Mount Isa day one

Escarpment around Mount Isa 

For other reasons, besides the government banning live cattle exports to Indonesia for up to six months because of the cruelty to the beasts at the Indonesian abattoirs, John and I are thinking a few less road trains in areas where the road train is king, is a good thing. Cattle are carried to the waiting ships in ports all around North Australia. We will be heading up a single lane road soon to Cape Crawford, I know sharing the road is the way to go, however those road trains almost run you down, two wheels have to stay on the bitumen, soft edges are something you want to avoid

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We stayed in Cloncurry one night before doing the 117 klms  to Mount Isa. I did the grocery shopping before we left Cloncurry then went to the bakery for take away cappuccino. Two policemen were outside the bakery,( it was 9.30 am) telling an aboriginal  boy of about thirteen to get on his bike and get to school. The school and the police probably work together in getting the kids to school on or near time. If only the kids realized it, to have a school in an isolated country town is a privilege, some children are on buses very early and travel lots of klms to other towns for their education.

We have had a much cooler day after nine days of heat. It’s started raining this afternoon, back to wearing jackets. We  stopped at a memorial to Burke and Wills, who passed through the area in January, 1861 on their journey across the Australian continent and an aboriginal memorial  telling us we are entering “ancient tribal lands of the Kalkadoon dispossessed by the European”, well I suppose that is the truth, and it’s out there for all to see.

Burke and Wills Memorial.

John and Syd.

A wattle like shrub seen everywhere on the way to Mount Isa.

Winton and Lark Quarry

Stopping at a rest stop on our trip to Winton, a road train with three large containers pulled in beside us and John asked the driver what he was carrying.  One container had plasterboard, another was empty and the third was a refrigerated container of chicken heads going to Darwin to feed the crocodiles at the croc farms.  Well, if you don’t ask you will never know.

Syd along side the road train.

We are here at Matilda Country Caravan Park for three nights. There are two lady bush poets on every night and a roast dinner. I ordered a dinner for one night, it saves me cooking. We sat with some new friends to see the show, a few drinks and a few laughs. John and I are booked on a tour tomorrow to Lark Quarry, a recent find of dinosaur footprints during a stampede millions of years ago, now preserved and developed into a tourist attraction. The tour leaves at 8am for the 110klms trip and returns about 1pm. Google Lark Quarry if you would like to learn more.

Some friends we met and the lady bush poet in front.

Today we looked around the attractions in town, driving also out to Long Waterholes, a lovely oasis in this open grassy landscape. It’s very flat country out here, although it’s hot this time, we stayed in Winton before when there was a chilly wind blowing. On the way out to the waterholes, we came across a bustard, a large bird all on his own but a bit timid, so he was too far into the long grass before I could get a good photo. I managed his back view. We had seen one in the Northern Territory before, so we recognized him instead of pulling the bird book out this time.

The trip to Lark Quarry was 110 klms, at least half was gravel road, In the 60’s a grazier asked someone to come out and look at bird prints he had found. Little did he know he had discovered the world’s only recorded dinosaur stampede. 95 million years ago, small dinosaurs were at a waterhole when a large dinosaur attacked the group, sending them into a frenzy. There are hundreds of small and large footprints ranging from chicken sized to emu to almost elephant sized, preserved under cover at what is now known as Lark Quarry. We were given a guided tour and learnt more about this very unique period in history.

We saw a wild pig with piglets by the side of the road, little wallaroos and some more bustards, or plains turkey as they are called out this way. A road train passed us and kicked up a lot of dust, of course our driver slowed down and edged to the side of the road. Road trains are king!

Today it was 30c, it’s supposed to be winter!

The bustard.

                                            Lark Quarry

                                        One of the large dinosaur footprints

sow and piglets

                                    road train on the dusty road, coming towards us.

Barcaldine

Driving the 409 klms from Charleville,we saw our first brolga of the trip. He was just meandering alongside the road near a dry creek bed and was nice enough to let us take a photo. John showed me a pair of eagles sitting on a post in a paddock, they had their backs to us.We also sighted a bunny, kangaroos and emus.

 I packed a lunch of egg sandwiches for us to have when we had a coffee stop. Syd had his first mud bath, we had to drive for three klms on a dirt road. And the dirt out here is red.

