(Whoops, this is supposed to be on greywanderers3.Wordpress.com – enjoy anyway)
Dearest Gentle Reader
Ok, I have been captivated by Bridgerton, however our two brief visits to Batemans Bay Area have also been captivating!
Usually we zoom through the area on our way further South but twice this year we have spent just a couple of days there, wrapped around visiting our newest grandchild in early March and then catching up with Uni friends in early May. Now we realise why it is so popular.
Our day of exploring in March followed the last day of a heatwave, and afforded us a gloriously comfortable and sea-misty day.
We strolled along the ocean beaches at Broulee:
We happened on the beach on the south side of South Moruya Headland and its unique and fascinating exposed rock formations, evoking images of dragons, fairy castles, as your imagination dictates:
Then decided to aim for a very late lunch at Tuross Heads and it’s Boatshed Cafe. We had never visited that area – just as beautiful as others have told us, even more so in the misty stillness of that day. The fish and chips were delicious too:
Returned via Mogo Village which is gradually being restored after the devastating bushfire.
Our next visit was in the first week of May which was cool to mild and gently raining weather – for the entire time. No chance of watching the meteor shower from the perfectly positioned beach front of the NRMA caravan park there.
However our visit to Mogo Wildlife Park was perfect – all the animals were out and about, the keeper talks were so engaging and passionate, the recounting of the bushfire event and how each keeper stayed with their animals and all survived brought (still brings me now) to tears of admiration and gratitude , and the collection of primates from tiny through to gorillas is exceptional. TheZoo is also part of international conservation programs for their various species – a very complicated and dedicated task. We kept hugging ourselves to be able to have such marvellous encounters.
The second day, the weather was still misty and soft rain when we met our friends at the Eurobodalla Regional Botanic Gardens ( open Wednesdays to Sundays). delightful gardens of mostly local species. The highlight for me though was the proliferation of exquisite fungi popping up in the conditions, and the opportunity to wander and chat with friends in a delightfully unhurried manner. Quite a bit of catching up over 50 plus years! There is also a plant nursery and pleasant cafe there.
So glad we spent the time there and then. One of those friends died suddenly a few weeks later – make the most of every day people!
On that note we are almost finished preparations for our next trip – this time to The Tip of Cape York! Via a fairly meandering and as yet undecided route…. Check in from time to time….
I have decided to start the next trip in a new blog! After all, this trip looks like being a biggie – check out the orange line on the map. Of course that is the idea but weather, road conditions, etc could change our plans.
We have the off-road van and the 4WD ready to start filling in the gaps on the map of Australia. All the black lines show where we have been in the past 30 odd years. You can find blogs about many of the trips in this blog and our earlier blog GreyWanderers.wordpress.com
GreyWanderers3.wordpress.com is the one to follow once we get going, roughly early July 2023, all going to plan.
Well, we finally did sell our Coaster Bus motorhome and our faithful little Suzuki Jimny, shedding the odd tear I must admit. They both went to good homes, which is nice.
We subsequently bought a 24 year old 14ft Bushtracker caravan, oldie but a Goldie, built tough for outback trips and spent a fair bit on bringing it to modern compliance. Then we were lucky enough to find a 4yo D-max nicely kitted out for a good price too.
Eventually, in November, we figured both were ok for a shake down run, and our wandering son and family suggested they could cross the Nullabor (it was about time to head east anyway for them) and meet us on the Yorke Peninsula in SA. The floods were easing a bit in NSW and Vic and hadn’t yet reached SA, and it would only add a few thousand kilometres (and quite a few fuel dollars) to make the detours, see the gang and put the rig through its paces before contemplating A Big Outback Trip in 2023.
Day 1
Starting from Yass where we left pooch with family, we had a pretty easy run to Violet Town in Victoria. (Much easier than the run from Orange to Yass via the very potholed roads everywhere following the rain and floods.)
We had a funny experience on the way down when, seeing Albury Railway Station, which is lovely and elegant, I remembered that our neighbours were travelling on the XPT to Melbourne that day and then discovered the App for that! The route is mapped out and as the train progresses the passed stations fade out. So we realised that although when we first looked we were an hour or so ahead of them, by the time we stopped for fuel etc it looked like they would reach Violet Town about the time we would. As it turned out, I waved at the roof of the train from the top step of the caravan in the caravan park!
Days 2 and 3
The next two days were a bit of a blur, wriggling our way around smaller roads across the middle of Victoria, checking ever changing road closures/reopenings and marvelling at the height floods reached in various areas. Safe, damaged, destroyed crops were scattered all over with flooded paddocks interspersed.
We did find several accessible silo art, some excellent bakeries and the amazing looking Buddhist Grand Stupa of Universal Compassion at Bendigo. We really have to return to Victoria as a destination and with time to experience such things.!
Day 3 saw us cross into SA via Bordertown and head toward Tailem Bend. Along the way I realised that we were running along beside the Melbourne to Adelaide railway line … and once again I realised that the same neighbours would be on that day’s train… and yes it went through Tailem Bend just as we were setting up camp!
Day 4
This was a frustrating day. We thought it could be a good idea to avoid Adelaide and head north via the Adelaide Hills and popping back out on the coast further up. Bad idea – my usually good navigation skills failed, tempers were a bit frayed, we didn’t get to enjoy the scenery and the drive to Port Broughton took several hours longer than it should have. On the upside, we arrived at Port Broughton Caravan Park from the south east as our son and his family were pulling in from the north west! Yay!
Day 5
Rest day at Port Broughton. Great water works and other entertainment for the grandkids, IGA and a hardware store for son to buy a crabbing rake, and stunning sunset clouds. Port Broughton never disappoints us with unusual and stunning atmospheric phenomenon! We strolled the sandbank but only managed to find some very small crabs, but very pleasant out there anyway.
We had not enjoyed our previous visit to Yorke Peninsula – a cold, severely drought affected winter when it looked so desperately desolate. So we weren’t all that enthusiastic about traipsing around it again, but catching up with the family was the main reason for the trip and the family seemed fired up so we were resolved to give it another chance.
Day 6
What a difference a good season makes! Where it wasn’t green it was golden with ripe grain crops being harvested on all sides! Lots of grain trucks trundling around, so much activity!
We visited the vibrant town of Kadina where all got very excited searching the Fairy Trail, looking for tiny fairy doors along the shops and office fronts of several streets in the centre of town. Kids loved them. Lovely park with excellent spider web climbing apparatus too.
We found a beach camp where much crab hunting ensued, but no success in our camp. Another group came back with quite a few but they claimed to have followed the tide out for about a kilometre and wandered back ahead of the tide. The sand flats are indeed enormously wide in that area, so that is probably the case.
Day 7
We crisscrossed the peninsula, finding beaches, silo art, setting up at Port Turton camping area, then unhooking the caravan and trying out the Ute on some sand tracks . We were glad we were carrying some extra fuel as time and kms fly when you are having fun!
We headed down to Dhilba Guuranda – Innes NP on the southern edge of Cape Yorke and found adjoining campsites to set up the van and their camper trailer as a base. We explored further in the afternoon and played chess etc in the evening.
Day 8 and 9
We did visit the national park last trip but this time the bush was much happier and more stunning.
There were numerous emus in the dense heath, enjoying a degustation menu of abundant seeds and berries in season. They towered over the shrubs but could disappear very effectively by crouching down and camouflaging themselves as large tufts of grass!
The snakes were in extremely good condition – numerous, extremely chubby and very active. Hubby was overjoyed not to step on one that was doing battle with a large lizard – lizard 0 snake 1 and a very satisfied snake!!
Our son went surfing a couple of times, daughter-in-law swimming, and we enjoyed watching the surf in lovely conditions.
Day 10 and 11
Wandered northish again and found our way to Port Victoria. Looked a bit so so on the way in, but I checked our travel log book and found we had stayed there for two nights on our previous trip.
Loved it! Excellent camp kitchen, right on the beach for wandering the sand flats, close to pub and the very long and well maintained L- shaped jetty. I minded the grandkids both nights while the others went fishing from the jetty for Tommy Roughs and squid. They even caught enough for brekkie!
We had a wonderful experience on the second evening – a sunset of legend! Unlike any of us had ever seen before. We have read about the fact that at sunset the earth’s gravity bends the sun’s rays so that the viewer is actually seeing the set eight minutes late – or something like that. 🤔 Well that evening, the sea was really calm and flat , the view was totally clear and as everyone on the jetty and in the caravan park watched and waited to photograph the sunset, we all started to realise the glittering molten red gold line on the horizon was not disappearing – it was staying and staying and still there for a full eight minutes beyond when anyone expected it to. Everyone was enthralled, amazed, and so excited!!! Stunning!!!
Day 11
Time to move on so we headed north to Moonta Bay – which I had never heard of. It is a large town by local measures, with huge holiday apartment developments, an excellent water park, next to a long jetty with a netted swimming pool, extensive sand flats to wander and eateries. Perfect on a day heading to high-30s. The kids had a ball! We snuck off for coffee and cake and then wandered out on to the jetty and sand flats and got sunburnt into the bargain.
Headed back to Port Broughton to sit out the forecast heatwave at 39 degrees for the following day.
Day 12
We retreated to the caravan and the AC but the kids hung out in the pool and water park at the caravan park, and raced over for drinks and food with assorted new friends in tow from time to time.
Now we know why people have been raving about the Yorke Peninsula! Our less favourable experience was unfortunate and unusual – so glad we revisited!
As we wouldn’t be catching up at Christmas, we all headed to the Pt Broughton pub for dinner to celebrate our holiday together.
Day 14
Finally I got the chance to practice driving the “new rig”. Because we were on a bit of a time schedule on the way over, on potholed roads, and because it was some 10 years since I had towed a caravan and I had not even driven the D-max much, hubby had done all the driving so far. So we picked some quieter roads, and I set off trying to gauge the engine sounds and van reactions with reasonable success… Eventually hubby’s lack of navigation skills (he can’t read in a moving vehicle into the bargain) came into play and we ended up on a gravel road- yay, now I got the feel of everything! Phew!
We meandered our way to Burra, another favourite spot in SA. Got in early so went for a stroll, chatted to locals and generally chilled.
Days 15 -17
First things first – walked into town to the Gaslight Cafe, Collectables and Books for a Tiddy Oggie which is a Cornish pastie with an apple pastie in one end. Must have.
After a bit of investigation we decided that given the road and flood conditions we had better head home via Broken Hill. Going via Mildura etc we could have gotten through but no campgrounds were open yet.
Normally, the countryside nearing the SA border is desolate and sad, definitely arid zone! This year was green, well blue-grey with the saltbush,
We stayed in Broken Hill then next day headed east. Everything was so green and lush! Darling River was running pretty high in Wilcannia and the floodways through to Topar were full, and so green!! Free camped west of Cobar.
Driving toward Cobar there was so much very heavy machinery on the move – mainly grain harvesting but also mining. A lot of potholes for everyone to negotiate too. There was a lot of UHF40 chatter with truck drivers getting updates on open/closed routes. Some of the work arounds were still 1000s of kms out of their way – so frustrating for them and sooo expensive in fuel.
Continued through Nyngan to Narromine. So much water, so many damaged crops and yet so much harvesting happening where it could be. Stayed overnight at Peak Hill.
