Stop #17 - Gregory Downs

Leaving Normanton, Jackie and the kids look forward to spending time in a more lush and fertile environment, where the kids can safely swim in fresh water creeks and rivers.  Our destination is Lawn Hill and Adel's Grove.  With mixed information from other travellers, we are no sure what the dirt road into these places are like, so we head to Gregory Downs, which we know is all bitumen and road closures should pose no threat.

On the way, we see lots of Bird of Prey, which we call BOPs.  These birds (Kites and Wedged Tail Eagles) are a novelty to us, as we see them circling above the skyline, riding the thermals, and scavenging off roadkill.  

The roads are also very straight, sometimes changing to single lane only.  This made it challenging when a Road Train races towards you, where you quickly need to move off the road and give full clearance to the behemoth.

 WARNING - Skip the next couple of paragraphs if you are eating or have a weak stomach.

We've not seen much roadkill to date, much less than we had anticipated.  We're able to avoid most of them, however travelling at such speeds and with the loss of concentration, I see a large Kangaroo (that had previously been run over) in the middle of our lane.  Thinking it was too dangerous to swerve out of the way, I line up the car to go over the middle of the vehicle.  The first half of the car went over fine, however we hear and feel a big thud at the back of the car.  I look in the rear vision mirror and see the kangaroo propelled sideways by the caravan rear wheel.

  

We stop at a rest stop a few klms up the road, so I can inspect the damage.  Exiting the car, I can immediately smell the stench of the kangaroo.  There is blood and matter splattered all over the front of the caravan, Jackie gagging at the site of it. 

 I inspect the underside of the car and caravan, seeing fur and chunks everywhere.  Upon looking at the caravan axle, I spot what I thought was a lengthy strip of skin.  I find a stick to remove the skin, and find out it was not skin but the entrails of the kangaroo.  The kids find it fascinating, Jackie ran for the hills.

On the subject of roadkill, there are plenty of cattle on the road, requiring us to slow down and stop at some stages, fearing they would run in front of the vehicle.

We re-fuel at the Bourke and Wills roadhouse, allowing me to also hose off and scrub some of the kangaroo from the car.  Knowing we'd be free camping at Gregory Downs, I knew this would be the only chance I'd have of cleaning the car and caravan for the next couple of days.

Arriving at Gregory Downs late in the afternoon, we head down to the river, ignoring the No Camping signs.  We've read that these are more for safety reasons, and that it was the done thing to camp by the creek.  Other campers stay up the top of the bridge, baking in the hot sun; they soon join us down by the cool, sheltered creek.  As we head down the dirt trail to the creek, we see plenty of space and decide to move closer to some other campers, to make room for others to come and for safety reasons.  A group of campers had set up their campervans down by the river, and had their camp fire blazing.

As I pull up, I ask a couple closer to the bridge, whether they were ok for us to set up beside them.  They were friendly and had no problem with us setting up next to them.

What happens next is something that disappoints me, and saddens me, for my kids to witness and experience.  I guess it is also part of their learning experience and something that I've had to explain to them.

As I un-hitch the caravan and start setting up, one of the men from the river campsite walks past with his bull terrier in tow.  I try to engage, smile and go on with my work.  He paces up and down and comments that there is plenty of space out here and that some people don't like to be cramped and live like people in the city.  I look at him puzzled, I reply that this is our first time free camping, and I wanted to keep space for others and be closer to other campers for safety; plus the people next to us did not mind us being next to them.  He suggests we should move, and I motioned we were happy where we were.  He scowls  that we stay away from his campfire, and walks off, before telling our neighbours that they were welcome to his campfire.  I look at our immediate neighbours, and they shrug their shoulders.

The kids ask what that was all about, they were puzzled as we had experienced only nice and open people to date, and that the man had not "given us a chance".  I explained that there are some people in this world, country, that are like that, and we should just ignore them and be friendly to everyone.  I know I joke around with my friends about racism etc, but I can't help think that this man's actions were motivated more by the colour of my skin and my appearance, rather than our/my actions.  With my kids, I don't believe they will experience such racism, as they are not clearly from an ethnic background, and times have changed so much that the next generation will presume it normal; accepting that Australia is multi-cultural, with everyone having the same right to be here.  I hope I am right.

