Brisbane to Birdsville and back again

[Rumpig]

The following is a copy of a trip report i completed earlier this year, of a 2 week family holiday from our home on the Eastern coast of Australia (Brisbane) to Central Australia (Birdsville) and back home again. Things didn't go as smoothly as we had hoped for, and we didn't get to visit some places we had wanted to visit due to family circumstances (there's always next time), but in the end we still managed to have a great family holiday...... i hope you enjoy the read.

DAY 1:-

Friday morning the day we leave dawned and guess what, it's raining..... luckily the camper trailer and vehicle was pretty much completely packed, we just had to chuck the pillows and the camera etc. in the fourby and we were good to go. We soon left home and drove 10 minutes down the road to meet up with a friend and his family (Mr Mac) who was along for the trip also, the meeting place was Maccas at Oxley and they were grabbing some brekky when we arrived, how people eat that rubbish i'll never understand, not for me thanks....lol.
Leaving Maccas we headed West out of Brissy for Warwick, tonights destination was going to be at the Nindigully Pub, a free camp on the banks of the Moonie River. For those who have no idea where Nindigully is, think St. George but about 44klms South-East of there. The run to Warwick was uneventful, a check of the weather radar along the way showed the rain should stop about a quarter of the way between Warwick and Goondiwindi, but this didn't happen until we were nearly at Gundy itself. Pulling into Gundy we found a nice park beside the local football club, it had a playground for the kids to burn some energy off on, so we let them loose and we made some sangas and stretched the legs a touch.

LUNCH STOP AT GUNDY



Leaving Gundy we continue West and are soon seeing plenty of cotton by the side of the road, they must have harvested recently as it's everywhere and for quite some distance beside the highway. We are surprised at how much is allowed to fall from the trucks that cart it considering the effort that would go into maximising the yield of the crop by the farmer, it seems strange to us they allow so much to end up on the roadside. It may not look like much in the pic, but considering the distance it went for it'd add up to be a fair bit in the end.

COTTON BY THE ROADSIDE



About 20klms before reaching Nindigully we came to a spot many drivers would just cruise past and never stop at, it doesn't look like much but we'd read of it at our lunch stop on a board in the park so pulled in for a look. Weengallon Rock Wells is literally right by the roadside, there's a sign on the road alerting you to the spot, but if you blink you'll cruise past at 100kph and never know what you missed there (like i intially did before Glen radio'd me to stop...lol).

WEENGALLON ROCK WELLS







A good look around and we hit the road again, it's not long and we are arriving at this evenings destination. Pulling into the camp area and it's fairly busy, anywhere by the water is already taken by grey nomads (unless you want to be close to the main highway out front), so we head down the back and look around as we want to get as far away from the pub as possible (it's friday after all) and this will get us further away from the main road also. The main road is probably 200-300 metres away from the pub itself and we're another 200mtrs back again in the camp area, the roads not overly busy but you certainly can hear the traffic as it goes by, so getting as far down the back as possible is a good move when in the camper as it doesn't have the sound proofing a caravan has.

CAMP FOR THE NIGHT



The campground itself is all dirt, there's evidence it gets pretty muddy here at times, so keep this in mind if rain is about the area. There's a concrete walkway that runs down to the back of the camp area, but unless your one of the few people that gets a waterfront site, it's not much use to you. Actual waterfront spots are fairly limited, you'll have to be lucky to jag one and the majority of people just set up about the place between the trees.

NINDIGULLY CAMPGROUND ON THE BANKS OF THE MOONIE RIVER



Happy Hour at the pub starts at 5.00 p.m and there's a local musician who plays daily during this period, i've got an hour and a half to kill until this happens so i walk about the place having a look around and take some pics whilst the others sit back at camp and relax. As i walk around i see part of the movie Paperback Hero was filmed here, i check out some of the other travellers set ups aswell and then eventually head back to camp to grab the others so we can go to the pub for Happy Hour.

MONUMENT TO THE MAKING OF PAPERBACK HERO MOVIE



PLENTY OF ROOM IN THESE SET UPS ABOUT CAMP





BEEN A WHILE SINCE THIS ONES SEEN ACTION



FLASH NEW TOILET BLOCK HERE ALSO




Heading in for Happy Hour we grab a table and some drinks, the musics good and IMHO Adam has a great voice, don't miss the chance to see him when your there. When Adam finishes up singing we duck next door into the dining area to grab a table and order dinner, there's only one thing to get when your at Nindigully IMHO, so for us it's a Roadtrain Burger for dinner tonight. The burger here is massive (the biggest in Australia i believe), it takes an hour to cook and will have no problems feeding the 2 Adults and 5 kids that are eating it tonight. The burger also comes with chips and really yummy onion rings aswell, it cost us $60 but works out cheaper then ordering individual meals for everyone anyway. The burger tastes great i'll mention, i was worried it'd be average given it's size, but i was plesantly surprised at how good it tasted. Finishing up dinner we headed back to our campers to go to bed, it was bloody cold outside and we were glad we had the diesel heaters aboard to keep us warm all night. Sometime during the night i woke to the sound of a motorbike starting up and doing a burnout, i found out in the morning it was some of the locals playing up, they had a roadbike strapped to the back of a Rodeo ute and were doing burnouts on the back of it. Speaking to some people who had a room at the pub itself, they didn't get any sleep as the locals drank all night and we saw them still going when we left that morning, so a spot as far away as possible from the pub is a great idea IMHO.

ADAM SINGING DURING HAPPY HOUR



ASWELL AS THE BURGERS THEY DO A BLOODY BIG STEAK HERE ALSO



DINNER IS SERVED!!!

 

[Rumpig]

DAY 2:-

Before heading off from Nindigully i pull the vehicle and camper up out front of the pub to grab a pic, one of the local boys utes is still parked out front with the windows down and a heap of gear sitting inside for anyone to take if they were so inclined to do, they are nowhere to be seen so passed out somewhere i'd guess. Looking over into the pubs grassed area inside, the other ute with the bike strapped to the back of it is parked there with doors open and country music playing away, the owner of said ute is walking about with a can of Bundy in hand, he's still going from lastnight and not slept at all yet by the looks of him.

NINDIGULLY HOTEL



Leaving Nindigully we drive the 44klms to St George where we both fuel up as we know it'll only get dearer from here on. From St George we keep heading West towards Cunamulla which will be our lunch stop for today. We did this same road a couple of years back, i remember seeing heaps of goats out this way back then and wonder if it'll be the same again on this trip. About 40klms out of St George i see something that i'll unfortunately see alot of on this trip, normally i haven't seen alot of wild / feral cats, but sadly this trip away i see them everywhere, here i saw 2 on the highway within about 5klms of each other. I reckon i saw well over a dozen cats on this trip and through much of Western Qld's country side, so not just confined in one area.

SADLY PLENTY OF THESE ABOUT



As we pushed on we started seeing goats about the area as we had done so on the previous trip through here, like last time we also saw plenty of emus getting about and the odd kangaroo aswell, but the emus were in the biggest numbers easily, they were everywhere.

THESE WERE EVERYWHERE, LUCKILY NOT NEAR THE ROAD THOUGH



IMHO there's nothing real exciting to see out on the road here, you just need to eat the klms up and get to where your going, spotting the wildlife breaks up the staring at the bitumin as you go along, and before long we were in Cunnamulla having lunch. We stop at the same big park in town we stopped at a few years back, once again the kids get to burn off energy on the playground that's here, and we stroll over and get another pic with the Cunnamulla Fella like we did a few years ago.

PLENTY OF THIS BETWEEN ST GEORGE AND CUNNAMULLA



ANOTHER PIC OF THE CUNNAMULLA FELLA STATUE LIKE LAST VISIT



Heading West from Cunnamulla still, we see more goats on the outskirts of town, we stop and grab a pic then continue the short distance to tonights destination. Tonights stop over is another free camp, this time it's on the banks of the Paroo River about 1klm or so West of the tiny town of Eulo.

LOTS OF GOATS BETWEEN ST GEORGE AND CUNNAMULLA AREA LIKE ON PREVIOUS VISTS



It's only 66klms from Cunnamulla to Eulo, the main thing we notice along this stretch of road is the amount of roadkill you see, you seriously don't go more then a few hundred metres without seeing a dead roo or part there of one. We don't see many live roos here that i can recall, but obviously there are many about the area and night time driving would be a workout on the eyes and your reflexes also i'd say. Driving through Eulo there's a handful of buildings and not much more, there's a pub in town with a small grassey camp area out the back that looks ok for those might be needing a powered site, there's a few houses and a small servo and not much else in town. We pass through town and head out to the campsite, crossing over the river we turn right into the camp area and set ourselves up right down the back as far away from the road as we possibly can get once again. It's not a bad spot here, but the downside to this camp area for some is no toilet facilities, so aswell as our campers we set up the toilet tent and portaloo for the night also, and then set about collecting some firewood.
Firewood collected and it's still not that late in the afternoon, i grab the camera once again aswell as a can of Bundy and head off to take some pics. I run into old mate with the 5th wheeler who was back at Nindigully yesterday also, before the end of the trip we'll run into him several more times along the way. The local council have done a nice job of chucking some tables and chairs about the camp area, it's very much unexpected considering this is a free area to camp at.

EULO FREE CAMP ON THE PAROO RIVER



I walk up onto the main road and onto the bridge to take a few pics of the river, then return back to the camp area and notice the kids fossicking through some rocks the local council have dumped here for some fun. There's nothing valuable to be found in the pile, but the kids loved picking through it anyhow, and as i knew would happen, several rocks ended up coming along for the rest of the trip....what is it with kids and bloody rocks :roll: :roll:

PAROO RIVER EULO



FOSSICKING IN THE CAMP AREA



Glen and his family decide they'll head into town tonight to have dinner at the pub once again, so as they leave we get the fire going and sit back and relax. Looking around the camp area there's about a dozen vans set up here for the night, it's not a bad number as everyone is spread out and not too close to each other. Before it gets dark we whip up some chicken wraps for dinner, we then wait for Glen and family to return and we'll get the marshmellows out for the kids to toast on sticks in the fire.

FIRE GOING AND SITTING BACK RELAXING



A touch before 8.00 p.m we give up on Glen and family returning anytime soon so grab the marshmellows out for our kids to cook, the kids have a great time heating them up in the fire and we then put them to bed and sit back and wait for the others to return. Around 8.30 p.m i think it was the others eventually rock back at camp, the pub didn't take dinner orders until much later then was expected, and service was fairly slow apparently aswell, i'm kind of glad we cooked our own meal tonight by the sounds of Glens review, we nearly joined them for dinner down there tonight. A couple more cans had around the fire and we were off to bed ourselves, sadly though not before seeing another cat getting about camp :evil: :evil:

MY KIDS COOKING MARSHMELLOWS OVER THE FIRE

 

[Rumpig]

DAY 3:-

Up fairly early this morning as we have a bit over 450 klms drive infront of us today, from Eulo we plan to drive to the Burke and Wills Dig Tree near Innaminka and camp on the banks of the Cooper Creek for the night. Coffee and a quick brekky had we pack the campers up and then the fun starts, remember i said earlier that this campsite has no toilet facilities?....well seeing we had to set up the toilet tent for the night we now needed to pack it up, only problem here is Glen mentioned to me he hasn't used it in quite some time and can't remember how to fold it back up, and he doesn't have the instructions for it either.....geez how hard can it be?
Well here's where the fun started.... seeing i had no idea as it wasn't my tent, i stood back and watched Glen as he twisted and folded it one way, then tried another, then another way, then another way again.....it really was funny to watch as he got frustrated, my laughing probably didn't help much though....lol. In the end Glen noticed the fella camped over from us had the same type of pop up tent, so he walked over to ask him how the bloody hell you fold it back up. Old mate strolled over and the pop up tent wrestle started once again, he had a rough idea how to fold it up, but really wasn't much better at it then Glen had been, with his guidance of the way it's supposed to fold and twist, eventually Glen jagged it and we quickly wrestled it into the carry bag before it popped open again on us....lol

HOW MANY MEN DOES IT TAKE TO FOLD UP A POP UP TENT?....LOL



With everything finally packed away we hit the road for Thargomindah (about 130klms away) where we planned to fuel up one more time before prices skyrocket. The drive from Eulo to Thargomindah has some pretty scenic views along the way, there's many a time you crest the top of a hill and are greeted with a breath taking view infront of you over the other side of the hill. Along the way we spot plenty more emus and have to slow for cattle on the road several times also, we pass by Lake Bindegolly about 50 klms before Thargomindah and like a couple of years back on our last visit through here it has water in it once again, though this time nowhere near as much as on our last visit as it was completely full to overflowing back then.