Final day was down through Parkes to Forbes – the roads were still bad, fences still full of debris, towns mostly cleaned up, paddocks mostly a mess. It has been a rough time through here. We continued bouncing and swerving our way through to Harden, 80 odd km shy of collecting the dog from Yass family. At that point we realised we just couldn’t go the last bit, so chucked a u-ie into the Harden CP and grabbed Chinese takeaway and relaxed for the evening. Much better prepared for excited dog and grandkids the following day!
A difficult drive, amazing experience seeing the positive and negatives of flooding across such vast distances, wonderful rediscovering the Yorke Peninsula with our family. Nothing beats taking yourself by surprise ( with enough time for proper trip preparation of course).
This three week trip revolved around helping out family in Sunshine Coast for a week or so following a surgery. We hadn’t been up that way for about 30 years and then any trips required getting through asap to do further away things. So we decided to take our time up and back checking some towns along the way.
Day 1 Orange to Ponto Falls Reserve
Ponto Falls Reserve – we did it! A short drive to just past Wellington. Noisy and multitudinous herd of Angus cows and calves wandering through, plus lots of birds and dragon flies. Bigger drive tomorrow required as a result, of course.
We found an incredibly finely layered and patterned piece of silt stone(?) – several layers per millimeter!
Day 2
This morning Willow was visited by three inquisitive large calves who wanted to know who the very small very white creature was who was munching grass. Sniffed nose and bottom and then followed us on our walk, calling in others to takeover the relay when they ventured too far from their own mums!😂
Next stop Gilgandra – town of windmills (now replaced by town water.) So they have developed a riverside walk with painted windmills along it.
Gilgandra was also the start of the WWI Coo-ee March when 25 men from the area left in October 1915 to walk to Sydney recruiting along the way, calling “Coo-ee! Come and join us’ – they arrived in Sydney a month later with 263 recruits. Things were so different then.
It was a very hot day, so when I noticed a Tourist Route around and through the Warrumbungles we took it! Aircon in the car was earning its keep! One of our happy places indeed – didn’t do any hikes just drove through – way too hot and Willow would have been an issue anyway. Just lovely to revisit😀. Then completed the drive to Narrabri which is a vibrant, growing and busy town/city(?).
Day 3 Moree, Goondiwindi
Still evidence of the multitude of floods around the district – debris metres up in trees, along fence lines etc. From Gilgandra to Goondiwindi it is silos, stockpiles, grain trucks, grain trains, a lot going on!!
Day 4 Toowoomba and Crows Nest
A driving day aimed at avoiding Toowoomba city – the detour road proved quite entertaining/challenging as we worked our way around to the “New England Hway “ which was very rural through cute little towns and a bit rainforesty. Stayed at Crows Nest in a caravan park with an aviary containing the most mutated coloured birds we have seen! We sent photos to a granddaughter who knows about these things and she suggested some were not huge budgies but maybe mutated colours of Bourke’s parrots. (?)
Yarraman to Sunshine Coast
Decided to complete the New England Hway which led us through flood damaged sections and road works to its end at Yarraman. From here we headed east on the 🙃D’Aguilar Hway, stopping at Blackburn for some excellent pies at the bakery.
The highlight for us in this area is that we were in the Bunya Mountains, and there were wild Bunya pines everywhere – we had previously only seen them in parks!
We had decided that the dog needed a bath before fronting at the family’s place and had worked out where a DIY dog wash near their area in the Sunshine Coast was. Unfortunately us country bumpkins got into the big smoke at school out peak hour, and apart from getting a bit lost, when we reached our destination, thousands of high school kids were pouring across the driveway , so we bailed and took grubby dog straight to the house. 🙁A good brushing helped considerably fortunately.
Visit to Rainbow Beach area
We were mostly in Sunshine to hangout with No 2 son and his family and help out.
We had a great day out with the family. The plan, after consulting tide charts etc , was to drive from Buderim up to nearly Rainbow Beach and drive on the beach to one of their favourite haunts, have lunch while waiting for tide to drop again, then back along the beach. Easy drive up, then as expected 4wd was needed to traverse the tracks through the amazing sandy rainforest (so like Fraser Island 😀👍🏻) and then low range up the beach….. well, the Cyclone was still causing problems here, holding water levels up much higher than we expected, while bearing down on NZ – we got onto the sand but did a quick about turn and raced back to the access track while we could!!!!
After lunch we headed into Rainbow Beach for sorbets and to check the water levels there! Way up above expected too!
Then we visited some accessible creeks with baby yabbies, catfish and eels and the Noosa Everglades with its crimson tannin staining! The info on the latter varies from very safe to swim in , to sharks are common, especially bull sharks. Nobody was eaten so fun was had by all. Phew!
Heading home via the New England Hway, mostly
Day 1 and a bit Scenic Rim
Instead of passing through the Scenic Rim in SEQ we spent sometime yesterday arvo and this morning checking it out. Magnificent!!! The Scenic Rim comprises Tambourine Mtn NP and Lamington NP on the East and a whole series more to West and South, all encompassing extinct (?)/dormant( ?) volcanic remnants depending on which article you read.
The town of Boonah, sort of in the middle, is a vibrant and picturesque community which has a statue of a Clydesdale ( by the same guy who created the Kelpies (water horses) in Scotland. Clydesdales were key to development of the area and over the past few years they have been bred back to their former glory nearby.
From the Scenic Rim we headed through Warwick, Qld to Stanthorpe, NSW. We rejoined the New England Highway a bit north of there. Turns out that Highway is part of the Australian Country Way which runs along the Great Dividing Range from Rockhampton to Sydney! Great for cooler climate bods like us!
Overnight stop at Kookaburra Caravan and Camping on a property between Tenterfield and Deepwater – gorgeous NE tablelands scenery, good loos and showers, otherwise need to be self sufficient. At this point we realised we were also on the Thunderbolt’s Way – 305 km from Bundarra to Uralla on the New England and then to Walcha and through to Gloucester – bush ranger Thunderbolt got around!
Day 3 Glen Innes, Guyra and Uralla
Next day I was determined to visit Guyra (last time we drove through here we popped into a town with magnificent architecture which I wanted to stop to check out and it started with a G).
Today came through Moree to Goondiwindi – another thriving town. So much grain being harvested throughout the region – enormous stockpiles everywhere! Wheat seems to be finished, sorghum is ripening nicely, cotton coming on. Pictures are of sorghum – striking looking crop!
As we approached Glen Innes I saw a sign for Australia’s Standing Stones so we followed directions there on the east side of Glen Innes. Turns out to be pretty impressive and that they hold annual Celtic Festivals and all things Scottish. Enjoyed our visit and headed toward Guyra.
Guyra is the highest town in NSW at 1330m, no wonder it snows there before Orange (870m) sometimes! What they do have is those amazing Costa hi tech tomato growing glasshouses with solar panels on the roofs for acres -look them up if you haven’t heard of them! What they don’t have is amazing architecture – I figure that must have been on the west side of the highway in Glen Innes. Next time….
Stayed the night in the neat and historic town of Uralla. It has a very romantic statue of Thunderbolt who never killed anyone but did steal very good racehorses to make off with the loot! Uralla also has a cafe, 53 on Bridge, with a huge and surprisingly varied menu (including soft shelled crab dishes), very reasonable prices and the THE BEST FISH, CHIPS N SALAD either of us has ever had!!!
The highway down to Pt Macquarie runs into town with daily fish delivery. Uralla was also a good place to fix brakes on the caravan that we realised had broken.
Day 4 Walcha to Gunnedah
Following day veered off with the Thunderbolt’s Way to Walcha which claims to be the most artistic town per capita in the State – every store awning is supported by elaborately carved timber posts into the bargain, plus they have things from various Scupture by the Sea exhibitions. They also have heaps of cafes because it is a prime target for motorcycle trips from the Coast and from the Tablelands. The Fruit Box cafe does excellent fruit and nut sourdough toast smothered in butter!
We had intended going through to Coolah but after negotiating the Moombi Hills north of Tamworth ( thank goodness we had found and fixed the brake problem before that), we detoured to Lake Keepit Dam. The first time we visited there the water was at 1% (remember your trip with Anthony, Brad, and your experience in the acrobatic plane, gulp?) This time it was at 87% and very busy with water craft etc – good to see.
Ended up staying at Gunnedah instead where we sat in the shade behind the van. Nolan noticed one on the caravan tyres looked a bit odd, crawled under and found that a component underneath had moved and had been rubbing a deep groove in said tyre – grrr, phew, etc! Tyre changed, problem sorted and more things on the to do list!
Last morning we headed onto the, wait for it, Black Stump Way! Just north of Coolah there is a rest area, the site of the original Black Stump in that area, where land grants “beyond the black stump” were issued. There are several such sites around the country, another being in Blackall in Qld.
From there on it was through to Dungog, Wellington and home.
This a brief, take ourselves by surprise, sort of trip – great thing is most roads in Far Western NSW are finally open after SO much rain due to two La Niña weather years AND two roads we have long wanted to travel are now entirely sealed – Cobb Highway and Silver City Highway through to Tibooburra (and probably to Warri Gate on QLD border by the time you read this)! As the wet conditions are predicted to not yet be over, we decided to grab the opportunity while we could.
We were going to take the dog with us because it is close to school holidays and Easter and boarding kennels are booked out, but one son took pity on her needing to wear burr boots and a muzzle to protect against 1080 poison, so she is hanging out in Yass instead.
Day 1
From Yass we took the Hume Highway South to Wagga Wagga turn off and followed the Sturt Highway to Narrandera. Stayed at the racecourse camping area – Strolled into town centre which is considerably bigger than the stretch on the Newell Highway. The country was in great condition after the wet summer, just developing the silvery gold autumn grass colour one would expect.
Day 2 – Hay
Continued along Sturt Highway to Hay, travelling more or less alongside the Murrumbidgee River, passing many kilometres of (water guzzling) almond orchards, dry rice farms, dry (well, shorter plants and less thirsty than earlier types) cotton farms, and some vineyards some with with muscatels drying on the vines. Again country looking in great condition and the river pretty full.
We turned North onto the Cobb Highway at Hay (it also runs South to the Victorian border at Cobram). The North bound section is frequently closed due to flooding and has been being sealed but by bit over many years – the last two sections at the northern end near Wilcannia were being worked on as we went through.
This is an area we have not previously visited and I guess I was expecting it to be a bit like the dreaded Hay Plain. It wasn’t- probably because it has had so much rain recently. It was gorgeous – waving grass, healthy blue saltbush, low tree cover, healthy livestock, just lovely!
Day 3- Cobb Hway
As we approached Booligal (pub, school, church, friendly locals) we noticed some paddocks drying off a bit, the odd willy willy, but mostly pretty fair. Rolled up to the pub about 4pm as various contractors, Telstra guys etc were turning up to stay over at the pub. Free camping at the pub and the community has provided great facilities across the road at the cricket oval. We had dinner at the pub and a yarn with the manager for a while. Later on we noticed the locals from surrounding properties dropping in for a while.
Strolling around the village after dinner a couple pulled up in their Ute to chat. They told us that the formations of pelicans that were flying over, heading south west had had a very successful breeding season in the shallow lakes and billabongs in the area and with the drying off now happening, we’re heading to where they knew water would be more plentiful.
