July 6th,

He & Me with Leickhard Falls in the background

We had camped on the bank of Pear Tree Creek. It was dry so no fear of Crocs! Another fine and warm day.

Our first stop was at the Leichardt River Falls. What an amazing site despite that there is no water going over the falls at present. The river bed at the top of the falls is a vast 200 metre rocky stretch with some wide crevices with water in them. The floods that flow through here must be powerful and noisy. We could see that one large section of the road had been washed aside as well as some very large branches. It was interesting and fun to walk over this very hard washed rocky surface.

We drove on and very soon crossed the Alexandra River which flows into the Leichardt River below the falls. This river crossing is not so wide..only about 100 metres.

The trip toward Normanton was through Savannah lands -  interspersed with bush which varied  from Silver Box, Coolibah trees and many unknown trees and plants. Generally it looked healthy with bright green foliage but some areas appeared to be dry, probably because of the type of grass which was growing..  Mobs of cattle appeared to be contented. The road was gravel passing over grids, dry creek beds and corrugations making our progress quite slow especially with the many oncoming vehicles we met.

We lunched in the shade of a Melaleuca or Paperbark tree on the edge of Goat Creek. The water looked like ‘chocolate milk’.

We are camped across the river from where Burke and Wills set up their last Camp…Camp 119, It was February 1861 when they tried to walk to the sea on the Gulf if Carpentaria. It was a fateful expedition which  ended  in four party members dying of starvation before they realised their dream to reach this northern sea.

Our bush camp over looks the Little Bynoe River which is very wide and shows the marks of strong flood water damage. We enjoyed evening drinks overlooking the Little Bynoe and watching kangaroos coming for their evening drink. Several Sacred Ibis were walking in the shallows as they delved for their evening meal on the other side of the river. 

 Memorial to Burke and Wills journey north