Day 79: Wed 13 Jul - Lawn Hill

Day 79: Wed 13 Jul - Lawn Hill 


It was fresh again this morning, 6.6 Deg said Wendy, but it turned out to be another glorious sunny day with no clouds, and some wind which eventually eased by the evening. The moon was almost full last night and like day light outside. It’s been very quiet, but an annoying downside to this campground is that almost every site has a fire pit, which most campers seem to feel compelled to setting ablaze. Unfortunately, the campgrounds sit in a bit of a hollow, and as the cool night air sets in and the wind drops, the smoke spreads through the campground and lingers, making its way into the van. The smoke is particularly thick tonight. This morning I was up and away by 8:00am, heading down to the National Park to walk the three main trails to the left of the ranger station - the Indarri Falls track, Duwaddarri Lookout and the Upper Gorge Lookout. Noeleene stayed behind at the van keeping herself occupied reading, making blueberry muffins and just relaxing. Greg and Wendy walked the Constance Range Track which I had intended to walk too, if I felt up to it after the main walk, but after 2.5hrs I decided I had seen enough over the past two days. I will save that walk for another visit if I ever return. Today’s walk was very scenic, very well marked and just an amazing walk with some fantastic scenery. If I was staying another day, I would be happy to do it again - it's quite spectacular in places. I returned to the ranger station and stopped for a snack before returning to the van for lunch and to carry a few more running repairs (we noticed the microwave also came adrift and needed securing again). A bit of a nap was in order, followed by coffee and one of Noel’s muffins, before a short ride out and back from to the National park entrance with Greg. On return it was time to start packing away the awning and matts and prepare to leave early tomorrow morning. The aim is to make an early start so I can fill up with water before we leave, and get through the worst of the dirt road before the incoming traffic starts. Being State of Origin night, dinner was at Greg and Wendys (Hot Dogs and chips) except one splitter who had a fish wrap. As we have no internet or reception, we wandered down to the the camp kitchen / cafe to watch some of the game on a large TV, but it was very smoky, so we decided to call it the day after about 15minutes, and to wait to hear the results on the news tomorrow. Overall, Lawn Hill is very worthwhile visiting, the walks have some of the most spectacular scenery I've seen in Australia, and I could occupy another two days at least with a paddle and swim in the gorge and walking any of the tracks again. Facilities and services here are little lacking, but they are  not show stoppers. Lawn Hill is highly recommended.




Lawn Hill Creek

Lawn Hill Creek - Plenty of fish

Lawn Hill Creek with a lovely backdrop

Duwadarri Lookout above

Walk to Indarri Falls


Walk to Indarri Falls

 Indarri Falls

Indarri Falls

Indarri Falls


Indarri Falls

Lawn Hill Creek

The Trail

The Trail

Upper Gorge



Upper Gorge Lookout

Upper Gorge Lookout selfie

To Duwadarri Lookout

To Duwadarri Lookout

Indarri Falls Lookout

Indarri Falls Lookout

To Duwaddari Lookout

Duwaddari Lookout

Amazing Views from Duwaddari Lookout

From Duwaddari Lookout

From Duwaddari Lookout

Coming down from Duwaddari Lookout

Coming down from Duwaddari Lookout



Looking up from outside the van

Another gorgeous sunset

End of another great day.


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 58: Wed 22 Jun - Port Douglas to Cooktown

Image
Day 58: Wed 22 Jun - Port Douglas to Cooktown Towed 265km (5,124 towed this trip) 20 – 26°. Partly cloudy all day with light winds in Port Douglas, winds becoming stronger and gusty in Cooktown. The forecast is for winds gusting to 60km/h for the rest of the week in Cooktown, apparently not unusual at this time of year. We drove away from the Big 4 in Port Douglas just before 8:00am, and had a good run back up Mt Molloy onto the Mulligan Highway north to Cooktown. There was very little traffic and road conditions were fantastic  all the way - some of the best this trip. There were a couple of steep but short climbs along the way, but no problem - I'm very happy with the towing, handling and fuel economy of the Wildtrak. Even with about 10km of steep climbing today, pulling almost 3 tonne, we averaged less than 16lt/100km for the trip. We also had a very strong side wind which pushed us around a bit for the last 50km. After 155km, our first stop was for coffee at the Palmer Riv...
Read more

Day 36: Tue 31 May - Gladstone to Yeppoon

Image
Day 36: Tue 31 May - Gladstone to Yeppoon 151km Towed [Total driven this trip 3,626km - 3,300km towed]   15 – 27°. We woke to an overcast and mild morning, and a lovely pink sky. We packed up, said our goodbyes, and got away from Gladstone a little after 8:30am, and it was a good feeling to be back on the road again. It was only a short 151km drive to Yeppoon which we did without stopping. The wind which picked up slightly around mid morning had eased by the time we arrived in Yeppoon shortly after 11am. Our stay for the next 5 nights is at the Blue Dolphin Caravan Park - it's quite small, a bit dated, but very clean, and the caretakers are lovely. It suits us due it its central location and easy access to everything we need while in Yeppoon. The large concrete slab is a bonus too. After setting up, we locked the van and headed down to the beach for lunch - burgers overlooking the beach and stunning blue water. Next on the agenda was a visit to Capricorn Gardens Aged Care Facility ...
Read more

Day 61: Sat 25 Jun - Cooktown

Image
Day 61: Sat 25 Jun - Cooktown 21 – 27°. An overcast morning, clearing to a mostly sunny day. Winds still annoying at 26km/h, gusting to 41km/h (but it felt much stronger at times). Another huge day starting with a challenging  2 hr  morning walk to the top of Mount Cook with Greg, then we all went for a 32km drive out of town to the iconic Lions Den Hotel, stopping at the Black Mountains on the way. On our return we stopped for a walk at Keatings Lagoon, a wetland  5 km out of Cooktown  just off the Mulligan Highway. We got back to the van at about midday, had some lunch and a snooze, then I set off on a bike ride to a few more local sites around Cooktown and along the foreshore. When i returned, I carried out a few checks on the van in preparation for our departure to   Mareeba tomorrow morning ( We'll be pleased to see the back of these strong gusting winds) . We topped of another great day with lovely dinner at the RSL.  Views over Cooktown and Ende...
Read more