Travel: Lawn Hill NP, Qld

If you live on Australia’s East Coast, want to do ‘the Kimberley’, but don’t have the time to head that far west, I’ve got a short cut for you. It’s called Lawn Hill National Park.

Nestled against the Northern Territory border in far northwest Queensland, 207km north of the Barkly Highway and 100km west of Gregory Downs,  Lawn Hill (or Boodjamulla, as it's known to its custodians, the Waanyi Aboriginal people) offers the lot: emerald waters in a lush gorge; great walks, views and canoeing; cultural sights and unique camping options that can include dogs, campfires and generators.

Plus, you can get there by a great round trip through far-north Queensland from the Atherton Tableland through remote Gulf towns and back south via the must-visit Outback Queensland tourist towns of Winton and Longreach.

Lot's of nothing before something

So, what’s the catch? Well, none really, as long as long, relatively featureless drives between bright spots don’t bother you. And oh, there’s the final 100km of pretty ordinary, unsealed corrugated road between the ink spot town of Gregory Downs and the Lawn Hill NP entry gate.

I could add the bare, sun-baked and generally uninviting National Park campground at Lawn Hill itself, whose three main redeeming features are (a) it’s cheap, (b) it’s right at the Gorge, so right where the walks and the best canoeing start and (c) it’s only 12km from the shady, riverside and commercial Adels Grove campground, which has a workshop, provisions, a café and some mobile phone/internet service if you stand on one leg and twist your mouth the right way on the café balcony!

It’s just as well that Lawn Hill is sunny during the day, as fires are prohibited (as are generators to supplement your power supply), but that’s pretty standard fare in National Park campgrounds.

OK, maybe we’re getting old and soft. At least at the Lawn Hill NP campground your solar panels will get enough sun to keep everything charged – there’s no shade –  while in the eucalypt and palm forest at Adels Grove, this can be difficult.

Of course, the clear advantage the NP campground has is ‘position’. All 14 un-numbered and wheelchair accessible caravan and camper trailer sites are only a short walk from the basic, but clean amenities block toilets that includes flushing toilets and cold showers.

Good place for a stroll

The seven different walking tracks begin at the campground and take you to different vantage spots to appreciate your environment.

The 3.6km track taking you along the river bank before climbing to the Upper Gorge Lookout affords a great view of the soaring red dirt cleavage and its emerald waters that carry early morning paddlers.

If you’re keen and make an early start, you can take the short (2.6km return) but strenuous walk to Island Stack to welcome first light over the gorge, while in the afternoon you can hike 3.7km the Constance Range track for sunset views that stretch over the rolling hills. Remember to take a torch to get back!

Alternatively, follow the Rainbow Serpent track and learn Lawn Hill Gorge’s creation story, as told by the Waanyi Aboriginal people and see their rock art and engravings on the Wild Dog Dreaming track (2.2km).

But the real joy of Lawn Hill is paddling the Gorge in the early morning or evening, when the birds and sun are both doing their thing and water traffic is low, to get a real sense of the place and its tranquility.

Camping options

If it’s booked out, or the idea of an exposed, dusty campground doesn’t appeal to you, there are two alternatives.

One is to stay at the more remote and basic Miyumba bush camping area; there are six sites approximately 55km south-east of Lawn Hill Gorge near the Riversleigh World Heritage Area.

Other than non-flushing (drop) toilets there are no facilities here and, as with the main Lawn Hill Gorge NP Camping Area, pre-booking through the Parks’ website.

Like all National Parks, staying at either is not a wealth hazard at just $12 per night per couple, but a more comfortable alternative, where there’s shade and fires (and generators are allowed), is Adels Grove.

It’s closer by road from Gregory Downs, but as Lawn Hill is only another 15-20 minutes’ drive further on the same corrugations, you can make Adels your base, shed your caravan or camper and make the National Park an easy day trip for its walks and canoeing.

Trees galore

The main attraction of Adels for most travellers is its shady Grove Camping Area that lies along Lawn Hill Creek. It’s the legacy of French botanist Albert De Lestang who leased the area in 1930 and by 1939 had planted in excess of 1000 different species of tropical trees and fruits there.

The most amazing thing is that it’s now a naturally-shady camping area through which various tracks wind their way to the many riverside and other sites.

Another attraction of Adels Grove for those who can’t bear to bear being parted from their pooches is that – unlike most National Parks – it accepts dogs on the condition that they're restrained at all times, don’t enter the ablution blocks and don’t bark at night, with the following quaint warning: ‘Your dog will be asked to remove itself from the property if it contravenes these few simple rules’. Adults, teach your dogs well!

But it’s OK to leave your dog on a chain at your campsite while you spend the day in the National Park and Adels offers a dog-sitting service to ensure it has sufficient shade and water for the day while you're gone, in exchange for a donation to the RFDS. Not bad, eh?

Fishing and fossils too

Fishing? While prohibited in the National Park, it’s OK in the Lawn Hill Creek at Adels.

Adels also runs a range of tours to Lawn Hill and surrounding attractions if you would prefer to leave your rig at camp.

One of these is to the Riversleigh Fossil Field, noted as one of the world’s most significant fossil sites and an important part of Australia’s heritage. They also have a solar electric-powered pontoon boat that meanders along the Lawn Hill Creek to offer spectacular views of the Gorge.

Finally, the camping ground has a mechanical workshop and fuel to cater for all your automotive needs.

OK, it’s a remote area caravanning paradise, so what’s the catch? Cost. It’s $18 per person per night in either the Grove (where no generators or pets are allowed) or the sunny Upper Campground (where you can have both).

So, you and your partner could have spent three nights in the National Park if you chose to book ahead for one night at Adels, but would have no shade, fire or pets.

You pay your money and take your choice. Whichever way you cut it, Adels is pricey for a non-powered campground, but considering its location, it’s great!

Directions please!

Now, getting there. We chose to head north up the East Coast, turned left after Townsville at Alice River, then (after free-camping en route), joined the Gregory Development Road and made another left turn onto the Gulf Development Road to Normanton – all on the blacktop.

We then spent a couple of enjoyable days at Karumba on the Gulf (eating the very best grilled barramundi we’ve ever tasted) and from there made our way back to Normanton and on to Burketown via a very good, unsealed road.

Highlights to break your trip from Townsville included seeing the amazing lava tubes at the Undara Volcanic National Park, a trip on the historic Gulflander Railway that plies its way between Croydon and Normanton and the memorial at Burke & Wills’ Camp 110 to the west of Normanton.

Then, on your way home, head via the unremarkable Burke & Wills Roadhouse to Julia Creek and travel the Landsborough Highway to Barcaldine, Emerald and Rockhampton, stopping at the great Outback tourist towns of Winton and Longreach.

But, to do them justice, these travels are the subject of another story...