We noticed a flock of grass parrots in the evening and were woken in the morning by a large flock of galahs stirring in a tree close by – couldn’t hear the regular alarm go off!
Day 4 – Cobb Hway
On our way north this morning we noticed a large throng of pelicans rising from a wetland – perhaps they would be heading off shortly too . Wonderful to see!
Continued up the Cobb to Ivanhoe – of weather and road report fame – did not appear to be be flourishing but servo and cafe were busy and people we later met at Wilcannia were on their way there to manage the pub which is a hub for the surrounding properties etc.
Fascinatingly, north of Ivanhoe the country changed – Gidgee(?) scrub, lots ofgoats ( they are feral but such well adapted, smart and magnificent beasts to look at). So many emus too!
There were only two short sections of road left to seal on the Cobb, and these were well under construction. One needed a bridge or large culvert so probably why it had been left to last. Such a good improvement for the community along the road and for travellers to Broken Hill and beyond.
Stayed at Warrawong on the Darling at Wilcannia. The managers had adopted twin goat kids after they were abandoned by their mum at a few days old (no idea if they were feral). However the people had a medical emergency and asked the soon to be publicans at Ivanhoe to hold the fort at the caravan park and the kids kept bleating for food -“ma’am ma’am”. It was initially very cute and eventually distressing for all as they became more desperate and hungry. Google to the rescue and we ended up helping to feed the little blighters – hubby turned out to be quite good at getting them to take the teat and and guzzle! We never thought we would be caring for (possibly feral) goats, at least everyone could get to sleep
Days 5 and 6 – Broken Hill
The wind had become stronger while at Wilcannia and was forecast to continue and possibly increase so we decided to head for Broken Hill carefully and hunker down for a day or two until it eased. We stayed at the camping area at the BH Regional Event Centre and Racecourse. Slightly sheltered from the wind which was causing lots of dust across the track. we just stayed in the bus for most of the afternoon.
We spent the next day visiting:
Albert Kersten Mining and Mineral Museum ( exhibition of the unique geology and minerals of the area around the Line of Lode, and home of the Silver Tree) which occupied several hours;
the site of the Line of Lode visitor centre (currently under renovation) on top of the hill of spoil from the line of Lode that once was the actual Broken Hill, and now dominates the city’s skyline. The Miners’ Memorial is also up there and mentions every miner who died at the mine – there are so many ways to die while mining – very sobering;
Bell’s Milkbar, an iconic 1950’s Milkbar and 1950’s museum. Green Lime Spider!!!!!!! Next time I reckon their waffles with ice cream and syrup will be the choice (or another Spider or a milkshake or ….). ;
And just because, popped into the Palace Hotel, as seen in Priscilla Queen of the Desert and featuring in the Broken Heel Festival of all things drag Queen. The murals on most surfaces that are not wood paneling are stylised country scenes painted by an indigenous artist Gordon Waye but he was told to include water in every scene (which is why they don’t find quite true) while the highest (very high) ceilings were painted by one owner to honour Botticelli’s Venus.
Day 7 -Milparinka
We had thought to only drive to Packsaddle today after a slow start but the sealed SilverCity Highway heading North is so good we found ourselves there by 1pm. So continued on to Milparinka. So glad we did!
Milparinka now is a pub, one house and a most excellent museum and preservation site of the buildings of this once, briefly thriving town. Think Farina, SA on steroids. The community has driven this enterprise, assisted by volunteer caretakers/guides who donate a fortnight or do a year, often as part of their nomadic touring.
So much to learn in an easily digestible format anout the Albert Goldfields, Sturt’s endeavours, the Kidman empire, mining, pastoral, education, indigenous, social, hospital services, the role of women, etc!
About 13 kms away is the Glen Depot, Sturt’s Cairn and Poole’s Grave. So much of this region was explored and named by Sturt. His interactions with Aboriginal people was exemplary (unlike so many others). His luck with the weather and severe drought was disastrous.
The Depot was by a creek which they stayed by for many months during a severe drought. To keep up their fitness and morale, Sturt marched his men some miles frequently to build a cairn on top of a rocky hill – it daunted our morale just looking at the hill from the bottom – they were certainly built of sturdy stuff back then. Amazingly, only one of their number died during that time and a grave and inscribed tree mark Poole’s passing.
We had an interesting encounter with a willy-willy in the camp ground at Milparinka. Hubby noticed a little one playing at the bottom of the little hill, and in the short time I was returning from the loo, he noticed it growing and speeding up. He called me to run and we both jumped in the bus and shut the door just as it hit. Really loud roar, much shaking of the vehicle and then it was gone. Our neighbours about 30m away noticed nothing. Nature, eh!
Day 8 – Tibooburra
Tibooburra was next stop – small straggly town with a servo come corner store, two pubs (one being restored after a fire), adequate caravan park and a replica of Sturt’s row boat that they dragged everywhere with them. This was a housekeeping day and preparing the Jimny for its big adventure. Also filing permit in the box at the info shed.
Day 9 – Cameron Corner !!
The road to Cameron Corner was still open, YAY! So we headed off with great excitement north west. The track was in really good nick although still damp in some areas. We passed several huge graders parked up ready for action. The road is a main route for cattle trucks to and from the NT and we encountered several during the day – best plan was to watch approaching dust clouds and judge when to pull off the road and let them and the attendant cloud go.
The road crosses a very large clay pan, just follow the tracks or in wet conditions (if the track is open at all) there appears to be a detour right around the edge. Odd feeling launching into it initially I must admit!
There is a very large feral exclusion zone established by a Uni out there, one boundary being the Dingo Fence. The info and viewing platform is a must see. There are marvellous wire artworks of quoll, Bilby etc along the way (as well as a brilliant camel with Afghan cameleer in Tibooburra).
Getting through the various gates from NSW into SA and then around to Qld to reach the The Corner Store for food and fuel is a bit strange – it couldn’t even be done during Covid. Folks who tried to get through found they couldn’t get fuel or food even passed through the Dingo fence, with police from various States on hand to reinforce the rules. Long way back, and other Gates to Qld were also blocked. We did get through, had burgers for lunch, topped up the fuel, took photos at the Corner marker ✅✅✅ and gazed longing at the roads to Strezlecki Track into SA and to Noccundra in Qld, which we weren’t prepared to take the bus on……
Then it was a return trip to Tibooburra- a great day all round!!
Day 10 – Eastern Sturt NP tour
Today was a 100- kilometre round trip in the eastern end of the Sturt NP. Didn’t see another soul all day, but did see fantastic country, got up pretty close to inquisitive emus, tried out our emergency camping kit (Tom Piper sausage and veg from a ring pull can at room temperature is surprisingly palatable!!) and generally enjoyed ourselves.
Day 11 – back to Broken Hill
Drove back to Broken Hill, feeling pretty chuffed that mission accomplished! Now to think about the trip home. Given that the roads around Menindee Lakes were still closed or 4wd only, ditto roads around the Darling River Run (Bourke – Louth -Tilpa – Wilcannia), White Cliffs, we were left with taking the Silver City Hway to Wentworth.
Day 12 – Silver City Hway southbound
This is all new territory for us and a pleasant trip, especially given the amount of recent rain/floods making everything so verdant!!! We noted the new water pipeline to supply Broken Hill and nearby communities from the Murray River somewhere near Wentworth. The Anabranches of the Darling River south of the Menindee Lakes system were also full.
Stayed at Wentworth and enjoyed the river side walk into town, checked out the local night markets and entertainment and grabbed some very tasty fish and chips to eat on the river bank.
Day 13 – Wentworth, Mildura
Checked out the junction of the Darling and Murray and were fascinated both by the waters and by a very determined water rat crossing the Darling in flood to reach the land spit between the two rivers!
From there we went to Mildura where we happened to arrive in time to watch a lock in operation moving a house boat from high to low sections of the river. Pretty cool.
Next few days heading home
Meandered back through Balranald, Hay, Narrandera, learning along the way that most accommodation was booked out due to filming of segments of Mad Max 2 throughout the area. Ditto in Broken Hill.
Highlight for me was learning that near Junee , the northbound XPT and other trains have to complete a spiral track to cope with the ascending gradient. Only one of two in Australia! We travelled on such a structure in NZ travelling north to Auckland from Wellington – marvellous bit of engineering!
Quite a few kilometres, so many new to us roads traversed, some big ticks on the bucket list, great good luck in timing with respect to briefly open roads!!!! And some major discussions coming up re appropriate vehicle(s) with which to reach other more remote bucket list areas while we still can🤔🤔 … watch this space…
Ps no photos in for the moment as I am completing this written blog a year after the event and have two more recent trips to write up before we take off on A Big Trip later in 2023. Will try to add pics at some stage (so many to sift through!!)
What with trying to schedule Covid and flu vaccinations, and avoid Covid areas, state borders, mouse plague areas, road closures due to long term flooding out west, school holidays, etc etc, we decided the best bet for a short trip was to head up the North Coast- after all it is decades since we have been up, or indeed down, that way!
We worked out we could do two weeks, firstly going from Orange to Yass for the first birthday party of youngest grandchild, then driving to Central Coast to see next two youngest grandkids, then moving on and hopefully catching up with various friends along the way. To complicate plotting a bit further, we decided to take the dog as well because the mice plague had eaten the insulation of her usual boarding kennels near Dubbo, so we had to find dog friendly caravan parks ( which is getting easier).
Days 1and 2
First night at Yass the temperature dropped to -4.7 feels like -8. The dog and we all piled on extra clothes and layers – the bus held 7degrees which meant recently made new curtains worked! So did the diesel heater!! The party was fun as was hanging out with the family.
Days 3 and 4
It takes a while to drive from Yass to Toowoon Bay when travelling at 85 to 90kph! We did arrive in time to park the bus, unhitch the Jimny and make it in time for dinner and interaction with the family which was lovely.
The following day we had a slow start then took the Jimny up to Newcastle to check out the foreshore area and Nobby’s. We enjoyed watching the working port, with tug boats guiding cargo ships out of the harbour, bringing others in from quite some way offshore, with the pilot boat and choppers all working together. Found fish and chips to munch nearby to watch it all happening too.
Checked out the enormous Newcastle Ocean Baths and the facade which is being restored. Wandered some of the nearby streets admiring the heritage buildings which are in good nick. We were amazed by the transformation of the city, station area and foreshore. And then cruised around some old haunts. A most enjoyable day.
Days 5 and 6
Headed to Hallidays Pt (Tallwoods) for two nights.
On the way there we stopped at Heatherbrae pies for their classic pies which we took to Raymond Terrace (by a circuitous route) and didn’t find the park I was looking for. We found another and were somewhat overwhelmed by all the mowing going on plus the frequent flyovers of military planes from the nearby Williamtown airbase- that would take some getting use to. Still, we are grateful for the training going on.
Goodness, the changes to the M1 make the trip north almost boring! No Bulahdelah Mountain to negotiate, very few real hills at all, and pretty solid walls of trees on both sides give little clue as to where you are. Still, safer for all I guess.
The next day we drove the 3 kms to Black Head which is a pleasant little village with lovely beach, good amenities and shops and according to locals, plenty to be involved with.
Then drove 20odd km to Tuncurry and Forster. We wandered along the northern break wall, meeting three lots of folks with connections to Orange and a woman from Oberon! It was starting to snow in both places but clear and bright and distinctly fresh at Tuncurry too. We meet all these folks because of the dog whose unusual breed attracts attention (check out GBGV dogs). The dolphins were playing and fishing on the outgoing tide at the entrance.