With the bad start aside, we set up and have dinner.  After finishing dinner we set up our chairs in the pitch darkness and wonder at the bright sparkling stars above.  I'd never seen so many stars in the sky before, so bright and each one of them sparkling like diamonds.  

Jai pointed out the Southern Cross, and with so many stars in the sky, it was hard to pick out other formations (not that anyone knew what we were looking for).  We sit outside downing chocolate for a while, the kids mesmerized by the show put on by the stars.  We had to explain to them why we cannot see such things in Sydney, and where we need to be in the middle of Australia to see such a spectacle.

The next morning, our "friendly" campers pack up and leave.  Our kids and Jackie wave goodbye to them, and the first car waves back, with the passenger in our mate's car sheepishly waving back to the kids.  I hope our smiles and gesture help make such people realise that there is nothing to be gained from being nasty to other people, and that we can all have a good time together.

After doing some school work, we venture up to the pub at midday for some lunch.  Jackie visits the General Store, a makeshift storage unit that stores consumables with a long Use By date.  

Jackie tells us that the owner was putting on a Pizza night, raising money for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.  I see no sign outside or advertising for it.  We want to support the local business and a good cause, so we spread the word amongst the other campers, who have now lined the creek where we are camped. 

Whilst at the pub, we make a call to the Council Information Hotline to ask about the road conditions to Lawn Hill.  Being with Optus and Vodafone, there is very little coverage in the bush, so we resort to using the good old telephone booth.  The kids had not seen one in use before, so we take joy in showing them how we used to do things in the olden days.  Another lesson chalked up for the kids.

We escape the scorching afternoon heat by spending the rest of the afternoon floating down the creek, jumping off the swings into the creek and relaxing in the shade.  As per usual, Jackie meets lots of new people and spreads the word about Pizza night.

After toasting marshmallows, we change and head up to Murray's place for pizza.  Grace is ravenous and hangry by this stage, and we hope the pizza will be cooked in quick time.  Arriving at Murray's place, there is no lighting and we drive back and forth trying to find the entrance.  It didn't look like he was doing a roaring trade.  

Surely enough, we are the only ones that have turned up, and Murray was still working on the wood fire and the home made pizza oven.  As expected in the outback, it didn't look like Murray was in a hurry.  Murray introduces his other half, Ronnie, and we strike up interesting conversation about their work, family and his Kokoda Trail ambitions.  Even though relaxed and pedestrian, I think Murray picked up the kids were hungry, especially Grace.  He eventually assembles the pizza and puts them in the oven, bringing them out after a few minutes.  

Much to our horror, the pizzas are burnt to a crisp, the crust burnt black to 5mm thick.  Unperturbed, Murray slices the pizzas and serves them to us. I watch as Grace grabs a few pieces and starts eating.  Out of kindness and hunger, she forces herself to eat the charred slabs of pizza, eat bite making me cringe with fear.

Jai was not so obliging, even though he manage to eat some of the pizza, he mainly stuck to eating the chicken pieces that Ronnie had popped into the conventional oven.  I was proud of the children, as they showed awareness and politeness beyond their years, appreciating the hospitality and kindness of Murray and Ronnie.  They did not whinge or complain about the burnt food or timeliness, and soaked up the event as another experience for the trip.  After devouring Ronnie's homemade icecream late in the night, we make our donations to Murray's cause, thank them both for their hospitality and bid them farewell.  

We sneak in another session of star gazing, before the kids hit the sack and sleep soundly after a big day of swimming.

Next morning Jackie scoots off on her run, and not surprisingly finds a running partner.  Trying to pack up and whilst making the kids breakfast, I set them a challenge of running up and down the creek 4 times.  Jai and Emma make it half way, determined Grace finishes he challenge quicker than I anticipated.  

I cook rice for the first time on this trip, the kids missed having fried eggs and rice for breakfast.

We find that the road to Lawn Hill is still closed, and will be closed for a few weeks yet.  The road to Adel's Grove is also closed, but access can be had via the alternate road.  We make a decision to bypass Lawn Hill, and head south along the bitumen to Mt Isa, where we hope to stock up and look to repair the suspension on the car.

We had a great time at Gregory Downs, and the kids thoroughly enjoyed their first free camping experience.  We'd certainly recommend Gregory Downs, and unfortunately Lawn Hill and Adel's Grove will have to be wait for another time.

