Ravenshoe and the Millstream Falls

After leaving Archer Creek, we stopped at Millstream Falls. A nice easy walk down a bitumen path to a platform overlooking Australia’s broadest waterfall.

The beautiful Millstream Falls

The campground at Ravenshoe (Camps 6: 235) is actually right in town and next door to the Historical Railway which is operational most Sundays, but at the time of our visit, it had been recently derailed and thus it was not running. The railway volunteers offer a very efficient hot water showers for a gold coin donation as well as the toilets. The campground is virtually on the main street (which is relatively quiet at nights as the highway by passes Ravenshoe).

Lo and behold we parked right next to Brian and Lorraine, whom we had first met back at Walker Creek (heading to Karumba) and again just at Cumberland. We made more new friends here esp Ros and Trevor from the Central Coast, travelling with their Winniebago.

We spent the afternoon, chatting and get acquainted with the town. Just across the road is a FoodWorks supermarket and a Laundromat. We enjoyed a rambling stroll up the main street, where you’ll discover the normal range of shops, including a newsagent, pharmacy and a IGA supermarket. Up the top end is a wonderful local art gallery called Win’s and you’ll get to meet the artist, Winsome, who paints lovely scenes of the surrounding countryside. She also has some lovely hand-blown glass works, and some local woodwork that are of a high standard and a few miscellaneous items, including art cards. I can recommend the fish and chip shop that is the other side of the Laundromat and their pizzas look scrumptious and I was told that it tastes good too! The nearby bakery is also highly recommended by yours truly.

The lovely eggplant coloured plumes of the tall native grasses

On the first full day there we went for a drive to Tully Falls, which was a lovely drive but I was disappointed to discover that there are no waterfalls except in the wet season, due the construction of a hydro electric scheme somewhere and this has severely restricted the amount of water flowing at other times. There is a short walk adjacent to the lookout and the little creek and subsequent waterfall is delightful. We didn’t go much further and thus didn’t see what was at the end of the walk, probably just another look at the dry granite where the waterfall should be.

The lovely Little Millstream Falls - note the grass in the foreground

On the return trip we called in at the Little Millstream Falls and this is truly delightful. You can walk all the way to the bottom and can even swim in the pools at the bottom. Make sure to stop and the first major U bend in the walk and you can walk out the top of the waterfalls and look down. I wish it had been a warm day as I just love to swim under waterfalls, there’s just something magic about it.

Thundering at Little Millstream Falls

Contemplating at the base of Little Millstream Falls

That night we cooked & sampled our first Frittata. I chose a zucchini frittata recipe and loved it for the taste and the simplicity. This will become a staple in our camping menus.

On the Sunday we went to the local Uniting Church which though it was with a style & songs that we knew some 20 years ago, it was very friendly and once again we were invited to fellowship afterwards with them.

Archer Creek

Leaving the chimney

Before leaving the chimney,  we had a last minute chat with  new friends Brian & Lorraine, whom we had met back in Walker's Creek.

We stopped for lunch at Georgetown and did a bit of housekeeping, checking phone calls and internet. We met up with a previous camping neighbour, Trevor & Carol and spent some time catching up. I just had to show Carol my new crochet piece that she had taught me way back at Gregory Downs. I think I surprised both with how well I had picked of up her instructions... she is a good teacher!

This is one of the greatest aspects of freedom camping, it is so easy to make friends and it is not uncommon to meet them again and again, especially on the more remote routes. Once we hit the coast there are many more options on which way to travel as where to stay and so it is a lot more possible to not meet up again.

Anyway, we continued on to Mt Surprise and then Archer Creek where we stopped for 2 days. Michelle wanted a day of total relaxation and no travelling for her birthday. Bob spoilt her by making lunch and dinner. Brian and Lorraine rolled up in the van later on during the day! :)

Camp ground at Archer Creek

We enjoyed a little walk along Archer Creek which is a nice but very cold creek. You can hear the traffic since the camp ground is right alongside the highway but mostly it is bearable and quietens down generally at night.

Cumberland Mine Historic Site (The Chimney)

The Chimney had been recommended to us a few times and so we had to go there. It is a large quiet area on an historic mine site. There is a lovely billabong there with water lilies that are flowering right now. We liked it a decided to stay here for 2 nights. Just before dusk each night, the local Brahmin cattle amongst the caravans to get some fresh grass. They are quite shy creatures and liked to be left alone.

That first night, our neighbours were 2 Israeli boys and we invited them to share our campfire. From this small beginning we ended up having a mini United Nations evening. We also had a German girl and a French couple join us later. Don't forget Rob is Dutch and I am 2nd generation Australian from English stock. We introduced some of them to the delights of toasted marshmallows.

The next day was spent lazing around. Bob got out the metal detector and played around , finding next to nothing for the effort, whilst Michelle made some more felt animals for her grand daughters. We even had a go at making a new Cheese and bacon Damper – it looks perfect - pity the taste didn’t live up to the visage.