VIEW FROM CREST OF HILL ALONG THE WAY



GOT TO WATCH FOR THOSE COWS, ESPECIALLY IF TRAVELLING AT NIGHT HERE



Pulling into Thargomindah we make straight for the service station, we don't plan to hang around in town long so we'll soon be on our way again.....atleast that's what we thought anyway. Standing beside my vehicle fuelling up, Glen walks over to me and says, "your not going to want to hear this, but you've got a big puddle of oil underneath your vehicle"....yep he was right, i didn't want to hear that. Walking around the front and looking underneath the engine area there's a decent size pool of fresh oil sitting there, i pop the hood to have a look where it's coming from but there's oil everywhere and it's to hard to see where's it's originated from. I close the hood and finish fuelling up before moving the vehicle out of the way so others can use the bowser, i throw a tarp underneath the vehicle and climb under to see if i can narrow down where it's coming from. Looking around it could be coming from anywhere, there's oil sprayed all over the back of the engine, it's covered the gearbox and everything else in the general area. A few months back i had the clutch replaced in the vehicle, i recall the mechanic i use saying there's a small oil leak happening at the back of the engine somewhere (i couldn't recall exactly where he said it was) and it's a job that will require the head to come off the engine if i want it fixed, he suggests to let it be as it's not that big of a deal if it's doesn't bother me at all, which it didn't. A phone call back to my mechanic to see if he can recall where the leak was and he's not much help, i end up going inside of the servo and grabbing a can of degreaser to clean the engine and gearbox down so we can see what's coming from where. The servo here is pretty well stocked with a variety of gear for anyone in need, in town also has a Toyota dealership i noticed which i didn't realize at the time would be a handy thing to know later on down the track (more to come on that later though).
Back to the engine oil leak....we get it cleaned down fairly easily and start the engine to see what happens, we let the engine run for a while and eventually notice a slight weep coming from up above the starter motor area on the back of the engine, speaking to my mechanic who's back home on the phone he gives me 2 possibilities of where it's coming from, seeing as though the clutch is still working fine we narrow it down to probably coming from a oil chamber that has a whelch plug type seal that it's most likely coming from. I checked the oil level in the engine earlier and it's down a touch but nothing drastic, not knowing how long it's been leaking or how quickly it's time to make a decision on whether to continue on with the trip or look at heading home instead. My mechanic assures me it's not something to can the trip over, just grab some extra oil before leaving town and keep an eye on the level in the engine and keep cleaning the oil down from everywhere when you get the chance he says. I walk back inside the servo and grab 5 litres of engine oil and decide we'll head for Noccundra to have lunch (about 150klms away) where i'll recheck the engine leak and oil level and assess what we do from there.
The drive to Noccundra is a touch nerve racking, the roads bitumin all the way and easy going, but i spend most of my time watching the engine temperature and oil pressure gauges along the way. Before long we arrive in Noccundra (there's basically only a nice old stone Hotel here, no town so to say for those who've not been here before) and order some lunch and grab a few cold beverages of our choosing aswell. After lunch i walk over to my fourby and pop the bonnet to check the oil level, the oil level is fine and very little evidence of the leak happing so far, there's a small puddle under the vehicle but we conclude the mess we saw under the vehicle at Thargomindah was a build up of oil on top of the gearbox from the last however many thousand klms, and the slight angle i parked on must have let it run down and look like it was pouring out at the time. We conclude alls good to continue on, so we load the families back into the vehicles and head for the Dig Tree

OIL PUDDLE UNDER VEHICLE AT NOCCUNDRA AFTER DRIVING 150 KLMS (the puddle at Thargomindah was 10 X bigger then that, and most Landrover drivers are now saying what's the big deal...lol)



PIC OF THE PUB FROM A FEW YEARS BACK (i didn't take one this time around)



MONUMENT IN THE GROUNDS OF THE HOTEL





Leaving Noccundra we return back the 20 klms to where we turned off the Adventure Way to get to our lunch stop, we turn left and head for the Dig Tree. About 7klms up the road you need to take a lefthand turn at an intersection, make sure your not day dreaming or you might cruise past your turnoff like i almost did...lol. Out here at this intersection in the middle of nowhere there's a lone standing toilet block, so anyone that's in need of a toilet stop might be happy to see this building along their journey. We didn't stop here so can't comment on it's cleanliness or lack there of, either way it might be a welcome sight for some. Pushing on, talk between vehicles over the uhf radios turns to firewood for the evening, we keep our eyes peeled and are soon pulling off the road and getting the chainsaw out. About a half hour or so goes by and we've gotsome beaut Gidgee timber on the trailers and rejoin the road to get to tonights destination.

COLLECTING FIREWOOD ALONG THE WAY



As you drive along this section of road you'll soon start to see some buildings appearing in the distance, the Jackson Oil Field amongst others is out this way and for the rest of the drive to the Dig Tree turn off you'll see much of these places infrastructure along the way. Traffic up until this point has been minimal to say the least, but once you reach these oil fields you'll likely come across trucks and other support vehicles using the road around this area as we did. About 50 klms before reaching the Dig Tree turn off the bitumin disappears and we are on our first section of dirt road for the trip, it's in fairly good condition but after about a kilometer we decide to pull over and air down the tyres a touch.

AIRING DOWN THE TYRES



Back on the go again and after about 15klms the dirt changes back to bitumin, we've got roughly another 30 klms until we reach the turn off and in hindsight would have been better off to leave our tyres at the pressures they were earlier. Taking it easy we drive the rest of the bitumin with tyres left as they are and stop at the turn off for a quick photo.

DIG TREE TURN OFF



As the sign says above, it's 14klms from the turnoff to the Dig Tree and campground area, it's dirt from here in and quite stoney / sharp rocks. Seeing we had already aired downed we are right to continue on, but if you have your tyres at road pressures here, nows a good time to deflate them some IMHO. I'd read recently before we left for the trip and spoken to some other recent visitors of this place the track being pretty rough, IMHO with tyres down and towing a decent offroad camper trailer it's pretty easy going, though i can't say i'd like to tow an onroad caravan or trailer along this track, the rocks on the road would give it a good work out i'd say. With the afternoon getting away from us we soon reach the entry gates of the park (actually there's no gate, just posts), there's a self registration point at the front entry so we fill in our details and add the $13 camping fee (i'm pretty sure it was) into the envelope and drop it in the Honesty Box provided.

REGISTRATION / PERMIT BOX AT FRONT ENTRY



There's a toilet block and information hut at the front entry, from here you continue on down to the creek bank following the signs to the camping area, and then just find a suitable spot to set up camp. There's a few people set up already when we arrive, they're all well spaced out so we continue past them all and drive right down the back past everyone until we find a perfect spot with open views of the creek itself (many of the spaces closer to the entry have vegetation blocking views in some areas). A quick set up of the campers and we get a fire going as the sun starts to set, being we are so far down the back of the camp area it's to far to walk up to the toilet block from here, so we set up the pop up toilet tent once again aswell. There's plenty of water in the Cooper, pelicans are swimming back and forth up the creek and we sit back and relax by the fire watching the sun set to one side of us and the moon rise on the other. It's another beautiful night with stars about everywhere and a fullish moon to boot, the evening is once again cool but the fire certainly helps sort that out. Dinner is had and a few drinks enjoyed around the fire before we head off to bed for the evening. During the night i get up for a wee walk and once again see another cat, i am surprised at how many i've seen on this trip considering i've not really seen them before on previous trips away outback.

PELICANS SWIMMING AROUND ON COOPER CREEK



DIG TREE CAMPSITE PIC

 

[Rumpig]

DAY 4

Waking up, i eventually step outside the warmth of inside the camper and am greeted by some nice colour in the sky as the sun rises, out here this time of year (end of June) it's pretty much dark until 7.00 a.m roughly, so you don't need to get up real early to try and get a nice sunrise pic. I grab the camera and try and capture the moment, but as usual struggle to do the view it's real justice.

SUNRISE OVER COOPER CREEK



CAMP BY THE COOPER CREEK AT DIG TREE



Glen and family are already up and huddled around the fire they have gotten going so as to get warm, Glens camper is having battery problems and the diesel heater keeps shutting down during the night leaving them all feeling the cold, this has been happening since our first night away and we think that one or several of the batteries in the camper has dropped cells. The gauges on the camper keep saying it's fully charged at the end of the days driving, but the voltage keeps dropping rapidly during the evening, and after seperating several things over the past few days to work out what's happening, all we can conclude is one or several batteries in the camper is cactus. On an up note, the firewood we collected yesterday is fantastic, you don't need much and it burns hot and creates the most fantastic coals you could hope for, we think it's gidgee going on how it burns but aren't 100% sure, either way Glen says it didn't take much work to get the fresh log he threw on the fire going this morning from lastnight coals that were still glowing.
The plan today is that after brekky we'll pack up and go look at the Dig Tree before heading into Innaminka, from there we'll get the permit we require and then head out to Coongie Lake were we'll camp the evening. Brekky had and the campers packed up we drive back past the other campers and pull up in the carpark area of the Dig Tree, there's infomation boards about that give the full story of the ill fated Burke and Wills expedition, and i read them to my kids to try and help explain exactly where it was the explorers went. I get my kids to try and remember where it was we visited almost 2 years back when we went up to the Gulf of Carpentaria, with a bit of help my eldest daughter recalled our visit to camp 119 when i mentioned the blaze marks we had stopped to look at along the way on that trip, this type of learning is so much better then anything they'll ever do at school, being there and reading about it makes it so much easier for them to try and picture and later recall what it is they've learnt. We walk about the trees for a while and take a few pics, 2 of the 3 original blaze marks have grown over and are not able to be seen anymore, the 3rd blaze showing the camp number aswell as another blaze carved of a likness of Burkes face on another tree are both still visible though. The face carving along with his initials, his wife's initials and the date was done nearly 40 years later in 1899 as a tribute by John ********. There's a boardwalk around the trees with the blaze marks to help protect them, this also makes it easy to get up close and view the blazes aswell

DIG TREE



OVERGROWN BLAZE MARK AND EXPLANATION PLAQUE AT DIG TREE





BLAZES ON SECOND TREE





With our look around the trees complete we load up the vehicles with passengers and head for Innaminka, the road out has a few spots where dust hangs in the air for the second vehicle due to a lack of wind blowing this morning, but it's nothing serious and we make good time back to the main road to Innaminka. Turning right and from here it's about 50 klms roughly to Innaminka, the 1st 30 odd klms is bitumin and once you cross the border into South Australia it turns to dirt from there. A few klms after we turn right we are crossing over a new bridge they have built across the Cooper Creek, there's stop / go lights flashing here from the roadworks and you can see there's still some minor work to do before it's completed. A touch further up the bitumin we come across a dip in the road with roadworks warning signs about, we'd already been warned back at the Dig Tree by another traveller to slow right down for this as there's a big hole in the road here, Glen being first didn't quite slow up enough and launches his vehicle and camper trailer through it, i myself am lucky enough to slow right down and avoid it completely....lol
As we continue along i look in my side mirror and notice a latch has come undone on the camper, i radio to Glen i'm stopping to do it up and he mentions he's stopping up infront also, as he's crossing into South Australia and taking a pic at the border. Hopping out of the fourby i smell something i know the smell of instantly, it's diff oil....****** i think, i'd just had the diff rebuilt the week before we went away.... getting down onto the ground i look under the vehicle and there's diff oil everywhere, the pinion seal has failed and it's a mess under there. I radio Glen up and give him the bad news, i drive up the road to meet him and discuss what we'll do next. Being it's only 20 odd klms into Innaminka, we decide to drive into town to have a look at it and assess the situation, there's no noises comeing from the diff so that's a good thing atleast. The dirt road into Innaminka is just like that going in and out of the Dig Tree, the large rocks on the road make it very unpleasant to drive on if your running road pressures, so if you haven't done so already, i'd be stopping to deflate your tyres now. Seeing our tyres were already deflated we drive off towards town, a short distance down the road we pass on the right hand side of the road the turn off to Burkes gravesite, i'd like to have stopped in to have a look, but at the moment i have other things on my mind. A bit further on we reach a T intersection, turning right you can see the tiny town of Innaminka down the hill below, we drive into town and pull up across the road from the Trading Post store. Jumping out i look under the vehicle once again and it's like a waterfall of oil coming off the diff, a small leak wouldn't concern me so much as i could keep topping the diff up along the way, but this is a show stopper and we aren't going anywhere until it's fixed.

CHECKING OUT THE DIFFS OIL LEAK IN INNAMINKA



Checking in at the Trading Post store i ask if there's a mechanic in town at all, there is one but he doesn't do much in the way of mechanics these days i am told, he runs earth moving machinery and i need to call the number she gives me and leave a message of where i am or where i will be, and eventually he'll get back to me when he gets the message. It's about 10.30 a.m by now, i've been on the pay phone to my mechanic back home once again to try and get some ideas from him, there's no mobile phone reception out here and the pay phone is gobbling gold coins like they are going out of fashion. Eventually i get permission from the owners of the Trading Post for my mechanic to ring their store so i can talk more easily to him and not worry about the phone cutting out. I tell him there's a Toyota store in Thargomindah 376 klms away, so he makes a call and checks to see if they have a pinion seal in stock and the nut required that goes with it to suit my vehicle, as luck would have it they do. This may seem like a strange thing to do for some people, why don't you get one shipped out overnight you might think?....well speaking to the lady at the Trading Post it appears that one plane (other then the flying doctor) flies into town once a week with supplies (in a couple of days time), and regular transport trucks are not an option either, we could maybe jag a Mansells Transport truck running out Toowoomba coming through here occasionally if we were lucky, but my conclusion is any spares we need in a hurry we'll have to go get ourselves. I speak to Glen and give him the bad news, i haven't heard from the local mechanic and it's been over an hour now, and the chances of him having the parts we need in his workshop i'm thinking would be slim, so we need to go for a drive. Not wanting to leave the women and kids alone for the night camped down at the Town Common (you can't camp in town itself), i arrange a room for them all at Cooper Creek Homestay, it's a nice clean place though nothing overly flashy, but if you need a roof over your head when out this way i'd reccomend it.