Gregory Downs - By Jai

Today we went to Gregory Downs from Karumba. On the way there, we stopped at a famous roadhouse called Bourke and Wills to clean off the kangaroo that we hit. If I didn’t mention this before, on the way there, a dead kangaroo went under our car and hit our spare tyre. It bounced up like a frog and hit our caravan and made a disgusting mess.  

While dad was cleaning the mess off our car and caravan, we got some nice, sweet cold ice-blocks because it was boiling hot. We were all sweating so much, I had never sweated so quickly before.

We soon got back on the road for about an hour and a half then eventually we arrived at our first free camping stop at Gregory Downs. When we got there we went in the river to have a quick swim.

 It was very very very refreshing, after our long and hot trip. Emma and Grace put mud all over their selves. That night we had noodles for dinner and then we had dessert under the stars. I was amazed by how many and how bright they were, I think I saw the Southern Cross.

Mum wasn’t feeling well when we woke up the next morning, so she had an hours sleep while the rest of us swam in the river. When mum woke up she was feeling a lot better. Then she joined in with the rest of us. We had a lot of fun floating down the strong currents of the river and swinging off the rope that was attached to the tall tree.

After that we went to the pub for lunch. We had calamari, fish n’chips and a steak burger. In the afternoon we played even more in the river. Before we had dinner that night we made a camp fire and toasted marshmallows.

After that we had dinner at Murrays house, Murray is the owner of the locaI grocery store of Gregory Downs. Dinner was delicious, apart from the burnt pizza. After that we went to bed. When we woke up, we packed up and went to Mt Isa.

Stop #15 - Karumba (via Innot Hot Springs and Undarra)

We excitedly head west after enjoying exploring the northern QLD region, not having previously explored much of the area west of QLD.

The Land Cruiser works hard towing the car up the Atherton tablelands for the last time, and we transition from the Rainforest to Outback scenery. We head to Karumba, a reknowned fishing destination for avid QLD fishermen.

On the way, we take a series of overnight stops to break up the long drive.  We notice that mobile reception for Optus and Vodafone is sparse, and we lose reception for the next couple of weeks.  We first stop at Innot Hot Springs, where we check into a "resort" that harnesses the natural hot springs.

The resort is based on the red dust that will now plague us for the rest of the journey, covering the car and caravan, as well as making it's way into the caravan via foot traffic.

The resort has a number of outdoor pools, with the temperature varying for each pool.  A pool containing room temperature water is the first, which feels like cold water after one has been in the warmer ones.  The adjacent pool is warmer, with the last outdoor pool being hot.  There are a number of indoor pools, again with varying temperatures, ranging up to extremely hot.  With the extreme temperatures, and potentially so the senior guests can have an escape, children are not allowed into the indoor pools; so we spend our time in the outdoor pools.

After the overnighter at Innot, we move onto Undarra, where we again stay at the Undarra Experience resort.  Getting there mid afternoon, I note the petrol bowser reads $1.98 per litre for Diesel; a sign to come for petrol prices in the outback.

After setting up, I teach the boy the art of the catapult.

The resort is well decked out, with Eco tents and cabins made from used train coaches.  The main restaurant and dining areas are made of wood, creating the quintessential Aussie outback feeling.  Fire pits are set up under the heavy duty awning, as well as outdoor fire pits to allow patrons to further experience the outback feeling.

We head to the Lava tubes that Undarra is reknowned for, and have guided tour with the resort guide.  He provides good insight to the history of the area and the previous owner of Undarra, explaining how the resort came to be.  The guide also explains the volcanic activity around the region, and how the lava tubes came to be.  The lava tubes have essentially become caves and crevices, not particularly exciting for me.  The highlight of the tour are the bats that now inhabit the caves, and the bones of animals that met their demise at the bottom of the caves.

Leaving Undarra, we then set ourselves for some long drives to Karumba.  We pass by Croydon, and then hope to do our first free camp at Normanton. 

Arriving late into Normanton, we see a campervan bogged in the free camp area and one other camper already set up.  We decide this is not a good location for our first free camp, so we check into the caravan park in downtown Normanton.

