Thursday 10 August - Lawn Hill

One reason we set off for this trip was to visit Lawn Hill.  As we travelled we asked other caravaners the road condition into Adele's Grove (the campsite about 10 km from Lawn Hill).  There were mostly bad reports about the condition of the road, so decided not to take the van, which is why we spent so long at Gregory.   We have travelled 3,993 km so far and was still 100 km away.  An alarm was set for the morning and with lunch packed we hit the road.  It took just under 1 1/2 hours to go the 90 km.  There was about 20 km of good bitumen, 20 km of horrible bitumen and roughly 25 km good dirt and 25 km of corrugated, rattle and bounce dirt.  We were lucky because they were actually grading and watering the road in a couple of places, hence the amount of good dirt.  Arrived at Lawn Hill and walked down to the Gorge to check out the ease of launching the kayak.  Wish all places had this set up. There was a ramp to sit the kayak on with railings either side to hold on to while getting in and out.  I decided we would paddle first as I didn't want to be too tired from a walk to enjoy the paddle so we took our kayak down and we were off.  As you will tell by the pictures it was stunning in the gorge.  The water was an emerald green contrasting against the red rock and so peaceful even with other paddlers and a small boat that did tours.  We slowly made our way up stream to Indarri Falls (3km return).  Here you can get out, lift your boat out and carry it to the upper Gorge and paddle another 3 km where you can see turtles and the resident fresh water crocodile.  Ian hopped out and went to have a look while I stayed in the kayak.  While he was away I watched one couple trying to manoeuvre their canoe out of the water and onto some iron rails so that you can then drag the canoe up from the waters edge before carrying to the upper gorge.  Ian returned from his investigations in time to assist another couple get their canoe out of the water.  I paddled back to collect him and much to his disappointment said I wasn't going to try to get our kayak out of the water.  In it's double seat set up it weighed more than the canoes of the previous couples and they both had trouble.   I didn't want to spoil the enjoyment of the half of the gorge that we had done.  Maybe next time, perhaps we will hire a lighter set up and wrestle with that.  Paddled a few strokes and then floated a bit, paddled again and floated again back to where you get out.  The gorge was stunning, well worth a visit and I am sure my words and the photos don't give you the full effect of being there.   We were on the water for 2 hours.  Packed the kayak back on the car, found some shade and ate our lunch.  Ian then went off for a walk to Duwadarri Lookout for a view over the gorge.  It was too hot for me so I sat in the shade to wait and watched the world go by.  Ian returned just over an hour later.  He and a few other walkers I spoke to felt there could be some more signage around the walks.  Back to the car and the 90 km back to the van.