TONIGHTS ROOF OVER THEIR HEADS FOR THE FAMILIES



Parking my vehicle and trailer out front of the homestay and unhitching Glens camper from his vehicle aswell, we grab some drinks and warm clothes in preperation for the drive back to Thargomindah where we plan on staying the night, i ring Toyota and pay for the new seal, nut and some diff oil (just in case the mechanic didn't have what's needed) and arrange for it to be left at the service station in town that is open until 7.00 p.m, as we don't expect to be there before Toyota closes in the afternoon. We say goodbye to our families and drive back to the Trading Post to fuel up Glens vehicle. We have a slight problem right now, it's nothing major but Glen doesn't have an air compressor in his vehicle, he's still deciding what lockers he'll put in his new rig so hasn't purchased a new compressor until he decides what will suit that purchase, so the plan for this trip was to just use the compressor in my vehicle to inflate both our vehicles tyres, but now it's not here. Knowing it's going to be a rough 30 klms back to the bitumin with tyres inflated back to raod pressure, we don't have another option as it needs to be done for the bitumin we need to drive afterwards. Bang on 1.30 p.m (Qld time) we leave Innaminka and head for Thargomindah, the first 30 klms is pretty slow going, we pass a Kimberly Karavan broken down on the dirt road about 5 -10 klms out of town, it's broken an axle by the looks of the way the wheel has departed from it and lying underneath it, but there's already 3 other vehicles there and we can't do anything to help them, so we drive on past slowly.
Reaching the border we re-enter back into Qld and onto the bitumin once again, we pick up speed and make for Thargomindah, it's a good run and we only have to slow occassionally for the cows on the road and to pull over to grab a cold drink from the freezer before it explodes (we only had a freezer in Glens vehicle as the fridge is in the camper). You can do the sums, but allowing for the first 30 klms of rough dirt road and slowing for cows etc, we arrive in Thargomindah about 2 minutes after 5.00 p.m...3 1/2 hours to drive 376 klms, not bad going i reckon....lol
We drive straight to the servo where Glen refuels the vehicle once again whilst i go inside and grab the package that is waiting for me, with the vehicle fueled we drive around to the caravan park to see about accomodation for the evening. Enquiring at their front desk i am given the bad news they are full tonight, and don't bother trying the Motel the lady tells me, we have a tour in town and i know they are full also, you can try the pub she says. Driving over to the pub i enquire as to the possibility of a bed for the night, the lady is rather blunt and rude IMHO as to her reply, but the good news they have a couple of single rooms at $70 a night each. I go outside and speak to Glen about this option, between the $220 for the room for the wives and kids back at Innamincka, the fuel to drive to here and back again and another $140 for rooms for us tonight, it's certainly starting to turn into an expensive day. Glen says why don't we just drive back to Innaminka tonight, there's only been 2 dead kangaroos and 2 dead cows we saw on the way in, so it shouldn't be to bad if we wait till the sun sets so it isn't blinding us on the drive back. Decision made we head around the corner back to the servo to grab dinner as the pub doesn't take orders for dinner until after 6.30 p.m, we noticed earlier the servo sells pizzas, so we order a large meatlovers one for the both of us to eat. Waiting for the pizza to cook i joke with Glen about the chances of us getting a heated up McCains pizza for dinner handed to us, we look over and see the meat for our pizza getting chopped up infront of us, and are relieved to see it's being freshly made...it wasn't to bad to eat either in the end.
Sitting at the table eating dinner i make a call to the mechanic in Innaminka once again on the off chance he'll answer the phone, to my surprise he does, he sounds like i woke him up (he usually starts at 3.00 a.m each morning apparently). I explain my situation and how we have the parts needed for the repair, so he says bring it around at 8.00 a.m tomorrow and he'll fix it for me, finally something is going right for a change. I guess i spoke too soon about that, after making that call i recieve a text message on my phone, it's a message from my mum telling me to call home as soon as i get this message (we haven't had phone reception for nearly 2 days and the message is a day old), i know going by the sound of this message this isn't going to be good news. I phone mum and am given the news my nanna is in hospital and not looking like she'll survive the night, she's had a massive stroke and the prognosis is that she won't be recovering from here, she'll pass away sometime soon. Great... just the news i needed when my vehicles broken down in a town 376 klms away and we are also 1000klms from home at the moment, i explain to mum i can't do anything about it right now and i'll call her tomorrow morning to see what's happened overnight.
Dinner finished and we jump back into Glens fourby for the drive back to Innaminka, we leave Thargomindah pretty much right on 7.00 p.m and head out of town. We don't get more then a few klms down the road and we have kangaroos bouncing all about the place, for a road with practically no road kill on it, there seems to be plenty of wildlife about out here we say. The reflections back off the road signs are the worst part as we go along, any cattle grids we come to, we cross our fingers nothing jumps out on the other side of it, as we can't see a thing due to being blinded by the reflection from the signs that are mounted on them. We continue on through the night dodging cows and kangaroos, both passenger and driver are constantly scanning the road out infront and calling out something the minute they see it, it's not much fun really. One thing we work out along the drive back is, there's no road kill because there's no vehicles out here at night, We've driven about 200 klms so far and not seen another vehicle what so ever. It's not until we reach the Jackson Oil Fields that we have a truck come towards us, so we pull right off the road and let him go past, from the Jackson Oil Fields to the Dig Tree turn off we encounter a few more trucks aswell as a few other smaller vehicles aswell. During the day on the way to Thargomindah we'd seen a dingo around the oil fields, and on the run back we see it again along with another dingo eating a dead cow by the side of the road. That's not the only animal we see on the trip back to Innaminka, along with the dingos, cows and kangaroos, we also see a rabbit run across the road infront of us at one stage, crossing over the new bridge at Cooper Creek we also spot yet another cat roaming about also. Before long we are back at the Qld / South Australian border, we stop to deflate the tyres of the vehicle and mention how cold it is outside here. Jumping back into the fourby we head off again and are soon pulling up at the homestay, it's 11.00 p.m Qld time and the run to get back took 5hrs. we head off to sleep and will see how we go tomorrow morning with the mechanic

 

[Rumpig]

DAY 5

A rubbish nights sleep lastnight due to the fact i was sleeping on the floor of the room the wife and kids were staying in, being we didn't plan to sleep here the beds were full of sleeping people when we got back, so i opted for the floor instead of putting one of the kids there, wrong option on my part. I was woken about 5.00 a.m by Glens boy whacking me in the head with his arm that dropped from the side of the bed whilst he was sleeping, being it was pretty cold in the room at this stage i didn't really get back to sleep after that much, though i did doze on and off a smidge after moving up into one of the beds once the kids had vacated it. Around 7.30 a.m i went out to my fourby and started disconnecting the camper trailer from it and getting ready to take it to the mechanics shop, it's literally right across the corner from where we are, so at 8.00 a.m i see movement over at the workshop and take my vehicle over there.
Kym is the one and only mechanic in Innaminka, speaking to him later on, i find out he closed most of the mechanics business up due to there being no money in it for him, and these days he makes a living from his business of earthmoving machines and water trucks that him and his employees now operate. Kym is fixing something on one of his trucks when i drive in the front gate, he's a no nonsense kind of guy and pretty straight to the point, he comes across as a rough as guts kind of person and at first and i'm not entirely sure i trust what his mechanical abilities will be like. On speaking to him a few times later during the day, he then comes across as someone that knows what they're on about, and i start to feel better about his mechanical knowledge, i'd suggest you don't ever try and rush him to get something done though, as your likely not to be one of his priorities. Kym tells me to park my fourby over in front of the roller door and that he has to go away for about an hour or so first up, but when he returns he'll start work on my fourby. i walk back to the Homestay across the road and then watch as he drives off not long afterwards, walking into the camp kitchen area of the Homestay i have a coffee and wait to hear back from him again. Whilst waiting i phone back home (on the Homestays phone) to check what's happened with my Nanna overnight, there's been no real change and it's going to be a waiting game now to see what happens. I'm told there's no chance of Nan recovering from this and it's only a matter of time until she passes away, it could be today, it could be a few days or even possibly longer, they don't know. There's no point in rushing home i'm told, there's nothing i can do and whatever happens is going to happen regardless of us not being there. With this in mind i speak to the others and decide that when my vehicle is ready, we'll skip the next part of our planned trip and head straight for Birdsville, we'll have phone reception there and an easy route back home to Brisbane if we need to get back for a funeral. It's a bit disappointing to skip some of our trip, i so wanted to head out to Coongie Lakes and camp there the night, but the lack of phone reception and also the fact i wasn't 100% confident in what my vehicle was like mechanically wise, meant going to an out of the way place like this wasn't a good option IMHO.
It's over 2 hours before Kym eventually returns back to his workshop, being right across the road we get to watch what's going on over there and i notice he's busy doing more work on his trucks whilst my vehicle sits there untouched. I can't be upset at Kym for not making my vehicle a priority, his trucks and earthmoving equipment are what he makes his living from, so i know my vehicle will take a back seat until he sorts out the stuff on the things that make him money, and after that it'll be my vehicle that gets attended to. Just before 11.00 a.m he starts work on my fourby, and just before midday i walk over to grab a cold drink from the fridge in the back of it. Kym informs me he just has to chuck some oil back into the diff and he'll be finished, i hand him a cold drink from the fridge in the back of my vehicle and he's pretty appreciative of the jesture. I give Kym a hand to pump the oil into the diff and a touch after midday it's ready to go, "how's $85 sound" Kym says to me when i ask what i owe him?
"sounds good to me" i say in reply to him.
"it'd ********** want to" Kym then says to me, "i should be charging you $150 for that job" he says.
I'm pretty stoked with that price actually, i may have supplied the new seal and nut, but Kym has supplied the labour and new oil for the diff for that price (even though i bought oil in Thargomidah, he had oil in a 20ltr drum with a hand pump to easily put it in the diff, so we went with the easier option). Driving out the driveway i have my fingers crossed this seal does as it's supposed to do, it's something like 350 klms to Birdsville from here (i think from memory) and i hope we can make it there without anymore oil leaks.
Back at the homestay i rehook the camper up and we make a quick lunch, pretty much right on 1.00 p.m we leave Innaminka bound for Birdsville. We've been told by people previous to this trip it's a days drive to Birdsville from Innaminka, we'll see how we go but hope to make it there today. Leaving town we turn right and cross the causeway that leads us past the Town Common camping area, not much further past this spot we turn right at the sign directing us to Birdsville via Walkers Crossing. Now don't quote me on this, but i think the start of this track we have turned onto is actually called the 15 Mile Track, further up we will turn right at a T intersection and this then becomes the Walkers Crossing track.

HEADING FOR BIRDSVILLE VIA WALKERS CROSSING....(that's 226 klms to Birdsville track, it's another 120 something klms to Birdsville from there)





The 15 Mile Track track is in excellent condition, there's signs saying to watch out for water trucks and the like and to call them up on channel 40 if you need to do so, you can see they have been doing heaps of work to maintain the track, it's more of a graded 2 lane road then a track really. We go past the turn offs to Policemans Waterhole camping area and Wills gravesite also, visiting these locations will now have to wait to be done on another trip due to our change of plans, which is a shame. From our first righthand turn onto 15 Mile track earlier, it's about 65 odd klms to the T intersection where we'll turn right onto Walkers Crossing track, i'll be stopping here to climb back under the vehicle again and see how the seal is going, i've already done it once already along the way and will do so again here to gauge what the repair was like.

15 MILE TRACK.....more like a nice graded road then a track



The drive is very easy going, we catch up to a truck and call him on the radio to let us know when it's ok to come past him, it's pretty dry and dusty about the track so trying to come past without radio'ing him isn't an option. The truck driver slows up and moves over to let us past on a windy section of road, we thank him for doing so and push on. Not long after passing the truck we find ourselves at the T intersection where we'll turn right for Birdsville, the drive so far has been picturesque and i'm enjoying it, though wishing it was more track like to get the feeling of being somewhere really remote. At the intersection we stop for another pic and i climb under the vehicle with fingers crossed to see how things are going, there's no sign of fresh oil or any leak around the seal so i'm happy to continue heading for Birdsville.

TURNING RIGHT ONTO WALKERS CROSSING TRACK



The graded roads continue on once again, watching my GPS we detour from the original track several times where it would seem the Moomba Gas Plant out this way has realigned the roads to suit their operations. We follow the signs we see along the way which are of a many varied nature, so you need to keep a good look out for them as some are like a small street sign and others much larger and just painted on old corrogated iron. At one stage of this drive we eventually end up turning from the graded road and driving the type of track i was expecting to see, it's a nice 2 wheeled track that winds itself through the trees and past cows and along a dry creek, but it doesn't last long and we soon find ourseles turning right onto a large well graded gravel road

WALKERS CROSSING TRACK





ONE OF THE BIGGER SIGNS YOU'LL FIND ALONG THE WAY



Once we turn onto this gravel road we drive for a short while and find ourselves at a gas plant, the road goes right through the middle of the plant and we aren't sure whether we are supposed to be here or not. I recall the last small roadsign we saw directed us to head in this direction, so we slowly continue to drive into the plant and a few hundred metres up the road see another small road sign saying Walkers Crossing to the right, so we turn at the intersection and continue on. Around this gas plant area there is many side roads running off from the main track, it's all clearly signposted with little street signs like back home in the city, so just keep looking for the Walkers Crossings signs and you'll find your way easily enough. Heading past the gas plant that's now on our left we continue on to another intersection further up where we take a left turn, the road rises up sharply over a dune and as we crest the top we are greeted with yet another spectacular view of the plainlands out in front of us.

VIEW FROM TOP OF CREST....pic doesn't do it justice though as needed the wide angle lens on instead



Pushing on from here we encounter a few large bulldust holes in the road, being it's a road used by the gas plant there's warning signs about the place for anything considered worth worrying about, so keep an eye out for these, though some areas hardly needed warning about IMHO. We come across a dry creek crossing that has us passing down along side a bridge above us, a few hundred metres past here and we turn right at an intersction and road closes in and becomes more of a track from here on until we reach the Birdsville Track. There's many places along the way the shrubs close right in and make the track fairly narrow, the shrubs are over bonnet height in many places and don't allow you to see what's coming around the bends towards you. As exected i eventually encounter someone coming towards me who is driving way to fast for the conditions, he locks his wheels up big time to avoid me and i just shake my head at his stupidity as he drives past us. For much of the drive we follow a sand dune that is constantly on our lefthand side, you might veer away from it for a short period, but before long your right back beside it following it's path

SHRUBS ALONG THE TRACK BLOCKING VIEW, AND NOTE THE DUNE ON THE LEFT THE TRACK FOLLOWS



In the middle of nowhere we suddenly find ourselves driving through the middle of an exploration camp of some description, there's a heap of semi trallers and smaller support vehicles parked up here, and we are amazed at where they have managed to get the large trucks. From here the track opens up once again, we are guessing the trucks followed a grader into where they have set up, as the track becomes more road like then track once again.

EXPLORATION CAMP IN MIDDLE OF NOWHERE



Just past the camp i see a spot i've been looking for to take a nice pic at, i'm hoping to get a pic of the fourby and camper in the middle of nowhere, so i radio back to Glen that i'm stopping to take a pic. Jumping out of the fourby i run back behind the vehicle, taking a few shots i notice a dust cloud coming towards me in the distance...great a bloody oncoming vehicle :roll: :roll: I try and take the pic i'm after but have to give up and run back to move my fourby out of the way, we continue on and start to discuss over the uhf with each other whether we think we'll make Birdsville tonight or not?

PIC IN MIDDLE OF NOWHERE ON WALKERS CROSSING TRACK



Looking at the map on my GPS the road up infront of us takes a Westerly kick for a short while then kicks north again, the road has started to get a touch stoney now and when the road does break left it has us crossing over the sand dune we have been following alongside for ages. Crossing over the dune the road then kicks right and we follow along the other side of the dune for a period of time. The track is no longer closed in, on this Westerly side of the dune it's open plainlands and the track becomes very stoney from here. We are making good time and discussion over the uhf has us thinking we'll likely make Birdsville today after all.