I also note that the car is riding somewhat lower than I remembered.  Pumping up the rear airbags, I find that one of them has a leak, so I lower the pressure on the other one, to keep the level even.  This will need to be fixed at the next major town, as the ride is much lower than I would prefer, and the vehicle now bounces around more than I am comfortable with.

We head off to Karumba the next day, after doing some sightseeing in Normanton the next morning.  We visit the Information centres, which is like a makeshift museum of the town's history.  We also see a life sized replica of "Kris" the largest crocodile ever captured in the wild.  It's hard to believe a creature of this size ever existed in our waterways, according to the locals a crocodile only a few feet smaller currently lives in the Normanton river..

On our drive up to Karumba we encounter some of the locals wondering the road, we're careful not to agitate them for fear of starting a stampede.

Arriving at Karumba We check into our Karumba Sunset caravan park, which is at Karumba Point.  As per the other caravan parks out this way, it is devoid of grass and prominently red dust.  In this instance, the red dust had turned into red mud, due to the recent heavy rains.

Moving to our spot, I eye out the long termers in the caravan park, who've set up for months, stocking up their fridges with fish.  It seems 80 percent of the occupants have a boat and enclosed awnings, presumably to keep the flies and midges at bay.

Driving into the park we see locusts flying in every direction, as they are disturbed by vehicles of pedestrians. The town has been gripped by a plague of locusts for the past months, with crops and trees devastated by the insatiable pests.  Our kids have fun collecting and playing with them, helping reduce the population.

After setting up, we go for a bike ride down to the local boat ramp.  It has a large carpark, indication of the masses that come this way during the peak season.  Unfortunately we've come a little late for the Barramundi season, however they still should be around and the blue salmon should be running soon.

The boat ramp overlooks the Gulf of Carpentaria, a wide span of water that extends as far as the eye can see.  There are no waves to speak of, and the water is murky brown.  When looking into the tide times, I note that the gulf only has two tides per day, as opposed to the four that we normally have along the eastern seaboard.

Alongside the boat ramp are rocks, a beach and other rocks.  The beach drops off quickly into deep water, causing eddies directly in front of the beach.  The foreshore is filled with landbased fishermen, who are busy catching just legal sized Bream.  I see a Grunter being caught, but no other fish of significance.

We ride further up the street to check out what the point has to offer, noting a few fish and chip shops and the pub by the water, which everyone says we need to go to, to view the sunset over the gulf.  Unfortunately for us, the weather forecast for the time we are at Karumba is for rain and showers.

After reading some positive reviews and personal recommendations, we decide to have fish and chips at Ash's Fish and Chips.  The place is certainly well set up, with nice tables and fans out the front of the ship, and colourful murals depicting what Karumba and the Gulf has to offer.

We scour the menu inside the shop, and I ask the male attendant whether they have Spanish Mackeral.  He blankly responds with a no, and other than King Salmon, they only gave locally caught fish (which could be anything, and I am told later is mostly catfish).  I like more certainty with what I consume, and we order the King Salmon (battered and grilled) and some calamari rings.  The price is a little on the high side, higher than what I would expect for a place that should be sourcing their produce locally.  Having said that the price of groceries and consumables are double, if not triple the price of what you’d expect to pay at home; not surprising given the transportation distance to this place.

I also ask the man about fishing tips and places to fish, given the store also sells fishing tackle, I presume they would be in the know.  He was not forthcoming, and spouted that the best place to catch a feed was in his shop.  Not helpful, and I hoped the quality of his food was better than his customer service.

When the food eventually arrives, we unwrap the brown paper parcel outside and inspect the food.  The kids are also eager to sample and compare fish and chips at different locations, and compare it to the now legendary meal we had at Lucinda. 

The chips are brown, looking like they have been around for a while, and the calamari looks like they were out of an I&J packet.  The fish looked crisp, and was not doused with batter.

Well, the chips tasted as they looked, the battered fish was lacking in taste, however the calamari was acceptable but nothing of note.  The grilled fish was also on par, not exception.  The kids and I gave the fish and chips a double thumbs down, and we'd certainly not go back there, even if the food was good (due to the poor customer service).