Days 7 and 8
With a very cold weather system over SE Australia causing heavy snow in Orange, on the Mid-North Coast we actually found ourselves glad of the down coats we had packed. We also felt a bit miffed that we had missed the heavy stuff again- last time was in August 2015 and we were in Darwin melting – considerate neighbours sent us photos on both occasions.
We turned off the M1 toward Camden Haven to drive through to Port Macquarie via Laurieton, North Haven, Bonnie Hills etc. The areas along the Camden Haven River suffered badly in the floods this year. The villages closer to Port, have/are expanding alarmingly with retirement villages “for the not so retiring” being created side by side and some general estates as well. Some of them do resonate with the old song “little boxes … all made of ticky tacky,… “ and their views appear to be obscured by more little boxes….. However the Port Macquarie area is renown for its generally mild climate (not today though – it is chilly).
Port Macquarie itself did not seem to have changed as much we were expecting. Certainly more high risers close to town centre, but not too scary.
From there it was straight through to Urunga for two nights.
The next day was glorious. First stop was Urunga Boardwalk which friends had recommended. It is about a kilometre from the shore over mudflats, sandbars, through mangroves and out to the beach at the pretty dangerous bar at the entrance to the Kalang River. We saw stingray, mullet, shoal of bream, crab holes, etc. A bit narrow when passing others, but an easy and interesting stroll. The additional wetlands section was closed at the time. On the beach at the end was a large amount of driftwood which had apparently been dumped by the huge waves a week or so ago.
In the afternoon we headed UP to Dorrigo on the Waterfall Way. There is still considerable roadwork going on after all the land slips caused by torrential rain. It is amazing how it doesn’t slip more what with the general topography, so many waterfalls going under the road, the rain this year and the amount of traffic going through.
The farming land and the rainforest all appeared very lush and subtropical. And oh so green. Driving up, up and up I did wonder if there was anywhere to actually see the terrain? There is! Just as you reach the top with signs about resorts etc, there is a drab brown sign on the left pointing to Griffiths Dorrigo Mountain Lookout 4 km (or something like that). Follow the signs – the views and serenity are truly inspiring.
Popped around to Dangar Falls which can be viewed from a very stylish viewing platform by the car park, with a dog in tow! The steps to the bottom of the falls were closed – phew! It is a long way back up! We couldn’t take the dog to the NP and it’s info centre which I believe is very worthwhile. GBGV magic added at least another half hour to that visit too, and slowed down our stroll around Dorrigo shops.
The drive down was less hard work and I had time to notice that Lowline Angus and Charolais seem to be the cattle of choice in the area. A relatively short drive from Belligen (with its wide range of architectural designs and funky shops) to North Boambee (just south of Coffs Harbour) commercial centre provided us with assorted spares and repair kit items, then back to CP at Urunga.
Days 9 and 10
Only 159 km to go today, to Woomba near Iluka, just over 2 hours according to Google maps. A few detours fixed that!
First detour arose from my reading the map a bit late and instructing to go east at the next roundabout. Turns out we were already at Sapphire Beach area – turned out OK. We found a wetland walk in the middle of this pretty new looking suburb. There were kangaroos so the dog was happy. The gardens were all well established so we were envious – must be something to do with frequent rain….
Tootling along we saw few banana plantations, but many large blueberry orchards(?). Angus and Charolais cattle and some probably dairy breeds were grazing happily.
Second detour came when Corindi , just before the M1 turns inland for a while toward Grafton, the lunch spot we had chosen, turned out to be a bit ho him so we headed instead into Red Rock because it looked might we be able to fit somewhere near a beach or lake. It was lovely, a typical small beach side village, calm river/lagoon for canoeing or whatever, no roaring traffic noise and only about 4 lots wanting to ask about the dog.
Third detour came shortly after realising the new road bypassed Grafton, and a sign popped up saying “Ulmara historic 1860 river port”, and by the time I sorted out where etc, I gave about 250m notice to take the next exit Now! Lovely Big River Drive led from South Grafton (sugar cane plantations started just beyond) to Ulmarra which had some lovely old buildings but no obvious sign of port (I was imagining something like on the Darling, but this is a very different river – wide, full, flat country). The Clarence River was initially justifiably called Big River, hence the road name.
We first noticed sugar cane near Grafton. It increased in area under cultivation as we moved toward Maclean.
We continued along the massive Clarence River and the lesser South Arm to Maclean where the two join and then are joined by the North Arm and then it all seems to turn into a delta with large islands separated by channels and joined by assorted bridges. Maclean is surrounded by tall levee banks, and its light poles are wrapped in assorted tartans, not just Maclean.
Bimbimbi CP at Woomba has the most beautiful views, and the Milky Way is indeed milky from here! The store also makes pizzas to order – yum!
Woomba is on the Iluka side of the Clarence River mouth so we visited Iluka in the morning. Quietly busy village, beside a lagoon created by a rock wall. The original town(s) was covered several times by sand as tide, wind and time moved the river around, but as people do, by the introduction of Bitou Bush, marram grass etc plus the construction of rock break walls over the past hundred plus years the shape has been stabilised.
We enjoyed strolling along the path and beach and the dog actually tracked down and gobbled some periwinkles. I tracked down the fish co-op and we all gobbled fish and chips, while watching some seagulls engage in raucous squabbles over territorial rights to an apparently valuable few square metres of bay.
In the afternoon we drove back along Iluka Rd, down the highway over several bridges and islands and onto Yamba Rd to check out, you guessed it, Yamba. Much bigger town, with an impressive industrial area to boot. Much to the dog’s dismay, there was even a 24/7 accessible K9000 DIY dog wash set up there – definitely worth the $10. They even have a dog treats vending machine there!
Suitably treated, we drove through town to the headland and break wall walking paths to further air dry pooch and check out the beaches and the river bar. It was a totally calm sea, full low of the tide, and the bar looked quite benign. It must be ferocious in other conditions with the massive volumes of water moving in and/or out of the river!! such a picturesque area! So glad to visit, albeit briefly. I think it would be over 45 years since I visited a National park beach near here, but I don’t remember dropping into town then.
Tomorrow we head south again, catching up with some friends as we go and maybe detouring into some localities we missed on the way up.
Days 11 and 12
Slow start and basically returned to Coffs Harbour area. It is a considerable regional city with a population of over 78,000. Consequently it has most of the big retail outlets, numerous shopping precincts, excellent medical services, a range of educational services, situated on the coast, direct flights to Sydney and probably Brisbane, and lovely hinterland too. It does receive a lot of rain but can also experience droughts. It has almost twice the population of Orange and much more shopping opportunities but is also busier, much more humid and further by road to Sydney (if you wanted to go there). Both cities are expanding rapidly.
Our friends live “just down the highway” at Toormina near Sawtell, which area has grown heaps since our last visit and I can certainly see why they are so happy to have relocated here. We are happy to visit but we prefer the four seasons, the lower humidity, the big sky, the sense of space, and the slower pace. Even if the plants are not so luxurious!
We stayed overnight at the Bellinger River Tourist Park at Repton – a small, well appointed caravan park, right on the river. The amenities block consisted of 10 large ensuite bathrooms which would enhance many homes. Sites are generous and we highly recommend it.
Next day we intended to pop into Nambucca Heads – but a series of wrong turns and tight spots to negotiate, together with a growing case of the hangries and the lure of a recommended cafe in South West Rocks saw us abandon that plan and move on.
We hadn’t been to SWR for decades and only remembered a so-so caravan park and a beach nearby with slow deep waves which I had shared with manta rays – an experience to remember but not likely to be repeated! The approach we came in on showcased a sizeable town with an industrial area, and a foreshore that is delightful – lovely park areas, walking tracks and a shopping and cafe precinct that is very attractive.
We had been recommended the Malt and Honey cafe, but by time we arrived we were in the mood for seafood rather than healthy stylish fare so settled for a $21 seafood basket to share from the South West Rocks Seafood shop down the hill – perfectly cooked Hoki, bug, etc plus coleslaw and green salad and chips – we couldn’t quite finish between us ( dog helped out and we still didn’t finish it!) Excellent!!
We explored further around the area on foot and enjoyed the vibe there. A bit more spacious, open and relaxed, especially compared to the wrong bits of very hilly Nambucca ( we should give that another chance sometime when I am not hungry).
Final destination for today is North Haven. We stayed here decades ago too. Now as then, the atmosphere here is happy, the visitors and locals we passed or met on the break wall walk were all happy – I believe it is due to the influence of Middle Brother mountain close by. Something to do with the volcanic rock I reckon – it gets me every time and is part of the reason we moved to Orange with its Mount Canobolas.
There were dolphins in the river, including one with a damaged dorsal fin. The locals were excited to have their recognisable pod back – they had only returned in the last couple of days having been driven away by the severe flooding a few months ago.
Days 13, 14 and 15
After strolling and driving around the Camden Haven area in the morning, we headed south to Blacksmiths, south of Newcastle, and across the entrance to Lake Macquarie from Swansea.
Next day drove back to Newcastle to visit uni friend and her husband, which was lovely.
Final day of trip was a bit of a push to go around Sydney via North Connex tunnel (so good compared to Pennant Hills Rd!!), M2, M7, over the Blue Mountains and back to Orange, at bus speed, before 4pm. Almost the winter solstice, max temp over the mountains just 6.5, light mist keeping the road damp and we wanted to be home before temp dropped to 3 degrees and risk of ice on the road increased. Stopped at Glenbrook to raid Con’s Deli, and at Bathurst to munch more of the goodies we had bought at Con’s. Closer to Orange we noticed a lot of branches and some trees down from snow damage. Made it by 3.45pm!
Despite the cold snap, our house was still 10 degrees, and although we did have some snow damage to our garden, it should recover in time.
A pleasant short trip down memory lane and a new highway which bypassed some other memories! All in all, good to have gone, pity we missed the big snow event, good to catch up with family and friends in person, nice to be back!
PS sorry about scarcity of photos- some days I can add them, other days I just don’t get it right🤔
Mid- July 2020, NSW has “only” moderate outbreaks in Sydney, Qld border is currently open, the Jimny is back from a 6-month stint at the repairer’s waiting for parts for its non-standard engine rebuild, the Coaster is sporting newly tinted windows and a new diesel cabin heater and reorganised under-bed storage (we have been busy), new grandson is doing well, so we have decided to go for a run and see what is possible, within the rules of course.
( I will start publishing without photos for simplicity and dress it up later)
Day 1
We headed out through the Southern Slopes of NSW which we have never seen so green! After such a devastating drought it must be a relief to farmers to see crops sprouting, lambs popping up everywhere ( including triplets!), and not having to buy in so much feed.
We stayed at Temora which is a vibrant town, with an airport, training facility and a fascinating Aviation Museum of WWII and earlier planes, which in non-Covid years are flown several times a year at fly days – well worth the trip for one of their weekends.
Day 2
The next day we were heading for Bourke but strong winds made travelling unpleasant so we pulled into Lake Cargellico which is considered the centre of NSW. What a lovely spot! My Dad had been a commercial traveller for a toy company back in the day (50s and 60s) and always spoke fondly of both Temora and Lake Cargellico- now I understand why! The Lake has been there for thousands of years as an important water source and meeting place. It is close to the Lachlan River and now is supplemented by canals leading from and to that river. The River is running well.