TRACK OPENS RIGHT UP ON THE WESTERLY SIDE OF THE DUNE



Picking up speed when the track opens up, we soon find ourselves at the T inserction where the Walkers Crossing track meets the Birdsville track, we turn right here and know we have about 120 klms to go before reaching tonights camp spot. The Birdsville track is in excellent condition, i'm soon cruising along at 100 kph and could easily have gone much faster if i needed to for some reason, it stayed like this for pretty much the entire run into Birdsville which we were very happy with, as the sun was starting to get low and we wanted to get to Birdsville before it got dark. We weren't anywhere near Birdsville at this stage, but seeing a very large sign off in the distance on the opposite side of the road, i radio Glen i'm slowing down for a look and we soon organise another photo opportunity

ALONG THE BIRDSVILLE TRACK




VIEWS FROM THE FOURBY ALONG THE BIRDSVILLE TRACK AS SUN STARTS TO SET





Traffic has been non existent for the last 100 klms and we haven't seen another vehicle, about 15 klms out of Birdsville we pull off the road to let a semi trailer cruise past us in the opposite direction. He thanks us for doing so and over the uhf asks what condition the road is like ahead, i give him the good news that for the next 100 klms atleast it's great going, and we pull back onto the road and continue our drive into town. With some light still in the sky we arrive at the Birdsville caravan park right on 6.00 p.m, we check in and grab a powered site (due to Glens camper battery problems) for the next couple of nights, we quickly set up camp and then head over to the pub for dinner.
It's here that'll i'll mention camped a few sites down from us at the caravan park is a mate and his family from our 4wd club back home in Brisbane, we knew they'd be in Birdsville around this time so look forward to saying gidday to them and having a drink or 2 with them also. Walking into the dining room at the pub our friend and his family are enjoying their dinner, they rave about the meal they are eating and i look forward to ordering similar. The hotel isn't the cheapest place you'll eat out at, but a few years back i really enjoyed the meal i had here and being where it is with it's remoteness, it costs what it costs to dine here. It's pretty busy in the pub tonight, we know we'll be waiting atleast an hour to get our meals so we grab a few drinks and relax after a busy days drive. About an hour and a half after ordering our meals they arrive on our table, i ordered a medium rare steak and to say it's well done would be an understatement, it's beyond well done and charcoaled. I cut some of the steak off and give it a try anyhow, it's dry and chewy, and to be honest it's one of the worst steaks i've ever had the displeasure of eating at a restuarant anywhere. My wifes steak isn't much better and the kids steak my eldest daughter ordered is not much more then 2" x 2" in size and over cooked to buggery aswell. I leave my meal sitting where it is and walk into reception and ask for the manager to please come see me at the table we are sitting at. A few mintes later the manager arrives and i explain how disappointed i am at what we've all been served, she apologises and asks if they can cook me another steak or what is it i want them to do to remedy the situation. I'm really not in the mood to eat dinner now i'm that disappointed in the meal we got, i suggest to the manager some sort of partial refund might be in order and i'll leave it up to her to work out how much that is, whilst i'll just continue to eat the meal they have served to me. I eat the chips and veges from the plate and have a few small mouthfuls of the over cooked steak, but in the end i can't eat anymore of the steak so just leave it sitting there on the plate. The manager returns back to our table just after i push the plate aside, she has refunded the cost of my meal and both the kids meals and says she has had a word with the staff working in the kitchen, so i'm happy to leave it at that. We leave the hotel and head back to camp and head off to bed as it's pretty cold outside.


I'll add here, that over the next couple of days i spoke to a few people about their meals they got at the hotel, it seems that those who get in early say they have had really nice meals, and those like us who were disappointed, have arrived when it's pretty busy, so my suggestion is get in early if your going to eat there

 

[Rumpig]

DAY 6

Wednesday morning dawns (you start to lose track of the days when on holidays...lol) and we've had a nice sleep in for a change, i think we got up around 8.00 a.m from memory. Jumping out of bed i knew what was for breakfast today....BACON!!!!!....yep we aren't going anywhere so it's time for a nice cooked breakfast of bacon,eggs and tomato...Mmmmmm
Exiting out of the camper and the first thing i notice is some local grub has graffitied my vehicle overnight, unbloody believable :evil: :evil: well when i say local, i mean the fella camped next to me, Glen has found one of his kids pens and set about amusing himself whilst we slept in :roll: i was fine with it, it gave me a laugh actually :lol: :lol:

BLOODY LOCAL VANDALS



Sitting down having brekky i spotted a nicely convertered 100 series Landcruiser drive past the caravan park, i took a bit of notice of it as i have a mate interested in doing similar to his vehicle. I particularly liked how the rear canopy was moulded to cover over the spare tyres on the back instead of just hanging out like an add on as you see on many of the ute canopies. Brekky finished and i jumped in the fourby to duck down the to the bakery and grab some fresh bread, Glen gave me some money and asked me to get him a loaf also. Pulling out past the van park i noticed old mate wth the converted Cruiser parked just down the road a touch doing some repair work on the springs of his caravan he was towing. I started out by asking if he was ok (which he was, all under control) and then asked him a few questions about his conversion on the tow tug. Old mate was more then happy to tell me about the conversion, before i knew it he had the rear of the ute open and was giving me a full run down of the set up, he was happy to show it off and i don't blame him after looking through it all. I asked if i could take some pics for my mate back home to see (which he said no worries to) then i jumped back into my fourby and headed off for the bakery.

NICELY CONVERTED CRUISER



Pulling up outside the bakery i reached for my wallet in the centre console, but it wasn't there. Checking my pockets and under the seats etc it's nowhere to be found, where the heck did it go i'm thinking to myself? I knew i left with it as i recalled sticking the money Glen gave me into my wallet, but now it's nowhere to be seen. When i got the camera out of my car to photograph the ute, i must have put it on the bonnet of the fourby (right now i vaguely remember doing this, but still not 100% certain that's where i put it), i jump back in my vehicle and start to drive back looking on the road for where my wallets gone, about 80 mtrs up the road i come across a guy who's stopped in the middle of the road and he's reaching down to pick my wallet up. Pulling up beside him i call out "that's mine mate", and he walks off around the side of his vehicle saying something i didn't quite hear. Thinking to myself what a rude fella this guy is, he suddenly walks back around the vehicle towards me with my mobile phone in other hand aswell that he'd just bent down to pick up off the road also, i knew my wallet was missing but not the phone The guy opens my wallet to check it's mine before handing it back, he sees my ugly mug on the drivers licence and hands it over saying "geez your lucky mate". A quick thank you to the fella and i turn around and go back to the bakery once again to buy what i went there for. Returning back to camp Glen suggests we head down to the information centre to see about organising our surprise for the kids, we hadn't let them in on our secret yet, but the plan was we were going to take the kids (and the wives also, but they knew about this already) on a scenic flight out of Birdsville over the desert and back again. None of our kids had ever been on a plane of any description before, so this was going to be a real treat for them, finally they'll stop whinging about how all their friends have been on a plane but they never have....lol.
Arriving at the information centre (the plane flights are organised here also in another area in the same building) and the pilot is out somewhere, but the lady manning the other desk isn't sure where. We get some information on what's to see about town and say we'll check back later, whilst getting this info i grab a sheet of paper that mentions how one of the local aboriginal elders will come down and give a talk to you at the 2 Boys Dreamtime Story Site on the edge of town, if you arrange it with him to do so. You need atleast 4 people to make this worth him doing, so seeing we easily had that between our 2 families i take the info sheet and we head back towards the vehicle to head back to camp. Walking back to the vehicle Glen gives the pilot a call on his mobile phone and he mentions he's walking back over to the building right now, we turn around and wait for his arrival where we then arrange the 2 flights for both our families, the first one leaving at 11.00 a.m.
With this all organised we don't have much time to get back and get the the families ready to go. We arrive back at camp and give the kids the surprise news, they're all excited and before long we're in the vehicles and pulling up just across the road on the corner opposite the Birdsville Hotel where the plane leaves from. Glen and his family are first to go on their flight, we take some pics of them flying off and then i move my fourby across the road to get the obligatory pic of the vehicle outside the iconic Birdsville Hotel.

GLEN AND FAMILY GOING OFF ON FLIGHT



VEHICLE PIC OUTSIDE THE BIRDSVILLE HOTEL



I move the fourby back across the road again, and then we start looking at the monuments that are here to celebrate the feats of many early explorers desert crossings. It's interesting reading how people crossed the desert on foot back then, and makes me glad i did it a few years back in the comfort of my 4wd...lol

MONUMENTS ACROSS THE ROAD FROM HOTEL







By the time i'd finished reading these monuments and mucking around getting camera gear ready for our flight, it wasn't much longer and Glen and his family were returning from their adventure. Switching roles, Glen and family exited the plane and before long we were onboard and taxiing down the runway ourselves. Engine of the plane revving and we're off down the runway, wheels in the air off the ground and the kids are having their first plane flight ever, the smiles on their faces were great to see and we spend the next half hour being shown the local area by the pilot. As we head out over the desert the variety of colours below us has to be seen to be believed, a few good wet seasons under her belt and the desert below looks spectacular from above. Getting to see all the dunes running parrallel in a North / South direction is fantastic from up here also, you don't get this perspctive of the desert when you drive across it. We circle around Big Red (the iconic sad dune) and notice the water has depleted on the Eastern side of the dune quite a bit since we were last here in 2010. Zooming in with my camera lense i notice some people playing on Big Red below and realize things certainly look much smaller from up here then i expected, i barely noticed them below beforehand.

BIRDSVILLE FROM THE AIR



A PERSPECTIVE OF THE DUNES YOU DON'T SEE WHEN CROSSING IT



WATER ON EASTERN SIDE OF BIG RED



PEOPLE PLAYING ON BIG RED AS WE FLY OVER



QAA LINE HEADING WEST ACROSS THE DESERT



DIAMANTINA RIVER



We circle back from the desert and start heading South East over Roseberth and Pandi Pandi Stations, the pilot points out a fence line below that was built by the 2 feuding brothers (Lyle and George Morton) who owned each station. In 1974 a flood swept away large sections of the original fence that divided the stations, Lyle told George it was his turn to pay for repairs, but George refused to do so. Lyle ended up building a fence 200 mtrs inside his boundary and then George ending up building one also that ran parrallel with his brothers fence though right on the boundary, there's a no mans land inbetween the 2 fences now.
From here we circle East some more and head North back up past the famous Birdsville racecourse (it has a horse race meeting here once a year, thousands of people flock to the race from all over Australia). A short time later we find ourselves circling right back around to the far end of the airport where we make our approach for a landing. A few bumps as we touch down on the runway and a good time was had by all aboard. We pull up and depart the plane and the pilot offers to take a family happy snap to mark the occasion, we do so and thank him for the flight.

BIRDSVILLE RACE TRACK



FAMILY HAPPY SNAP AFTER THE FLIGHT

 

[Rumpig]

We head back to camp from here for a bite to eat and i call Don Rowlands (the local aboriginal elder) on his mobile phone, to try and arrange for him to come and give us the talk he does this afternoon down at the Story Site. Normally Don does the talks around 2.00 p.m but today he has a doctors appointment happening at that time, we arrange for a later time then normal and look forward to seeing him down there. At the arranged time we head down to the Story Site on the edge of town, standing in the carpark my mobile phone rings and it's Don, he's running a touch late and he'll be down soon. A little while later Don arrives and starts explaining to us the significance of the location we are at, and also of the 2 Boys Dreamtime Story. It's great getting Dons perspective on the story and also hearing how he remembers when he was a young boy, attending a Corroborree at this very location we are standing at. Don answers all our questions about aboriginal culture etc, and before he heads off we then thank him for his time, and we then explore the very short walk you can do here. Whilst on the walk we see the places Don mentioned earlier, the location the men would get ready at and the location the women would get ready at for the Corroborree. It was great imagining both the men and women coming down from their locations and meeting up on the clay pan below as the Corroborree started, hearing Don give that recount of him being at and seeing such an event just added to the experience so much more.

THURTIRLA PULA (TWO BOYS) DREAMTIME STORY SITE





THE STORY ITSELF AND HOW IT LINKS DALHOUSIE TO BIRDSVILLE... (the circles are water wells in the desert, the story helps aboriginals find this water along the way)



MENS SITE



WOMENS SITE



DON PICTURED BOTTOM LEFT PIC



Walking along the short walk we are suddenly greeted with hundreds of cockatoos flying past us, the sky has turned white before our eyes and we now know why this place is called Birdsville. It's a sight you need to see to believe, and the noise of these buggers needs to be heard aswell. I try and take some pics and manage to jag a shot i'm happy with, it's hard to do as they land in the trees and then suddenly take off once again the minute they get spooked.

COCKATOOS FLYING PAST



ONE OF MY FAVOURITE PICS I TOOK FROM THE HOLIDAY



Leaving the story site we head back towards camp once again, we take a quick detour to the Northern edge of town and look at where Birdsville gets it's water supply from. A bore was sunk back in 1961 to a depth of 1292 metres deep, water comes to the surface under pressure and is almost 100 degrees celcius when it does so. The water goes into cooling ponds before then being pumped 20 metres up to holding tanks, where it's then distributed to the township.

BIRDSVILLES WATER SUPPLY AND HOLDING TANKS





From here we head back to camp and get ready to watch Qld smash the dirty cockroaches in tonights State of Origin Game (a yearly rugby leage game, best of 3 series between 2 rival states), before doing so i wander down the back of the caravan park with my eldest daughter to take some more photos. My daughter has her little point and shoot camera along with her also, i'm pretty impressed with the way she frames some of the shots she takes that she shows me, she seems to have a knack for it IMHO. Down the back of the van park here is the unpowered camping area, you can camp where you like and the birdlife about the river abounds, one downside is that when the sun comes up so do the birds, they are loud from where we are up the top of the park, i can only imagine how loud they are for those camped down here by the water.

DIAMANTINA RIVER AT BACK OF CARAVAN PARK



UNPOWERED CAMP AREA AT CARAVAN PARK



POWERED AREA OF CARAVAN PARK



Photos taken we both walk back up to our campsite and have some dinner. The plan tonight is watch the game on the small tv screen in Glens 4wd, i reckon the pub will be packed and don't really want to be in there with the kids if this is the case. Not long before the game the coverage on Glens telly starts to drop out occasionally, being desperate to watch the game i race over to the pub and see what it's like in there. To my surprise the front bar is busy but not overflowing, i check the dining room and there's still seats available to sit at, so i race back and grab the family and we head up to the pub to watch the game. It's a fantastic result on the night if your a Queenslander, we smash the roaches and even the series up one game all. When the game finishes we head back to camp and invite Taf and Sue (our friends from back home) around for a few drinks, much cheaper drinking back here then at the pub after all...lol.
We only have a couple and everyone heads off to bed, it's fairly cold sitting outside here and the downside to being in the powered area is no campfire.....oh well, i'll sleep well knowing we smashed NSW tonight anyway.

