Day 77: Mon 11 Jul - Mittigudi Creek to Lawn Hill

Day 77: Mon 11 Jul - Mittigudi Creek to Lawn Hill (Adels Grove Camping Ground)

Towed 129km

10 to 27 Deg. Quite a fresh to start the day, with a sneaky breeze, warranted turning on the heater to take the chill out of the air. We had a fantastic sleep, and it was a nice change to only wake once through the night. Most of the morning was very fresh with a solid breeze, but it dropped after 10:00am and became a magnificent day with more blue sky and no clouds. We packed up and drove away from our overnight camp just before 8:00, continuing west along the Wills Development Road which was mostly very good sealed road with some sections being only single lane. We arrived at Gregory for our first stop and early mornos at about 09:30. With a solid wind by this time, it was very fresh here, and as there is nothing to see, we were soon on our way again heading west along Wills Road to Lawn Hill. We were expecting 91km of dirt road, but it was sealed for the first 15km, then intermittently sealed with gravel sections which was quite good, but with some sections of very rough road and corrugations. As was neared Adels Grove, the road deteriorated with worse corrugations and washouts from recent rains. Overall, we thought it was quite a good road - better than expected, until we opened our van doors on arrival. Greg and Wendy faired worst with a smashed glass oven door, a broken shower fan and a buckled shower door. We suffered a dislodged freezer door, with all the contents spilling on to the floor - including a tub of ice-cream which melted. There were a few other minor fittings which came loose including the microwave which did stay in place, but thankfully, nothing too disastrous. Adele Grove campground is located 10km from Lawn Hill Gorge (Boodjamulla National park), and is without 240v power supply and no connected water. The campground has two camp options; we are parked in the top campground which a nice spot backing onto the fence with plenty of sunlight to charge our solar panels.The lower level ‘Grove’ campground is set amongst shady tropical trees alongside the Lawn Hill Creek, although very nice, is not practical for our three day off-grid stay. With neither water nor electricity, it seems a bit expensive at $44 per night, but it is very remote and quite a good set up. They do have separate showers and ablutions that we can also use, and a water point for refilling our RV tanks when needed and for when we leave. After cleaning up the mess in our vans and carrying out a few running repairs, Greg and I headed off on our bikes for a 3km ride (which was really a 10km+ ride) each way to the Lawn Hill Gorge to scope out the different walking tracks of varying distances and grades for tomorrow. The last 3 km into the gorge was very rough, with corrugations along a dusty dirt road, not ideal on a flat bar road bike. It was a magnificent sunny afternoon with no wind, and when I got back to the van, we had a stroll through the lower Grove campground along the very picturesque Lawn Hill Creek, before returning for sundowners, dinner and a quiet night indoors.