Mt Isa – Bramston Beach

Mt Isa – Bramston Beach (22^nd August – 4^th September)

We were quite pleased to be heading out of Mt Isa as the sky was a very dirty brown from the smoke from one of the large smoke stacks. Our memories of our 1986 Mt Isa visit was all of us coming down with breathing problems because of the polluted air – doesn’t seem to have changed much!!

We headed to Cloncurry and spent about 10 minutes seeing the town before stopping at Chinaman’s Creek Dam, the town water supply, where we had lunch and a ‘refreshing’ swim before heading for our overnight stop at Terry Smith Outlook – very popular stop just off the road.

Another sign to read and follow the advice!

When we reach Gregory Downs (pub and a few houses) we were going to stop for the night and then drive into Lawn Hill National Park. We stopped at the pub for a drink and then set up just opposite, in an area set aside for ‘low-impact camping’, following the information in the extremely useful (but not always accurate) Camps 5 book (definitely the bible for all would be free/cheap campers). The area was dusty and had a lot of rubbish scattered around, making it a not very attractive place to be, but we figured it was only one night and we would be off early in the morning. After setting up, David went for a walk along the road towards the river. (The Camps 5 book states there is no camping along the river flats). What did he spot?

About 30 vans parked along side the river with people standing and floating around in the river. We went down for a swim and talked to a few people. A number said the road was not great into Lawn Hill and one couple (in a very suitable spot) said they were leaving around 8:30 the next morning. That settled it for us. We would be down just after they left and would spend a few days here with a day trip into the national park.

A sign to ignore! The road is was on leads to the following photo

Our site at Gregory Downs

 We had a fairly ordinary night as a group of aboriginals were having a celebratory drink (told us it was for the birth of a grand-child and would go on for another 3 days!!!!). The language was quite rife and loud. Another couple had pulled in and set up just before the celebrations began and were a lot closer than us (like us, not realising it was possible to camp beside the river) and they decided to join us the next morning. The celebratory group was larger on the Friday night!

We decided we would spend a few days camped beside the river and do a day trip. After examining maps, we decided to do a loop, heading to the World Heritage Riversleigh Fossil Site before going into Lawn Hill National Park. It was a long, dusty trip with a few river crossings and a disappointing stop at Riversleigh. We had expected to see lots of different fossils, but of course, they’ve almost all been taken away for examination. We saw five fossils, only one of which we could say, “That’s a leg bone”. A lot of time and money has been spent setting the area up, it’s just not really worth the long drive to get there!

Signs on road into Riversleigh and Lawn Hill

Down to the river Gregory River Crossing

Finally a concrete ford, making the crossing much easier and safer!

View of Riversleigh Station and part of the World Heritage Area

Heading up the first gorge at Lawn Hill

Water fall between the two gorges

David dragging the canoe between gorges

Second gorge

Sonja swimming near the falls - eyes open for freshwater crocs!

 What was worthwhile was the stop at Lawn Hill. Here we hired a canoe and David revived his paddling skills (and Sonja being in charge of the camera) for a two-hour trip through two gorges. He had to man-handle the canoe over a short distance between the gorges and we managed a swim (eyes out for freshwater crocs) in a very pleasant spot near the small waterfalls. The trip would have been set off nicely if we had remembered to include the picnic bag, with lunch in it. We had both assumed the other had placed it in and didn’t check! Fortunately, the couple we had met the day before, were having lunch and gave us some of theirs. When we arrived back at Gregory Downs, it was decided to go to the pub for a meal where we joined with a few other campers, swapping travelling tales.

Our idyllic spot was spoilt through the night as a couple of the local lads decided it would be a good idea to come down to the riverbed and give all the oldies a bit of a scare as they roared through the area and did a couple of doughnuts just near our site. Not pleasant for those couple of nights (Friday/Saturday), but no problems after that.

Despite this, it is a great spot – hence the extended stay. We were camped on stones beside the swift flowing narrow river. The water making a soothing babbling sound as it passed under the one-lane bridge just beside us. There are several access spots to the river where it is possible to step in and float for a couple of hundred metres along the Gregory River, conversing with all the other campers – or sitting back in our chairs conversing with those who floated past us! A great spot for 5 nights.

David floating down the Gregory River by our van

After reluctantly leaving Gregory Downs our next stop was quite a let down! In the middle of nowhere (with toilet, water, shelter and dump point) in extreme heat. The place went under the grand title of ‘Bang Bang’! We stopped here as it had what we required and only meant a short drive the next day.

From here we moved on to Normanton and stopped at the caravan park in the ‘centre of town’. We set up, stocked up with a some of the supplies we had run out of, had a rest in the shade and then did a walking tour of the town. We visited the three pubs, saw the model of the 8.6m crocodile that had been shot nearby in the Norman River.

Sonja by the Gulf of Carpentaria at Karumba Point

We had one night here before heading to Karumba, on the Gulf of Carpentaria. It is only about 80kms, but we saw huge numbers of Brolgas on what are basically huge tidal flats, as we approached the town. Temperature for our stay here was around the mid 30s. Thankfully, there was a cool sea breeze, which made it a little more bearable. Took about an hour and walked around the community and along the beach for Sonja to gather up a variety of shells.

Pelicans at sunrise on the Norman River

Staying at Karumba Point, had us out each evening to sit by the water’s edge (no beach – all mangroves and mud!) or the Sunset Hotel watching more great sunsets.

Sunset at Karumba Point

We decided to make our way over to the coast following the Gulf Developmental Road. This has changed somewhat over the past 26 years when the road was a very corrugated dirt road. Now, it’s bitumen all the way. Although, it does vary between single and two-lane sections. We spent a couple of hours looking through the historical precinct at Croydon – a number of buildings (mostly former police buildings) before stopping at a rest stop beside the Gilbert River. The river is crossed by a long one-lane concrete structure. Most of the riverbed is sand, but obviously covers a large area in the wet. No swimming here – saw one small freshwater croc, but not sure if the bigger, estuarine crocs make it down this far. We decided it would be a good idea to walk across and to see if we could spot any more crocs. Just as well that there are supporting pillars that protrude from the bridge at regular intervals, allowing you to stand on them when road trains cross!

One-way bridge crossing the Gilbert River - not much water, but still a number of crocs!

We passed through Georgetown where we reminisced about having to put Claire and Owen under the sprinkler at the caravan park when we were there in 1986 – it was 45°C in the van and the pool was closed because it was winter! We spent the night at Innot Hot Springs, having a relaxing break sitting in the pools (a number of different temperatures).

Heading to the coast, we made a brief stop in Innisfail to gather some perishables and buy a new gas hose to replace the dodgy one on one of the gas bottles. Hopefully this is going to be the final bit of work we have to do relating to gas for the van fridge! After stocking up we headed to Bramston Beach, about 20km north of Innisfail and then about 17kms out to a great looking beach. No power, but it does have toilets, hot showers and lots of grass to walk about on (rather than all the dirt/dust we’ve had for a long time). Unfortunately, when we asked about swimming, we were told they had had an unusually large number of crocodiles in the area of late, so…. The beach looks great and is a pleasant place to walk along!

One thing we have found strange is that everything is GREEN and LUSH. A little hard to take in after all the browns and reds of the past few months! Two nights here and then we will head south, looking at a few beach spots on the way, before we intend to head back inland. We’ll stay in the tropics as long as we can before we head into the cooler climes!