 I phoned ahead to the Homestead caravan park and booked us a two night stay. This is the busy tourist season and as we go further north the parks will be busier. We were pleasantly surprised to see the park here has country singers, damper and golden syrup around the campfire. The two guys sang some good country songs and the damper was delicious. I got a Chinese take away meal, freshly cooked in the park and have enough left over for another night.

Today we looked around the town, it has six pubs along the main street. It gets hot and dusty here. Enjoyed a nice cappuccino, enjoying the aroma of the coffee beans when a road train came through town.  As it passed the café, the full country experience hit us. The smell of probably fifty cattle! Gotta love country!
Looking forward to another beautiful sunset tonight.

Winton is our next stop tomorrow.

 The Brolga.

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One of the old hotels.

The facade of the Radio Theatre.

Nardoo Station and Charleville

Sunset at Nardoo Station.

Late afternoon campfire.

Hotel Corones in Charleville.

Artesian hot tub.Bilby Centre.

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Traveling from Bourke to Nardoo Station we encountered flocks of emus on the Matilda Highway. We must have seen close to one hundred. We entered Queensland at Barringun, our driving time allowed for a morning coffee stop along the 300klms to Cunnamulla, which turned out to be a parking spot 60 klms out from the town. No nice rest stops on this highway. We spent a bit of time looking at the Warrego River in town and the weir, 5klms out. We hit an emu but luckily he wasn’t hurt and ran off into the bush, the silly bird turned straight out on the road in front of us. Syd and the emu both survived.

We were told Nardoo Station, a working cattle property and caravan park was the place to stay and see. It is 40klms north on Cunnamulla. We found out from the tourist info centre that in fact it is ceasing to be a caravan park in two weeks. The vast property has been sold and already the cattle have been removed. The new owners aren’t continuing the holiday park. We booked in at 2.30 and John had a swim in the artesian bore. The bore is an underground spring of hot water, running beneath large areas of outback Australia. The mineral content in the water is supposed to be soothing on the body. Both of us managed to try it, surprisingly the water was hotter than what I had expected.

John did see a few cattle on his walk around the property. The weather was warm during the day and cool morning and night. The sunsets were terrific. We met our fellow campers around the campfire each evening at “happy hour”.

There was no mobile service at the farm so we had to do without television, internet and mobile phone for two days.

Wednesday morning we were up early and drove the 160klms to Charleville, saw more emus and kangaroos on the way. We booked into Bailey Bar CP, noting they were having yabby races and a camp dinner on our first night. Paying $5 a yabby, half proceeds go the Royal Flying Doctor, the lifeline of the outback. The rest are for the people with the winning yabbies.

Thursday.

We had a great night, lots of fun betting on what yabby would win, the winners collected over $130. The meal was beef stew in red wine sauce on mashed potato, followed by apple crumble. The hosts kept us amused, they must do these evenings all during the winter tourist season, but you would think we all were their only audience.

Today John and I visited the native parks and wildlife centre and had the place to ourselves. We saw little rock wallabies in an enclosure sunning themselves, also a little bilby, who are nocturnal; but this one was going to an education display so we had the chance of seeing her up close. The NPW run a conservation program as bilbies were becoming extinct in Australia, pleased to say they are breeding well in captivity.

A quiet afternoon at the park talking to our neighbours. Tomorrow a longer day on the road, 409klms to Barcaldine on the Capricorn Highway.
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                                                      Wide open spaces.

Camp dinner at Bailey Bar CP.

Yabby Race.

Rock Wallaby.

Byrock and Bourke.

The drive from Nyngan to Bourke is for me, the beginning of the outback. The towns are further apart, large grants of pastoral land with grazing sheep were and still are the backbone of this area. For over a hundred years the Bourke area has been the centre of the wool export industry. Before the advance of the railway network, Bourke was the hub of  industry servicing the surrounding properties and exporting wool on paddle steamers down the Darling River. Horse, camel and bullock teams provided the original means of transport along with the paddle steamers that moved supplies to and from the coast of South Australia. The town was established in 1862. Mail coaches( Cobb and Co ) played a big role in the outback, moving mail and passengers from place to place. The first rail train came to Bourke in 1885.

My family have a strong link to this area. Byrock, 80 klms south of Bourke is the birthplace of my maternal grandmother. Byrock was another railway town, my great grandmother had a shop in town and raised a large family, some of whom are buried in the local cemetry.

John and I spent an hour or so in Byrock, population of eight, four of whom are the local publican and his family. We have stayed a few times before in the Mulga Creek Hotel, so yesterday was just a short visit.