Day 3
One aim of this trip is to visit unfamiliar territory, so we worked our way across to the Kidman Way which starts just west of Lake Cargellico at Hillston and runs up to Bourke. I think we were expecting Plains, instead on the way to Cobar we found a lot of wooded small ranges and very pretty country – I doubt the drovers of yesteryear after which the Way was named would have thought likewise: plenty for cattle to eat alright, but lots of scrub to disappear into!
Plains up through Cobar to Bourke were relatively pretty green too and the Darling River also running well (to the untrained eye anyway). There is a lot of free water lying alongside the road edges and in depressions in the paddocks!We stayed in the Mitchell Caravan Park in town which was very pleasant, not cramped and clean. The other CP is well out of town on north side.
Day 4 (and 5-7 too) – Cunnamulla
With our Qld border entry pass at the ready, we headed for the border at Barrigun. Not too many places to stop for a cuppa, we were through Engonnia before we had time to stop, and before we knew it we were closing on the border and being overtaken by two Victorian cars in a hurry along the way. We saw one car heading back before we got there, and found the other one being grilled and turned around when we did arrive. Our papers and travel log were acceptable to the very friendly Qld policeman and we were sent on our way with sensible advice.
At Cunnumulla we noticed a sign to the Warrego Retreat Tourist Park, locates 3km out of town, right on the Warrego River, above the weir. It was delightful and we ended up staying there for 4 nights! Enjoyed some country music around the campfire, suitably socially distanced, on two of the afternoons. Highly recommend the Artesian Time Tunnel at the visitor’s Centre. There are several cafes and bakeries in town, historical and nature walks, to potter around. Very restorative stay.
Day 8
After much consulting of maps, synoptic weather charts, forecasts and discussion, we decided against doing the Natural Science Loop in its entirety this time, but to head for Quilpie via Yowah. There was a large rain system expected in 4-days and with the amount of free water already lying around, the softness of the road edges and our recollection of the narrow one vehicle width development roads, we decided that as Winton was a main aim we needed to be off development roads beforehand.
The short cut to Quilpie is pretty narrow, with lots of causeways, floodways, cattle grids to keep you awake. Travel west toward Thargomindah but at Eulo, turn north toward Quilpie. Eulo has a brass model of the Diprotodon fossil found there, and several boulder opal miners and dealers, and a pub. Yowah is a 20km detour each way off that road (don’t try going there off the the Thargomindah role as it is closed to traffic due to long term flooding).
In this area is a super group of mud springs which over Millenia have formed mineralised mounds several metres high and many metres round. Younger ones are gelatinous and gloopy and trap critters, including dinosaurs in the day, and suck them in. Apparently they can also suddenly explode, with a report that can be heard for miles around. The sign said the one we visited was extinct – we survived.
Yowah is really for those into all things fossicking and/or hot springs. We aren’t at this stage, but we did happen to turn up in time for the one hour utetray market for miners, jewellers etc. Gorgeous stuff, but out of our price range after the Suzuki’s mega engine repair.
Day 9 – Eromanga
After a heavy day’s drive on the development road, We decided to stay 2 nights at Quilpie Channel Country CP, and drive out the 108km to Eromanga in the Suki for lunch and the Dinosaur exhibition tour there. The cafe at the motel does a really fresh ham and salad roll for $7 which is amazing considering the distances involved and pretty good coffee too.
The exhibition must be prebooked these days and the usual Covid rules are applied. They house the fossilised 90 million year old bones of the biggest dinosaur so far discovered in Australia. Very enthusiastic tour guide and we really enjoyed it. They also have bones (not actual fossils, sufficiently young to be able to extract at least partial DNA) of 45,000 year old megafauna, including the diprotodon at Eulo, and so have several lines of research going on there. There is a lodge for accomodation available too.
Eromanga claims to be the town furthest from an ocean or sea in Oz ( used to be on the edge of the Eromanga Sea 90million years ago), and is also part of the global seismic survey network. The area has gas and oil fields and Eromanga even has its own mini oil refinery.
Day 10
Headed toward Windorah on the Diamantina Development Road which is better than we remembered with many more almost two car wide sections. There were some scary sections on bridges, though. We were planning to camp there on the Coopers Crossing, but it was a bit crowded so we pushed on to a peaceful camp at Jundah.
The country is so green (relatively) compared to the distressing state when we came through in 2015. In fact we saw (often up close and rather too personal) many three-trailer double-decker road trains carrying droughtmaster cattle to restock the cattle stations after the severe droughts, devastating floods of 18 months ago that drowned some 600000 livestock and so much wildlife, followed by locust plagues! All day and night here in Winton, such trucks are pulling in for a break on their journeys.
Day 11
From Jundah first stop was Stonehenge – a tiny town we should have stopped at last time for fuel … but this time we were already topped up and just popped in. They have a new community centre that is a very attractive credit to them, and a neat little council caravan park that was filling fast. The pub tucker is recommended too it seems.
The road was full width for about half of the way to Longreach, but variable on the other bits. They are using what seems to be a rubber and bitumen mix which is rather “interesting” in its method of application and to drive on. (Saw something on TV later about recycled soft plastics and printer ink cartridges being used to make road surfacing – great idea but if this is what is being used, it does not work in the heat, slumpinsurface.)does not work really
We pulled into Longreach for fuel but were determined to avoid the crowds there. We had planned to free camp on the way to Winton, but as it was “ only” another 174km and the main Landsborough Highway is sooo easy to drive on, we pushed through to Winton, scoring the last spot in the Matilda CP and town! We booked in for 3 nights as there are things to see, sourdough to be baked and decisions about whether to run back to NSW or make the most of being here, given Qld has just announced closing the NSW border completely again.
Days 11 and 12 -Winton
The weather system came through Winton as strong dusty winds all day so we were glad to be able to hunker down. Visited the rebuilt Waltzing Matilda Centre which is most impressive. Large focus on the song and its history but also hi tech displays about other aspects of all things Winton. Their museum was saved from the massive fire of 2015 and so is still intact.
The second day here we took the 3- hour tour of Age of Dinosaurs exhibition – laboratory, collection and the new Dinosaur Canyon display which is excellent. Cleverly built into the canyons forming on the sides of the jump-up in which it is located. Looking forward to returning in non-Covid times when tours will be more relaxed!
The view from the top of the jump up is spectacular- flat but dotted with bluish hued jump ups with their red cap rock, and the plains a sea of golden Mitchell Grass and sea of soft peachy hued grasses as well. Small shrubs grow around soaks (gilgii). It is so captivating!
Day 13
A pleasant drive from Winton along the highwayto Kynuna and then north to Julia Creek. The soil appears to be black soil plains. It is easy to imagine how so many hundreds of thousands of cattle and native animals perished in floods last year – total quagmire! Such soils killed dinosaurs and critters before and since- including motor vehicles.
Interesting fact we learned from dinosaur exhibits – black soil is notoriously sticky when wet, dries and cracks down to two meters depth, things fall down the cracks in the dry, fertilising and mulching the soil, and when the rain eventually come again, the whole lots starts filling up from the cracks in, and the pressure is so great, that soil will break off rocks (or indeed fossils protruding from the next soil layer down) and as it churns itself slowly, eventually bring fossils (or fragments of) to the surface. Wow!
Julia Creek is a neat little town with a very good CP with funky bathtub sunset viewing platform and a multi-award winning multimedia visitor info centre. It also houses a nocturnal house for Julia Creek Dunnarts – little marsupials that live in the black soil cracks when it is dry and in the grasses and scrub when the rains come. Seriously cute too.
Forgot to mention birds seen along the way so far
Ok, on the Southern Slopes of NSW White Winged Choughs prevail – medium happy family birds, although we spotted our first family of Apostle Birds/ Happy Jacks 15KM east of Temora. The usual suspects of galahs, crows, willy wagtails and peewees out there too.
Along the Kidman Way we spotted some Blue Bonnet parrots, small flocks of Budgerigars, a large flock of cockatiels, plus the usual suspects but a conspicuous absence of corella. In the Bourke caravan park I found a very large pigeon shaped bird, making a loud booming slow pigeon like sound, BLACK head, white breast, black tail and wings – I can’t find it in my bird book and twitchers I have spoken to since and showed the photograph say it doesn’t/shouldn’t exist…..
At Cunnamulla Spotted bower birds were hard at work, nicking shiny things to decorate their bowers in the caravan park, and the wrens and willy wagtails definitely thought there was a touch of spring in the air.
Moving northwestward through Queensland, the choughs have become few and far between while the Apostle Birds are common – they are such happy characters and sooo pretty in a muted greys browns greens and touches of iridescent sort of way – they approach quite close to see.
Kites overtake crows in numbers, and are so agile and fascinating with their very twisty triangle shaped tails driving most of the acrobatics – they are quick to leave roadkill, unlike wedgetail eagles who are less able to make a quick getaway, unfortunately in many cases.
An aside: We have noticed over years that most birds can evade a vehicle travelling at say 85kph, but vehicles travelling at 100 are more likely to collect. Friends who travel at night have noticed the same with kangaroos.
Queensland also has lots of brolgas but I have not managed to photograph any driving along – they are so slender and grey that we haven’t noticed them until we are passing by. They occur in couple or families- saw 6 in a group today. They forage for tubers etc in the ground using their long strong beaks.
Our favourite bird so far this trip is the Spinifex Pigeon which we came across on top of the jump up at Age of Dinosaurs. They are exquisitely patterned , plucky, sociable small pigeons that live on the hard rocks and spikey spinifex areas across the country but we have not previously encountered them.
Days 14 and 15 – Wills Development Rd
Travelling from Julia Creek via Wills Development Road to Burke and Wills Junction Road House (junction with Burke DR). Pretty standard outback RH, daggy, gravel (can’t grow grass), heavy rigs pulling in and out all times of day and night for compulsory breaks, reasonable tucker, adequate facilities. The night sky was stunning – milkiest Milky Way! Southern Delta Aquarids meteor shower still putting on a display ( that one goes for nearly two months from early July to late August).
Lots of healthy looking cattle and country through this Gulf Country and quite a few weaners looking a bit confused having just been dropped off to their new homes with no cows around to guide them. The smell of food and water should sort them out soon.
Easy drive next day on nearly all sealed and lined marked!!! Road to Gregory Downs Pub where we are leaving the Coaster bus and bouncing off the next day to Adels Grove to visit Boodjamulla (Lawn Hill) NP for 4 nights. We will be staying in an en-suite donga with aircon which is lucky because some 35degree days coming up. Some repacking tonight to fit in to the Jimny what we will need and pack it securely because the road is pretty bouncy it seems.
Days 16 to 18 – Adels Grove and Boodjamulla
Second aim of trip achieved: we made it to Adels Grove and Boudjamulla (Lawn Hill) NP.
It is warm! 35 degrees in the afternoons, but along the river and and in shade of the grove and the dining/bar area is pleasant. Our room’s aircon is good, and once they made massive repairs to the water system, the en-suite was back on line. The extremely high calcium content of the water here causes massive scaling which quickly blocks pipes – a major system update almost completed.
