Western Queensland Adventure Day 9

 Day 9 Mt Wood Homestead to Innamincka

It was kind of a bit sad to pack up and leave the Homestead because after Innamincka we are going to be 6 nights bush camping with no showers and frankly, I”m not interested in that anymore! I am over the bush camping.

We set off for the Wild Deserts project - an area where they are trying to repopulate for the bilby’s by use of dog fence; dingo deterrent at the cattle grid (there’s a barking sound that plays every time you drive through it or anyone goes close to it); and just general revegetation. It was actually quite interesting reading the information panels there and Russell as usual did a bit of birding. However whilst we were there a caravan and car pulled up, and next minute there’s a large woman with her dog on a leash wandering around the display. This is illegal and particularly  annoying because even the scent of a dog will put off bilby’s from coming out of their burrows, so it completely defeats the purpose.

We then made our way to Cameron corner. All there is there is a pub, called “The Corner Store”, and a post marking the spot the 3 borders meet. The pub is again full of cute Australiana, but this time in the form of obscure baseball caps, and the usual misogynistic and alcohol referenced signs. There’s a clock with SA time, QLD time, NSW time and “Corner time” - which is set permanently at 5 o’clock (aka beer o’clock). After the obligatory photos and so on - yes I got one with a boob in each state - we had a spot of lunch.

Then in the afternoon we had a major adventure. We were in SA and driving along the highway which was quite corrugated, so everything was rattling and shaking. As I approached one of the mini hills, I went to change down a gear and boom! My gearstick came out! This was definitely not good. So I radioed on to Michael but he was out of range. We tried to contact Mike who was also out of range. Eventually though, as they were behind us, they caught us up and he hopped out to help.

Fortunately although it looked like I’d lost my gearbox, I hadn’t, and Mike was able to get it going. So we set off and that’s when we came across a funny scene - Michael, Karen and Tony all out of the Triton; Michael with arms flailing, red-faced and ranting; Karen lying in the dust underneath the Triton trying to jack the tyre up; and Tony, beer in hand, looking on for support. Yup, Michael had a flat!

His rant was that the jack was faulty and he was about to hoik it to kingdom come when Mike stopped him. The problem wasn’t the jack, it was that a plug or something hadn’t been put properly on, so no amount of winding and winching would move the tyre. With Mike to the rescue again, they soon had the tyre changed and we were back on the road.

By this point I was pretty much over this whole trip, with my gear stick now flailing quite loosely, but fortunately we made it over the ridiculous corrugating and on to the Strezlecki track, which surprisingly had graders on the road and beautiful new bitumen!. So we headed off to the Moomba viewing centre, which was really not all that exciting, just a view over the mining town.

Next was the Dillon Highway, which surprisingly was very good, and before too long we made it into Innamincka! Here we had the luxury of staying in the motel, because there was no way with this heat, flies and mozzies, were we staying in the free camp by the river. Michael had also seen the light about this and booked a room, but Mike and Cath stayed down by the river. Yay, we had showers!

Dinner that night in the pub would have to have been one of the best on the whole trip!

 

Western Queensland Adventure Day 6-8

Day 6 Currawinya NP to Mt Wood Homestead (Sturt NP)

Well we packed up camp and set off for the 400+ km drive via Hungerford. Filled up the petrol there and then opened the gate at the border to cross over to NSW (yes they had a bolted gate - the bloke told us in the border closures they had to padlock it shut as did loads of farmers along the border). Then headed off on the Hungerford - Wanaaring road. Lovely coffee and ice cream stop in Wanaaring where the shop keeper there was just covering for their friends who had gone for a weeks holiday - which necessitated them learning how to run the shop, the post office, the petrol bowser, the airport (for the flying doctor service - got to run up the runway and clear it off kangaroos when the plane comes in!). Wow.

Stopped on the side of the Cut Line for a break and a bit of lunch before heading into Tibooburra to stock up on supplies. Our waeco has completely packed it in so we are quite limited on what we can take - thus our planned menu has seriously had to change!

Heading off now to Mt Wood homestead for the next few nights…

Day 7 Mt Wood Homestead, Sturt NP

Another top day today. 

After a very refreshing nights sleep (gotta love a real bed as opposed to a stretcher bed!) Russell enjoyed an early morning bird watch and I attempted a run. I say attempted because it was actually quite cool, and with the colder air combined with being effectively 2 weeks post covid, it was really very challenging for me. So I kind of ran-walked it. 

