A French Tale

Our attention was first drawn to the young couple as we returned from a drive to Adel’s Grove to our campsite in the National Park camping area at Lawn Hill (or Boojamulla). They had parked in the ‘day use’ area of the Gorge recreation section and the rear door of the 4WD they had was open onto the road. The girl of the pair was seated further into the road adjacent to the door so that I slowed and veered off the road a bit to avoid the obstacle. I looked as we passed and got a friendly grin from the lad of the pair. There were plenty of other shady spots so it seemed a bit strange to set up right there. Tess and I later in the day walked to Indarri falls (see the photos in a previous post) for an afternoon swim, the best time to be at the falls as most people restrict their activities to the morning. The young couple turned up after us and were less than friendly in not returning a hello when we offered one but she plonked all her stuff down on a canoe landing platform so we had to step over it to get past. Didn’t faze her and she made no move to shift it whenever we went past. Jokingly, Tess and I agreed they must be French bringing to the fore all our unconscious biases.
Next morning we saw each of them using the facilities/amenities of the campground but returning to the car park reasoning they had avoided the steep $5.60 per person fee demanded by the National Park. That meant they were ‘tight’ Frenchies!
That morning Tess and I walked the 'edge of the gorge' path via great lookouts and this brings you to a point looking down on the beautiful Indarri Falls. We arrived just in time to see the ‘Frenchies’ paddling in a canoe to reach the falls with a pink ball that they were throwing ahead and retrieving and taking photos. As they mucked around I saw something ‘tossed’ and an attempt to retrieve it that looked desperate and it became clear they had lost something valuable. Tess and I muttered several possibilities about non-waterproof and waterproof cameras or wallets and then suggested they were lucky there were no video cameras around otherwise they were likely to end up in bigger trouble by capsizing. Right on cue the lad attempts to exit the canoe and tips it up so a substantial amount of water enters but no capsize. See! No video camera otherwise…
They start peering into the water and it is deep enough to make seeing the bottom difficult but I gauge they have missed the spot it went in. The vantage point we had made it easy to pinpoint some features that allow an ‘X’ to mark the spot in my mind.

I went down and found they had lost a waterproof ‘GoPro’ type camera of a grey colour with black bordering. Others were going to lend them goggles upon return to the campsite so they could return to find it. I suggested to the lad he was looking in the wrong place but he was firm in his conviction that where he was looking was correct. I asked “Have you found it? His answer of “no” made me say “Well it is time to look somewhere where you don’t think it is if it is not where you think it is”. I offered assistance and he said “Well you can look where you want but I think it is here”. I dived in and started searching where I figured it was and on the third dive I found it. I surfaced without showing the camera and asked what colour it was again. The girl showed me a wrist camera or watch that reputedly had the same colour and I raised the camera above the water saying “What? Like this?” They were elated and the lad offered I should have a drink with them later but as I passed the camera back to them and with quite an audience by now I asked “Where did you camp last night?” The lad was honest and said the carpark. I asked if they had used the facilities and again he replied honestly so I said that they had offended the spirits of the Waanyi and they must pay for the use of the camp. Just to make sure I repeated it and he nodded sheepishly.
Bet they didn’t pay...and they were French!

By G.

A detour to Lawn Hill

We took a 3 day detour to Lawn Hill Gorge or Boodjamulla National Park.
Rather than drag our caravan over 500 kms of gravel road (OK the first bit is sealed highway) we decided it would be quicker and easier to leave our caravan in Camooweal (at the o-so-accommodating Camooweal Roadhouse) and travel light. Just taking our little 2-man tent - we'd booked into the pocket-sized national park campground.
It was obvious that we weren't the only ones doing that!

It is a pretty special place.
After 5 hours of driving across the drought-dry Barkly Tableland it is a real oasis.
A spring-fed river which has cut a gorge through red sandstone ranges.
Its banks are lined with palm trees, pandanus and other such greenery.
The water is an amazing green colour, sometimes jade green, sometimes almost florescent.

We had a creek-side site, although we couldn't actually see the creek as there was a fair bit of vegetation between us and the water.
We took our own canoe, although you can hire canoes there ($50 for 2 hours).

We canoed a couple of times.
Did a bit of walking.
Swam - a lot! One day 3 times (and I had a shower, I don't think I've ever been so wet!)

favorite swimming spot Indarri Falls

G got up a couple of mornings to witness the sunrise and another day went out lat to watch the sun set.

We ventured to Adel's Grove, 10 kms away to get ice. There are camping grounds there - but not as nice as ours! And costs a lot more. However there is a bar and restaurant there so we also had lunch and drinkies while we were there.

Along the Landsborough highway - Barcaldine, Longreach, Winton, Cloncurry.

We have passed through some iconic Queensland towns. Towns of legend or song.
Barcaldine, Longreach, Winton, Cloncurry, Mount Isa.

Barcaldine is the birthplace of the Australian Labor Party.
Must see in Barcky is the Tree of Knowledge under which the shearers sat during their strike in the 1890's which led to the start of a political party for the workers.
The tree has been a bit of a bad way over the years especially when it was maliciously poisoned. So a monument was constructed from what was left of the poor old tree - and it is spectacular!
It is huge!
It is rather ugly on the outside but beautiful on the inside.

Longreach, just up the road really put itself on the map by creating an airline.
Qantas was born there in the 1920's.
Also being a bit greedy for publicity or tourists or whatever Longreach also created the Stockmans Hall of Fame. And Outback Heritage Centre.
This is a very nicely curated museum.

Also a must-see is the Qantas museum which is smallish apart from the jumbo jet - whic is big.
The tour of the 747 and the luxury 707 (used by the Jackson Five to get around in its and their heyday) was plenty fascinating.

The other thing we did in Longreach was go on a sunset paddle wheeler cruise which involved food, bush poetry, a light and sound show (ie a film about outlaw Harry Redford aka Captain Starlight) plus the obligatory billy tea and damper.

Winton is famous as the birthplace of Australia's alternative national anthem - Waltzing Matilda.
Also as the centre of the dinosaur universe around here.
There are so many must-sees in winton that we stayed 3 whole days!
You get to see truly-real dinosaur bones with not glass in between at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs. You can watch volunteers chip away the rock to reveal real dinosaur bones. How cool is that?

Then you can drive for an hour the other side of town to Lark Quarry - site of a dinosaur stampede. And you can see the actual footprints in the rock. Cool too, eh?

So much discovering is going on. Phew! It's exhausting!
It's a long way from Winton To Cloncurry - for us oldies towing a caravan anyway so we overnighted at Mckinley at the Walkabout Hotel which if famous for being in the Crocodile Dundee movie - back in the dark ages.

Cloncurry invented the Royal Flying Doctor Service - one of the most amazing things ever.
Actually the Rev John Flynn invented the flying doctor thing as you will all know from your $20 notes.
He must have been quite a persuasive bloke to get it going and the people who helped him must have been pretty special too. The early Qantas people, the guy that re-invented the pedal radio, the doctors.
Amazing vision.

And finally Mount Isa.
What can I say?
It's a mining town with the mine right in town.
It's got shops.
And a great cafe with excellent coffee and yummy cakes.

Houses of Jericho