We stopped and lowered the tyre pressures on cars and caravans to 30 PSI before tackling the dirt road ahead at 10 AM. We were to travel North on this road for 100 Km before turning East for the 30 Km drive into Lorella Springs Station. Sounds easy enough, doesn't it? The road started off fairly good and we traveled the first 45 Km in just over an hour. From there things became progressively worse! Lots of corrugation, sharp rocky sections, deep sand/bull dust, River/creek crossings, livestock, and large holes/dips!
We took it slow and easy and both of us survived the trip without any serious damage. The Ransleys, Jayco Poptop definitely was stretched to it's limits with some parts of the track. Our Vacationer took it fairly well in stride but we wouldn't want to push it any harder than this. To make a long story short the last 85 Km took us just over 5 hours to complete. We pulled into Lorella Springs just after 4 PM exhausted and mentally frazzled.
The staff at the Station welcomed us warmly and proceeded to give us lots of information about Lorella Springs and activities we could enjoy during our stay. At this point I just wanted to park the van and have several cold drinks! The entry into the camping area itself was a bit of a challenge as involved a creek crossing with trees on both sides of the track. We made it across and got setup. The campground is a huge area with lots of space for privacy. There were 3 amenity buildings throughout the area. They were very, very, basic but had running water. Had a donkey heater if you wanted hot water. Given the temperature the fire wasn't really required. Only a 2 Star for these! We were all pretty shook up from the trip and enjoyed a few cold drinks before an easy dinner.
Wednesday morning we were up early and enjoyed a morning soak in the Natural Thermal Springs before breakfast. They were only a 100 metres or so from our camping area and wonderful. A beautiful setting with a very comfortably warm temperature.
After breakfast we checked in with reception to advise of our travel plans for the day. This is a 1 million acre property and you need to sign out and in when you leave the camping area so they know where to look for you if you don't return. Amazing size as is bigger that some 30 countries in the world! We registered with the office and we all piled in the Jeep for a morning drive. We planned to be back for lunch but as we are quickly finding out time and distance in the Outback is deceiving. We ventured across a bit of a deeper river crossing to begin our journey. We then 4WD traveled through a variety of countryside/road conditions to the Musterer's Cave. This was about 15 Km I believe but took us almost 1.5 hours to arrive. We did a short climb up the escarpment to explore the cave(s) and view the property from above.
Our next stop was a walk into a place called the Water Slide. Beautiful secluded rock pool with a sloping rock face entering it from one side. We took turns sliding down into the water which was fun and refreshing. We had some good laughs.
Our 2 hour planned trip turned into about 5 and we didn't return to the campsite until mid afternoon. We obviously need to recalculate our distances/travel times. We had planned another short trip for the afternoon but decided to enjoy a relaxing afternoon in the Thermal Springs. A great decision as we all needed a break. We had a nice BBQ Pizza dinner to finish off the day and decided on our activity plan for the next day.
Our plans took a sudden change as Stephen was contacted via the Station office from home, in the late evening. His mother has been suffering from poor health for some time, and had taken a significant turn for the worse over the last few days. We quickly decided to proceed towards Darwin as quickly as possible so Stephen and Carol could fly home. Unfortunately, given our location it would be a challenge to get there quickly.
We were up early and all packed up ready to go by 7 AM. The return trip was much the same as the trip in and took us 7 hours (about 1 hour of breaks) to return to Cape Crawford. Saw a bit of Wildlife including a Water Buffalo and Wedge Tail Eagles on the return. We made it safely with no damage, although exhausted, dirty, and mentally fatigued!
Stephen had planned to carry on for a few hundred kilometres but we all decided it would be safer to rest up and get an early start. We checked into Cape Crawford "Heartbreak Hotel" Caravan Park for the night. $30/night for powered site that were mostly shaded and grassy. Amenities were not the best and would only be a 2 star at best. We were forced to top up our diesel at $1.99/litre which is by far the most expensive so far on our trip.
We did a bit of basic clean up although a proper clean will need to wait. Enjoyed a nice cool swim in the pool which refreshed us all a bit from our travels. Had a fairly easy meal and prepared for an early start in the morning.
In summary we enjoyed Lorella Springs but given the effort/stress to get there we would definitely recommend a minimum stay of 3-4 days or probably a week. There is a lot to see and you can't do any of it very quickly given the road conditions and distances involved. The staff and owners were lovely and very welcoming. Also very supportive in assisting Stephen with communication etc with his family. Would be that much better if they took my suggestions above into account and if the road into the Station was better. They can't control the condition of the main road but they could certainly improve their 30 Km driveway into the Station somewhat. This took us 2 hours both trips. There would still be some bad parts but a lot could be improved with Rock removal and a grader. I don't think we will be returning this way unless the trip there is improved considerably. This is a shame as has a huge amount of potential and should be able to be enjoyed by more Australians.
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