Boodjamulla to Borroloola

Time to drive further, after the first 2-day camping and relaxing a bit on Adels Grove. The next stop will be Borroloola , in Northern Territory. There are 2 different way we can select in the beginning of the ride, The first one is just derivable with a 4WD and the second one which is a part of Highway No. 1 . we decides to go on the 4WD- only way. IMG_3415.JPGThe first things we can see on the way is a beautiful outbacky Rainbow. IMG_3411.JPGalthough the presence of rainbow is beautiful it means that there was a recent rain which can make the way on 4WD road more challenging. driving further on the road , and now we are on our first 4WD challenge, a Creek .IMG_20171021_090426726.jpg before we start the way we were told on the camping place that there are gates on the road, to prevent the cows to escape, so we need to get off the car and open the gates and when we pass, we need to close the gates.now I see the first gate with the cows that may not see any car or human for weeks. The same way they are interesting for me, I think I am also interested for them. I can be the first Iranian they have ever seen, i do not know about Ivan. comparing the cows in Australia to what i see when i go hiking in Germany, I can mention that these cows are really thin and the one on the Alps are really really fat . the ones that I see here can run very fast, specially when they see our car, and they have no idea what we are. They just start running like a race hours. I am in doubt if the one on the Alps can compete with them.

although the road is very nice but it is really slippery after the rain last night and not easy to control the car. IMG_20171021_091405158

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this is the trace of our own car we made some minutes ago, we can see in this picture

because of the road condition Ivan needs to drive slowly to make sure that he can control the car. driving some kilometers on this road, we start discussing that if we go with this speed probably we will not reach Borroloola tonight , so it is better to turn back and take the highway number 1 .

according to the map it is 502 kilometers from Adels Grove to Borroloola on the highway, and as I learnt on this trip, the highways are not what we expect from highway in Europe. it is mostly gravel road , where also should be shared with Long Fast Road Trains, or The Killers.IMG_20171021_140033987.jpgOn the way we reach the small city Doomadgee and stop to tank our car. the name seems like an aboriginal name to me. there is not much to see on this long way. at is afternoon and we also feel hungry. soon we arrive on Hells gate Roadhouse where we can have a lunch, a huge huge outbacky Burger as usual on the Savannah way.

On Hells Gate Roadhouse we are not far from Northern Territory boarder, where we need to pass today. In my view, Hells Gate is the gate to Nowhere, is where the road to infinite road starts, as the next Everything is around 320 km. good luck .IMG_20171021_152121337.jpg52 kilometers after Hells gate we reach the boarder between Queensland and Northern territory. IMG_3441.JPGTonight we will be in Borroloola, 250 kilometers of gravel road in front.

Boodjamulla National Park

around 8:00 in the morning,  20th October. It is supposed to be a warm day. we are going to take the one-hour long guided cruise along tranquil Lawn Hill Creek winding through the  Lawn Hill Gorge, in Boodjamulla National Park. The area of the national parks belonged to a Waanyi people, who are among the aboriginal people of Australia. According to Waanyi stories, Boodjamulla  who is the creator of all other animals in the Dreamtime and he is a spiritual person to them.He is the one who created the all animals, the billabongs, green swapns and bush tucker in the Lawn Hill area. He rests on the Lawn Hill Gorge and should not be disturbed .

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Also Waanyi people believe that you are not allowed to pollute the water, otherwise Boodjamulla will get angry.

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They also believe that Boodjamulla has created the water of the river as a healing water.

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after reading about Boodjamulla, the tour started. I am wondering if we can disturb Boodjamulla with our presence or maybe with the sound of our Cameras. Maybe I can see him , then I wish he is not angry and friendly with guests.

IMG_3366.JPGIMG_3347.JPGIMG_3350.JPGthere are some water falls on sides of the gorge , listening to waterfall is always pleasant. also feeling  the  flow of cool air around the fall on the skin is something you would like to experience when the temperature is around 30 degree centigrade. Therefore our tour guide turns the boat toward  all the falls to let us experience the freshness.  He  explains that in this time of the day it is not common to see a crocodile , because it is simply too hot for them. But it seems we are not the only one who are getting close to waterfalls, there is another Boodjamulla’s creature who likes the freshness of the fall.IMG_3358.JPG

after the boat tour we have some time to take a walk around the national park and see the river and the area around from another view.

 

after the tour we go back to our camping ground, where one of the neighbors in the camp asks us if we have a problem with ants or not. He explains that they had millions of ants in their car last night and they had to take the car outside the camp and clean it. He advice us that we use some chemical materials on the wheels , to prevent ants climbing the auto from the wheels. our car is a bit far from where their car is, so we did not have any experience like what they had with ants.

we want to stay one more night in this camping ground, so we have enough time to jump in the small creek behind the camping place, where they say it is safe from any crocodile .IMG_20171020_144351636.jpg