Wugudaji - Adels Grove

 2 - 5 July 2025

We wanted to return to Boodjamulla - Lawn Hill Gorge but the national park has been closed since floods devestated the area in early 2023. I've been checking the website regularly and the re-opening date kept being pushed back. We usually stay at Adels Grove before or after a visit to Boodjamulla so we decided to go and stay a few nights anyway. About a week before, we saw a notice advising that the national park would be opening to day visitors from 4 July so we would be able to drive in, even though we couldn't stay. For once our timing was perfect.

We left Riversleigh D site and stopped to collect firewood along the 45km drive to Adels Grove, where we settled onto a site in the top camping area on the edge of "the grove". Sites in this section are marked but not allocated and allow for a bit more sunshine which we needed to keep the solar going over our three day stay. There are no powered sites at Adels Grove but the site we chose did have a make-shift fire pit which we would put to use.

Mick spent quite a lot of time walking down by the river looking to photograph birds and was well rewarded. The river looks quite different after such a huge flood - with massive log-jams in several places. The little beach where we swam with the girls on our first visit has been completely washed away and you can't walk as far along the river. 

This is what a big flood can do

The fire pit on our camping site was messy and overgrown so Mick spent the afternoon tidying it up ready to have a fire in the evenings. On our second night we cooked a chicken and some vegetables in the camp oven for dinner. It was going to be a cold night again so we looked forward to being able to sit by the fire. Dinner was cooked to perfection! 

Camp oven dinner - perfect on a cold night

We were keen to drive into the national park on the morning it reopened, so packed up a picnic and headed off after breakfast. The road from Adels Grove to the park entrance is now bitumen - it used to be the worst section of gravel on the whole drive from Gregory. We knew the only walk available was Constance Range hike but we weren't keen to do that as it's quite long and strenuous. Swimming in Lawn Hill Creek was still possible and kayaks were available to hire.

We arrived to find quiet a few others had the same idea and we chatted with lots of people as we wandered around. We were fortunate to be able to talk with one of the park rangers who let us know a bit more about the flood recovery work that had been done, and what was still to do. The office has been re-instated but there is no visitor centre yet. The campground is yet to be rehabilitated and the waste treatment plant is still not up and running properly so camping is limited to small tour groups. The staff accommodation has had new kitchens and bathrooms but most of the paved pathways have been washed away and have not yet been replaced. It's been a massive job to get the park to this stage and there is still so much work to be done. Camping should be open to the general public in October, but by then it will be too hot for us.

Boodjamulla - still one of my favourite places

We didn't swim because it was a bit too cool and we didn't see anyone else in the water either. Those hiring kayaks could paddle to Indarri Falls but the platform where you could previously stop, rest and have a swim is not there any more. The walks to the falls, and other walks are yet to be reinstated.

In the end we didn't stay long. While it was fascinating to see the changes and great to talk to the rangers, once we'd walked as far as we could along the river, there wasn't much else for us to do so we headed back to Adels Grove. We took a short detour back along the Riversleigh road to collect some more firewood. This time we were planning to cook potatoes in foil on the coals - and once again, delicious!

We had booked to stay in Karumba so had a huge drive ahead of us the next day so did as much packing and organising as we could so that we could get away early. We managed to leave by about 8:30am and headed towards Gregory. It was an unusually foggy morning which slowed us down a bit but we made it into Gregory in time for morning tea. We also fuelled up as the price was lower than at Burke and Wills roadhouse which is on the main road back to Karumba.