 

[Rumpig]

Day 7

Another sleep in this morning and another cooked brekky aswell due to the fact we were staying another night in Birdsville. There'd been no change back home with my Nan, so it was decided we'll just keep on with our holiday until we get the phone call giving us the bad news, and we'll head straight for home when that happens. The plan for today was to explore a bit more around Birdsville, and later on this afternoon we'd head out to Big Red and have a play on the sand dune, and then watch the sunset over the desert. Brekky had we eventually set off out of town towards the race track, crossing over the Diamantina Bridge we took a righthand turn onto a dirt track that leads us down to the Burke and Wills blaze tree. I was a little disappointed with what we found here though, i'm guessing there used to be an information board of some description here to explain the relevance of the tree (which it was etc), but it appears it's fallen victim to the elements or vandals, my guess being the later sad to say. I didn't think of it at the time we were there, but back at camp i jumped on the internet to find the trees relevance, and it appears it was marked by Burke on the return trip from The Gulf, and marks one of their final campsites before they reached the Innamincka area where they both eventually perished (if i have this wrong can someone please tell me). Right at this point in time i can't find a photo of the blazing, so i'm guessing it has since grown over and wasn't visible anymore, otherwise i'd think i'd have a photo of it .

BURKE AND WILLS BLAZE TREE



Leaving the blaze tree we continue on along the dirt track and circle around back towards Birdsville direction, there's a maze of tracks about here with heaps of campsites tucked into the surrounding scrub, and we guess this is where many people camp when the famous Birdsville Races are on. Guessing as we go, we eventually find what we are looking for, it's the Old Diamantina River crossing. We pull up and get a photo or 2 on the crossing before moving on once again.

OLD DIAMANTINA RIVER CROSSING





Back at the bitumin now, we find ourselves on the Birdsville side of the Diamantina Bridge, we've read about and been told by the lady at the info centre the other day of a fresh water croc that supposably has been spotted around this area (not something that is normal for the area), so we head the few hundred metres up the road to go see if we can spot it ourselves. We'd been told the croc hangs out about a couple of hundred meters either side of the bridge, we walk the banks either side of the bridge but don't see a thing worth mentioning. As we are about to leave, a fella camped downstream a touch walks up to get water from a tap that is located near us, and i ask if he's seen the croc at all. He's been here a few days and he says he hasn't seen it, so not sure what the go is with the old snapping handbag.

NOT WHAT YOU EXPECT TO READ OUT HERE AT BIRDSVILLE





From here we continue out of town a touch more and turn left off the bitumin into the famous racetrack for a look around. We have the place to ourselves pretty much, other then the flies that are a bit annoying. We line the vehicles up at the front entrance gate and grab the tripods out to set the cameras up on, and get a group families pic to mark the occasion of reaching our destination. You see.... most people like ourselves on previous trips, usually arrive in Birdsville after or just before they cross The Simpson Desert, they stay for a night and then move on to where ever it is they are goin. The trip for us this time was all about going to Birdsville and staying a few days here, and having a relaxed look around the place, which is exactly what we've been doing and did do. I'm not going to say we saw everything about the area, there's a few places i know we didn't go see, but oh well, that's a reason to head back out here again another time in the future. We had a good look around the race track and even got the kids to line up down the straight and have a foot race to be first past the post, it was good for them to burn off some energy we thought...lol. If you go have a meal or drink at the Birdsville Hotel you'll see some of the past winners names of the famous horse race up on one of the walls, my favourite horses name is My Face. i can hear the people calling him home now...C'MON MY FACE...C'MON MY FACE...can't imagine they'd allow a name like that in big city horse racing....lol

BIRDSVILLE RACK TRACK





With our look around the race track completed and pics taken, we headed back to the caravan park so the misses could take our washing off of the clothes line, you need to get in early in the morning to jag a washing machine here, as they are a much sort after item being people have been away from home about a week atleast by the time they get here.

I suppose now is as good a time as any to mention some Birdsville pricing here for those who are interested....
washing machines at the caravan park...$4 a pop (Windorah council park is only $2 if your going that way)
driers at the caravan park...$1 for 8 minutes (you'll need 4 goes to dry a load of washing so Amanda found out)
loaf of white bread at the bakery....$6
diesel fuel at the main servo across from van park at time of our visit....$1.69 a ltr (a pleasant surprise and much cheaper then the $2.09 a ltr Innamincka was. At the time back home in Brisbane was about $1.50 a ltr)

Back to the report....with the washing now collected we jumped back in the vehicles and headed North out of town towards Bedourie, the place we were headed for if anyone asks is called the Waddi Trees, but we were actually going there for another reason. The Waddi Trees is a rest area about 14klms out of town on the righthand side as you head for Bedourie (it's a picnic table and a small notice board sign only), the Waddi tree wood is known for it's hardness when dry and supposably is near impossible to drill when it has dried, 100 year old fence post have been know to show little decay i read on the sign that is here. Now here's where it gets a touch iffy for some people, also here on private property at this location a few hundred metres off of the highway, is a place known as The Dingo Caves. Technically you don't have permission to go on this land, but there isn't anyone about the area to stop you from doing so if you were to chose to do it. Looking towards the Waddi Trees on the Northern side of the rest area you'll notice 2 wheel tracks running off towards some breakaways on this property, follow these tracks and you'll find The Dingo Caves, it sort of looks like an open quarry area on first glance. Driving down into this quarry like area, you'll soon see the caves dug into the side of the hillsides all around you, if you continue to follow the track you'll then find yourself at a dead end and see a couple of posts stopping you from driving to the top of the breakaways. Hop out of your vehicle and walk to the top of this hill, the view is breath taking and it's pretty much 360 degrees as far as you can see. I took some pics but they just don't do it justice sadly. The only thing i didn't like here was the fact previous vistors have found the need to collect rocks and lay them out on the hills below to spell out their names, i'm sure they enjoyed doing this, but for me it spoils the look of the area, you just need to look past this mess and enjoy what's out in the distance IMHO.

WADDI TREES NORTH OF BIRDSVILLE



DINGO CAVES AT WADDI TREES LOCATION



SOME OF THE VIEW FROM ATOP THE BREAKAWAYS





As we finished our look around the area and are about to leave, 3 more vehicles showed up to have a look around. There's no signs saying no entry anywhere, but i'll leave it up to yourselves if you feel it's ok to visit this area or not. It was now nearly 1.00 p.m so we headed back to town to grab some lunch, Glen and family headed off to the pub and we ourselves headed off to the bakery. We're in Birdsville and i have to have an iconic curried camel pie whilst i'm here (the bakery is famous for it), i did it when we last crossed the Simpson Desert, and this time in town was going to be no different. We grabbed some pies and sausage rolls and another loaf of bread and headed back to camp to eat lunch. After lunch i started packing up some of the camper trailer as we'd be leaving tomorrow morning, i packed away the awning and as much else as possible, leaving only the bare minimum to be done in the morning. With this now done it was just about time to head out to Big Red to watch the sunset, but before doing so we stopped in at the Old Birdsville Hotel for a quick look around and another photo opportunity. The Royal Hotel as it was known, was built back in 1883, it operated as a hotel for 40 years until the Australian Inland Mission leased it to use as a hospital for about 14 years, and then it was leased as a private residence after that.

ROYAL HOTEL BIRDSVILLE



Pics taken and it's time to head for Big Red, you may recall i mentioned earlier our friends Taf and Sue who are from our 4wd club and staying at the van park also, well they were coming out to watch the sunset with us also. Meeting up with Taf outside the Birsdville Hotel we drive West out of town, along the way we stop to photograph some horses and also stopped at a Simpson Desert sign for a group pic. Reaching the bottom of Little Red we stop to deflate our tyres and head off into the desert itself. Taf, Sue and family have never been "outback" before and are considering heading out to Poeppel Corner to camp the night in the next few days, so we decide to take them for a short drive out into the desert over the next dune past Big Red so they can see what it's like out here as they are very inexperienced 4wder's. Stopping between Big Red and the next dune West we deflate our tyres even more again for the climb back up Big Red later on, i reduce my tyres to 10 psi rears and 8 psi fronts and we then head West over the next dune into the Simpson Desert. Reaching the other side it's only a very short distance into the desert, but atleast they can say they've been here now and have a rough idea of what they could maybe expect to encounter along the way if they decide to head to Poeppel Corner in the next day or so, we turn around and head back East to play on Big Red whilst we wait for the sun to start to set.

HORSES ON WAY TO BIG RED



GROUP PIC AT SIGN



THE DESERT STARTS HERE...Little Red straight ahead



LOOKING BACK EAST TOWARDS BIG RED



Stopping back just before Big Red i take a pic at the same sign i took a pic at back in 2010 when we were last here after we crossed The Simpson Desert, i'll post both pics up to give you an idea of how different it now looked for us, certainly much drier this time around then on our previous trip through here.

2010 VIEW OF BIG RED



2013 VIEW OF BIG RED



Pics taken and we headed over to the dune for a play, with tyres properly deflated i headed for the main track to the left. Cruising slowly in 3rd gear lowrange over the many corrugations at the bottom of the dune, i then excelerated and easily drove up and over the top of the dune on my first attempt, we'd learnt back in 2010 that tyre pressures are the key to easily conquoring this dune, speed has practically nothing to do with it. For the next 20 minutes we watched as Taf tried to conquer the dune without any success, time and time again he'd almost make it over but run out of puff. Eventually he deflated his tyres another 2 psi (i think he was then 8psi alround) and he drove straight up and over the dune to the cheers of all onboard and those outside on the dune aswell. Glen then had his turn, and like myself drove up and over first go, i guess our previous sand driving experience came into play a touch that day, and i think Taf was also running slightly higher pressures at the start aswell, but in the end we all got over and had our moments of glory...lol. We then all parked up on top of the dune and reinflated our tyres back to dirt road driving pressures before it got dark.
With the sun now starting to go down we were joined on the dune by another family who were also out here to watch the sunset, they'd brought boogie boards with them, and all the kids had goes at riding them down the dune, much to the joy of the adults who laughed when they took a tumble and likely filled their Reg Grundies full of sand at the same time....lol. A few quiet drinks had and some more pics taken, and we headed back to town in the dark. Arriving back at camp we had some dinner and a couple more drinks before heading off to bed for the evening...another great day in the outback complete .

CONQUERING BIG RED



LOOKING EAST FROM A TOP BIG RED...you don't want these guys having to recover you = $$$$$$$



LOOKING NORTH ON BIG RED



KIDS HAVING FUN



THERE'S STILL WATER ON THE EASTERN SIDE OF BIG RED...though nothing like what was back in 2010, there's no detour and the road goes straight out to Little Red



A COUPLE OF SUNSET PICS ON TOP OF BIG RED

 

[herm]

I am currently sitting about 40 kms west of Inniminka on 15 mile. We have destroyed that road in the last 3 weeks. :smiley_drive: Inniminka has great little pub where i have downed a few brews. Moomba has a pretty well stocked Toyota shop, I imagine if one finds themselves in need, Santos would let you in to buy some parts. I work out of the camps you see around in the oil industry. It seems the tourist traffic is much higher in the winter, as i have not seen too many in the last month. This hitch will be 47 days in the outback.

 

[Rumpig]

DAY 8

A bit of a sad day today, not for family reasons back home though, todays the day we start the return leg of our journey and that means we are closer to the end of our holiday then the beginning. We have a quick brekky and pack the camper up, drive across the road to the servo and fuel up the vehicles before departing town. Today we are heading for Haddon Corner via Cordillo Downs Shearing Shed, we've been told by the lady running the Innamincka Trading Post a few days back, that the Cordillo Rd is very rough, and there's no way we should consider taking our camper trailers across it....ohh well, looks like where in for an interesting day today then...lol.
Driving out of town Glen comes over the uhf saying he wants to stop at the Welcome to Birdsville sign on the outskirts of town to get a photo, we didn't stop here the other day on our run into town as it was already getting late and the sun starting to set as we arrived in town, so we stopped off at the sign as we drove past and grabbed a photo. It worked out better this way anyhow, atleast the sun was in the right location for the photo to be taken...lol

PIC AT SIGN WE'RE LEAVING



NO RAIN TO BE SEEN AND ALL ROADS OPEN, WE'RE GOOD TO GO



Driving past the racecourse we take a lefthand turn onto the Birdsville Developmental Rd, and head for Betoota / Windorah, it's approximately 120 klms down this road and we'll be turning right onto the Cordillo Downs Rd. The Developmental Rd is in good condition, we make fairly decent time and soon find ourselves at the turn off we are looking for. Pulling over to take another photo at the turn off sign, Glen pulls in behind me and calls over the uhf radio that my water tank in the camper has water pouring out it. I rush around the back of the camper and see that a rock must have hit the tap that is at the fill point and has turned it on, i quickly turn it off and wonder how much water i've lost along the way. I can't find out how much is lost by pushing the water level button in the camper either, as the battery that runs it went flat recently, and i haven't gotten around to changing it. I find it strange this has happened with the tap, we travelled up through the Gulf on our last big trip away towing the camper, and never once had the tap turn on during that trip. Glen has a look at his camper and his is doing the same thing, so he turns his off aswell. Luckily for him though he has an extra water tank then we do on his camper, so he won't miss the water as much as we might possibly do. I'm not too concerned about the lost water though, i have a 20ltr jerry can full of water on the back of the camper, and we have a heap of bottled plastic water bottles inside the 4wd aswell.

BIRDSVILLE DEVELOPMENTAL ROAD



CORDILLO DOWNS ROAD TURN OFF



With pic taken of my vehicle i turn right onto the Cordillo Road and move out of the way so Glen can take a picture aswell, i pull the vehicle and camper off to the side of the road and look at how i can stop the tap from turning on again along the way. There's not much i can do to stop this from happening again, i grab some zip ties and attach them to the tap and a hole in the chassis, but i know the rocks will more then likely break the zip ties off as we go, but it's the best i can think of at the moment (thinking about it now, i should have used some wire i had in the vehicle). Glen pulls his vehicle inbehind mine and also tries to secure his tap with zip ties, he gives his camper a quick look over and whilst underneath notices a slight weeping of fluid coming from it's passenger side brake line at the disc. We grab the spanners out and give the bleed nut a tighten, it was a touch loose so we hope we have fixed that problem. Continuing to check his camper, Glen notices a bracket that holds the hydraulic fluid resevoir for his brakes in place on the front of the camper is a touch wobbly, being it's riveted in place we can't tighten it up at all, so we grab a ratchet strap and wrap it arond the whole set up to make sure it can't depart from the trailer along the way. With these minor problems sorted we jump back in the vehicles and continue on our way. The road from the turn off of the developmental road is also in excellent condition, i see on my GPS we have the Qld / South Australian Border coming up very soon, and i mention to Glen over the uhf that i bet the road suddenly turns to rubbish the minute we cross the border, seeing it's supposed to be in very ordinary condition according to the lady back in Innamincka. Reaching the border we stop once again to take another photo, it's only a quick stop and we are soon on our way before long.

