawn Hill NP.

 

We stayed one night here and the way you park is 4 around one central slab with a roof over the top; sort of gives you a communal happy hour location even if you did not want to be involved. Price was $18 for the night each van has access to a power and water connection, the amenities were okay and the people we met were very friendly.

 

 

Parked for the night at the roadhouse; power, water, satellite dish up, what more could you want.

 

 

Unfortunately the picture does not do the roadhouse justice as it is set over a large area with outdoor tables, chairs etc. It has a bar, take away come restaurant and souvenir shop. Just the perfect spot to get rid of more cash. notice the sign “Welcome To The Burke And Wills”. 

 

The below sign is not so welcoming to the weary who just want to use the roadhouse loo's to pee, eat their own egg & lettuce sangas and in the main make use of the free facilities. No freeloading here (if they catch you).

 

 

We did enjoy the nights stopover and we wanted to get to Gregory Downs by mid next morning so by staying overnight it gave us a good start after breakfast.

Hope you have enjoyed this section of our travels; the next post will be Gregory Downs, Adels Grove and Lawn Hill NP.

Love and warm regards to all and those that are on the road travel safely.

David & Linda –  The DavLin Rig 

Life After Boulia - Middleton - Kynuna - McKinlay - July 2010

MIDDLETON

 

Well we left dusty Boula and drove to the Middleton Hotel which lies between Boulia & Winton (194km); it was just as dusty here and quite strong head & cross winds were a battle of power in the tow tug against mother nature, added to this was the odd road train.

 

Middleton pub is on of those top 30 Queensland pubs I keep mentioning and this one is the only stop in town; it is in the Camps 5 or earlier book for free camping and it did get quite a few in later in the day. The free camp sits directly opposite the pub and they have a sign up calling it “Hilton Hotel”; if you do end up this way make sure you call in or even camp over the road. Whilst we were there a single seat mustering helicopter landed next to the pub and the guy went in for some supplies and then took off over the roadway, interesting to see all this unfold.

 

 

The Middleton pub taken from over the road at the free camping area

 

 

The Hilton Hotel sign; you may struggle to read what's written at the bottom of it but it says “No Air conditioning, No TV, No Pool, No Charge”.

 

 

The main road that runs in and out of Middleton; even Linda was able to cross this road without holding my hand for fear of getting run over.

 

 

Inside the pub is a strange set up as when you walk in the door if you turn right you are in the owners lounge room with the kids, dog and TV or turning left puts you in the bar. Apart from beer, wine (limited) and soft drink the pub does have a few spirits but best not ask for a Bloody Mary or Strawberry Daiquiri, you may get chucked out.

 

 

Everyone at the free camp over the road from the pub; the pub meals were not too bad, Lin had pie, chips & gravy for $6.50; I had a beer, piss & look around ($5).

 

KYNUNA

 

Left Middleton towards Winton to get fuel; we did not stop here but turned north and headed to Kynuna for the Blue Healer pub & caravan park. Obviously it is not much of a park but a great little stop; the price was $15 per night with power & (good) water connected to the van. The amenities were okay from a blokes perspective but Linda opted to use the shower in the van.

 

One couple were staying there after being up north for 2 months; he told me that on the way up he paid $10 now on the way back it was $15, so much for increases based on the current CPI!!!

 

 

The Blue Healer pub and before you ask yes it is in the top 30; I can't have too many more to do, shame really as it would be nice if there was a top one hundred. I may make up my own list.

 

 

The sign above was when our Son John & partner Marie passed through here with our 3 granddaughters Ruth, Shandelle & Karly in June 06. He told us he had written on the wall but when you go inside the pub there is not one area of roof or wall left to write on so finding it was difficult. We added Nana & Poppy and The DavLin Rig to it for the photo.

 

 

The wall of hats inside the Blue Healer.

 

 

And for the blokes quite a number of bras we scattered around the walls; would have been a great place to be when some of this sort of stuff was happening.

 

McKINLAY

 

We rolled into McKinlay after leaving Kynuna for Cloncurry; we did not overnight here just stopped for a couple of pictures. Not much here just the pub and van park and a service station.

 

 

The sign that advertises the Walkabout creek hotel & van park.

 

 

With McKinlay only being a short distance from Kynuna the pub was not open when we arrived (much to my disgust) so we could only get a picture of the outside, we did not want to hang around until opening time.

