Day 18- Saturday 31st October
Lawn Hill National Park
We were up and packed nice and early, piled in the car and headed for Queensland! The country flattened out and before we knew it signs welcomed us into beautiful (not so beautiful just yet but I'm sure it'll get there) Queensland.
We stopped in Camooweal for a dirty dim sim and some mechanical advice. The locals directed us to David, a local RACQ mechanic. He must have taken a shine to Jed's country twang and taste for gravel roads as he told us he'd do it on the spot when normally he sends tourists "straight to Mt Isa"! Lucky for us we had immediate service rather than 2-4 week wait they have in Mt Isa. Once he heard we were traveling the dirt tracks and "doing it right" according to David he was very forthcoming with stories and advice, having worked in the areas we're headed for next. Getting our scrub bar fixed cost us $50 but ultimately may have been invaluable!
Out of Camooweal we hit the gravel road again and made short work of our drive to Lawn Hill National Park. Our story tape "Black Tide" was nearing an end and the tense action kept us on the edge of our seat as we drove.
We stopped at Riversleigh to take in some of the country's oldest fossils- crocodiles, turtles and big birds frozen in stone for over 25 million years. Driving on we set up camp at Lot 16 in the Lawn Hill Gorge national park (unpowered site, $5.95 per person per night). As we plan to stay for a couple of days we've set up our tent and really settled in - hello air bed! We are the only people in the entire campsite which is nice, if not a little eerie. We're looking forward to exploring the Gorge tomorrow and finally getting our kayak off the roof rack!
We pulled into Adele's Grove, the shop/pub/campsite at Lawn Hill, for a cool drink and to stock up on ice. While we were there Jed noticed a severe weather warning on Willy Weather and it's safe to say it gave him the willies!! Back at camp we enjoyed a spectacular lightning show over dinner which was, thankfully, to the South of us. However as we get ready for bed the wind picked up and Jed got decidedly tense. After some blustery winds, a few drops of rain and some intense scrutiny of the weather radar Jed was up and about storm proofing our camp and tent - Milly tried her best to be concerned but sleep was calling and the storm couldn't rouse her. Night night Zzzzzzz