QUEENSLAND / SOUTH AUSTRALIAN BORDER



From the border crossing it's about another 11klms to drive and we will be stopping in at the Cadelga Ruins for a look around, much to our surprise the road stays in very good conditon for the drive through to here, and by now we are wondering, just when will the bad section of road start. Cadelga Ruins was once the outstation for extensive pastoral land back in the 1800's and later abandoned in the 1950's, it's significance in history from what i can gather via a quick google on the web, is that it shows the extent of just how far settlers took up land for pastoral activities back in 1800's. We stop for a quick pic of the sign by the main road and drive in to have a look around, we spend a fair bit of time taking photos and trying to imagine what it must have been like to live here in complete isolation all those years ago.

CADELGA HOMESTEAD RUINS











Our look around complete, we jump back in the vehicles and head for our next stop which is the Cordillo Downs Shearing Shed, with everyone inside the vehicle we start to shoo the flies out that have come along for the ride with us, there's a few inside the 4wd but we eventually manage to get rid of them all. From the ruins we start to go through a few creek crossings along the way, there's no water in the crossings themselves, but looking upstream and down stream at some of the crossings, there's some fantastic water holes that would have made for a lovely overnight camp spot. I doubt these waterholes are here all the time, i'm guessing it's more a sign of some good rainfalls they have had out here not to long ago. Where the road was fairly open and straightish before the ruins, it's now become quite windy in some areas, you just start to get a bit of speed up, and your soon back down through the gears going through windy sections of road. It's a bit frustrating considering we are out in the middle of nowhere having to drive like this, but there's no rush so we just enjoy the scenery as we go along. Up infront of us i suddenly see a dingo jump up from the lefthand side of the road, as it crosses to the righthand side of the road i notice the dingo is carrying one of it's front paws in the air like it's broken, the dingo hobbles off into the bush on the right of the road, and i stop to try and get a photo of it. The dingo doesn't go far and it lays down on the ground going nowhere, which helps with the picture taking, i just wish it was a touch closer.

INJURED DINGO LAYING DOWN IN THE SCRUB



Back on the go again and we soon spot some more dingos up infront of us, there's 2 dingos on the righthand side of the road and another on the left. the dingos see us coming and the 2 on the right bolt for their lives off into the distance, they continued running the entire time i watched them, and i was never a chance to get a pic of them. The 3rd dingo on the lefthand side of the road, wasn't sure what to do though, you could see it wanted to join it's other 2 mates, but with us in the middle it just scurried about back and forth trying to decide if it should make a run for it towards it's mates, eventually it settled down and held it's ground where it was. We manage to take a few pics and then hold our spot so as not to spook the dingo, Glen arrives and also get the chance to photograph the dingo before we continue on our way.

ANOTHER DINGO ALONG THE ROADSIDE



From Cadelga Ruins it's 87klms to Cordillo Downs Shearing Shed, we come across a closed gate about 7 or 8 klms before the shed and open it to pass through, and close it behind us so as to leave it how it was found. We soon see a radio tower of some descripton off in the distance and know where are almost at our lunch stop for the day. Before reaching the shearing shed we come to a fork in the road, the sign tells us to keep right, so we do this and are soon turning left off of the road to the carpark area of the shearing shed. For those who don't know of Cordillo Downs, it's probably best known for it's stone shearing shed with curved tin roof, it was built this way due to a lack of timber about these parts. The property started out in 1875 as a sheep station, and at one time was Australia's largest sheep station, in 1942 it became a cattle station due to the large number of sheep being lost to wild dog attacks.
We have a look around the shearing shed and i must say i'm a touch disappointed at what i see, the shed itself is a nice enough building, but the property owners basically use it to store a heap of junk, and they have it strewn about the place inside, it's not exactly what i expected to see really. It would have been nice to see it different inside, but at the end of the day it belongs to the property owners, so they can do with it as they like. There is still some old shearing stuff about the place inside to look at, but it's nothing like what'd you'd see at places such as Bladensburg or Jondaryn Woolsheds. We finish our look around and then walk back to the vehicle and make lunch.

CORDILLO DOWNS SHEARING SHED







When we arrived here at the shearing shed there was another family who is also towing a camper trailer, already here having their lunch. I say gidday to them and find out they have come from Innamincka this morning, i ask them how the road is in that direction, and much to my surprise am told it's in great condition. I give them the good news that the road to Birdsville is also in the same condition, so we are perplexed as to why the lady in Innamincka would say the road is in bad condition. Whilst having our lunch the other family leaves and a short while later a 4wd on it own arrives, We hadn't seen any other vehicles on the Cordillo rd up until this point, so it was abit of a change for how the morning had gone so far. The people in the 4wd have a quick look around the shearing shed before jumping in the vehicle and leave, not long after we've finished our lunches and do the same ourselves.
From the shearing shed we drive 36klms South towards Innamincka before turning left to head East so we can head for Haddon Corner, that 36klms had us encountering about a half a dozen vehicles coming towards us, so whilst your not alone out in these parts, it's certainly not what you'd call a busy route either. We turn left from the Cordillo Rd and after driving 16klms we turn left at a junction in the road once again, we are now on the road that takes us North towards Haddon Corner. Somewhere around these parts we once again cross the borderline and enter back into Qld, we stop for yet another quick photo and push on for what should be tonights camping destination.

CROSSING BACK INTO QLD



As with most of the dirt roads we've driven so far on this trip, this road is also in excellent condition and a plesure to drive on. We start to see quite a few emus along this section of road, we stop and get the odd pic and continue on again. Along the way i spot a section of road i want to try and get a photo of our vehicle and camper on, i'm trying to capture that remote outback style of picture i see in the magazines, and although this is a graded road instead of a 2 wheeled track, it's about as good as i'm going to get i reckon.

THE ROAD'S IN GREAT CONDITION



ONE OF MANY EMU WE SPOT ALONG THE WAY



TRYING TO CAPTURE THE REMOTE FEEL IN A PHOTO



Pushing on we soon find ourselves at the Haddon Corner turn off, we turn left and grab yet another photo before driving the 15klms to the corner (it's the point where 3 states of Australia meet together). The road in is also in pretty good condition, it's not as great as the roads we've been on today already, but for the most part you can't really complain about it at all either. Just before you arrive at the corner there's a sand dune you need to go over, a fork in the road has you either going straight up and over a steep climb, or if you continue around the right fork in the road, you'll double back up a much less steep section of track over the sand dune. Being i missed the fork in the road to left as i didn't know where it went to (there's no signs, just a fork in the road), we ended going around to the right up the less steep track. Driving straight up and over the dune we soon find oursleve at Haddon Corner, it's a fairly desolate sort of place and the wind is blowing through here at a decent rate, flies are also in huge numbers out here, and it's not the most enjoyable place to be to tell the truth. That aside, we look about the area and take some photos of our visit to Hadon Corner.

HADDON CORNER TURN OFF



FAMILY PIC AT THE CORNER...(it's the only one i found in our collection without a fly very visible in it...lol)



ALL THE KIDS AT HADDON CORNER



Pics taken and our look around complete, discussion turns to where we are going to camp tonight. As i mentioned already, it's windy as and there's a heap of flies about the place, the open plane this side of the dune is out of question due to the wind, so the only option is to get back behind the dune and set up there. Setting up behind the dune will get us out of the wind, but it won't help with the flies any, we look at our watches and some some quick calculations are done, we work out if we jump in the vehicles and leave right now, we can make Windorah not too late tonight. We don't really like the option of night time driving out this way with all the roos and emus about, but we aren't happy with the camping option at Haddon corner, so Windorah here we come. We drive back the 15 klms to the main road once again and take a lefthand turn to head North for the Developmental Road, once we turn left i need to hold up and wait as Glen is kicking up a heap of dust and it's not clearing real quickly at all. Eventually the dust clears and i can continue driving along, by now Glen is almost out of uhf range from me, and occasionally i do lose contact with him. When we regain radio contact, Glen tells me of some eagles on the side of the road he had already past, it takes a while before we reach them, but to my surprise they are still there and i see 4 of them. As we pull up down the road from them one of the eagles takes flight, i'm pretty sure the rest will do the same as i get close enough to take a pic, but to my surprise the other 3 hang around and i manage to get a few photos of them, i only wish i had a bigger zoom lense for a real close up of each though.

3 EAGLES BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD



Leaving the eagles to continue their feast on the roo carcus we continue for Windorah, we reach the Developmental Rd and turn right, it's about 50 klms from here to the Diamantina Developmental Road where we'll turn right and be back on the bitumin. The sun by now is starting to set as we head for the bitumin, we notice how many roos we are seeing in the paddocks beside the road and aren't looking forward to the drive into Windorah in the dark. Reaching the bitumin with daylight still about, we quickly reinflate all our tyres (well that takes about 20 minutes really) and then drive the 110 klms into Windorah. Somewhere past the JC Hotel Ruins turnoff, we notice a mountain range up in front of us that is looking really pretty with the colours it is throwing off in the setting sun, we try and get a pic of it as we drive along in the vehicle, but don't really do it any justice.

PIC OF MOUNTAIN RANGE WE DIDN'T REALLY DO JUSTICE TO



The sun has set by now but twilight still gives us some faint light to spot the animals by the roadside, in the distance up ahead i spot what looks like about a dozen roos on the righthand side of the road, it's hard to see due to being almost dark now and i call back to Glen on the uhf to watch out for them. Somethings not quite right as i watch the so called roos making an exit off the road into the scrub, as i get closer i notice they are infact pigs not roos, and they are dragging a roo carcus off the road to take with them. They drop the carcus a few times as they scurry away, but each time one of the pigs picks it's up again and takes it with them into the bush.

PIGS WITH ROO CARCUS....it's not as daylight as it looks in the pics, i up'd the ISO settings etc as i took the pic to try and make it work.



Eventually the sun sets completely and we are left to use the lights of our vehicles to spot the wildlife that is about, many times we find ourselves slowing right up for roos that are darting about by the side of the road, but for the most part they head away from the vehicles as we approach instead of towards us. Right on about 7.00 p.m we arrive in Windorah, there's a council run caravan park on the righthand side as you enter town, the sign on the front wall says you just set up anywhere you can and they will come around in the morning (at 7.00 a.m it is) to collect the fees from you. We enter the park and drive right down the back as far as we can to set up camp for the night, the rates are cheap here and powered sites not much more then unpowered, so we hook into the power and set about making dinner once the camper is set up. Glen and his family head down the pub for dinner whilst we stay back at camp and cook our own, when dinner is finished Glen and his family arrive back at camp and everyone pretty much heads off to bed. it's been a big days drive, much bigger then we planned on doing, and we're all buggered....time for some sleep

 

[Rumpig]

DAY 9

We woke this morning with no plan what we are doing from here on in for the rest of our trip, before leaving we had roughly planned up until this stage and purposely left from here on unplanned, as we had no idea how many days we'd have left of our holiday incase something went wrong along the way. Coffee in hand, i find myself migrating to where the sun is shining to try and warm up a touch, in the shade it's abit cold, so i stand in the sun and look at my road atlas trying to work out where i'd like to go next. We've all been around these parts before on previous trips away, and the main route home via Charleville and Roma etc we've done to death, there's nothing we can think of we want to see along that route, so it's out as an option. Before heading away on this trip i'd been reading some other peoples trip reports they'd done of their recent holidays, i recalled a place called Bladensburg National Park near Winton that had an old shearing shed there to look at, so i threw this in as a suggestion. If you look at a map it's not exactly what you'd call in the right direction for heading home, but i then suggested we could head from there to Cania Gorge near Biloela afterwards and stay there a few nights, and this then became are next rough plan of the end of the trip. Looking at the map it's something like 470klms from Windorah to Winton going via the Winton / Jundah rd, the morning is already getting away from us, so we decide to call it a day off from travelling today, and we'll look around Windorah today and head off early tomorrow morning instead. Now before this plan gets set into motion, i need to make a phone call back home again and see what's happening with my Nan. There's no mobile phone coverage in Windorah, so i jump in my 4wd and drive down the road to find a pay phone. The pay phone is located across the road from the information centre for those who go looking for it in the future, i make my call and find there's no change in her condition, Nans still fighting on and there's no need to rush home yet. Phone call made i walk across the road and pay the information centre a quick visit, i grab a book of Winton area that shows Bladensburg National Park so the others can get an idea of what's out there, and as i'm leaving i note the museum that is here for visitors to walk through, so make a plan to come back later in the day and have a wander around. I leave the info centre and head back to the campground to have some breakfast. Our trip route decision now made, it's time to cook a hot brekky once again, the kids want pancakes so that's what we end up having.
Brekky done and dusted, we decide to go for a drive just out of town to have a look at the Cooper Creek free camp on the outskirts of town. We'd love to go fishing in the creek here today but we don't have any fishing gear with us, Glen looked in the local store this morning when he stopped in there and they had some, but the price was more then we were willing to pay for a simple handline and tackle set up. Not to matter, we head off anyway as we want to see exactly what the free camp is like, incase we end up stopping there sometime in the future. Our original rough plan had this free site as a planned stop over, but seeing we arrived in Windorah in the dark lastnight, we decided it'd just be easier to camp at the van park instead, so now we'll go see what we missed out on. Heading out of town towards Quilpie direction, the last thing you see as you leave Windorah is the solar farm on the lefthand side of the road. Going by the blurb on the information board across the road from th solar farm, this was commisioned back in 2009 and was Ergons first use of solar technology. Ergon apparently chose to trial a set up like this in Windorah due to the fact it has a population of only about 100 people. i'm not sure exactly whether the solar farm supplies the entire towns power supply as a general rule, one thing i do know though is, with none of the solar panels currently pointing towards the sun, they aren't supplying it today that's for sure...lol

WINDORAH SOLAR FARM





THIS SIGN IS HERE ALSO...LAST PUB FOR HOW FAR!!!!!



