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Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park
Far North Queensland
Why go to Rinyirru National Park?
To rest & relax, fish, watch birds and if you are like me, to spot crocs!
Yes, I wanted to see crocodiles in their natural habitat, rather than in a 'croc farm' or from a tourist boat.... mission successful!
Information about the park
The park is closed from early December 2022 to the end of June most years - see the park website to learn the actual open dates.
This guide, Cape York National Park Journey Guide, provided by DES Qld is full of useful information about not only Rinyirru National Park, but also the other parks on the Cape.
It also provides sample travel plans as well as listing
distances between destinations and expected travel
There is a lot more to Lakefield than lagoons, lakes and great camping spots.
The area is also popular with fisherman.
Personally, I would not be keen to go out in a small boat on
croc-infested waters, but hey, others obviously are!
I enjoyed the relative tranquility and slower pace of the park after the pace and effort of driving up the Cape and back.
In addition to lakes and lagoons, there were wild open spaces, long grass and an impressive city of termite mounds.
I like that the park is closed for the wet season, and until it dries out - effectively its only open around 6 months a year - which means the creatures that live there have the park all to themselves for that period of time.
Nifold Plain is dotted by the mounds, built by Magnetic Termites.
I have seen mounds like this in my travels around Aussie, but was impressed by the scale and the setting here.
Check out the size of this beauty! Bigger by far than my vehicle.
The outer surface of the mound is hard and durable whereas the material separating the chambers and galleries inside is more papery.
The soldiers are 4 to 6 mm (0.16 to 0.24 in) long and their curved mandibles bear a single in-turned tooth.
A large mound like the one I have shown above here may house up to a million individual termites: the queen, king, reproductives, soldiers and workers.
Many termites never leave the mound and as a result of this protected environment they have thin cuticles, colorless bodies, little sight and little ability to protect themselves.
Information sourced from Amitermes meridionalis | Insect Wiki | Fandom
Although this fire was controlled, it was still very unsettling to drive through
On the way through the park I drove through a fire burning on either side of the road.
Rather unsettling, even though it was under control and a planned burn.
The drone footage of the fire in the video clip at the end of this blog post shows the birds of prey wheeling ahead of the flames, hunting rodents and other small fleeing critters.
Loads of camping areas, dirt tracks to waterholes and lagoons to explore.
The days I spent in the park were very relaxing.
I was there in the dry season, late August and the roads were hard packed dirt/gravel when they weren't bitumen.
The driving was easy, the scenery and terrain interesting.
There were so many lovely camping spots to choose from and it would be possible to spend a lot longer than a few days in the park.
5 Mile Creek - loved this spot!
I enjoyed driving along the dirt track through the terrain to reach the camping area at 5 Mile Creek and was thrilled to find an elevated camping spot right next to the waterhole where I had a great spot to look over the waterhole.
I will thrilled to spot this medium sized croc in a small lagoon on my drive into the 5 mile creek camping area,
What I found fascinating was, that in the 2 days I camped next to the waterhole I never saw it again.
That surprised me as the waterhole was locked by land at both ends, so the croc was not able to go anywhere else.
I learnt from that experience also.... if a croc does not want to be seen, you won't see it!
So many camping spots to choose from
While I didn't drive down every track in the park, I did explore most of them.
Video showing my experience of Rinyirru (Lakefield) National Park
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