Our fabulous looking Damper

Gilbert River

We camped at Gilbert River (Camps 6: 251). However as we rounded a curve in the road just outside the campsite, we were flagged down.

Ooops

There had been an accident ahead at the single lane bridge. We pulled into the campsite and quickly made our way to the car accident to see if they needed any assistance. (We had both just updated our First Aid Certificates just before we left!)
The driver of a land cruiser had failed to stop in time and rather than hit other vehicles that were waiting for traffic on the bridge to pass, the car had run up the embankment, just missing the guard rails and ran down into the creek itself. The car had a 4 ton trailer on the back and was very fortunate that the trailer didn’t end up rammed into the back of him or toppled on top of him. The driver had sustained back injury and an ambulance had been called. Everything that could be done was done until the ambulance rolled up which took about 90 minutes considering they had to come about 100km.

The car and trailer at odds

We settled in and then talked with neighbours and went for a walk up the mostly dry creek and around the other campground which is on the opposite side of the road. It is shadier there.

The bridge over the Gilbert River

Another brilliant sunset, this time at Gilbert River

Walker's Creek, Normanton & Karumba

We stayed overnight back at Gregory Downs before moving on towards Normanton. We stopped at Burke & Wills for lunch; a pie and sausage roll with chips there (nice & a reasonable price considering the isolation). Then moved on to Bang Bang rest area (Camps 6: 258). Nothing really to comment on in our opinion and it is noisy being on the highway!

Wedge tailed eagle

The next day we fuelled up in Normanton ($1.67 per litre) as we were running on fumes the last 7km. However we found out later that it is around 10 cents a litre cheaper at the Depot in Karumba – oh well!
We stopped by the Tourist Information Centre here and checked out the history of the largest Crocodile caught here. A whopping 8.63 metres or such –a world record catch at the time. There is a life size replica on the main street.

Krys is a tad bigger than Rob

We camped at Walker’s Creek which is about 30km north of Normanton. It is not in the Camps 6 book but is camp number 256 in the Camps 5 book. It is anyone’s guess why it has been left out of Camps 6. It is a big area and apparently can be quite crowded there as campsites in Karumba are quite expensive and frequently booked out well in advance. There is a weir next to the camp. Apparently it doesn’t have water going over it but there sure was a lot of water running over the weir when we were there.

Looking at the weir from the road

Walker's Creek Weir

The toilet is old and decrepit and I wouldn’t use it in a pink fit. It is certainly not maintained by anyone – maybe that is why it has been omitted from Camps 6.

Sunset at Walker's Creek

Moonscape at Walker's Creek

We liked it here. If you are lucky and want shade you might get a spot that overlooks the river, but most are away from the water. Apparently you can fish there but you’d have to be patient, one small group spent all day there and didn’t catch anything!

One of the many Brolgas near Karumba

We made some friends here, esp Lorraine and Brian We enjoyed a happy hour with 4 others the first night.
We left our van here are drove into Karumba to have a look around and to taste fresh barramundi & chips which were absolutely yummy. I am not so keen on Karumba. Having said that, it is chocka block full. I have never seen so many fishing trailers as there. It must be a great place to kick off a fishing expedition that's for sure.

Karumba - looking west up the creek

We much preferred Karumba Point for scenic viewing but truly, unless you are into fishing in a big way, this is one town you can leave off your agenda.
We stayed an extra day at Walker’s Creek just for the opportunity to be lazy and do a few odd bits ‘n bobs.

Karumba - looking out at the Gulf of Carpenteria

Another reason we stayed an extra night in Walker’s Creek was that we could attend church before moving on. We forgot to check the time of the service and found that we were an hour too early, so I went to the Laundromat and Bob went and filled the Robbiebago with water whilst we waited for the appointed hour...10am rolled around and no one came. At 10 past we gave up the ghost. Obviously they had called off the service and hadn’t thought to post a notice to say so for visitors. We left rather disappointed and continued on. We stopped for lunch at Black Bull which is an old railway station that is also a campsite. It too, is not in Camps 6 but it is in Camps 5: 252. It is about 90km east of Normanton. It has toilets and some covered picnic tables. I would consider staying overnight here if we were here later in the day. As it was we kept on going!

Boodjamulla National Park (Lawn Hill)

We decided to leave the Robbiebago at the caravan park next to the Gregory Downs Pub ($8 pn) and also use this 3 night trip into Lawn Hill as a mini trial run for camping up in the Cape early in July.

The first bit of the road to Lawn Hill National Park is mostly bitumen or well graded dirt road that is maintained by a mining company near the park. We stopped at the intersection of the mining road turnoff as there is reception here for the mine and we had lunch whilst we check out our emails and phone messages since there is no phone reception and Gregory Downs nor at Lawn Hill.

After this intersection, the road quickly turns into deep rutted dirt tracks in many parts especially after the recent rains that would have made the roads a dickens of a drive. We had no real problems even though we also had to drive nice and steadily through a few large mud puddles that could have been dicey.

