Lawn Hill National Park

Today we headed to Lawn Hill National Park , following our new friends, Jon and Naomi. We set off for the 100km's of dirt road - yes I know more dirt!...and we are now starting to wish we had a 4wd - the old truck just doesn't handle the dirt roads well at all - especially with the boat on the roof. We probably should have taken the boat off the roof before we left - but oh well, too late now.

We had been told the dirt road starts off ok and then gets worse the further you go - so we were expecting some rough roads. We took it fairly steading, knowing that the truck rattles and shakes uncontrollably on these dirt roads. Travelling on the dirt roads gets me very worried, especially with all the rattling, I start to worry about the roof rack and boat and everything else that can go wrong. At one point Chris stopped the truck altogether and said "I think we have a flat tyre," - after checking it was all good - but I kept worrying about it.

We pulled over another couple of times to check the tyres and had just got back in and started driving again when Naomi came over the two-way and said they have a flat tyre. Now I was getting really worried - they are in a 4wd and get a flat - it is quite likely that we will get one too! They changed to the spare and we kept pushing on to Adel's Grove and Lawn Hill.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, we arrived at Adel's Grove, where you can camp overnight or have a break from the long drive at the restuarant. Lawn Hill was another 20km's down the road, so back in the truck again we go. Eventually we arrived!!

We headed down to the gorge and I was really excited about seeing it - we had been told that you can hire canoes and paddle down the gorge to see the waterfalls at the end. Sounds like fun!!

Lexie and I were in one canoe and Chris and the boys were in the other - and off we headed down the gorge to see the spectacular sites. The canoeing didn't take long to get used to - but I quickly learnt that my right arm is stronger than the left and therefore needed to do more strokes on the left to keep us straight. It took about half an hour to canoe to the end to see the waterfalls - it was fabulous - it was so peaceful and relaxing just canoeing down a huge gorge.

When we got to the end Chris and the boys hoped out and swam over to the waterfall to have photos and then we started heading back down the gorge again. This is what the trip is all about - enjoying this spectacular country with the kids. We have found that many adventures are not designed for kids as young as ours, so we all really loved our afternoon of canoeing.

When we returned to the van, Chris and a few of the other guys decided to head up the river with their rods to see if they could catch some dinner! The kids and I went down for a swim in the river and about half an hour later Lexie screamed out "Dad caught a fish!!!" - really? our Dad? Chris? But believe it or not he had - a sooty grunter - and by the sounds of it he had to work hard to catch it. At one stage he was up to his neck in water casting his lure into different sections of the creek. This didn't suprise me - he would do just about anything to catch a fish to take home to the boys and see how proud they are of him.

It was great for his fishing confidence - he had no prior knowledge and didn't even know what fish was in there - but went with his gut feeling and managed to hook one. I was so proud of my fisherman and as you could imagine the boys were beside themselves with excitment - "what fish is it Dad?", "where did you catch it Dad?" "What lure did you use Dad" "Can we go back and have a try, Dad?"

Tomorrow we are heading back to Burke & Wills Roadhouse and then onto Mt Isa - getting closer to the border and leaving Queensland. Come back soon and read about our first major disaster of the trip.......