It has been tricky (especially until water was restored) for us self sufficient types to adapt to all the extra costs of meals etc, not to mention room tariffs! But then again the costs of repairs and modifications to the bus are at times large, so I guess it all works out. The Jimny has enjoyed the running around here.
We have taken the Creek cruise at Adels Grove and the Middle Gorge cruise at Boodjamulla- both worthwhile, enjoyable and informative. I wondered whether we may have been “Gorge-ed out” but this is quite a different system from anything we have seen elsewhere.
Lawn Creek River is fed to a small degree by rain, which can be torrential and floods mightily, but mostly it is fed continuously by a spring from the Georgentina Aquifer, which spreads west of here on the Barkly Tableland. That is a much shallower basin than the Great Artesian Basin and the water surfaces at a mere 28 degrees at the Upper Gorge. The Middle Gorge is cut off by tufa , a rock formed by calcium leaching from the surrounding limestone as the water percolates up, then calcite coming out of solution, forming a scum on the surface of the creek water, and which eventually becomes so dense that it sinks to the bottom, coating everything and in places building up rock ledges (or blocking water pipes). When the breeze blows the calcite raft aside, the water is very clear!
Apparently the Gorge was formed by the springs from the bottom up, rather than the usual water wearing the rocks away from the top down. It is a maximum of about 27m deep, av 6m, while walls vary about the same. When we dabbled our feet in near a bank, the bottom was very soft silt which just kept going down – we didn’t wade in!
As the temperature here reached 35 each day, we opted not to do the longer walks, often through the more exposed, much drier and hotter environments more than about 30 m from the creek, but rather the shorter, shady creek-side walks. On one we took advantage of some steps leading down to a small platform by the river at which we stayed for an hour or so, dangling our feet among the tiny baby fish, and munching lunch. During that time we were visited by Archer fish (not squirting us or bugs), Long Toms, a small barramundi who wandered in to hang out under a nearby palm frond, all the others on the chart and, best of all, a Lawn Hill Creek Snapping Turtle which have only fairly recently been noticed here and previously only in the fossil record found at Riversleigh! It is a yellowy rough shelled critter with a short neck, chunky head (not nasty looking like the American ones), and about the size of a dinner plate. just pottered around, dawdled upstream a bit, wandered back down, and then pottered off downstream – yay!! In the meantime some tree creeper birds put on a noisy display of foraging under the bark of nearby trees. So sitting quietly in the cool yielded great rewards! PS No freshwater crocs dropped into our hangout, but we saw some on each of our boat trips.
Days 19 and 20
We were to spend another night at Adels Grove, but after taking the Nature Walk there along some quiet and delightful sections of the creek and having a rather cool dip, we decided we would rather forego the rest of the day there and return to Gregory Downs to rearrange the bus and Suki contents before heading to Burketown. The bus was still there with all it’s wheels which was good, it was about 60degrees inside but we got it down to liveable in a couple of hours with the help of a stiff breeze and 12v fans.
The drive to Burketown was very interesting. As more creeks and rivers started to merge on their way to the Gulf of Carpentaria, it was fascinating to see relatively dry paddocks intersected by well-wooded and indeed very tropical creek lines, with palms, tree ferns and tall trees. The bird life increased with more brolgas (or maybe Sarus Cranes which are fairly similar), and particularly, many more Wedge-tailed Eagles enjoying what we presumed must be juicier road kill😉.
We managed to pass the left turn to the Northern Territory, reckoning that getting through one border was enough! We arrived at Burketown around lunchtime and set up in the caravan park having decided that camping on the permitted spots along the Arthur River on country was a bit too close to crocodile habitat for me! With the heat and brisk breezes, we had all washing done in record time interspersed with a stroll to the visitor centre to sort of sort out our tours for Monday and ideas for Sunday. Good day!
Days 20 and 21 – Burketown
At the advice of the visitor centre, we went for a reccie in the morning to find the site on the truly enormous salty mudflats that was recommended to visit at dusk in order to set up for stargazing that night. In normal years the Yagurli Indigenous Stargazing tour would run, but it has been delayed by guess what, and they can only now get someone from far away to come through to recalibrate their telescope in a few weeks time.
Then we checked out the riverside where campsites had various levels of access to the river – less is good! Fishing would be tricky with the strong breezes! Also found the site of the Boilerworks from the late nineteenth century beef canning industry. Ingenious and fascinating components still intact. The Landsborough Tree where supplies were left for Burke and Wills has been burnt down, and we didn’t find that. Spotted more Brolgas and a Great White Egret out there and a pair of Lemon Tinted Honeyeater in CP.
Eventually we packed a picnic dinner and headed back out to the salt flats, deciding at the last minute that closer to town, near the cemetery would do just fine – as long as the cemetery didn’t do anything like glowing in the dark! A very demure but pleasing sunset happened while we ate dinner, and then we discovered the cemetery was glowing! Those solar powered colour changing garden lights had been installed!
Stargazing was pretty good – I guess the ones in the photographs are observed through telescopes and fancy cameras. The disappointing thing was the number of satellites we observed, and no doubt we missed many – it is getting like Pitt St up there! It turns out the most lingering thing I got from that day was many sandfly bites – groan…..
On Monday we met at the Visitor Information Centre to join a 4WD tag along cultural tour with Yagurli Tours. It included some town history, Indigenous history, information and examples on what impact cattle and road building have had on the land, introduced weeds, and quite a lot on how the indigenous groups from Karumba right around into the NT are cooperating to develop the area, for employment for their people, sharing their culture and experiences with tourist, rehabilitation of swathes of land and as rangers to tackle feral plant and animal species. Recently they spent a week or so removing “camel weed” from turtle hatchery beaches on the Gulf so that the females can access the beaches to lay, and the eggs and baby turtles aren’t prevented from hatching or accessing the water by those fast growing plants. We saw a flock of at least 100 brolgas circling. They are introducing hot air balloon tours with Balloons Aloft next year. Keep an eye on Yagurli Tours folks!
Days 22 to 25 – Cooktown here we come
Big decision today – decided we are going to Cooktown, via the Savannah Way. Our first sortie onto good gravel road. It was good – very recently graded, dry, very small corrugations and very shallow bull dust so no nasty surprises. The main surprise was how busy that road is – the most traffic we have seen on any road on our trip so far! Often we would encounter a total of three or four other vehicles in 200kms. There would have been 30 or 40 today between Burketown and Normanton – astounding. It is sealed from here on East, in the sealed single lane crown of the road only style last time we went through, so fingers crossed it has improved. The four lanes wide good gravel is at times easier than the development road style!
We noticed a great deal of camel weed as new plants and established trees growing along the road and in paddocks – the wild goats were enjoying it!
Also followed a flock of red tailed black cockatoos.
Normanton was marred by me having a huge reaction to midgie /sandfly bites received during the stargazing episode at Burketown most probably- off my tree really – enough said.
The drive to Georgetown was better than hoped with probably the fully sealed 2-lane wide sections adding up to about half the distance. I had noticed somewhere that the Gulflander Normanton to Croydon train runs on Wednesdays, arriving at Black Bull Siding at 11.15am – somewhere along the road I realised that we were in with a chance to meet it there! We passed it about 1 kilometre out and arrived at the siding to watch it approach and pull in! Timing! It is a plucky old bus converted to Rail motor, sometimes pulling carriages. Mostly it does the tourist run, but in times of flood, for many decades it has been the only way of taking supplies to flood- bound communities along the Savannah Way when roads become impassable and airports are under water for extended times.
After weeks of living at 50 to 100 metres above sea level, approaching Croydon we started going up, first to about 350 m at Croydon, then by Georgetown the hills were more folded and pushed up and the telltale signs of mineral deposits were evident. Stopped overnight there, foregoing the opportunity to revisit Terrestrial – one of the best mineral museums in the country!!
The next day was a gradual climb to Ravenshoe and then, still on the Savannah Way as it merged with the a Great Inland Way, we entered the realm of extinct volcanoes, deep valleys, very steep climbs and dense rainforest, complete with Cassowary and Tree Kangaroo ahead signs. We had made it to the Atherton Tablelands. The Coaster bus found it hard going up the very steep hills towing the Jimny and the transmission became rather hot.
The plan , as mentioned, was to push on the next day to Cooktown. However as we sat down in the shade at the CP, we realised it had already been a hard push what with three days of demanding driving conditions, not to mention the midgie/sandfly reaction and that a day of rest would be beneficial. So a washing, shopping, vegging day started but was marred by realising that the Jimny had an intermittent fault showing up. That required tracking down a code cracker device and some frustration. In the meantime neighbours in the CP and the woman at the Cooktown info centre suggested that not much was open in Cooktown so maybe next year would be a better time to visit.
Days 26 to 27 – around Atherton
Nett result was that we scrapped the Cooktown idea and pottered around within about 35 km of the CP in case we needed a tow, stopping frequently when the light came on to reset the system. Over these two days we crisscrossed around, visiting Yungaburra a couple of times for food, checking out the galleries (we bought a local artist’s print), wandering along the local stream and following a platypus as it foraged- they are small and elusive!
We also visited the Curtain Fig Tree and the Cathedral Fig Tree, Tinaroo Dam, Lake Barrine (one of many and varied crater lakes in the region), Malanda Falls, popped out to the Herberton historic village but it was so busy we decided to do that next time around along with the Bat Hospital and the myriad other things to do around Atherton. It really is time to start heading home!
Days 28 and 31 – Cane Cutters Way and Pacific Coast Way, heading generally south
Slow start today, with slight detour to Yungaburra to collect the picture and pies, then descending from the Tableland via Malanda and Milla Milla, were thwarted in our attempts to pull into more accessible waterfalls with the whole rig. Not far past a sign advising of recent cassowary sightings on the road, we spotted one!!! Happy day!!
We had realised earlier in the day we weren’t going to make much distance so booked ourselves into Paronella Park which is just off the mountains proper at Mena Creek. We wandered the Park ourselves in the afternoon, marvelling at the ingenuity, flair, whimsy, financial and architectural savvy of the original builders, and the guts and determination of the new owners who are restoring it, and making a destination that is rated no 1 in Qld categories and includes the nearby Mamu Tree Top Walk, the Mena Pub and free camping. Then we returned for the included evening tour – magical and the most beautiful string quartet music supporting the light show. Check it out if you are up there.
Both of these Ways are in sugar cane country, with its occasional mills, and thousands of miles of very narrow gauge train lines with little cane trains hauling from fields to factory. A busy area!
We last ventured this way six months after Cyclone Yasi. We had visited a still very devastated Cardwell which is where Highway A1 actually meets the sea and we wanted to check it out now. It looks like a travel brochure – quite lovely with Hinchinbrook Is just off shore. It also has a rebuilt jetty which we had to walk out on. As we were approaching it we heard a bit of a commotion – a four metre crocodile was lazing along just off it! No dipping my toes in that seawater, let alone in the sand!!!
The cane country continues right down to Bowen, interspersed with banana crops, mango plantations, pawpaws, and tomatoes around Bowen. Beef cattle are still prominent with mostly Brahman but more cross breeds starting to appear, like Brangus . The farming country is flat, with granite mountains and ranges rising sharply to about 700 m, including all the offshore islands in the Whitsundays.