Enjoyed a leisurely breakfast then we all set off to drive the Gorge loop. We saw some interesting birds including a Bourke’s parrot that Russell had been looking for, as well as what we thought was either an eastern or western grey kangaroo - but luckily Russell has his Australian mammals book as well as his Australian bird book so he can check for us!! 🤣 His verdict was female Australian red kangaroo - you be the judge. Also saw the usual emus.  We enjoyed the view at the gorge lookout before heading on a 4km (just shy of) hike up Mt Wood.

Continued driving the loop then headed into Tibooburra for some more supplies.

Now having a bit of a relax at the homestead. This is really turning into a magnificent adventure. I’m really enjoying the time away in the outback - I’ve never seen this sort of landscape before and it’s magnificent. 

Day 8 Mt Wood Homestead, Sturt NP

Today we did a bit of a drive around the local area. We did the Jump Up Loop and the Middle Road, which was about a 300km round trip. It was so interesting to see how the landscape changes - from the “Jump Up Mesas” to the very flat plains, not a tree to be seen (except for one). We stopped off at South Myers Tank where there was a bird hide (oh joy) and drove around to the Jump Up trail which was a 4km walk. Geez it was hot though! If this is what allegedly Autumn temperatures are like then I would hate to be here in Summer - apparently it was 35.2 degrees today!

After that we headed out to the Middle road and enjoyed the drive back to the homestead. We stopped off at the Fort Grey homestead and did a walk out to Lake Pinaroo. That was especially interesting as this lake only has water every 15 years on average. When it fills it takes 7 years to empty. The trees in the lake are dead because in the 1974 floods they were underwater for such a long time so they effectively drowned!

The drive back to the homestead was pleasant - I had a go driving Mike’s truck (so now I want one!). 

We’ve enjoyed our stay at this homestead - its been absolutely lovely…

Western Queensland Adventure: Days 4-5

Lovely day driving today. We packed up and set off relatively leisurely with the idea to head into Cunnamulla for lunch.  Tried to find Tego Springs en route - we can see where they would be by the reeds, but otherwise there’s a bit of a mud puddle and that’s it. 

Lunch in Cunnamulla was lovely - chicken burger at the Warrego Hotel, then filled up with water and fuel. We did a bit of shopping at the Cunnamulla Info centre and I bought a great wine cooler tumbler thing, then we headed out to Currawinya. En route we lost the Woody’s which was a bit interesting! We’ve been doing a convoy with the CB radios and so on, but we lost touch with them at the last turn. We’ve got a lovely campsite at the “Pump Hole”. Michael decided that he would set off looking for the Woody’s after he set up camp, but fortunately they turned up just before he set off. The creek water is a bit muddy looking but we enjoyed a swim in the late afternoon. It was just lovely.

The next day we had a great morning driving around the National Park. We headed out to “The Granites” - Currawinya’s answer to Stonehenge - and then the Currawinya woolshed. This was very interesting because it only stopped in around 1990 so all the gear is still there - gives a real insight into the shearing business. Damn hot in there though! I wouldn’t have liked to have been a shearer in summer….

Then we made our way to look around the lakes (bit of birding!) til the ladies and Mike had enough and made our way to Hungerford for lunch. The pub there is so quaint and cute - the old Cobb and Co stop. Only thing on the menu was steak sandwich - so steak sandwich it was!

This is the only place with some reception so I took advantage of catching up with a few things. We’re heading back to campsite via a lovely 84km loop. Brilliant trip so far.

Western Queensland Adventure Days 2-3

 After a lovely evening by the campfire in Thrushton, we got up relatively early, packed up our campsite, breakfasted and then set off for a quick walk in search of the Woolshed. This we could not find however! So we set off for the day…

Today was a 449km drive through Bollon, Cunnamulla, Eulo to our campsite in the Culgoa NP. Our first stop was Bollon, which was a delightful little town. We enjoyed a lovely coffee in the cafe there, which is set up with interesting yesteryear artifacts. We also had a little potter about the Heritage Museum, where we met a bloke (who opened it up just for us to go and see through), and he explained to us that the Woolshed got taken away about 3 years ago, because the National Parks asked them if they wanted to do it up, and the townsfolk didn’t have the funds to do so, so they knocked it down as it was condemned.

We wandered about the river and discovered a beautiful little walk, the Wallam Creek Walking Trail. It’s not very long but the river was delightful. We enjoyed a spot of morning tea here.