Photos taken we continue on down the road to Cooper Creek, i mention to Glen over the uhf there's a 12klm "scenic drive" we can take on the way back that i saw on a sheet of paper at the information centre, so we lock that in as our return route. Strangely enough, with the scenic route being a 12klm trip leaving from the campsite we are heading to, the Cooper Creek free camp is located about 12klms out of town. We'd seen this free camp area as we cruised past back in 2010 on our desert trip, we knew there was a toilet block located here, but weren't sure what the actual campsites were like and how far off the main highway you could locate yourself. Crossing the bridge over the Cooper we turn left off the highway where the toilet block is, we quickly see this is a very small area suitable for about 4 caravans at most, and you are right beside the highway aswell, so bound to be very noisey with the roadtrains passing over the bridge during the night. Across the other side of the highway is another tiny spot right beside the road also, neither spot is somewhere we'd ever look to camp at in the future, but there's several caravans set up here already, they must love the 30mtr walk to the toilet is all we can think off. We cross back over the bridge to the Windorah side of the Cooper, we turn right onto a dirt track and follow along beside the creek. the track we are on heads 200 - 300 hundred metres away from the highway, there's some nice campsites located along this track, and it's a much better option then where the earlier mentioned caravans are set up in IMHO, the only downside for some is you'd have a fair distance to go to use the toilets (there was a few people camped down around this area of the creek, though plenty of vacant places to camp also). We reach a dead end in the track and turn around and head back to the highway, halfway back we stop and jump out of the vehicles and walk down to the water for a look around and opportunity to take some more photos. It's a beautiful day, the suns belting down, there's pelicans swimming around on the water out in front of us, and looking up and down the creek we can see plenty of people spread out so as not to be near each other, sitting on the banks relaxing with fishing rods in hand. We take a few photos and then head off for the scenic drive back to town.

COOPER CREEK





Back at the highway we cross straight across the road from the track we were just on, the scenic drive starts here and begins by following along side the creek like the track we were just on. As we proceed along we see there's more campsite areas along this section of track that are set back well and truely from the highway also, there's a few caravans already camped here, but like the other track there's vacant spots to set up in also. About 200mtrs in the track starts to head away from the creek, and along the route you'll notice signboards at many different trees along the way telling you what the species of that tree is, many of the names i've never heard of before. The track is easy going, you don't need 4wd unless it's wet and muddy, and if it was you wouldn't bother taking this track as a route to drive anyway, as you'd just end up destroying it. From memory i think there's 2 gates you pass through along the way, one was closed and the other open at our time of visit, we left them as we found them and soon found ourselves coming back out onto the highway just on the town side of the solar farm.

SCENIC ROUTE BACK TO TOWN







We drive back into town and stop off at the local store to grab a few supplies, the store has a nice variety of things available but not a massive amount of each item. The store is quite small in size, smaller then your local corner store would likely be in most cities, between Glens visit here this morning and ours just now, we grabbed the last bottles of milk from the fridge that we could see, so don't just expect to find whatever you need from here, because you might not find it. We grab a few items and head back to camp for lunch, cook up some toasted sangas and chill out a touch just relaxing. You might remember the large 5th wheeler i showed a picture of back on Day 1 when we were camped at Nindigully, well he's set up beside us. We get to chatting and eventually we manage to wrangle a guided tour through his mansion, a bit big for my likings but very nice indeed i will say. After lunch we take the kids down to the playground that is beside the information centre, it's a nice little set up they have here and the kids run wild for about an hour. Walking next door it's time to check out the museum that's located at the information centre, you just walk into the info centre and there's a door inside the building that gets you access to the museum outside. It's only a small area to walk around but you'll find some pretty interesting items on display, if you look on the wall to the right of the door before you exit ouside the information building, you'll notice some pieces of paper giving details of some of the items that are to be found outside. we have a look around and eventually head back to camp once again

MUSEUM AT INFORMATION CENTRE









1960'S LEYLAND BUFFALO ON DISPLAY HERE ALSO



Back at camp we have an early shower to beat the grey nomads who have started to pack this place out. It's a pretty popular little van park, not overly attractive to look at, but it's clean (well as clean as a dirt road place can get), safe and cheap...which the nomads all seem to love, and who can blame them for that. Showers had and around 5.00 p.m we walk down to the pub for dinner, tonights menu is an all you can eat bbq, and i think it was $18 a head from memory and kids were $10 i think. A few drinks had before the owners fire the bbq up, and we then have much nicer steaks here then we had back in Birdsville, i only go back for seconds but i think Glen went back for fourths....lol. With dinner had we head back to camp, it's getting cold outside by now so the women and kids head off inside the campers to go to sleep or read books, Glen and i stay up to have a few more drinks and listen to the footy on the radio for a while, before calling it a night ourselves and heading off to bed aswell.

 

[Rumpig]

DAY 10

A fairly early start to the morning for us today, with just under 500 klms drive infront of us, and much of it on dirt roads we don't know the condition of, we want to leave Windorah as early as we can. Breakfast had and camper packed up in the semi dark, we depart the caravan park to meet up with Glen who has already gone and is down at the service station fuelling up his vehicle. Don't quote me on this, but from memory the servo in town is open from 6.00 a.m until 6.00 p.m daily. Yesterday i got to talking to another guy we'd seen in Birdsville days earlier, he showed me the new air filter he'd just gotten from the Windorah servo for his 3ltr Patrol for a pretty cheap price, i'd mentioned it to Glen yesterday arvo as his was a touch dirty when he inspected his the morning previous, so now Glen was taking the opportunity to get one for his Patrol and swap it over before we leave this morning. i myself didn't bother fueling up here in Windorah, i'd done it in Birdsville yesterday morning, and if my sums are correct i'd be fine to get to Winton on the fuel i have left in my vehicle. Vehicles finally good to go, we leave town towards Quilpie direction past the solar farm once again, and about 6 klms down the highway we turn left and head towards Jundah.
We've already spotted a couple of roos along the first 6 klm stretch of road, and turning left off the highway there's 3 or 4 more bouncing about the place also. This pretty much sets the tone for the entire day today, the next 90klms we drive along the bitumin towards Jundah has us seeing kangaroos everywhere, seriously we'd see hundreds of them. Many times we have to brake to avoid hitting the animals as they bounce across the road infront of us, i'd expected to be seeing them as it was still fairly early in the morning as we drove along, but not expected to see them in the numbers we were seeing. Along the way we find ourselves slowing for the usually cattle on the road also, the going is a touch slower then we'd expected it to be for a bitumin road due to constantly having to slow down for animals about the place everywhere.

KANGAROOS ABOUT THE PLACE EVERYWHERE AS WE DRIVE ALONG



THEY HAVE ZERO ROAD SENSE



ARE YOU GETTING AN IDEA OF WHAT WE SAW EVERYWHERE THIS MORNING YET?...lol...YOU AIN'T SEEN ANYTHING YET



THESE GUYS DO AS THEY PLEASE ALSO



HAVE I MENTIONED THE ROOS ABOUT THE PLACE YET? THERE'S ATLEAST 8 IN THIS PIC, A FAIRLY GOOD IDEA OF WHAT THE DRIVE WAS LIKE THE ENTIRE WAY



About 10klms shy of Jundah we turn left off the bitumin onto a dirt road that is the Winton - Jundah Rd, from here it's about 350klms of dirt road driving (with another 20 odd klms of bitumin at the end) before you reach Winton. The dirt road like all the rest we've travelled so far is in excellent condition, so much so we don't bother to deflate our tyres for it. Along the way the road starts off as a nicely graded gravel road, it becomes more stoney as you go along requiring us to eventually deflate our tyres, then it'll eventually turns into just a couple of wheel tracks going across the plainlands much further up the road, and as you get closer to Winton the road goes back to a graded gravel road again before rejoining the bitumin for the final run into town.
From where we turned left off of the bitumin it's about another 100 klms up the road and we need to turn left again at a T intersetion, we haven't seen another vehicle all morning yet since we left Windorah, but the 100's of roos we've seen have kept our reflexes busy as we try and avoid them. HAVE I MENTIONED THE ROOS YET????? seriously.... by the end of todays drive we will have seen well over a thousand kangaroos as we drive along, they were in plague propertions out here and i can't recall when the last time it was i've seen this many of them in the one area. As well as the roos and the cows we've seen this morning, we see a few more eagles, we stop to try and get a pic of one, but as usual i need a bigger zoom lense to get the close up pic i want, and the eagle flies off when we eventually start getting to close to it.

EAGLE OUT IN THE PADDOCK ALONG THE WAY



THEY ALWAYS FLY OFF AS WE GET CLOSE ENOUGH TO PHOTOGRAPH THEM SADLY



As we continue along our drive Glen calls me over the uhf radio, he's noticed a dark line running down the dirt road behind me and thinks my water tap has been knocked on again, i pull up and sure enough he's correct. I turn it off and think to myself i'll have to make a guard up of some description for that when we get back home. Whilst pulled up here i take the opportunity to take another pic or 2, the misses grabs some dinner out of the freezer so it can start to defrost and we grab some drinks and nibbles out to enjoy as we continue on our drive.

PIC IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE



Pushing on and it's a continuation of the roo dodging game, we then reach the T intersetion and turn left where we pull up on the side of the road so someone can go to the loo. Whilst stopped here we decide to check the water taps once again, Glen notices his passenger side wheel on his camper is covered in brake fluid, so we get the tools out and see what we can do about it. on closer inspection Glen notices the brake line has been damaged, we can't do anything to fix this problem out here, so we turn the tap on the drawbar to closed to stop the fluid being pumped through the brakeline, and Glen will have to drive from here on with no trailer brakes.

MORE ROOS ALONG THE WAY



HOSING THE BRAKE FLUID OFF FROM UNDER THE CAMPER



With about 250 klms still to drive today we pretty much are in the middle of nowhere at the moment, you don't see any houses out here along the way, and we still haven't seen another vehicle all morning yet. This Winton - Jundah Rd is a fairly scenic drive, the countryside is always changing, and i'd definately recommend it as a route to take if you get the chance to do it, but just remember, if anything goes wrong you'll not see much traffic on this road going by our drive along here. About 100 klms shy of Winton we come across an area where they have started doing some roadworks, the road here was fairly crappy to drive along with the way the graders have left it at the moment, but when they have finished it'll be just as good as the rest of the road we have driven over thus far. We don't see any workers about the area, but we do get a laugh at the road signs we see on the roadside, keeping in mind we've just traversed a couple of hundred klms of dirt road already this morning to get here...lol

SIGNS BY THE ROADSIDE





It's lunchtime by now and we are about 20 klms short of the turnoff to Lark Quarry (famous as the place being the only recorded dinosaur stampede on earth), we finally see our first vehicle of the day heading towards us, i slow down thinking it's an oncoming truck but see it's a motorhome instead, moving off the road so as not to cop stone damage, i let them go past and we continue on our way. Looking for somewhere nice to stop for lunch along the way, we don't see anything that takes our fancy, we eventually reach the Lark Quarry turnoff and pull up for a quick discussion of what to do next. We toy with the idea of going into Lark Quarry and having lunch there, but it's something like 15klms down that road (from memory) so we decide against that option and push on to tonights campsite where we'll have a late lunch and then set up camp instead.
Before long we are at the turn off to Bladensburg National Park, we turn off the highway and take a photo at the sign that is located here. Earlier on (about 30klms back) the GPS was telling us to turn down a road that i think may have been a short cut to the camp ground, looking at a map it showed a road going into the park but there's no signs back at the highway saying Bladensburg is in that direction, so to play it safe we continued driving to this turn off that is closer to Winton. The track into the park is easy going, we soon arrive at a Y junction in the road and we take the righthand track following the signs to the camping ground. If you turn left at the y junction it's take you to both the shearing shed and old homestead, it's probably a good option to head straight to the homestead first up, the main house is an information centre on the park, and you can grab a map of the area from here (as we found out later on...lol). Not knowing exactly where we were going, we settled for following the signs to the campground, we pass quite a few turn offs to other places i guess would be nice to explore, and soon find ourselves at the self registration stand at the turn off to the campground. We grab some permits to fill out but decide it might be a good idea to drive in and have a look at what the campground is like first up before parting with our $20.45 it will cost each family to stay here the night. The campground is located a few hundered metres down the track from the registration stand, we drive in and the first thing we notice is the place is busier then the Queen Street mall back home in Brisbane, seriously...we are struggling to find a spot to set our 2 camper trailers up in. We drive around the campground and eventually pull up in the shade of a few trees to discuss our options, we decide to make some lunch as we're all starving by now, and we'll likely not bother camping here the night and head into Winton instead.

SIGN AT THE HIGHWAY TURNOFF



As we have our lunch the thought of staying here the night becomes less appealing, i know i haven't mentioned it already, but the wind has been blowing pretty strongly all day today. The campground is an absolute dust bowl due to an obvious lack of rain about these parts of late, and whilst trying to eat our sandwiches we have to turn our backs to the wind to stop from getting face fulls of dust that is blowing about the place. On top of that... even if the wind dies down enough tonight, we wouldn't be allowed to have a campfire here, as that's against park rules. If we really had to we could have squeezed in beside a couple of caravans in one area of the campground, but couple the lack of space with the dust that is blowing about the place, and it really wasn't a nice place to camp IMHO, we couldn't actually work out why so many people were camped here. Now don't get me wrong..... with water flowing or atleast sitting in the dry creek bed beside the campground, i could see this being a nice place you might want to camp at, but with the large number of people currently camped here and the dustbowl like conditions, it wasn't somewhere we wanted to be, so we had lunch and decided to go look at the shearing shed and homestead before we'd head into Winton and bunk down at a caravan park for the night instead.
Gritty dust covered sandwiches eaten, we pack the camper kitchens up and leave the campground. I stop to grab a photo of a gravesite marker of some description as we leave here, and we head back along the track we'd just driven in on, back to the first Y junction we encountered on the way in. I've since tried goggling the gravesite i photographed at the campground, i can only find information about another gravesite belonging to a fencers daughter that is located in the park area, so if anyone knows any info on this gravesite, i'd be interested to hear about it thanks. (unless i'm mistaken and this is the gravesite they are talking about?)

GRAVESITE AT CAMPGROUND AREA



Back at the first Y junction we saw on the way in, we turn hard right and head towards the homestead. Before arriving at the homestead there's a track running off to the left where the shearing shed is located (the tracks are signed), we turn left here and drive the short distance down this track to look at the old shed. It's not that far down this track and soon arrive at the shed and hop out of the vehicles to look around, there's a large door that you need to slide open to gain entry inside, so we open it and walk inside. We look around for a while and take photos, one can only imagine how hot and sweaty it must have been in this tin shed as the shearers went about there work. Our look around the shed complete we jump back in the vehicles and head back up to the homestead.