A tad muddy in places on the way in to Lawn Hill

Our friends were going to work for 4 months Adel’s Grove, so we decided to call into them first since it was on the way but we were advised that they had gone for a trek, so we continued onto our campsite. (By the way, Adel’s Grove is a private campground just outside the National Park - and expensive at about $48pn unpowered! Fuel is available here too for $1.98 per litre, but at least it gets you out of trouble if you were caught unprepared!)

We set up in a camping bay and then along came John & Kathy to see us after their walk and for a cuppa and chat.

Our site is home to nesting birds, unidentified by us at this point of time. It was great to sit back and watch them at times. We also saw black cockatoos and sulphur head cockatoos, kites, wrens and crimson .... whilst there. These little nest builders were so fast it was hard to catch them on camera. As you can see I have only 80% of the bird! The pick up an amazing amount of litter and fly it up into a gum tree for building the nest!

Unidentified bird collecting stuff for its nest

After our friends left, we went for a short but pleasant walk through tall palms and what not to the Cascades, only to discover a nice big pool of water with lots of little fish but no cascades as the water wasn’t flowing there at that time.

Both these above are of the pool area at the Cascades

The next day Bob did some fiddling jobs – there always seems to be something that could be done to make something work better or some minor repair. I am lucky to have a hubby who can do these sort of things that make life a tad better. Then we went kayaking with John & Kathy up the Lawn Hill River for a few hours. They came back to our camp and provided sausage sandwiches for a late lunch.

Kayaking up Lawn Hill Creek

On our last full day at Lawn Hill, we went on an ambitious 6 km walk (I reckon they have their distances way out and it is more likely 8km) to the Upper Gorge where we had a lovely view of the various levels of the river and gorge with its corresponding waterfalls. It was quite steep in places and that last kilometre seemingly took forever. I don’t have crook knees but they were sore for 2 days afterward.

One of the small waterfalls on the creek

The most disappointing thing about camping at Lawn Hill is that there are no hot showers. We could have brought in our solar showers had we known that it was cold water only. Nothing can compel me to have cold showers even in the middle of the day when it is the warmest! Finding out that no fires are allowed was also a tad disappointing especially as it wasn't a fire danger season.

Moonrise

Now we know a few more thing about camping and what to bring (and leave behind) when we go camping in the Cape.

All set up for a good night's sleep

Gregory Downs - one of the best free camp spots in Qld

We parted from Sandi and Noel at Mt Isa. We decided to backtrack to Cloncurry rather than chance the shorter dirt roads and slippery mud (it had lightly rained frequently whilst in Mt Isa) before heading north. We had a sticky beak and picnicked at the pretty Chinaman’s Dam just outside Cloncurry before heading north to Gregory Downs.

They breed the cows tough enough here to eat cars!

On the way we stopped by Burke & Wills, just one of the many camp stops made by the famous early explorers. It was just out of here that we started to see a new road sign that is completely self explanatory.

Rob outside Burke and Wills

We were to meet up with good friends. We had met Kathy and John back in WA and spent several camps with them.


We arrived before them and waited at the camp spot just near the pub, (Camps 6: 227).

Overlooking Gregory Downs Campsite

Our friends rolled up an hour later and directed us to camp down at the river even though there are signs NOT to camp alongside the river. They had obviously been there previously.

What a delightful place. We parked right on the water’s edge next to an old wooden bridge, however the next morning Bob moved us to a place a bit further back as a vehicle driving over it makes quite a racket esp if you like your sleep.

Camping right alongside the river

The council even has rubbish bins down at the riverside that they regularly service and the cops come past waved friendly like to the campers. We think the sign is there to cover them for insurance purposes as it will flood in the wet season and the tracks were as rough as any we’ve come across and made worst in the slightest bit of rain.

Michelle & John supervising the campfire

It is all to do with the type of black (or red) clay soil in the north up these last 500 or more kilometres. (Remember our story back at Nindigully Pub!) Now this is a site I could stay at for a week easily. There are no toilets or showers here or even up top at the ‘correct’ camp spot. However just across the road from the pub is a public toilets and solar hot water (that is mildly warm to hot!)

Camping lifestyle

The weather was a little windy with quite cold mornings, but the days are delightful, especially considering it is in the middle of winter here. We met other campers, had drinks and shared fires etc. We took a few walks along the river and tracks. A few tried fishing and yabbying but with not much success that we noticed. It was just nice to sit back and watch the fast river flowing by with nothing to cause any kind of stress except what to choose for dinner each day.

Rob watching the camp fire

We did get a bit of rain part way through our stay and that made it difficult for vans to leave but not impossible. The worry was how much more rain are we to get over the next few days especially as John and Kathy had a commitment to start work at Adel’s Grove in Boodjamulla National Park (also known as Lawn Hill) on Monday. We were booked into Lawn Hill camp grounds from Saturday but otherwise, our time was our own. John & Kathy decided to leave a day early to beat the mud if it continued to rain. Fortunately it didn’t rain anymore and we could still get out the next day, even though the track was still muddy.

Boiling the billy and cooking in the camp oven