That afternoon I had down to the beach and observe the fishermen on the shore.  I see a man with two heavy duty fishing rods out, a castnet beside him and a big tackle box.  I strike up conversation with him, and find out that he has not caught anything yet, but is after some bigger fish that hang around the drop off just off the beach.  I ask whether he caught any bait with his cast net, and he laughs saying that he had just bought it and did not really know how to use it.  I told him I'd recently purchased one as well, and was learning, but could show him what I had learnt to date. He was certainly keen to get some tips, and I showed him how to hold the net and demonstrated a few casts.  We talk further of fishing, and he offers me a ride on his boat over the next couple of days, as he was fishing on his own from Mt Isa.  After checking with the Opposition Leader, she grants permission and two days of fishing are locked in.

Since I was out with an fisherman that was familiar with the area, and on a boat, my confidence level of catching fish was high.  To my disappointment, the fisherman prefers the technique of soaking a prawn around spots that he had previously done well before, without using the fish sounder or GPS.  I was a guest on the boat, so I went along with the plan and prayed the fishing gods were with us.

Spot 1 was out in the gulf, where we pushed into a back breaking swell and got soaked by the waves.  No luck, we head back into Spot #2; where we spend the rest of our time.  We haul in plenty of catfish, but no keeper fish.  After the tide turned, I finally land a Blue Nosed Salmon, which was apparently early in the season for this fish.  We catch plenty of other undersized fish, but no other keepers.  I am dropped off at midday, any my fishing buddy continues fishing until the night.  He catches a few keeper Grunter and bream towards the twilight period.

I pan fry the Blue Nosed Salmon that night, and the whole family devours it.  The texture of the fish is similar to that of a Gemfish, soft, oily and juicy.

I venture out on the next day, fishing in the afternoon with the same guy, hoping the change in High tide will be more suited for our fishing.  We experience engine problems and can only fish a few hundred metres away from the boat ramp.

We catch loads of undersized catfish, and only one Black Jewfish is caught by my fishing buddy.  He generously allows me to take the fish home to try.  The fish was approximately 80cm in length, but has a very big and thick frame.  By the time it is filleted, the meat I am able to retrieve is no more than the Salmon I had caught the previous day.  I cook the fish on the BBQ, but it was not such a big hit with the kids.  The fish had larger flakes, not as juicy, and the skin was thicker and malleable.  Jackie and I thought the fish was fine, so we had the fish to ourselves that night.

We leave Karumba after 3 nights, heading South West.  I know the kids and Jackie were bored, with not much else to do in Karumba other than fish and listen to old fishing tales.  I doubt whether I'd ever go back to Karumba, preferring places like Lucinda and the Hinchinbrook area as a fishing destination.

First Free Camping in Gregory Downs - by Grace

After leaving Karumba, we drove a long way and finally arrive at Gregory Downs. We found a great spot near the lovely fresh creek, but some people weren’t very pleasant with us there. A man from one of the groups came and told us not to camp near him, anyway, hopefully that was just a bad start! We ignore him and unpack, then check out the river, which is fresh and has NO crocodiles!

Parking the Caravan right next to the river!!

Once we unpacked, we get our swimmers on and jump in the lovely fresh water, it was beautiful. Emma and I explored the awesome rocks and we found some mud and put it on our face, I know, eeewww! That was our bath so we got our pj’s on and had dinner, which was noodles, YUM!!

On the next day we woke up and did a bit of school work, and then again we play in the water.

We have lunch, then set up the camp fire that we lit that night. We see it is getting dark, so we light the fire and toast marshmallows, and have a chat with our friends. Finally it is 6.00pm so we go and eat our Wood fired pizzas at a man’s house, he was doing it to raise money for The Royal Flying Doctor Service. We wonder what they will be like. We get there and nobody is there, but the people are very nice we had an interesting night, chatting to the owners Murray and Ronnie! The pizzas weren’t that good as they were badly burnt but we ate them to be nice. Then 2 more people came, we get chicken wings and homemade ice-cream, then it got late so we left to go back to the caravan. We got back and watched the majestic stars that twinkled like glitter. That was the most stars I have ever seen!

The next morning we jumped in the water, and floated down the stream, and swung on the rope hanging above the creek.  Mum went running and so dad had the idea to challenge all of us to run 2 kilometres non-stop.  He said ‘’no way you can do that’’! I wanted to prove him wrong so I accepted the challenge, and I made it! Then we were ready to go, good bye Gregory Downs!

I really like our first free camping I am looking forward to the next free camping!