We avoided the big towns, including taking the Townsville bypass, but that didn’t prevent us from seeing how major a centre Townsville is and with amazing road infrastructure to accomodate future massive growth. The highway south of there is also undergoing a seriously major upgrade. Ingham was worryingly quiet, while Ayr was bustling and totally full of vehicles and busy people. We did drop into Home Hill where my Mum lived for a few years as a child and found a house in the right street that I was happy to imagine was like one she may have enjoyed.
Stayed at a place called Hydeaway Bay, bit off the beaten track, but close to Proserpine – probably the poor man’s Airlie Beach. Tomorrow we head inland through Mackay to run south big time – still a looonnnggg way to home.
Hydeaway Bay is pretty nice, as is its neighbouring Dingo Beach – spent a while there enjoying the sights before working our way around Proserpine (which is having crocodile problems in the river) and then through the burgeoning and oh so busy Mackay which is also set to expand if the infrastructure is anything to go by – everything you could need there, just the odd cyclone from time to time to deal with. With road works, traffic and windy conditions, we only reached Nebo.
Day 32 – OMG – Bowen Basin, Peak Range NP, serious drought!
What a day – we thought we were leaving the winds on the coast, but they decided to pop over the range too😕
Nebo is a small town which turns out to be on the edge of the Bowen Basin – Australia’s largest deposit of bituminous coal – look it up, it is enormous! Explained the high number of mining related vehicles on the road, the vast mounds of overburden, extremely long trains carting coal, the number of signs to mine sites, several Civeo Villages to House upto 1200 mine workers each and the very young and vibrant town of Moranbah which contains everything families and workers could need – mind boggling! Regardless of where you stand on coal issues it was a real eye-opener to realise the vastness of this resource and the huge numbers of people whose livelihoods currently depend on the operations!
After lunch at Moranbah we continued toward Clermont. The terrain and vegetation suddenly changed to hilly and dry scrub which was about where I saw a sign about the Bowen Basin and looked it up – we had just driven out of it. The land flattened out again and then we became aware of many curious peaks in fascinating shapes protruding from the landscape. Looked granite-like but eroded more like limestone – what could they be. Helpful sign announced Peak Range NP ( we were on the Peak Downs Highway), so looked that up. They are the result of successive depositions of basalt and rhyolite/ trachyte intrusions 32 to 29 million years ago. Considering these things occur many hundreds of meters below the surface, that means an awful lot of erosion over the ensuing 29 million years to form the plains that the peaks now dominate – more mind boggling thoughts!
With the wind still strong and the roads now of lesser quality after leaving the mining area, we decided to take a pit stop at Clermont and go through to Capella to stay, rather than the half-planned Emerald or beyond. The countryside became progressively drier and it is obviously well into drought – by far the worst we have seen on this trip. We came across a large mob of Droughtmaster cattle grazing the long paddock- the strip of land between property fences and the road – with a temporary fence along kilometres of road. I am wondering if it is the same mob that was being driven slowly along the Warrego Highway for weeks when we were heading north. Watering them is another thing the drovers work out. With the wind now stronger and forecast to be stronger tomorrow it looks like we may need to take a lay day here….
Days 33 to 37 – Great Inland Way to NSW
The Great Inland Way runs from Sydney via Dubbo and Lightning Ridge in NSW to Hebel near the NSW border right through to Cooktown.!!! We joined it briefly approaching Atherton, and rejoined it turning south just before Clermont.
After a quiet day in Cappella we drove through the small city of Emerald which always appeals, and then onto Rolleston for the night. The area was all apparently in drought.
The following day took us through the Carnarvon Gorge region which was in much better condition. We didn’t venture in this time. Injune is a busy little transit village with a Spar supermarket, fuel, a verandahed modern coffee shop. Our destination was Roma which is another busy town. We got in fairly early and took the opportunity to wash 5 weeks of grime and roadkill off the vehicle – fortunately we had only hit one reptile, but sometimes you can’t avoid already dead Roos and things when a vehicle is approaching in the other lane😕.
Before leaving next morning we visited the Big Rig exhibition there to learn about gas and oil exploration, extraction of resources and the extent to which the products are used in most aspects of modern life, and the economics of it all. Mmmm. They also offered tours of Cubbie Station but I didn’t register that until we were passing their humongous dams and properties later.
The rest of the day was driving through Surat to St George (on the Balonne River) and on to Dirranbandi. The countryside is greener, winter dry but not serious drought. Sheep are starting to be grazed and cattle types are more the Brangus and eventually Angus style as conditions ease. A lot of grain crops were evident with irrigation and large storage dams from the Balonne, which flows into the Darling eventually. Dirranbandi is a village with a recommended bakery and CP so that will do for tonight.
The bakery at Dirranbandi, Qld is astonishing !! The Russian woman patisserie owner is so talented – Google it and plan a stop on your next trip out that way or add an extra day into your Lightning Ridge trip to visit!!!! The town’s evolving information and history display in the railway precinct is right up to date, incredibly informative about the local environment, economics, history etc.
We sailed through Hebel road block – the police only being interested in people coming to Qld from NSW. We were surprised by the number of NSW vehicles heading north toward it though – even checked the rules at that date (2 September 2020) in case we had missed some info – I guess they were turned around.
We dropped into a Lightning Ridge visitor centre and cruised through the town as a reccie for a trip there next year – lots to see and do and friends and others recommend at least three days there. We will be back – I was 14 on my last visit ( many decades ago). We stayed that night at Walgett’s Primitive Camp, which is provided free of charge and has police checking on it every few hours day and night – recommended.
There are several more areas with those enormous storage dams for agriculture- we are talking kilometres to a side here! How that can be fair to landholders further downstream is beyond me! The water debate rather seems stacked against the towns, pastoralists and smaller land holders.
Day 37 we drove to my cousin’s property/ies near Carinda. After the terrible drought they have been through it was wonderful to see how fantastically healthy and green the region looks, how full of water the Macquarie Marshes are and how the extended farming family are recovering from the enormous stress! They can smile again, are planning for the future but it will take a quite a while to knock back the increased debt from hand feeding, agistment, restocking, etc etc incurred through the drought. They are experimenting with silage storage to store extra stock feed to help through the next drought. However they point out that the Marshes are only full because rain fell on the right side of some of those huge storage dams and so was able to make its way to them rather than being pumped off to storage.
The rest of the trip was really about collecting the dog from boarding kennel and getting home. Fortunately all the areas of the Central West of NSW have had good rain and crops are in and flourishing, restocking is happening which all looks wonderful – but the ongoing toll of debt and stress from the drought will take some years to recover from. For now though, people are feeling more positive than they have in years – green does that to you😀
Now we have to readjust to living in Covid world, in a regional city, balancing the rules, getting re-involved with people and organisations, and trying not to get stresssed about it all again. The break was soo good – wide open spaces, no commitments, and social distancing just happened without trying to orchestrate it all. Ahhhh.
Noticing that we had about 10 days with no commitments showing on the calendar, and that son and his wife would be just home from an extended overseas trip, we hatched Plan A. That involved dropping in on them in Yass then heading down to Batemans Bay and turning left and or right to have a beach holiday with our dogs. Sounded good!
Then weather reports became more frequent and urgent re catastrophic fire conditions in Sydney and surrounds grading to extreme to severe in the areas we had in mind. Scratch Plan A, enter Plan B – head to Tumut after Yass and sit out the bad weather, checking out an area we had never stayed.
Day 1
Trip to Yass via Blaney, Cowra, Boorowa took us through reasonably OK country and into drought struck areas, no feed, no stock, no joy, then better bits but generally pretty grim outlook for Summer and for lamb chop availability.
Yass has a full dam, no water restrictions and a pleasant walk along the gorge there! Very nice to see family again too!
Day 2
Yass to Tumut gradually started to green up. First stop was the very pretty and decidedly green valley around Jugiong, with its lovely free camp (donation appreciated), and busy pub and cafe.
Travelling south on the Hume Highway we passed a convoy of Victorian fire trucks heading north for predicted dire fire events. Forgot to go into Gundagai for road to Tumut and ended up turning in via Adelong – stunningly pretty valley, lush paddocks, happy cattle – Angus and Herefords mainly so steaks situation looking Up!
On the way into Tumut I remembered that my sister’s nephew and family had/still lived in Tumut so set about tracking them down.
Tumut is a pretty, green, well maintained town of about 10,000 people. Well equipped with sporting and recreational facilities ( due in part to nephew’s endeavours on Council) but has no doctors at the hospital so it is a 3-hour round trip to Wagga Wagga for residents or ambulance patients. Nephew is paramedic as well so when the only ambulance has to head to Wagga with not too serious case, it is a long wait for serious event if neighbouring town ambulances are also in transit to Wagga! Signed the petition to encourage government to employ to doctors at the hospital there.
Loved the shady caravan park beside the Tumut River – so much water flowing as an environmental release from Blowering Dam was underway to send water to Griffith region on the Murrumbidgee.
Day 3
Visited Blowering Dam – trip down memory lane – my parents used to bring us down to see various stages of construction of the Snowy Mountains Scheme. Dad was a commercial traveller with a truck pulling a caravan full of drawers of toys and games to take orders from country toy stores – ahh the the good old days!
Even bought a millet broom from the Tumut Broom Factory – last of its kind in the country I believe, great broom!!
Nephew and family, including the 6 kids, popped around to visit us in the caravan park – fun catching up and meeting the youngest one for the first time😀. We can fit 10 people in the coaster bus on a cool evening for sourdough fruit toast!
Day4
Fire danger on the South Coast was greatly reduced, but gale force winds were predicted so went to Plan C – toddle down to Bright and Beechworth areas in Victoria, because (a) they were not far away, (b) they are actually in low to moderate fire rating, rather than severe to catastrophic state they have been in far too often, and (c) we have been wanting to return there for about 25 years since mother-in-law destroyed our historical findings about her Beechworth relatives! She thought they were landed gentry, but in fact they were sympathisers of the Kelly Gang and lived in a shack on someone else’s property! Oh dear!
So day 4 involved an incredibly scenic drive – as in lots of up, down and windy roads and some of the prettiest country we have seen in Australia. Really! Batlow area is simply gorgeous in a good Spring, a lot of the properties have “Springs” in their names due to a high level aquifer which explains a lot! The Batlow Bakery delivered the goods!
Beyond Batlow the road marking became vibrant yellow gold, due to altitude and likely ice and snow conditions but we felt happy, because all New South Wales road markings used to be yellow – they are so much more resilient and visible than white!! Still lovely country through to Tumbarumba. Another pretty town with great facilities- especially a “pump park” for scooters, bikes etc, in addition to an awesome huge spiral skate park!
Next destination sign said Jingellic. Never been there but I recalled it was the site of one of Dad’s more memorable events where his caravan half fell off the bridge, just near the pub, when he was taking a “short cut” to Albury. The locals were most helpful at that time. So we headed there and found a delightful free camp right on the Upper Murray – which is happy and flowing well due to recent snow melt but apparently does have some carp in it now.
Day 5
The following morning I had the bright idea to check out what was on for the weekend in Bright, Beechworth and Yackandandah – absolutely heaps!!!! Fortunately I was able to book three nights in the caravan park in Yackandandah, and even it is full as a goog!
The drive along the Victorian side of the Upper Murray was again very windy with a fair bit of up and down and a lot of green with happy livestock. Gorgeous scenery!