BLADENSBURG SHEARING SHED







Back at the junction where we turned off to head to the shearing shed, we turn left and cross down through a dry creek bed, there's a few roos here that slowly move away from the roadside as we drive past, and about 100mtrs up the track further we pull up at the old homestead itself. It's a pretty big set up they used to run out here, aswell as the main homestead house there's a few large outhouse buildings and some sheds aswell. The main house is an information centre on the park as i mentioned earlier, inside you'll find National Parks pamphlets on the park aswell as a heap of other displays and information also. It would have been very handy if we'd driven in here first off, whilst there's signage about the park showing the names of places at the intersections you go past, if you don't know what's at the named locations already the signs aren't of much help to you at all. Looking at the information pamphlet i see a few places that would be nice to look around here at another time, but seeing we've decided we won't be staying the night here we finish our look about the homestead and jump back in the vehicles and head into Winton.

BLADENSBURG HOMESTEAD ... some of the outhouse buildings to the left and main house / information centre on the far right



As we are leaving Bladensburg we pass a few 2wd sedans driving in, as i mentioned already the track in is fairly easy going, though it is a touch stoney in places also. Returning to the bitumin highway we turn right and drive the 5 or so klms into Winton, there's 3 caravan parks in town and we head for the only one that is off the main highway and try our luck. Luck is on our side here, it's $34 for the night for a powered site, not much more then camping at Bladensburg really and we have flushing toilets and hot showers here. We are shown to our sites by the owner of the park, the sites we are given are fairly small in lenght, but we manage to squeeze on and set up camp for the night. To be honest the park is pretty busy, there's a pile of people here at the moment, but once it gets dark the majority adjourn to their caravans and we don't see hardly another sole for most of the night. We enjoy a few drinks tonight whilst listening to the great music being played over one of the radio stations we have found on the campers radio (don't worry it wasn't being played loudly...lol), we're not sure what the neighbours must have thought of us all as we danced about whilst cooking our dinners, but who cares what they think anyway...we were having fun and that's all that counts. Dinner had and a few more drinks consumed, we head off to bed for the night to get some sleep.

 

[Rumpig]

DAY 11

We woke up around 7.00 a.m and it's slightly chilly once again, i think we stayed in the camper with the heater going until about 7.30 a.m and then got up to have brekky and start the pack up procedure once again. Our plan for today is to drive straight down the highway to Emerald, we've toyed with the idea of stopping at a few other places as an overnight camp along the way instead of Emerald, but seeing it's 1000klms from here to Cania Gorge we've decided to drive 600klms today and leave 400klms left the following day, where we'll then spend a few nights in the one spot. Whilst having brekky i make a call to the Emerald Cabin & Caravan Village to see if they have any vacancies for tonight, luck is on our side and they do, so i book 2 sites and then finish eating breakfast. Booking ahead in the morning turned out to be a good plan, when we arrived here in the afternoon we found out the park was fully booked out, so it was lucky we booked ahead (this area of Qld had been having a massive mining boom about these parts for a few years, so it's hard to get accomodation here at times). Some people will ask why we didn't stay at the van park at the dam outside of town which is more scenic? Well 2 years ago we stopped in there on our return run back from Darwin planning on staying there the night, and the attitude of the people working in reception had us walking out of the place and vowing to never stay there ever. We didn't stay there that night 2 years back, and we didn't plan on going there on this trip.
We pack the campers up and head off from the van park a touch before 9.00 a.m, first thing we do is drive into the main street of town and go to the bakery to grab some fresh bread, that job done we drive back to the service station and refuel the vehicles and reinflate our tyres back to road pressures, as they were still deflated from yesterdays dirt road driving. Leaving Winton about 9.30 a.m it's an uneventful run to Longreach, we make comment over the uhf to each other that the dirt roads we've been driving on before now are much easier to drive then the bitumin road, the bitumin highway has us bopping and weaving all over the place, it really is crap to drive on after such great dirt roads previous to this. We've all been about these parts a few times previous on other trips away, so there'll be no sight seeing today and the plan is to just get to Emerald as soon as we can and set up camp for the night. Arriving in Longreach Glen needs to top up his fuel to make sure he can get to Emerald, we make a quick pitstop at a servo to do so and then continue on our way once again. Leaving Longreach and we immediately encounter roadworks, this will be an ongoing thing through to Barcaldine from here and slows are progress time wise a touch, but nothing too drastic. Along with the bad condition of the highway, another thing we've noticed today is the number of travellers that are on the road, out where we've been up to this point it hasn't been very busy as far as fellow travellers goes, yes they been about but nothing like the numbers we are seeing today. Other then the roadworks we encounter it's a straight forward run into Barcaldine, we stopped at the Tree of Knowledge 2 years back so drive straight past it this time without stopping and turn left down the road a touch into the showgrounds, where we plan to stop and have lunch. The showgrounds is a nice enough spot set back a little more from the highway then the other parks that are in the main street, there's toilet blocks here (one has a shower also, though out of service on this visit) and they allow camping here also, which we did a couple of years back. We pull up under the shade of the trees beside the main oval and proceed to have a bite to eat. Looking on the main oval whilst having lunch we spot a heap of birds that look like hawks of some description, a look into the sky above sees about another 50 of these same birds circling above us, i'm not sure what's their fascination with this place, but they are in large numbers here for some reason.

LUNCH STOP BARCALDINE SHOWGROUND



PLENTY OF BIRDS LIKE THESE ABOUT THE OVAL AND CIRCLING ABOVE



A quick lunch had and we are soon back on the road again, it's still 300klms to Emerald from here so plenty more blacktop yet to drive today. About 90klms down the highway from Barcaldine is the small town of Jericho, supossably there's a nice free camp in this town on the banks of the river somewhere, and we originally considered staying here the night and then pushing onto Cania Gorge the next day. Going this option left us with over 600klms to drive tomorrow, which is why we ran with Emerald as tonights destination, which leaves 200 and a bit less klms that we need to drive tomorrow instead. Driving straight through Jerico we soon pass through the town of Alpha about another 50klms down the highway, there's nothing much special to look at as we drive along and about the only thing i can recall of interest on the run to Emerald is the Drummond Range. 2 years back when we passed through here this area was on fire and smoke about the place everywhere, we stopped off at the lookout at the top of the range on that trip to look at the view, but didn't see much due to the smoke about the area. There was no plan to stop at the lookout today though, but as we crested the range and started to decend the other side you get a pretty decent view out infront of you as you drive along anyhow.

VIEW EAST (?) AS YOU DECEND THE DRUMMOND RANGE HEADING TOWARDS EMERALD



The rest of the drive into Emerald isn't worth mentioning, it's a good run and we arrive at the caravan park around 4.30 p.m. we check in at reception and the lady manning the desk is glad to hear we have a booking, the park is fully booked apparently and she wasn't looking forward to turning us away if we didn't have a booking she said...lol. Check in completed we drive to our site and set up camp for the night, we unhook the campers and then go do some grocery shopping to restock the now depleted pantries. Grocery shopping done we start to walk out to the carpark and then my phone rings, it's one of the boys (Faz) from work back home and he's seen my 4wd in the carpark out front. Faz is in Emerald doing some work on the motel around the corner, we catch up and say gidday to each other before going our seperate ways, as we say goodbye to each other Faz tells me to head over to the free camp across the road and have a look at how many people are staying there. For those who don't know of this free camp in Emerald, it's situated right beside the main highway into town and underneath / beside the trainline also, i can't work out why people would want to stay here myself, but going on the conversation i've just had with Faz there's a few people over there a the moment. We load the groceries into the fourby and drive the short distance to the freecamp across the road, when Faz said it's busy here he wasn't kidding, the place is like a refugee camp and i'm astounded to see just how many people are staying here the night. We turn back around and head down to Red Rooster to grab some takeaway dinner before going back to camp for the night. A fairly quiet night tonight for all, we have dinner, unpack the groceries and restock the camper trailers, before then having a couple of drinks and heading off to bed.

DAY 12

Up fairly early to the sound of cars whizzing by on the road out front of the van park, i'm going to take a punt this road runs out to a mine somewhere going by the amount of vehicles i hear using the road as i lay in bed. Eventually we get up and do the usual breakfast and pack up routine, we only have about 400klms to drive to Cania Gorge so hopefully we'll be there not to much after lunch time today. We refuel the vehicles before leaving town and continue our drive East along the Capricorn Hwy towards Rockhampton direction, we'll stay on this highway for about 215klms before we turn right and head down the Leichhartd Hwy then Burnett Hwy to Biloela, where we'll stop for a quick lunch before then pushing on to tonights destination. As with yesterdays bitumin drive todays run is fairly uneventful, before turning right off the Capricorn Hwy we stop in at Duaringa rest area for a quick toilet stop, and i checkout the freecamp facilities that to be found here. This freecamp looks an ok stopover for a night IMHO, much nicer then the freecamp everyone was using in Emerald, and it's nicely maintained. Back in the vehicles we continue on to Biloela, the drive along the Leichhardt Hwy has us commenting once again about how bad a condition it is to drive on for a bitumin road, it's like being on a rollercoaster with the humps and bumps that are on it. Arriving in Biloela we grab some hot chips from a takeaway store and drive back to the information centre on the outskirts of town at Queensland Heritage Park to make ham and chip sandwiches for lunch. After lunch we drive across the road to the bottle shop and grab some more essential supplies, before leaving town and continuing on to Cania Gorge.
Arriving at Cania Gorge around 4.00 p.m we check in at the Big 4 caravan park and set up camp for the next 2 or 3 nights, we haven't decided how long exactly we'll stay for yet, but pay for 2 nights to start with. There's 2 caravan parks you can stay at when at Cania Gorge, we choose the Big 4 as we ourselves have stayed here before about 6 years back (here's my old trip report from then http://www.4wdaction.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=37596 ), it's a fantastic place for the kids to enjoy which is why we choose it. Each afternoon (around 5.00 p.m i think it was) the park does a free bird feeding, our wives take the kids down to this and i jump in the 4wd and head off down the road outside of the National Park area to collect some firewood. Whilst collecting the firewood i look up from where i am and see the sun shining on the surrounding rock outcrops as it starts to set, i grab the camera and take some photos and then head back to camp.

SUNSETTING AT CANIA GORGE



Back at camp we get the fire going and enjoy a few drinks sitting around it, we have some dinner and enjoy a few more drinks whilst we watch the Rufus Bettongs dart about the park during the night. Eventually we head off to bed, though no idea what time it was that happened.

RUFUS BETTONGS AT THE PARK




DAY 13

No packing up camp today, so it's bacon and eggs for brekky. We've nothing planned for today so it's basically let the kids run wild in the play areas whilst we sit back and relax as much as possible. One thing we noticed when we arrived yesterday is the addition of a water park in the pool area, it doesn't matter that it's not that warm, kids being kids they want to go for a swim and enjoy the slides etc. The women take the kids to the pool area around 10.30 a.m and Glen and myself go for a drive to grab some more firewood, we disappear a fair way up the road before we can find anything suitable to cut up with the chainsaw, but eventually we get the job done and head back to camp. Arriving back at camp i find what i think is a couple of smurfs in the pool area, well they aren't actually smurfs but more our kids who have turned blue from the cold water they are playing in. We call time on their water fun and bundle them off to some warm showers to defrost them before having some lunch.

NEW WATER PARK IN THE POOL AREA



After lunch we pretty much sit around and do bugger all, i join the kids on the jumping pillow for some fun for a while before then heading back to camp and getting the fire started once again. At some stage during the day i walked over to the park office and enquired about the drive to the Liberty Bomber crash site which is located in nearby Kroombit National park, we did this drive last time we stayed here and i wanted to show Glen and his family this great sight whilst we were here. The drive is an all day trip, you leave the caravan park around 8.00 a.m in the morning and don't get back until about 5.00 p.m that afternoon, it's a scenic drive and well worth doing if you get the chance to do so. Our plan is to maybe do this drive tomorrow, but upon my enquiring about it, the lady behind the desk informs me the road is still closed on this side of the mountain from the damage it recieved during Australia Day flooding. I inform Glen of this information and we decide that seeing we can't do the drive we want to do, rather then stay here another day doing nothing we'll pack up tomorrow and head home instead (there's walks to do about the area if your into that sort of thing by the way, but we'd done them previously and Glen and his family aren't into hikes or walks at all).
Around 5.00 p.m i take the kids back up to the bird feeding once again, we hand feed the birds and then head back to camp for another night of sitting around the fire and relaxing.

SHOWING THE KIDS HOW IT'S DONE



PLENTY OF THESE GUYS ABOUT THE PARK





NOT A BAD WAY TO SPEND THE NIGHT



DAY 14

The plan today is to pack up and leave around 10.00 a.m and head home from here. It's an overcast morning, and i wake to the sound of very light rain falling on the campers canvas. It stays fairly overcast all morning though the camper does get the chance to mostly dry out before we pack it up. We leave Cania Gorge pretty much right on 10.00 a.m and drive through to Gayndah where we stop to make lunch at a park in town. From Gayndah it's a straight through drive back home to Brisbane where our holidays is now completed, we get home around 5.00 p.m and i call my old man up and check to see how nanna is going. Nan's had all drips etc removed a few days ago and they don't think she'll last another night, though they thought the same thing a week ago also. I get the details of where my nan is and we jump in the wifes car and head straight up to the Greenslopes hospital to say are goodbyes to my Nan, it's nice getting the chance to say goodbye to her and she eventually passes away 4 days later on.

So thats the trip report now completed, the trip didn't work out exactly how we planned it to do, but in the end we still had a good time despite the problems we encountered along the way.i hope you enjoyed the read.

 

[Rumpig]

I am currently sitting about 40 kms west of Inniminka on 15 mile. We have destroyed that road in the last 3 weeks. :smiley_drive: Inniminka has great little pub where i have downed a few brews. Moomba has a pretty well stocked Toyota shop, I imagine if one finds themselves in need, Santos would let you in to buy some parts. I work out of the camps you see around in the oil industry. It seems the tourist traffic is much higher in the winter, as i have not seen too many in the last month. This hitch will be 47 days in the outback.

Hi Herm,
Yeah it's certainly a much nicer climate out that way during Winter, the days would be getting pretty warm out where you are right now i'd be thinking. As much as i love visiting Central Australia on holidays, i doubt i could ever live or work out there.

 

[mph]

Excellent report! Your narrative and pics were outstanding! Looks like u all had a blast! Some of your pics reminded me of the deserts in Utah. Thanks again!