Fri 20 July 2012. Left Richmond at around 8.10 am. Quite chilly - still some frost on the ground when we left. We drove on to Julia Creek and stopped for a coffee. The road here was so straight. In fact we went nearly 20km before there was a slight bend in the road - I wouldn't exactly call it a corner. Julia Creek was a lovely little town but there was a cold wind blowing and the locals were all complaining how cold it was. Once we left Julia Creek we decided to take the Developmental Road which is very different to the highway. This road was a single lane tar road which meant that if the road trains came ..... you got off and let them have it all. So flat and fairly barren. Not too many trees around. We travelled through until the Burke and Wills Roadhouse where we got a site at the caravan park for the night. Pretty cheap for a park - $12 for the night and that included hot showers. The road trains seemed to congregate here and were coming and going all night, it seemed. There were the ones with the cattle and then there were the mining road trains as well.

Sat 21 July. We had an early start because we had been warned of the road conditions after Gregory Downs to Lawn Hill National Park. Up until Gregory Downs the road was pretty good. Gregory Downs was a one pub town (and that was about all it had) so we decided to push on to Lawn Hill. The road to Lawn Hill National Park we better than we were expecting. We travelled on a Saturday and I wonder if there were less road trains on the road because of this. Perhaps we were just lucky. There's about 70km of dirt and probably about 10km of bitumen. Very dusty though. We were pleased how dust proof the inside of the camper was. You arrive at Adels Grove about 10km before the national park entrance. What a beautiful oasis!! We decided to stay for 4 nights and just chill out for a while. To get ourselves orientated with the area we did a sunset tour to Harry's Lookout. $20 each and that included all you good drink wine! Baaaargain! Plus nibblies. Too good to pass up. Mick, our guide, was very informative. Unfortunately the sunset wasn't all that spectacular because there were no clouds but it was a great 1 1/2 hours. The days are just beautiful - around 30 and the nights have been varying from about 5 - 15 degrees.

Sunday 22 July - time to hit the national park. We decided on a hike to a couple of lookouts and ended up walking about 7km to the Upper Gorge Lookout. Couldn't help but wish that Mel and Matt were with us to share this experience. There's canoeing in the gorge which we are going to try tomorrow.

Monday 23 July - Canoeing was just wonderful. It's $50 for two hours hire which gives you plenty of time to paddle to the Upper Gorge and have a swim and then paddle back. The scenery was just lovely.

Tuesday 24 July - chill out day today. Just lazing around the camp. We were camped in The Grove section of Adel's. Here is was just pull up where you like - no generators or dogs allowed here so it was just so peaceful. The Grove was positioned beside the beautiful green coloured river.

Wednesday 25 July - Sadly left Adel's this morning and drove about 150 km on dirt and then about 50 km of bitumen to the Barkly Highway. We decided to turn left and head to Mt Isa for complete restocking of supplies. The little corner stores are handy in the tiny towns but I was looking forward to the bright lights and marketing ploys of Woolworths! Mt Isa is probably one of the biggest towns that we've seen for a while. It's amazing to see the Mt Isa Mines right in town! Free camped tonight 50 km west of Mt Isa. Weather still nice and warm. I know it's going to change soon. In a couple of days we'll be heading south and the nights will be cooler.