Gregory Downs

Very exciting heading off from Karumba today because we are now starting our trek towards the Northern Territory Border. Yippee!! Finally heading towards leaving Queensland - it has only taken us 4 months!

We are heading to Gregory Downs today, to a free camp spot and then leaving the van there and heading out to Lawn Hill National Park the next day. Since leaving home, we have had many different people all say "you must see Lawn Hill". We had never heard of it - but after a bit of googleing we found out it was a national park with a gorge and bushwalks. Luckily we searched it because to me it sounded like it should have been a cemetery - and I couldn't see how that would be too exciting.

On the long drive to Gregory Downs we had a few memorable moments. One of them had been happening more and more lately - and that was - the back seat warner. Similar to a back seat driver, Logan points out every sign to Dad. "Dad, look out for kangaroos" when we see the yellow diamond shaped signs with a kangaroo on it - "Dad, look out for road trains" when we see the road train signs. One of the signs made us all laugh though - it was of a car and a cow - the front of the car was pointed up and the cow was slightly under it. I think the sign meant to beware of cattle - but we started saying that it looked like the cow was eating the car. So Logan would say "Dad, look out for cows eating cars" - and we would all crack up laughing.

The second exciting thing that happened on this particular long drive, was I decided to have a drive of the truck with the van on the back. Seeing as the roads were long and straight and there weren't many other cars around - I thought it was a good chance to have a go. WOW!! - I did it! I drove with the van on! Never thought I would - but surprisingly it was just like driving the truck. You could certainly notice the difference starting and stopping, but once you were going, you could hardly feel the van there. Not really something I would like to drive around town, but at least if I had to - I now know I could.

About halfway through the journey, we came across the Burke & Wills Roadhouse, which was a very welcome sight. Believe me, there is not much out here to look at. We stopped here and had a break and something to eat before jumping back on the road for the second half of the long trip.

Eventually we arrived at Gregory Downs, which if you blinked you might miss it. There is a service station/pub/caravan park and one or two other buildings and that was the town. We easily found the free camp spot - we had previously been told to make sure we camp on the left side as you cross the bridge, because the "locals" populate the right hand side. So we headed down to find somewhere to set up. There was a higher side and a lower side (next to the river) so we headed along the high side and Chris said "we might head down next to the river" - "I don't know," I said "it looks a bit soft and sandy there". "No we'll be fine" came the response, so we started heading down to the lower section.

As we turned the corner, you wouldn't believe it, it was soft and sandy and the truck started getting bogged, it was jumping and bumping everywhere. I don't know whether it was Chris keeping the revs up high, the fact that it was slightly downhill and the van was pushing the truck or me chanting "please don't get stuck, please don't get stuck, please don't get stuck" - but somehow we managed to get through it. Chris then turned to me and said "how about we stick to the high side!" I just glared at him!

Once we finally found somewhere to set up - we found out that three 4wd's had already gotten bogged there today. It must have been our lucky day - I shiver to think what would have happened if we had got stuck.

After all the excitement of arriving, we needed some relaxing, so we headed straight down to the river for a swim. The river was flowing quite well, so you could ride a tube or board down the river. Someone prior to us had tied up a bit of rope to the old bridge there, which the kids had a ball on - you could hang on and the feel the rush of the water going past. We each had a turn on the rope and splashed around in the water.

It was not long after this that we saw another van arrive and noticed that they had kids' bikes on the back - another family? Soon we could here screams and laughter coming down the river - it was the other family, Jon and Naomi. They came over and we started chatting. They had three kids, 2 girls about 13 and 11 and a boy 9, and had been travelling around Australia for the last 2 years. We were chatting away when they happened to mention that the tyre tubes their kids were using in the water were given to them by a family they had meet in Mt Isa - The Curry Family! They met the Curry's and mentioned how they were heading to Gregory Downs - the Curry's then mentioned that we were heading there and said to look out for "The Travelling Plumber". So they knew all about us.

We chatted away for the rest of the afternoon, sharing stories and travel tips, and I mentioned that we were heading to Lawn Hill tomorrow where they doing the same? Yes they were, so we suggested that we travel together - yep that sounded good to them. We made a time for the morning and then both families headed back to their vans to organise dinner.

Before we started getting dinner ready that night, Chris suggested we sit outside and have a beer together. The kids were busy collecting wood for the fire - when we had a visit from one of the friendly locals - Rowan. After introducing himself as the local bouncer for the area - he asked if we had a chair for him, when we said we didn't have any spare - he said "thats ok" and sat down on the ground. We looked at each other and wondered what we were in for. He informed us that he was the bouncer for this area and he was from Burketown and was a "well known" artist and he could do us a painting if we wanted. He then mentioned his name was Rowan and he was an artist from Burketown - and then, again, mentioned how he was the local bouncer and his name was Rowan and he was from Burketown.....he must have had a big week and had relaxed with a drink or two!

After chatting like this for a short while, he got up to leave, and shook our hands and asked Chris if he had something for him? We were a bit confused - Chris said "I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean". "You know, something to straighten me out" came the answer. Again Chris had to ask "I'm still not sure what you mean" - "you have a beer for me?" inquired Rowan. Chris made a little joke then that he only had one left - in case he had any ideas about coming back for more - and grabbed the beer for him. Rowan then shook Chris's hand again and surprised him by leaning in and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek - and then off he trotted, happy to have his beer!

Make sure you come back soon and check what happened the next day on the way to Lawn Hill National Park......