It might be deep Spring, but I’m still knitting. I knitted these gloves to match my skirt. No real dramas this time – the pattern was as clear as crystal and the yarn more or less behaved. Unfortunately, I finished them too late to enjoy them, but I’m sure they’ll get a lot of use next year when hubby and I travel to Europe.
It really hit me that we were going home when we came to the edge of the Gregory River – the boundary of the Riversleigh fossil fields.
This was my last glimpse of the lush, green oasis by the Gulf rivers.
It was also exciting the slip through the water like that. And the water was relatively deep too.
Half way back to Mt Isa, we passed by the gates of this station. It reminded me of Mr Thornton in North and South.
We glimpsed a couple of cowboys mustering cattle in the dusty yards, but I was most curious about whether the station was founded by a Mr Thornton or not. It would be rather exciting if a Mancurian industrialist did turn pastoralist in the Australian outback. It would be quite a story, anyway.
And that is the end of my journey to the Gulf. I’ll be back soon with a post about somewhere much closer to home.
On the way, we saw plenty of Brahman cattle, the main breed in the Gulf Country.
They’re not incredibly elegant, but they are hardy, and seem to have more common sense than other cattle breeds. For example, when faced with approaching motor vehicles, they know to get out of the way quick enough. Even the little ones.
The end of the week came all too soon – it was time to go home. At Riversleigh, the palaeontologists bagged all their specimens.
And then put them in the 4WD’s to bring back to Adels Grove.
There, they put the bags on to palettes, which will eventually be taken back to Mt Isa, and then transported by train back to Sydney.
For them, it’s really just the beginning of their discoveries – the extraction, and then the identification and write up are all still ahead. They certainly have enough work to tide them over until next year’s trip to Riversleigh.
Boodjamulla (formerly Lawn Hill) National Park, is actually a very large place. It encompasses both the gorge area, Riversleigh fossil fields and beyond, all the way to the Northern Territory border.
A mere kilometre or so from the gorge, the landscape once again turns dry.
The geologists can’t help having a squizz at the rocks.
I was more interested in the flora. There were, once again, long wattles.
But I was more fascinated by this tree.
And the mottled bark pattern on its trunk.
Was it caused by insects or naturally occurring?
All too soon, it was time to head back downstream. There was no shortage of people going the other way.
We saw a few interesting things along the way, like an entrapped creature in a spider web.
And cave paintings (Hubby thinks it’s of a turtle).
All in all, it was a lovely afternoon in a wondrous place.
Indarri Falls is a pretty popular place in the school holidays. But since we came in the late afternoon, and because the water was cool, there weren’t too many people.
We moored the canoe, put on our snorkel and mask, and swam in the cool water. I had heard that turtles, catfish and fresh water crocodiles lived there, but unfortunately all I saw were the ubiquitous archer fish. It didn’t however detract from the exhilaration I felt in swimming at such a delightful place.
We weren’t the only ones that liked this place. It’s a wonderful place to bring the kids.
A kilometre upstream, we came to Indarri Falls.
It was rimmed by pandanus palms.
It was where Lawn Hill Creek tumbled down a series of tuffa dams. Tuffa is formed with the minerals in the water mix with mud and sand to form dam-like structures along water ways.
We canoed by sheer red sandstone cliffs.
Where gums precariously clung to life.
Despite there being numerous canoeists out on the water, there were still times when we seemed to have the gorge all to ourselves – and it was magical.
The area reminded me of my visit to Twin Falls Gorge in Kakadu National Park a few years ago, which also had sheer red sandstone cliffs, but there we travelled through the gorge by boat with a big group of tourists, not leisurely in our own canoe.
One afternoon, Hubby took me up to the gorge in Boodjamulla National Park.
This is still Lawn Hill Creek, but 10km upstream. And the landscape here has certainly changed.
I had wanted to come to this gorge for the longest time, and you can get an armchair view (without getting wet).
Static and Silence 