After Bollon, our next stop was Cunnamulla. Originally this had been intended as the lunch spot, however because we spent so long in Bollon, we were here quite late. However, Cath and Mike were still keen for lunch, so they stopped in a park just before Cunnamulla. We were more interested in ensuring we could get fuel, so we went looking for petrol. Surprisingly the BP didn’t have premium unleaded, but we found it at a little outlet - completely automated - you had to swipe your card and nominate a maximum fee. This I found quite interesting - I’ve never been anywhere where the services are quite so remote. We then had a quick look at the Cunnamulla pub, and Russell and I had a bit of lunch in another park. I went back to the pub for a comfort stop and on my way back out, an Indigenous woman in the pub just randomly pulled me over to her and started hugging me! Apparently it was her mother’s birthday so she was hugging everyone. Random.

The rest of the drive was pretty long but uneventful. We arrived at our campsite in Culgoa National Park (Nebine Creek campground) and set up by the creek. It really is very picturesque.

The next day the boys got up early for a bit of a bird watch and then we leisurely had breakfast, potting about before we took a drive in the National Park. There had been a slight bit of rain on Sunday afternoon so the roads had lots of water on them! We made a boys car and a girls car (being Gertie of course) and the wet roads made for some slip n slide action for Gertie! We went down to Red Bank hut for a bit of a look around - interesting little hut but abandoned of course. Then we headed to the ranger station, where the big excitement was Telstra connection! Not to mention a sit down loo!! Woot woot!!!

After this we made our way to Byra lagoon for a spot of lunch, and Cath, Mike and myself had a lovely swim. I was a bit taken aback when Mike dropped dacks and went in absolutely starkers!!!

The afternoon was spent chewing the fat back at camp; a bit of birding for Russell; a 6km walk by the creek for Karen and me, solving the world’s problems (or at least our own!) as we went; but mostly just relaxing by the creek and swotting off flies. They were literally driving us nuts! Cath and Mike got out some big fly net things for their hats and boy do I wish I had one…

But the worst was yet to come… that night we had a massive plague of grasshoppers join us for dinner! The blighters were everywhere. Not even Mike’s yellow lights were a deterrent…!

In all though we had a mostly pleasant stay in Culgoa… save for the insects…!

Western Queensland 2022 Adventure - Brisbane to Thrushton NP

 It’s the Easter school holidays so that means only one thing - its time to travel!

Last year we had planned to go on a big adventure to Western Queensland with Michael and Karen, but sadly that didn’t eventuate - not because of COVID19 as you might expect, but because of floods!

This year it was looking a little like the trip might again not go ahead - and again because of rain. Given the recent Brisbane floods, and then the continuation of rain into NSW and out in Western Queensland, many roads have flooded, and still have not re-opened. Fortunately though enough are open that we are able to make our trip.

We left Brisbane at 7am on the first day of the holidays and set off for Warwick, where we would meet Michael and Karen. We originally had planned to go through Dalby but the floodwaters through there put paid to that. We met in Warwick at the Coffee Club at 9am and had a second breakfast! I was quite shocked at how cold it was in Warwick and thinking about what I’ve packed, and where we were going, I realised I would need another pair of jeans! So I rushed into Rose City to Big W and bought a cheap pair of jeans to wear around the campfire. 

We then went on the Newell Highway towards Inglewood and then Goondiwindi, fuelling up at every available opportunity, and then on the Barwon highway from one end to the other. It was such a long day driving, especially as Gertie doesn’t have cruise control, and because I had not slept at all the night before (like, NOT. AT. ALL) it was very tiring. I had to have Russell take over later in the afternoon (but then he later made me swop back, so it was very difficult!). We stopped off at the Nindigully pub en route - that was such a cute place! The town itself is tiny, a basic, blink and you’ll miss it type place, on the bank of a tiny creek - which was flooded by the way. There’s a memorial there to the Paperback Hero movie, as apparently this movie was filmed there. The pub is so iconic - loads of Australiana on the walls, namely Akubra hats - and really very atmospheric. I enjoyed it very much.

We continued on towards Thrushton National Park, to the homestead camping group, and got there not long before dusk. Mike and Cath had already arrived and set up camp. Their set up is awesome - they have a ‘box’ on the back of their Ute tray that basically is custom-made, and houses their entire set up; kitchen, drawers for clothes; waeco; food - anything they need. Their tent is a rooftop tent that goes above it. The tray can be raised up and they can drive their Ute out from underneath, leaving their tent site set up. It really is amazing.

We cooked up our dinner and Mike got a fire going. It was really a very pleasant evening after a tiring day.