A Nervous Drive on Wet Black Soil !

Swim Camp and the Wet Drive Home 

We headed into Longreach for the school Swim Camp, a wonderful opportunity for the children to catch up with friends and for us to catch up with some families. While there we re-stocked our food for the next two weeks and then set out for home. 

As we left the sky looked fairly clear and as we have become used to the clouds never fulfilling their promise we set out for the station. I was making the most of our phone service and had finally got in contact with our daughter and grandchildren so was making every last minute count. We had had no phone contact for at least 3 weeks. As such I was not watching which route George took when we headed out of town. 

There are two routes from Muttaburra to Longreach, each about 125kms in distance. We came into town on the one which had only 30 kms of dirt and returned on the road which was all dirt except the first section of bitumen, by accident.

As we continued up the road the black soil was dry but further along it was obvious it had rained as when the tyres hit what looked like dry soil it churned up from under the tyres. At this point we thought, no worries there's only about 20ks of dirt, but it just didn't seem to end. It was hard to judge distance as we were going so slowly.

Next it began to rain adding to the water both on the road and in the ditches on the side of the road. The channels were flowing with small debris but fortunately each channel had a concrete roadway so no trouble for our 4wd ute. Our only problem was the ditch on the side of the road which we needed to stay away from as it was filling and flowing in the opposite direction to which we were traveling. Unfortunately we had no choice when the ute lost traction on the road, swiveled and made its way into the ditch. George was struggling to get the ute out and at one point we stopped, used the UHF to see if there was a local repeater channel to no avail and we began to think we would be spending the night in the ute. Luckily

 on trying again he was able to get the front tyres up out of the ditch and onto the higher dirt on the road. 

The rain eventually eased, then stopped and further up the road it was once more bone dry. The last 60kms to the station as usual was dry, they had missed out on the rain once more. Since we had arrived two weeks before there had been storms across the Central, West and Northern Queensland areas but it has been so random that many people are still 

without the rain they need to survive and re-stock.

By Lynne

Heading in to Our Next Station !

Well it was time to give our wandering away and head into our next station to teach for the 4 weeks of November. 

We spent some time catching up with friends in Longreach and at LSODE and restocking before heading out. We chose to drive into the station the long way round, via Barcaldine and Aramac, as this was all bitumen and was the safest route for our caravan until we return home and complete some more modifications to its underbody.

We spent some time sightseeing in Barcaldine and Aramac on the way as we were not due to arrive until 5.30pm. They had been in town for the week, at Yr 6 camp and Graduation.

Aramac provided a surprise in the way of a small Tramway Museum and showed the amazing determination of a country town. The town in the late 1800's had hoped to become a railway town but was passed over. Not to be outdone they decided to build their own tramway. This tramway was opened in 1913 using funds raised by the town, a loan from the state and .... Over time the town had borrowed over $250 000 to build and run the tramway. To us, this story was amazing and was another of the examples on our trip of Aussie ingenuity and determination in the face of  adversity.

The original RN28 rail motor, known as ' Aunt Emma,' was purchased from England along with a carriage in 1911. This carriage, built in 1866 in England, is now the "oldest surviving railway carriage" in Qld. On closure of the tramway in 1975 it cost the town a further $250 000 + to have the tramway removed. 

Above: the day it was opened.

Below: the oldest surviving railway carriage in Qld

Photo of the road into the station and quite a few kangaroos about. These two sat up and allowed me to take a great photo. Quite a few Reds which we havent seen in ages. Usually Eastern Greys.

 We were first to arrive at the station so while we waited we had some fruit and a drink.

Our first night on the station and a beautiful sunset. The house will have sunrise at the front and sunset at the back.

Old Cork Station !

Old Cork is located about 126kms south west of Winton on the banks of the Diamantina River. 

We had decided to include it in a round trip beginning at Lark Quarry, home of the Dinosaur Stampede, then a drive across through the jump ups to the station and return on the Diamantina River Road. A return trip of 300kms on dirt and bitumen. 

Photos taken from the lookout at the top of the jump ups.

The reason Old Cork Station was such a special trip was that George includes the song, 'Diamantina Drover,' in his repertoire. It is about a drover who goes to Old Cork Station and never goes home, the outback here has him for life. 

It includes the line ... ' and the rain never falls on the dusty Diamantina ... ' which seems very appropriate at the moment. 