 

It's now of to Cloncurry where we are stopping for a while; Joe & Glenys are bringing the bus out for a few days break from the farm so we will spend more time with them before heading off to our next destinations. Our next stops will be the Bourke & Wills roadhouse, Gregory Downs, Adels Grove and Lawn Hill National Park.

 

Hope you all are well and enjoy this post; until next time take care and if you are travelling do it safely.

 

Love & warm regards –  David & Linda –  The DavLin Rig

 

Boulia Camel Races - July 2010

We finally made it to Boulia for the fun, frivolity and shit loads of wind & dust at the yearly camel races; the races follow a circuit around several country towns but Boulia is the cream of the crop, if you see any forget the rest and make your way here and see this one.

 

Once again make sure you stock up as there is only one store here that sells everything and I mean everything, from bread, milk and normal grocery lines to TV's, tiles, hydraulic oil in 44 gal drums, hardware, generators and bags of cement. Suppose they have to as either way (Winton or Isa) to buy anything is 300km +.

 

Cost per person for the 3 day event was $40 and for that they open up the grounds for free camping for the week prior and up to a week after the event so it is not a bad deal. The ground has an amenities block with hot & cold water and showers which is bore supplied but very clean and drinkable (no smells or bugs to worry about). You had to pick your time for the showers; mid morning and mid to late afternoon may see you short of hot water.

 

 

The road to Boulia from Isa is 320km or from Winton 360km so it all depends which way you want to travel. Either way the road is single lane with a wide shoulder either side, if road trains approach make sure you get completely off the bitumen and stop. These rigs are 53mt in length and 3 or 4 trailers long; the last thing you want is the oncoming rig hitting the dirt on one side (40 plus tyres) and throwing stones and dirt everywhere.

The above is part of the morning training on the lead up to the events which take place mainly Saturday & Sunday; we arrived on the Tuesday to make sure we got a good spot for the van. The training involves a lot of camels being let out on the track and 2 or 3 guys on quad bikes behind the pack giving them some encouragement to get a move on.

Boulia's red stump advising that west of here is the Simpson Desert.

Boulia's only pub the Australian Hotel; this one is also on the top 30 to see in Queensland; beer is $5 a can to either drink in or take away, glad I picked up a few in Isa before heading here.

Market stalls were set up by some visitors (6 or so stalls in total); this guy seemed more interested in knitting hats for his stall stall rather than get involved in the race events, this is the second bloke I know who likes this sort of stuff; one of our readers knows who the other is.

Getting here early was a good choice as we managed to get a good camp spot near the amenities; from here we could reach with about 3 hoses to fill the tanks up when required rather than cart water in containers.

Although there was quite a few in when we arrived the camping ground swelled considerably from the Wednesday on, from a town that normally boasts a population of 300 the numbers go out to 3000+ for this event.

One of the races in progress; over the weekend there was about 16 in total.

This was another event to behold called “camel tagging”; it is quite simple to explain but not so easy or quick to do. Several camels are let loose in an arena where the object is to tag the camel by sticking a piece of duct tape to the camel, run back to a marker and then chase the same camel and retrieve the tape, fastest man (or woman) wins. You can see the duct tape near the camels hump which has just been put on.

A photo with the winner of the cup and in case you are wondering the winner is the beast in the background with a hump, not me.

The blokes had to be quick at night time if you wanted a bit of you know what; the trick is be early so you don't end up with an ugly one.

This was one of several signs around the camp and racetrack area; apparently there have been some quite painful but funny accidents like people being so pissed they have fallen into camp fires, it seems if you do this you sober up quite quickly.

This was our Boulia family; a great crew that got together to enjoy daytime races and nighttime happy hour and a good camp fire. Hope you are all well and still living the dream and hopefully we will catch up soon (don't forget we need side access!!!!).

Don't know if anyone watches channel 7 and the morning show Sunrise but if you do you will know this guy David Koch, nicknamed “Kochie”, how he made it way out here had me stumped.

One of the many nightly fires enjoyed by us all at Boulia.

 

This was a fantastic place to be and we would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to experience the raw environment and great hospitality Boulia has to offer. The people we met and the friendships we made will stay with us for a long time to come; the deeper you delve into what these small outback towns and communities have to offer the more you want to see.

 

Hope you have enjoyed our Boulia experience; take note this event is on every year on the second weekend of July; you can find out more by contacting the Boulia tourist info centre and if you go make sure you see the Min Min lights show in town, the cost is $15p/p and it is worth every cent.

 

Love & warm regards to all –  David & Linda –  The DavLin Rig