Our second day in Borroloola we took a drive out to King Ash Bay.  It’s a fishing mecca and it was like caravan and boat city out there. We had a drive around but the club wasn’t open till night so we headed back to Borroloola.  In the afternoon I did a load of washing  then we went for a swim.  

Up and on the road again the next day.  We headed about 20km down the road in tandem with Ken and Susie and stopped at Caranbirini Conservation Reserve.  This is like a mini lost city of rock formations and we did the 2km circular walk. It was really beautiful.   We carried on through to Cape Crawford where Susie and Ken opted to stay the night.  We decided we’d push on through to Lorella Springs.  This was a bit of a sudden decision as we hadn’t been going to go in to there but a conversation the day before with our neighbours  who’d been there made us decide to go. Although only about 130km from Cape Crawford it took us about 3 hours to reach the homestead.  The road was nowhere near as bad as the Hellsgate one but still had quite a few badly corrugated stretches.

We checked in at Lorella Springs – what a professional well run operation.  Its still a working cattle property but has a very busy caravan and camping park in the dry season.  It covers over a million acres right to the western shores of the gulf.  There’s miles of tracks to springs, waterholes, fishing spots, lookout, and caves with Aboriginal paintings.  The amenities are basic but include flushing toilets and showers. There are no powered sites but there is water.  There was a discount if you stayed 3 days so we opted for that.  We got ourselves set up in a good position for the solar panels then it was time to head up to the homestead for happy hour.  As usual we got chatting to a few people then headed back for tea and an early night as it had been a big day.

Next day after checking out at the homestead – part of their safety procedures – and getting a great amount of info from Rhett the owner we set off on an adventure.  Our plan was to do a circuit outlined on the map which we’d also got good instructions for. The first stop was the Waterslide – a big area of sloping rock with a stream running down the middle into a beautiful cool pool but to get to it we had a 500m clamber up and down over rocks of all shapes and sizes.  We got there and had a dip in the pool then climbed up on the rock to consider whether or not to attempt the slide – which Rhett assured us was good if you kept to the right to avoid the bumpy bits.  It was at this point that the adventure went a bit pear shaped as Craig slipped and fell landing on his shoulder.   He was in a lot of pain and it was pretty obvious from the big hole in his shoulder that he’d dislocated it.  Anyway without going into a blow by blow account we managed to get him upright and made our way back to the car very slowly (and painfully for him)– up and down these bloody big boulders.  He said he was ok to drive one handed so we headed  the 14 km back to the homestead to find out where he could get treatment for it.  The lady at the homestead was great and said the nearest health centre was at back at Borroloola – a 3 hour drive away – much of it over those often rough roads.  We went back to the van to get some supplies of painkillers and grab a change of clothes as we thought we’d have to stay the night there and come back again the next day.  It was then that Craig said that he thought it might have gone back in to place. We eased up his Tshirt which had been pulled down over his arm and shoulder and amazingly it had gone back into place on its own.  What a relief and no need to travel all that way there and back.  There’s no doubt that he had a very lucky escape.

It’s still pretty painful and he’s a bit limited in his range of movement and has no strength in it but everyday its getting a bit better.

We had a quiet afternoon in the van then grabbed a couple of icy cold beers and went down to the hot spring beside the homestead.  Bliss – and the hot water really helped Craig’s shoulder.  Then it was time for happy hour.

Suzie and Ken had arrived mid afternoon and they’d had their own disaster – the window at the back of their motorhome hadn’t been properly closed and the inside was absolutely covered in red dust.   They spent most of the next two days cleaning it and washing all their clothes and bedding.

The next day was quiet for us  as we didn’t want to go too far as our tyres aren’t all terrain and Craig would struggle to change a tyre at the moment – so just around the homestead and into the hot pool in the afternoon with Ken and Suzie then up to happy hour with them and home for tea.  But what an amazing place.  Maybe one day we’ll get back .