We arrived in Bourke before lunch and booked into Kidman’s Camp, seven klms north of town. It’s close to the Darling River and the  paddle steamer, which operates a delightful one hour cruise.

We met some friendly couples near where we set up camp, all good grass sites.  John and I looked around town today, went out to the cemetry to see Fred Hollows grave and the wharf area. There are still lovely old buildings standing, most of the town is in a decline because of the aboriginal situation, but we were pleasantly surprised to find a new visitor  and exhibition centre. If you look past the bordered up shop windows, (there isn’t a glass shop front to be seen they would all be smashed otherwise), Bourke can be a nice experience. Or am I looking through rose tinted glasses? Maybe.

                                                                                                                               Byrock Rock Holes

Darling River at Bourke.

 Bourke Post Office.

Jandra Paddle Steamer

Jandra Cruise.

Nyngan

Nyngan suffered through one of the biggest floods in it’s history, when in 1990 the Bogan River burst it’s banks when the levee would not hold. The majority of the  population had to be airlifted to safety. A new levee, one metre higher, now protects the people from further floods.

John and I came through Nyngan last October and liked the Nyngan River Caravan Park, the Bogan River flows at the back.. When we planned this trip, Nyngan was on the itinerary. There’s not a lot to do around town, but it’s nice to do some grocery shopping and have a coffee and speak to some of the locals. We walked down and around the river, this morning was sunny and cool.

One tail light was out on Syd, so I caught up on some reading while it was fixed. There’s a good museum in Nyngan, I decided because I had seen it last time I would pass, and John found it shut when he went across. There’s also a museum on the history of shearing, which we had visited last year.

We decided to cook a bbq for dinner in the camp kitchen and met a chap in his sixties with a little Jack Russell dog called Scruffy. The poor guy was living in a tent while he was waiting on accommodation, he was chatty and of course we heard his life history, which I told him to write it all down, if half of the travel tales he told us were true, would make for interesting reading. He was living on his pension, had no car because he lost his license because of a medical condition. I think the local church was helping him out. The little dog was cute and friendly and reminded us of  two other little Jack Russells we know.

A lady in her sixties arrived at the park, traveling in a van by herself and had driven quite a long way. She told us she was writing a book on her travels, calling it “Safari of the Soul” all in longhand. I told her I would look out for it when she has it published.

John and I are hoping we meet some normal travelers on this trip soon.

Syd is getting some admiring comments. We are finding the motor home very comfortable and happy to have more room to move around in. The shower is an asset; we haven’t had to go to the park showers at all.

Tomorrow we will drive to Bourke, passing through Byrock, where my grandmother was born.

Dural to Orange.

Monday morning early we were ready to leave to do the last minute packing of clothes, groceries etc and head out for our short trip to Dural Caravan Park for our first night in our new home. We said goodbye and thanks to the staff at Suncamper, they were always on hand to answer any queries we had. We were ready to go.

 Family and friends called out to see us and say farewell at the park, after all we will be away for about three to four months. Except for a slight delay in realizing the hot water heater wasn’t turned on, we had an uneventful night and late showers.

Tuesday morning we were up early after a good night’s sleep, we followed the Bell’s Line of Road out to Lithgow and Bathurst, on to Orange for two nights.

One of the perils of having a two way radio in the motor home is listening to the choice language of the truckies, laughing at them talking about the drivers on the road, then knowing they are swearing about us! They hate caravans and motor homes, especially when you are in front of them! Only they called John that guy with the campervan, in some not so nice description! I felt like saying “hey it’s a motor home”! Only one stays silent, you don’t want to be abused anymore. The ears are burning by then.

We arrived in Orange and booked into a park for two nights. Nice town, the autumn colours are still there to appreciate, although some trees are already bare. We have been having early nights, John is up at 5am, so I need all the sleep I can get before then.

We drove Syd out to Lake Canobolas this morning, very cold, the beanies and coats were out. Yes, Syd is our name for the motor home, a grand name like “The Sydney by Suncamper” lends itself to a name, so Syd it is.

John has “lost” his glasses twice already, found them again of course after much searching. I was hoping the first couple of days would be stress free.

Off to Nyngan and roads west tomorrow.

Dural.

 Lake Canobolas Park.








Spillway.

Lake Canobolas

Terrace houses on Mitchell Highway, Orange.

Orange caravan park.