Laura (return visit heading south) – 308 km

Forgot to mention we had lunch at the Archer River Roadhouse yesterday feasting on their world famous burgers. We were astounded when the burgers were served. They were at least 8 inches high and had a skewer in the center to hold them together. With some difficulty you could compress them to get your mouth around them, but then everything slipped out the other side. They also contained the traditional Australian slice of pickled beet and an egg. They were very good!

As we had lots of time this morning and the Coen campground had good laundry facilities so we made a bit later start. Almost all the campers in the very full camp ground had left by the time we got going. We were the only ones there when we got settled last night and were surprised with how quickly it filled up. It was the cheapest site so far, with nice grass and power.

We made our way to Musgrave Roadhouse then headed onto another 4 X 4 road making our way back here to Laura. We didn’t want to drive the same road as the one north if possible and actually found this to be in better shape. We are beginning to realize the guy we spoke to at Punsand Bay was right.  The more you get into the season the rougher the roads get. We were seeing evidence of that on our way south.

Today we spotted several more bird species we had not been lucky enough to see yet. We saw brolga, red tailed cockatoos, ibis, herons and black kites. Generally bird photography is very difficult as they are very skittish and fly away like darts.

Ibis

We drove through the Rinyhirrus (Lakefield) National Park. The road crews were working on some of the road. The vegetation varied from grass lands with numerous termite mounts, to forested area. We did need to cross several water ways and decided to stop for lunch beside the Hann River Crossing. There are supposed to be crocodiles in the waters but the closest we have come to seeing anything is a rock shaped like one!

It was a great lunch stop with lots of birds to watch. We went for a walk along the river and turned to find a huge monitor lizard right beside us. Not sure where he came from but he was more interested in sleeping on the warm rocks than running away from us. OK, this will be our last lizard picture. . .

We find ourselves back here at the Quinkan Hotel camping grounds in Laura as from our trip north we knew it was one of the only  places we could get reliable internet. Our one hesitation was there is an outside bar attached and it being Saturday night we weren’t sure how that would be. We were surprised and pleased to see the bar closes at 5 pm tonight so the staff can attend a dance. However we have now discovered the Town Hall and place for the dance is right across the street. We are sitting outside and can hear them practicing their music. Maybe this will be a night for the air conditioner as it does a great job drowning out noise. Either that or we will need to join them!

Quinkan Hotel

Hotel Campground

Today should be the last of the gravel road we will see. The van is filthy inside and out. We have to find a car wash ASAP as just walking by it you get dirty! Norma attempted to hose out the inside by letting the water hose slip as we were filling our reservoir – now we have mud instead of dust.