Australia
Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill Gorge)
A turquoise gorge lined with livistona palms hidden in the dry savannah of the Gulf Country.
The canoe drifts between sandstone walls stained copper-green by mineral seepage. Livistona palms line the bank. The water is turquoise, clear enough to see the sandy bottom three metres below. Nothing about this gorge matches the savannah you drove through to reach it.
Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) National Park hides a turquoise gorge in the dry savannah of the Gulf Country, 330 kilometres north of Mount Isa. The gorge's permanent spring-fed water creates an oasis of palms, pandanus, and freshwater crocodiles in a landscape otherwise defined by cattle stations and Mitchell grass. The Waanyi people have lived here for at least 17,000 years. Nearby Riversleigh, a UNESCO World Heritage fossil site, contains 25-million-year-old marsupial bones — including the ancestor of the modern koala — preserved in limestone that once formed a rainforest floor. Canoeing the gorge's upper and lower sections is the primary activity, each paddle stroke taking you further into a landscape that contradicts everything around it.
Solo
Paddling alone through a turquoise gorge in the middle of nowhere — Boodjamulla is the hidden oasis that rewards those who drive the distance.
Couple
A canoe for two between sandstone walls, camping beside the creek, and a sky untouched by light pollution — remoteness as romance.
Friends
Multi-canoe expeditions through the upper and lower gorge, campfire dinners, and fossil walks — an adventure that bonds through shared isolation.
- A turquoise gorge lined with livistona palms hides in the dry savannah of the Gulf Country.
- Paddle a canoe through still water between sandstone walls stained copper and green by minerals.
- Riversleigh fossil fields nearby hold 25-million-year-old marsupial bones — a UNESCO World Heritage site.
- The campground sits beside the creek — fall asleep to the sound of water in a land of drought.
Camp cooking beside the gorge — the water so clear you can see barramundi shadows on the sandstone floor.
Bush provisions and billy tea under boab trees after a day paddling through the spring-fed channels.
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