Gregory Downs and Lawn Hill National Park

On Sunday the 30th of May we left Julia Creek and headed for Gregory Downs. Jan & Ross got away a bit before me as I filled a couple of jerry cans with diesel and grabbed a coffee. So then I headed off and caught up with them a hundred kilometres or so up the road when they stopped for a coffee. These plains are very flat and some would say boring. To a degree that is true but these plains are awesome at the same time. I would not choose to live here but it is great to visit it and take it in. There was no rest stop for Jan & Ross to stop at but they found this driveway to some cattle yards they could use. The whole scene was great so I am glad I got the chance to stop and take some photos.

We then pushed on to the Bourke & Wills Roadhouse which is also known as Four Ways. We had been discussing whether Jan & Ross would choose to leave their van there and would come into Lawn Hill NP with me. They would take their tent and some other comforts but the idea being that they prevent their van from copping stone chips on the gravel road in and being shaken to bits. I threw up the possibility/likelihood that they would love Gregory Downs and may choose to stay a few days there and in which case they would want the comfort of their van whilst there. The road to Gregory Downs was all sealed. They decided to take their van on to Gregory Downs and leave it there to come in to Lawn Hill with me and their tent. That would turn out to be a great decision. With that decided Jan made another good decision, hamburgers for lunch.

Whilst the hamburgers were cooking I put 40 litres of diesel from mine and Ross’s jerry can in my landcruiser. The price for diesel at Julia Creek was $1.49 per litre for diesel and at Bourke & Wills Roadhouse it was $1.74. That was why we did the jerry cans. This is an outback roadhouse in every sense.

We then pushed on to Gregory Downs. On arrival I did not waste any time getting down to the river to get a spot. Whilst I was stopped checking out the signage to see if there were any changes (there are two free camps there, one above the river and one on the river) a very helpful lady pulled up beside me and said there was plenty of room down by the river. That was what I was hoping for. She drove on and I then realized that was Sally who I had met four years earlier when we were there last. So I made the left turn after you come off the bridge and drove down by the bridge to the river. After a quick walk to see what spots were available I found there was one with some decent river frontage and one nearby without. So I called Jan & Ross in on the CB and took the spot away from the river. Then directed Jan & Ross into their spot. I was so glad to get them a spot on the river as I had that experience previously.

I was by a small overflow to the river which was OK but not quite river frontage.

The next morning took a walk up to the town to use the toilet. The sun rises later out here. It was 6.57am when I took these photos.

Back to camp for some eggs. So good.

Then a very nice couple who were on the river frontage next to Jan & Ross packed up and left their spot. We knew they were going from talking to them the night before. At the time we had a plan to leave to go into Lawn Hill the day after so I did not care to much about moving into their spot. But I was beginning to think it was worth it so I kept an eye on their progress. When they were hooking up I got organized very quickly and moved my van into their spot. That was another very good decision. So this is our new spot on the river, both vans with great river frontage.

This river eminates from a spring and so the water is clean and pure and clear. It is amazing and unexpected when you are travelling in the outback. You really have to see it to believe it.

A fun activity on the river is to use a noodle or other floatation device and float down. You greet your neighbours as you go by. It is a real hoot. I should have got the water proof gopro camera sorted out. It would be ideal to video the trip down the river.

I met up with Ken and Sue who we had met at Winton. They pulled in to camp that day. Ken had mentioned about how the river widens out a whole lot more a couple of hundreds yards further upstream which I did not know. So took a walk up there and it was just lovely and beautiful for a swim. It made for a much longer float downstream as well. It was a lot of fun.

That afternoon Sally was doing her daily feeding of the Whistling Kites.

Earlier in the day I went out to find some firewood so that night we had another good fire.

The previous evening, ie the day we arrived we met a couple who had done a day trip into Lawn Hill NP rather than tow their van in. That got Jan & Ross thinking. If we did the same they would not have to worry about tenting it at Lawn Hill and as we had a great spot on the river we would be passing that up by taking my van in and putting theirs in storage. So they made the decision to just do a day trip as well. I was totally fine with that as I took my van and camped there at Adels Grove Van park 10km short of the NP) four years earlier. So on Tuesday morning we got away reasonably early and drove to Lawn Hill NP. On the way we saw this dingo which had been right on the road but as we came over the crest he trotted off a bit but we were still able to get a distant video. The road in was really good. It must have been recently graded. It was a lot better than when I towed my van in four years earlier.

We arrived at the NP and we got ourselves sorted with what walks we were going to do. As I started to walk on the only shoes I had brought that day had a blowout. Both left and right gave way with the sole in the toe. I had previously had to glue the heels but the toes were fine. But not now. So I then got some cable ties and fixed them up and they were fine for the day. But I will have to get some more glue and fix them up as they are very comfortable walking boots and I have more big walks to do.

We then headed off to Indarri Falls. This is a couple of kilometres to walk and is just beautiful. The Upper Gorge spills down to the Middle Gorge creating great waterfalls and swimming area. People can canoe up to this spot and haul their canoes to the Upper Gorge to paddle further on.

We then walked on to the Upper Gorge. Rather than take the steep climb we went the longer and gentler climb.

We then reached the Upper Gorge Lookout. Very nice. When we were here four years earlier there was a big mob of pigs roaming around below.

We started making our way back and I saw this gheko (or similar) critter. He posed nicely for a photo.

This was a nice view of a wide part of the of the Upper Gorge.

We continued to walk on via Indarri Falls again and then up on to the rim of the gorges. There were some nice views from there.

It was certainly a testing and strenuous walk. Poor Jan & Ross weren’t keen on the hills to be climbed. But we arrived back at the NP grounds and had lunch.

We then drove to Adels Grove where I wanted to show Jan & Ross the campground there. It has just been taken over by new management but they haven’t got their act together yet. Then drove back to our camp. We were hot from the trip so had a swim to cool off. We met a big bunch of nice people who were all gathered for happy hour and to get news of the road into the NP so we were able to fill them in.

Wednesday came around and it was another beautiful day on the river with lots of swims and floating down the river. We went up to the pub and had a steak sandwich for something different.

That night we did a damper in the camp oven. It was pretty good, perhaps not our best but it was fun.

Thursday was another great day on the river with a trip to the café. Yes tiny Gregory has a little café. I took a short walk along the only other off street. There is only about ten houses in town.

So that ended our time at Gregory Downs and Lawn Hill. We’d had five nights there at Gregory and it was the highlight of the trip so far in my book. We repaid the compliment of letting a couple of campers know we were leaving the next day. So one of them was all ready to go when I drove out. He was very thankful and then pulled into my spot.