Everywhere we have travelled in the last two months is drought affected and so dry. The temps at this time are in the high 30s to 40.

Old Cork Station Historic Homestead is a vintage sandstone homestead that was one of the first properties in the Winton Shire. The homestead lies in ruins but interpretive panels provide some information about the history of the station and homestead. The waterhole 

nearby has permanent water in it, unlike most of the waterholes, rivers and creeks we have seen.

Having heard George sing the song many times it was a little emotional to imagine a family struggling to make a go of it here. 

We had passed the new homestead site on our way across from Lark Quarry, about 30ks away.

Above: a view looking from the homestead verandah. 

Below: the view looking back up from the waterhole to the homestead

Also a view of the waterhole. 

A photo opportunity not to be missed 

The sun setting as we returned to Winton.

Below are some photos of Arno's Wall in Winton. The wall stands 2 metres high and is 70 metres long. It is constructed of concrete and rock brought in from Arno's opal mine. He has embedded old lawn mowers, bikes, boat propellers, machinery, vintage typewriters, vintage ovens, kitchen sink etc into the wall. As we overnighted behind the North Gregory Hotel we had easy access to the wall

By Lynne 

The Dinosaur Trail !

After the business of the last few weeks we decided to relax for a few days, and what better place to do that than Julia Creek. 

This town has organised a wonderful spot on the edge of town for self contained vehicles with a man made waterhole and some shade trees. You could walk in to town if you liked where there was all the basics you needed. The tourist information centre had photo displays with quite a lot of videos about local life and history.... a great place to get out of the heat. We also spent the afternoons at the local pool, at only $2.50 an adult.

The Dinosaur Trail incorporates the towns of Richmond, Hughenden and Winton in a triangular drive. George was in his element ! !

First stop was Richmond and Kronosaurus Korner.

 A very well presented display of information, fossils and replicas of different dinosaurs including the  Kronosaurus, Pterasaurus, and marine reptile fossils found in the local area. The centre also has a modern fully equipped preparation facility.

Below: a Minmi, an armoured dinosaur
And the Richmond Pliosaur discovered in 1989, the best example discovered in the world.

Below : an Ichthyosaur, the fossil bones were displayed in the case beneath.
And a Kronosaurus

Hughenden is known for The Flinders Discovery Centre .

 Over 3000 fossil specimens from the Cretacious period have been found in the surrounding district, including theMuttaburrasaurus, Hughenden Sauropod, Queensland Pterosaur and a large selection of Ammonites, shells, molluscs and fish (found also at Richmond). 

Below : a Queensland Pterosaur

And the Comet Windmills, the largest made.

 Our final stop was Winton which has The Age of Dinosaurs Museum and Lark Quarry.

Lark Quarry Conservation Park is situated about 110kms west of Winton on a mixed bitumen and dirt road. It is home to the Dinosaur Stampede, where over 3,300 tracks mark the only known dinosaur stampede in the world. Hundreds of tracks from a preditory dinosaur chasing 2 other groups of smaller dinosaurs led to scientists piecing together an amazing tale of the hunted and hunter.
On a previous trip George had missed out as we did not fancy taking the bus out. 

On this occasion we planned to do a 300 km round trip on the dirt roads and incorporate Old Cork Station into the day trip as well.

The photos do not do it justice. 

Photo looking up towards the building which houses/protects the footprints. Over the years much damage to the site has been caused by weather elemnts, people and animals. It is now housed in this temperature controlled environment. 

The photos and comment on the second part of our daytrip to Old Cork Station will be included in the next blogpost.

Lynne

Gorges, Fossils, Paddling, Swimming and Cane Toads !!

The next part of our trip was the most magical of our travels so far! 

Gorges, Fossils, paddling, swimming and Cane Toads !!

Made more special as our new friends Allan, Dawn and Brent travelled with us. We had all decided that having travelled this far we would be crazy not to brave the side trip on dirt and development  roads out to Boodjamulla(Lawn Hill) National Park, World Heritage listed Riversleigh Fossils site and Adel's Grove. On the way we stopped at Gregory River as well, a welcome break in the 500km plus round trip on development roads and dirt. 

After leaving Karumba, restocking in Normanton and having another quick look around, we overnighted on the side of the road opposite the Burke and Will's Roadhouse before heading west.

