A short drive the next morning lead us to an oasis beyond belief. From an unsealed road with minimal flora or fauna to be seen, we landed in the most beautiful untouched gorge of Boodjamulla National Park (Lawn Hill). A well deserved swim was had before we sussed the area out to see what adventures this magical place had in store for us. Already after midday, we had seen that you were able to hire canoes and paddle up the gorge. Being late in the day we planned this for tomorrow and found ourselves a camp site to rest at for the afternoon.
Tingle the Termite Mound!
Driving along the roads we have come across many a termite mounds. Talking about it for a while we decided to pull over by one of the larger ones, dress him up, and call him Tingle!!
Once again using the trusty Wiki Camps app, we dropped in beside a river about 100m away from some other campers. After just seeing the Boodjamulla Gorge in all of her beauty, this private little paradise we stumbled across was picture perfect. Straight from a postcard, was a crisp lagoon with crystal waters and palms all around which gave plenty of shade. Having a cruise on the surfboards and a peaceful afternoon of nothing, we started up the fire as the sky grew darker and the cane toads emerged for the nights event…
As we settled in we saw some torches from a distance emerge over towards our campsite, assuming our neighbours coming for a chat. As three Aboriginals emerged, our neighbours were in fact the Waanyi people, traditional owners of the land in which we were camping. At first we thought we were in trouble, us white fellas trepassing on their land – but they were however, just coming over for a chat. 10 minutes earlier Nay had spotted a snake shoot after a toad at lightning speeds only a mere half a metre away from her chair. Slightly on edge but thinking this reptilian predator was long gone, came the arrival of our Aboriginal neighbours.
After informing us that the snake would have only been a harmless tree snake, Nay casually says “There’s it is.” as a brown snake slithers out from some local shrubbery less than 2m away from us! As the five of us shot backwards one yells “Throw me ya shovel brudda!” and without hesitation starts wailing on the dangerous snake with weapon in hand. After many a hits the snake went limp and was quickly thrown on the fire. Adrenaline pumping and repeated phrases of “That’s a brown snake, dem snakes will kill ya!”, there had been some form of twisted fate that had brought them over at the right time, and our snake problem was solved. You can only imagine after those events that the night was wrapped up quickly and we were tucked away safely in our roof top tent.
The next day brought an early rise as we were to walk the gorge before the heat kicked in. Back to Boodjamulla Gorge we completed the 4km loop that included the lookout which gave breathtaking views. Once this walk was complete we headed over to hire a canoe. A robbery of $27/hr with no other canoes 200kms in all directions, we sucked it up and went. Least to say it was worth every dollar. A short row up stream and we hit a series of large waterfalls and a swimming hole which was spectacular to explore. From here we dragged the canoe along a short path and dropped it in the upper gorge. Continuing to paddle upstream we had lunch along the way on the water (delicious gourmet tuna and saladas) and made it to a couple of smaller waterfalls where no one else had bothered to traverse. After swimming, snorkelling (seeing an abundance of sealife in the shallows) and just generally enjoying the waterfalls we decided we should be making tracks back down. With a solid 6km row back to the hire depot, we returned our canoe and jumped in the gorge for one last refreshing swim.
For the better of not bumping into another snake companion, we set our sights on Gregory Downs after our massive day of activities at Boodjamulla.