As we neared the area of the Hume Dam, the countryside was looking drier, and tree skeletons became more evident. Realised the level of the Dam is well down as quite large trees exposed, not to mention tops of usually submerged hills.
No wonder there are problems on the other side of the weir such as we saw at Echuca and of course features a lot in the press.
Day 6
We spent the whole next day just pottering around Yackandandah – roaming the pleasant streets, checking out the antique shops (scored two date loaf tins, yay!), and savouring the pies and cakes at the Gum Tree cafe – so good!! Fortunately we had been allocated a spacious fairly private site so the dogs and we could relax at the camp site, and enormous well appointed shower cubicles are among the best we have encountered anywhere! We are so glad Yackandandah was able to lift itself up by its boot laces and recover – look up ABC’s Backroad program on same.
Day 7
Saturday we headed to Bright. It is indeed! Glorious tree colours (shades of greens being Spring), happy markets, packed caravan parks, excellent kids park and river swimming at Centenary Park, vibrant and busy town centre and not what remembered from our last visit eons ago!
This weekend they were hosting a Spartan Triathlon; a 182km endurance run with about 11,000m each of up and down; a four day fully supported cycling event; etc! No wonder it and surrounding towns were chockers!
From there we headed back to Beechworth, the bush becoming drier, and signs of bush fires still apparent from previous bad years. We found where some ancestors had probably lived and houses of the sort they had described. Drove around, walked around the Dam and garden. Some lovely gardens there!
Then back to Yackandandah for a quiet dinner and decision to start heading home tomorrow. Briefly toyed with the idea of extending the trip to actually head to the coast as in Plan A, but figured it was a bit impractical at this stage.
Day 8
We thoroughly enjoyed the greenness, the flowing rivers, the oh so pretty valleys and hills and the quaint bits of the historical towns and their development too. However, once we got onto straighter roads and bigger skies, we decided we would go for it, so from Yackandandah to Orange in one day – long hours of daylight do help.
Trip was via a rapidly expanding Wodonga/Albury, then the Culcairn and burgeoning Wagga Wagga, then onto Junee – a very pleasant looking town!
The countryside still looking pretty good although drought affected. Grain being harvested, many thousands of bales of hay being made, livestock munching the residual stalks and greener stuff too.
Cootamundra is more in drought. Next stop Young to buy some cherries, with harvest well under way and heaps more to come it seems. The Olympic Way continues onto Cowra and on that approach the country was highly variable but looked a bit better than coming from the north. After a play in the dog park and dinner in the bus we turned onto Mid Western Highway for final leg home via Blaney. A very pleasant day’s drive, with mild temps and wind playing nicely, mostly.
Having kept tabs on the progress of the destructive floods in Far North Queensland early in 2019 and the resultant inflows to Kati Thanda, we figured this would be the year to visit and tick a bucket list dream. Took a while to get organised, including fixing solar panel array more securely on roof of the gold bus. So we made the run in mid July, towards end of school hols.
After leaving the pooches at Dubbo kennels our first stop was at Rock Wall caravan park at Narromine. Delightful and highly recommended! Even ran into the friends we seem to run into in the most unexpected places! This time we thought they were in Port Macquarie.
The land west of Nyngan was extremely parched and drought-struck.
West of Cobar and most of the way to Broken Hill was deceptively green. The area is in a green drought – soil moisture is very low to very deep down, but after heavy rains a couple of months ago and then a couple of mm a couple of weeks back, every seed/burr/ “weed” has sprouted to give a green surface effect, and the promise of a bumper crop of more nasty burrs to come.
Next stop Wilcannia- sadly the town was facing a down turn, not helped by the extended severe drought in the area.
Broken Hill and the most pleasant Starview Primitive Camp Ground gave us easy access to nearby Sculptures, the very dry Flora and Fauna Reserve, and some Starviewing seats on a relatively mild night.
Orroroo for two nights to bake bread and escape driving in very strong winds. The washing dried in record time! Pretty town in green hills of southern Flinders Ranges.
Flinders Ranges
Stopped for lunch in Hawker and visited the highly acclaimed Jeff Morgan Gallery – magnificent, huge panoramas of sections of the Ranges, Wilpena Pound etc- all painted in the most exquisite detail. He is a National Living Treasure and is among an elite group of panorama painters in the world. He also has a very good collection of minerals and crystals. We felt it well worth the $10 entry fee to exhibit!
Decided to camp at the Rawnsley Park Station Campground which is highly rated, and just outside the Wilpena Pound. Great choice- stunning views of Rawnsley Bluff, excellent facilities, bore water is sweet. They provided maps etc and suggested itineraries for the area.
That afternoon we took the Suzuki up Pugilist Hill – wind was sooo strong we could hardly hold our position standing, and a very steep approach – Suki loved it!
Second day I had great plans, but he thought I was optimistic – he was right again! So we drove the 20km to Wilpena Pound for NP Pass and took the “2.5-3 hour” 7.5km return walk to the closest easiest walk to the Pound (no vehicle access). Like nearly everyone else on the day, it turned into more of a 4 -4.5 hour walk, with breaks, photo ops, breath catching on the final climb, etc. Stunning river gums along the creek bed, glowing cliffs beside, great info boards, calm, expansive views of the Pound – worth every minute. I actually didn’t complete the last 200m as my low blood pressure was becoming a nuisance, so I found a comfy rock on which to perch and enjoy that part of the great view. Perfect weather conditions with only light breezes! Happy days!
I still can’t understand how the Pound was formed- it is oval, the inside is 200 m higher than the surrounding plains, Continental crunching and geosynclines involved. This diagram helps a bit more:
After lunch and hitting the cafe at the visitor centre for dessert and coffee, we decided to drive (not walk!!) along the Moralana Gorge Rd 10km South of Rawnsley Park – a pleasant gravel drive through a property running parallel to edge of Wilpena Pound, and close to Elder Range, with views of Chace Range as well! Kangaroos, emus plentiful, river gums gorgeous, and only a couple of other vehicles in the hour or so.
The following day we packed up and back tracked to Hawker where we enjoyed sensational Kangaroo pies at the Flinders Cafe for morning tea, then headed North on The Outback Highway (really!) as far as Parachilna where we parked the bus in the campground of the Prairie Hotel, booked ourselves in for dinner, jumped in the Suzuki again and headed off on the outback track Parachilna-Blinman Rd.
That road goes through Parachilna Gorge and also follows the Heysen Trail beside part of the Heysen Range. The colours! Check out Hans Heysen artist – he got it right!
We wanted to see the gorge and also assess the road’s suitability for the bus’s first foray into gravel roads. Excellent creek camping available along the way and about halfway is the Angorichina Village CP with stunning views of the Heysen Range. At the eastern end is the tiny town of Blinman which prides itself on its pub, cafe with delicious cakes, etc, and historic underground copper mine tours. We were too late in the day to take the tour because we needed to get back across to Parachilna before roo time.
Dinner that night was excellent – we chose the famous and iconic Feral Mixed Grill. The Prairie Hotel is actually a famous foodie destination and boasts lots of celebrity visits, although I reckon most would fly in – look it up!
Kati Thanda here we come
Today’s drive completed The Outback Highway, the last section of which from Lyndhurst to Marree was sealed a few weeks earlier! Leigh Creek is an astoundingly neat, well serviced and thriving little town, originally established by the nearby and huge coal mine. Copley seems to have just a caravan park and busy mechanic at the end of the Track to Gammon Ranges and Arkaroola. Lyndhurst is a tiny dusty town at the end of the Strezlecki Track. Farina is a ghost town that is being restored and researched by a team of volunteers from all over the country it seems. Marree is a small town at the junction of the Birdsville and Oodnadatta Tracks and The Outback Highway and very close to Lake Eyre – Kati Thanda.
All of these towns once thrived because they were along the route of The Old Ghan railway. The remains of the track run alongside the road. Farina, as its names suggests, was set up by hopefuls as a wheat growing Centre. Most of their reasons to be have gone. Tourism rules. There are no shires/councils out here, not enough people, just a sign “Out of District”, near Parachilna.
Marree boasts a pub/flight booking office/ explorers museum/ Tom Kruse museum (the outback postie not the actor)/ meals, a general store/ PO/ fuel stop/ mechanic, remnants of the Old Ghan, couple of caravan parks, airfield and some homes, and an Aboriginal Area school. Oh, and Lake Eyre!
Our flight was 2 hours from 10am, in perfect conditions, in a 6 seater Cessna with wings over so excellent viewing, supplied by Wrightair. Excellent pilot too. Ticked all the bucket list wishes – water in parts of the Lakes, dry and sparkly salt in others and all the transitions in between. Flights of pelicans, heaps of ducks. Got to see the famed Warburton Groove, Warburton River, Goyder Channel, etc and get some perspective on the enormity of it all! Loved it!! We’ve seen the videos, but so good to see it up close and personal – most of the tour was flying at 500 feet and 160mph.
Had a brilliant burger at the pub , worth the $24! Then after a snooze, we hopped in the Suki again for a spin about 20km along the Oodnadatta Track, then rated at “open to all vehicles with caution” to decide whether to venture that way with bus. Close, but decided against it. Checked out the Birdsville Track “open to all vehicles ” for about 240 km. Very easy but nowhere we could proceed to, so a no for that one too.
We talked to many folk from the gung-ho to the very serious off-road brigade, tallied up the number of damaged tyres, and considered the bus’ dual rear tyres which if the wrong rock were to lodge itself between a set would shred both tyres. Mmmmm. Oh well this is to be a relatively short trip, so we’ll head back south and see where the roads lead us. So many options!!!!
On the way back to Hawker we stopped at the Ochre Cliffs 5km north of Lyndhurst. Stunning colours which have been mined and traded by Aboriginals for many thousands of years. Such deposits are found throughout the region, including in Parachilna Gorge.
Also drove the 11km on gravel road into Beltana, once the railhead for the region. At a mission hospital there, John Flynn was employed and was inspired to set up the Australian Inland Mission and forerunner of the Flying Doctor Service. Like Farina, there was also an underground bakery – makes sense given the weather conditions when you think about it. The once almost derelict town is now being maintained and restored by a group of passionate residents who are doing great work.
Although the bus managed that mildly corrugated track pretty well, cupboards held together and all that, we decided that we will better equip the Suki for one or two night jaunts into rougher terrain, leaving bus parked somewhere sensible, and get to optimise our assets and experiences😉!
Pulled into Hawker late in the day and decided a lay day or two was in order before planning the trip home.
Even bought a millet broom from the Tumut Broom Factory – last of its kind in the country I believe, great broom!!
I still can’t understand how the Pound was formed- it is oval, the inside is 200 m higher than the surrounding plains, Continental crunching and geosynclines involved. This diagram helps a bit more:
We wanted to see the gorge and also assess the road’s suitability for the bus’s first foray into gravel roads. Excellent creek camping available along the way and about halfway is the Angorichina Village CP with stunning views of the Heysen Range. At the eastern end is the tiny town of Blinman which prides itself on its pub, cafe with delicious cakes, etc, and historic underground copper mine tours. We were too late in the day to take the tour because we needed to get back across to Parachilna before roo time.
Although the bus managed that mildly corrugated track pretty well, cupboards held together and all that, we decided that we will better equip the Suki for one or two night jaunts into rougher terrain, leaving bus parked somewhere sensible, and get to optimise our assets and experiences😉!
Greywanderers2 