Tuesday, 27 August 2013

Borolloola to Lorella Springs - 21/8/2013



As we have some fellow travellers following the blog, I have decided to include a tip of the day – watch out for it as you read.

It’s amazing what a good nights sleep can do, I felt much better about the blog and resolved to catch up over the next couple of days. We packed up early and headed for Borrolloola. I was hanging out for some fresh fruit and veg, so was keen to get there asap. When we got to town, we headed straight to the Aboriginal Co-op to pick up supplies – there was hardly anything, the supply truck had only just arrived! We got some milk and a few other odds and ends and then headed over to the hardware store to up some lead weights for our mosquito net.

Tip of the day: Iain has a double mosquito net from the days he worked in remote Africa. It has been fantastic for the evenings there are mosquitoes around and you don’t feel like retreating to the tent. We use one of the spare poles we brought for the shade cloth, sticking out from the roof rack to hang the net from. It easily fits 2 chairs and side table under it, the lead weights are to attach to the bottom to keep it weighted down in position.

We then headed back out to the store on the entrance to town as apparently we could get a coffee there. We were very keen to sit down somewhere and catch up as much as possible on everything we needed to do with the internet. It was quite funny we were camped up at a table in the shade with both laptops, the Ipad  and mobile phones, madly typing away. People were giving us very strange looks. We ended up sitting there for a good 2 hours, I had written a postcard to my Mom so we headed back to the Aboriginal Co-Op that is also a post office. We walked in and I nearly jumped for joy the fridges and shelves were  full – I got my fruit and veg after all.

We then headed off towards Limmen National Park. When we were travelling last year we had tried to find a place called Poppies Pools, the people at the Cape Crawford Roadhouse had given us vague directions, but said a place called Lorella Springs was much nicer. We didn’t find it, so this time armed with knowledge we were determined to go there. We got to the turnoff for the station, turned down it, and were confronted by a sign saying we were entering Aboriginal Land and needed a permit. In disgust we turned around and decided to head for Lorella Springs.

The track was pretty corrugated, but quite drivable, we decided that if it was very touristy we would have a swim in the hot pool and then head for Limmen National Park. We drove up to the reception area and were met at the car by a very friendly and welcoming staff member called Maria. First impressions were great, and when she started to explain to us exactly where we were, we were blown away. It is a station of approx. a million acres, and you are free to explore as much of it as you like. They provide you with a map of great places to visit, all you have to do is decide where you want to go for the day or few days and sign the register so if you are lost they know where to look. There was a great, enormous camp ground at the homestead that can be used as home base.

We went and found our spot, put up a beach shelter to claim it and headed out to a waterhole they recommended. It was a lot of fun getting there down some pretty rough tracks, but the reward at the end was well worth the effort.

After a swim and a fantastic photo shoot, we headed back to camp. As we turned the corner to get to our spot who should be there – Adrianne and Guy. Iain applied the brakes and we jumped out to say hello. Turns out the people who moved into our spot at Lawn Hill had just spent a week at Lorella and recommended that they visit. Such a small world.

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