We had decided to leave the caravan and Allan and Dawn's motorhome at Gregory, 150kms west, and drive into Lawn Hill, Riversleigh, and Adel's Grove in our ute together for a day trip. On arriving in Gregory we stopped for morning tea and began a conversation with a local council worker, asking the usual questions about the road ahead, and water supplies. He informed us that the dirt road had recently been graded and was in good condition. He also commented that once we got there we would want to stay longer. Allan decided they would take their motorhome in taking it slowly and we decided we would all stay two nights.

We remained undecided as our caravan is low slung and as yet we had not had time to build metal protection plates over our water tank and low slung water pump. To have them peppered with rock and chance the loss of our water and/or pump system was not good, and as we'd had this happen years ago on a good dirt road out of Wanaaring we knew it could happen. We also knew they would not be replaceable out here. As we had set up the ute for independent camping away from the caravan, and were disappointed we hadn't done this at Cobbold Gorge, we took the plunge and for the first time in 28 years went back to using a four man tent, leaving our caravan in storage at the Gregory Hotel.

The drive into Adel's Grove was about 100kms of development road and dirt. The ute we knew would be fine, but as we hit some of the dirt closer to Adel's I knew Dawn would be panicking a little over her lovely new motorhome with some of the rougher corrugations and ruts. Allan had had no problems, but at other times I'm sure I would not recommend this small section of road for 2wds.

We camped at Adel's Grove as there was complete shade, which would prove difficult for our battery and solar systems to run our fridges adequately. But having had so many days of temps in the 36 to 40 degree range this was preferable to the open camping at Lawn Hill NP. We had been chasing shade now for 10 days, and it is not likely to change until we get home at Christmas.

 

Adel's Grove is adjacent to the NP and was originally a Miners Homestead Lease in 1904. In 1920 the property was taken up as an experimental Botanical Garden, and over 1000 species of exotic and native plants, shrubs and trees were planted. Seeds produced here supplied the Botanical Gardens of the world. The Brisbane Botanical Gardens still have 536 different sample seeds sent by Albert in their collection. Many of the original plants can still be seen at the Grove.

Once set up, we headed down to the creek for a swim before dinner.

My first real experience of cane toads was over the next two nights, and I have to admit that
 they sent shivers up me while walking to the toilet at night, and the occasional squeal when they jumped towards me. The first night we were sitting under Allan and Dawn's awning 
talking and as the night became dark you could hear a creeping movement amplified from the ground all around us which was littered with dead leaves. As I looked out to where the noise was you could see lots of cane toads on the move, I was thankful they didn't seem to move across Allan and Dawn's awning mat. Our tent was another matter ! you could hear them creeping around outside as you lay in bed. Arggghh ! But like the old camper I was, I lived with it.

We were up early the next morning to beat the heat of the day. Leaving at 7am to drive out to The Riversleigh Fossil site first where the others completed a walk up over the hill to view various fossil remains while I looked at those on the lower part of the hill and waited.  
Below: Allan walking to the top. 

Below : there were many very large termite mounds in this area.

Next stop was Lawn Hill Gorge where the others would complete the Gorge Rim walk before it became too hot. I waited in the shade by the water in the gorge where others were swimming and on their return we had lunch. 

George and I had hired a 2-man canoe to paddle the gorge and as it was outside of the season it was $50 for the day, instead of $25 an hour. This enabled us to paddle the gorge in the afternoon at our leisure ... just as well as we had not paddled a canoe in years and it 

was a long way up the gorge !! BUT well worth the effort ! We were able to swim at the other end as well.

 Pictures, once more, show more than I can tell ( but don't do it justice !) ... And once more I apologise to those friends with limited data for the number of photos. Placing them in a collage also did them no justice. 

 

The small falls at the the end of this section of the Gorge. There is also an option to walk the canoes overland into the next section of the Gorge and keep paddling.

On our return it was Dawn and her son Brent's turn ! While we swam in the gorge where the paddling began.

After our drive back to Adel's and a very long and busy day, Dawn, not to be outdone insisted on another swim.

What a wonderful experience it had been !

The next day we drove back to the Gregory River to camp overnight. On finding it to be one of the most beautiful spots to swim and camp we extended our stay. George will never forget this place as it is where he lost his Wedding Band while swimming in the current. It is the first time in nearly 32 years that it has been removed ! He has definitely lost a lot of weight. 

By Lynne