Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill Gorge)

Sometimes you know what to expect. Sometimes you just want to be surprised. As for Boodjamulla and the Indarri Falls, surprise doesn’t even come close. We’d pre-booked a canoe at Adele Grove and picked up the oars and life jackets at reception just after 8:30am. Lawn Hill Gorge was only 10klms further on and it was a help yourself to a canoe when we arrived. The devastating 2023 floods had wiped out all the facilities at Boodjamulla and even two years on, not close to re-opening. It didn’t take much paddling to have the life jackets off and even at this hour we were hugging the shady side of the gorge.

Once we were through the gorge, it was though we had paddled into a scene from Out of Africa The Indarri Falls, a series of cascades off an ancient coral reef, stretched across the river.

We sat silently for a few minutes just taking it in and then followed the coral ledge around the corner to find an even better scene before us.

We had come to an alcove of wonder, cool clear water fed by the cascading river above. This was truly our destination. We spent over three hours just swimming and lolling, with the waterfalls providing free massages from time to time. Visitors had been able to walk their canoes up to rejoin the river and keep going, but the 2023 floods destroyed the access path. But honestly, this was more than we had hoped for.

I clambered up the gorge wall, just to see what could have been, had we had the access. Clearly more gorges were up there somewhere. What a stunning view from this vantage point.

Other paddlers started to show up and by lunchtime it was looking like a Bunnings carpark on sausage sizzle Saturday. We decided it was time to vacate and we started to make our way back into the main channel.

We had the current in out favour but battled a headwind all the way back to the boat ramp. We both agreed that this was the highlight of the trip so far and spent the rest of the day taking it easy back at Adele Grove.

On the way in the previous day, Ken narrowly avoided an (apparently) unsigned washaway that, even with his skill, resulted in the loss of two water tank taps on the van undercarriage and some temporary repairs when we got to Adele Grove. On the way back, we saw it coming and crossed slowly with extreme prejudice. We found that sign. The bottom half was obscured by a bush and the top half was bent around to be unsighted by oncoming traffic. I did what I could, but a hammer would have been handy. That little excitement aside, the run back to Gregory was uneventful and we were looking forward to spending the next three days wrinkling up in the cool clear waters, only emerging for a beer and a sanga(and of course, the footy).