The drive to the Diamantina National Park was a dusty inside the car as it was outside thanks to drinks with the girls from Anlaby road , Nathan (keepyerbreathfiryirporrrridge) and of course Shaggy . We were heading to the Diamantina NP which is known for its birdlife and water courses and has been voted in the top ten NPs in Australia .
We slid into Gum hole (stop sniggering) bush (stop it ) camp and then drove the 15k to the visitor centre and rangers quarters.
On the radio we heard about the possible cyclone that was going to hit the coastline between Townsville and Rockhampton on Monday and head inland . The park ranger at the park confirmed that its current path had it coming to us. He shared stories of how in similar situations they had been stranded for …..7 months .The cyclone was predicted to drop around 400 mm of rain . That would render almost all the roads we have been on in the entire trip useless.
A quick trip to the long drop toilet turned into an nature adventure . Above were nests of little swallows made with regurgitated mud,
below living in the loo was a family of frogs -very scary (for me and i can only imagine how scary for them !) Needless to say Kate ventured nowhere near this facility !
Over a spagbol cooked in the dutch oven on the fire we talked through our options for avoiding the cyclone.
It had been the hottest day of 44 degrees and as luck would have it not a breath of wind to give any respite as we tried to sleep in the van.To my shame i couldn’t sort out a temperamental generator . In the end we got up around 3ish had a shower put the generator on as it decided it would work now . (yes I know an idyllic pristine wilderness spoiled by a noisy generator ) and cranked up the aircon- heaven. I got the fire going for brekkie and fished a little . Lots of fish but nothing very big.
Bacon and eggs from a cast iron frying pan over hot coals cannot be beaten – official . 
I think Gum Hole ( i do wish it was called something else ) is my favourite bush camp so far . We just managed to fit the caravan in ( we found out later its only a tent site ) but it felt really secluded and the bathing facilities were par excellence !
We reluctantly decided to leave Diamantina early to head north west in an attempt to avoid the rain which is a pity as it was a real cracker. I would love to have explored it more and also to see it after a good rainfall.