The drive to Lawn Hill on Monday was hot and dusty. We passed and stopped at Riversleigh fossil site. The information board recommended doing the walk in the cool of the morning or evening. Since there is no where to stay nearby, to walk you would need to leave around 4:00am. We did just a little of the walk in the heat of the day. Even on just a short walk the abundance of fossils was incredible. There was a cross section of a turtle shell, a massive freshwater crocodile, big flightless bird, python and carnivorous kangaroo (What's up skip? You chewing my hand?).
We found our site at Lawn Hill and boy was it hot! There is little or no shade and the ground is all rock that heats up all day and radiates heat under your tent. Now there is a lot of conjecture amongst people that we spoke to as to where to stay, Lawn Hill or Adele's Grove down the road. About half say one and the other half say the other. We think that Adele's might be better for the green grass and shade but Lawn Hill for the budget. The side story is that a few years ago Lawn Hill had grassy sites and big shade trees. Then some people took over and decided that anything not indigenous had to go. The trees were cut down and the green grass poisoned. We found that the water in our tank under the camper warmed up during the day from the rocks and didn't particularly cool overnight. This, though, did not detract from the beauty of the place.
Chelsea on her horse at camp.
Tuesday we did a walk to the cascades where we saw fish swimming and a turtle. The water here was so very clear. The second walk was to the 'stack', a plateau surrounded by canyon on all sides. The walk up the side was quite strenuous, rock climbing and up stairs. The view at the end was spectacular! We walked right the way around the circumference of the stack. Nicholas did not take photos of the 'culturally significant site' but the view from the 'culturally significant site' was amazing and we snapped plenty.
On the way back to camp, around lunch time, we looked at the canoe hire. The guy convinced us the the five of us could fit in a three seater. We worked quite well with three kids sharing a single seat. After racing back to camp, changing and packing some food we went back and started our two hour paddle up and down the gorge. Eventually the kids worked out you cannot lean over the boat to look at the fish and bubbles. Bit different to grandpa's old boat. It is hard to think of a more pleasant way to experience the whole gorge. At one point we saw our first crocodile, freshwater of about 2m. Poor thing disappeared quick smart as we approached. On the way back down we stopped and the girls had a swim around the falls and there was some snacks also.
Wednesday morning we did the upper gorge walk early. From the lookouts we could see where we paddled the day earlier. This was a long walk some 7km and the return was mostly in shade and it was still hot (those in Melbourne shivering through the last of winter it is seriously high 30s up here). We all agreed that paddling was the better way to view the gorge.
As we were to leave Lawn Hill the next day, we went into Adele's Grove to refuel for the next leg of the Savannah Way. The girls went to the river and played with the tyre tubes down a bit of a waterfall. We met another family headed for Darwin that we all got along well with and we hope to see again in Darwin. Eventually we managed to pull the girls from the water to go back to camp for dinner.
Chantelle minus tube.
Thursday we travelled to meet the Savannah Way again. But before we hit the road we climbed the Constance range to watch the sunrise over the gorge. Chelsea came up with the idea and we all thought we would do the walk. At 5:50am all were woken and all keen for the walk. The first bit of the walk was difficult in the low light but as it got closer to sunrise (7:00am) the walk became easier. From the top of the range the view of the sunrise was awesome.
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