Lawn Hill National Park lived up to is reputation and had well and truly earned its place on our bucket list.
Lawn Hill has been on our radar for years. Before we went to New Zealand we’d crossed Canarvon Gorge off our bucket list. We added Lake Waikaremoana (and crossed it off) while over there. Besides the general desire to travel, this place was a big one for us.
We’d planned to give it a miss, it was a long way off our planned route and winter was running out. In our heads we could make a great future school holiday trip out of it and a few other places we could tack it onto in that part of the world.
But with the words of our caravan park neighbour in Mount Isa “you are already in the middle of nowhere, it’s not that much further” and “besides, you could get hit by a bus” fresh in our ears we bit the bullet.
It was worth every corrugated, rough and dusty km of the drive in and out. It is stunning. Lawn Hill Gorge is one of the most beautiful sites we have seen in our lives. It’s an oasis of green and blue, shade, trees and wildlife in a section of inhospitable countryside.
Exploring the Gorge
The gorge itself is breathtakingly high, falling vertically down towards the brilliant blue green water. The water runs through the upper, middle and lower gorge, split by the everchanging Indarri Falls waterfall. The water is full of calcium, which means the deposits it leaves behind are always changing the falls
We saw the gorge from the two best ways; the full ~10km hike that shows it in all its glory. The walk takes you first to the top of the upper gorge before winding its way down along the water’s edge, to Indarri Falls, the middle gorge and Duwadarri Waterhole. You are constantly seeing it from different heights, different angles and in different light. To give an indication of how good this walk is, we did it with another family and not a single complaint was heard from any of the four girls.
We followed that up by canoeing from the lower gorge all the way to Indarri Falls. Being on the water gave a completely different perspective and the fish and bird life was prolific. It was a gentle paddle to Indarri Falls and from the water we were able explore the little nooks and crannies of the falls. We were on the lookout for a slightly territorial freshwater crocodile, but he was nowhere to be seen.
The more adventurous can haul their canoes around Indarri Falls to explore right up to the end of the gorge. It’s a challenging haul and we gave it a miss.
Everyday there was a chance to swim, the beautiful and cooler water providing respite from the dust and heat.
Crossing the Creek
A second series of walks explore the island that is formed by two arms of the Lawn Hill Creek. These walks take you to either the top of the Island Stack (the central rock formation), the Wild Dog Dreaming Aboriginal Cultural Heritage site or along the Botanical Trail to a mirrored pool.
There is no bridge (it was removed after damage), so you cross the creek the old fashioned way. Not too difficult but enough of a deterrent that the island is quieter than the rest of the park.
We did Wild Dog Dreaming and Christian did the Botanical Trail as well. Wild Dog Dreaming takes you right towards the end of the lower gorge (a sacred site) and past several pieces of millennias old rock art. Indigenous Australians have made use of the oasis that Lawn Hill Gorge provides for 1000s of years, with the rock art being incredibly old.
We skipped Island Stack, it’s incredibly steep and needed to be attacked in the early morning. The Botanical Trail was worth the effort Christian made (the rest of us swam in the creek crossing). It traverses ever changing landscapes, alongside the stack rock formation. The vegetation changes constantly with the creek, sun and soil. The end of the trail leads to a small, mirrored pool at the end of the lower gorge. It was worth the effort just for the pool.
Riversleigh
The final element to Lawn Hill is Riversleigh. On the road back to Camooweal it’s a World Heritage Site home to a series of incredible fossils. They are not dinosaur fossils, but mammals and reptiles that in habited the region in more recent history, prior to the breakup of Gondwana.
It’s worth the effort and fossils are visible in the rocks along the path. The size of these creatures is insane. So much larger than their modern day relatives. Getting there is less simple, it’s about 80km from Lawn Hill Gorge (all gravel) so it makes for a long drive for a day trip.
Continuing towards Camooweal was our path. It was rough, corrugated and had our deepest creek crossing to date. The Isuzu and the Gator happily went through the 400mm deep water. We now know that we have until about 500mm before water gets into the caravan step and 600mm before we have a problem. It was good knowledge to have given our future itinerary.