From July to September Helen and I will be traveling through Queensland. The purpose of this Blog is to allow our family and friends to keep track of where we are and share our experiences.
A real lazy day. We had to go up the street for coffee and doughnuts this morning to help fill in the time but not going on to Longreach was a good decision. Although the rain stopped last night, staying here for the day gave Longreach a chance to dry out and also allowed us to dry things which had become a bit wet and yucky – we like caravanning but NOT in wet weather.
We went for a drive down to a weir about 15 km south this afternoon and were amazed to see how many people were there “free camping”. Tonight we were entertained around the campfire by Country singer Graham Rodgers – he was really quite good and certainly worth the gold coin “donation”. Mum bought a CD and DVD which I’ve no doubt we’ll enjoy listening to even though he isn’t “Slim”. He’s spent winter for the last six years between here and Winton doing nightly “shows” in the Top Tourist caravan parks but reckons this is his last year as there are too many competing demands for his time.
We really like Barcaldine, it’s a nice town with lots of friendly people. We checked out the local IGA and found fruit and vegie prices quite high but then we are a long way from where it’s produced. The caravan park is excellent - $20 a night, free wireless internet, entertainment every night, free washing machines and only $1 for the dryer – the owners are also terrific and to be commended. It’s a real pity there aren’t more parks like this one.
Wet! Wet! Wet! It started raining early last night and hasn’t really stopped since – it’s been steady, soaking rain, the type loved by farmers everywhere but not so much by caravaners. We had left the Workers Heritage Centre for today and spent most of the morning there. It wasn’t quite what I expected – I thought there would be a lot about the shearers’ strike of 1891 and while this was covered there were a lot of other areas as well. Qld Police had a lock-up and display, there was a building set up by Australia Post and another by Qld Education Dept which consisted of a one-teacher school with early 1900s furniture, most of which predated my entry into the profession in 1966. Other areas covered included power generation, women in the workforce and Qld electoral information. Almost everything in the Centre was related back to outback life so was interesting from that point of view. It looks like we may be spending another day here due to the rain. Reports on Longreach from travellers heading east, indicate that the caravan park we were going to is a sea of mud. Two caravans left here this morning for Longreach, parked outside the van park, walked in to have a look and turned around and came back to Barcaldine. One of the guys told me it was black mud, almost up to your ankles. No, thank you very much! We went and bought a couple of bath mats to put in the door of the van but they would be useless against that sort of mud. We’ll leave it until the morning and see what the weather’s like before we finally decide. A days delay won’t make a great deal of difference as we can pick that up along the way. We went out to dinner tonight at the Artesian Hotel – quite good value for money but it seemed like everyone there was a traveller.
Today we passed through some quite hilly country between Emerald and Alpha after which we were back to the flat plains and basically straight roads. Once passed Alpha, we discovered we were back in triple road train territory, by law only doubles go any further east.
On the way here we were delighted by the flowering plants along the roadside. There is a very beautiful wattle with long flowers as opposed to the more common ball shaped wattle flowers. They look spectacular when bunched with lots of bushes together. We also discovered two grevilleas we hadn’t seen before. In a few places the wattle and grevilleas were mixed in together on the side of the road producing a stunning and colourful display.
After being disappointed with Emerald as a town, Barcaldine is totally the opposite. It’s only a small place, less than 2000 people but just oozes community pride and co-operation. A sign at the entrance announces it is an RV friendly town and it certainly presents that way. The main street is WIDE with centre parking in addition to the parallel parking on the kerb. Special parking areas have been set aside for long vehicles.
At the risk of sounding like a developing alcoholic, we were impressed by the architecture of the six, that’s right six, hotels in the main street. They all have heritage plates outside detailing their history.
The caravan park is excellent – only $20 per night and FREE wireless internet as long as you have your own laptop. This afternoon the park put on a Billy Tea and Damper session around a campfire. Tom Lockie, a local, provided the entertainment (and the damper cooked in a camp oven). He gave us a lot of background about the town (eg five bores have been sunk to provide the town with water, two are capped and kept in reserve in case anything happens to the three actually in use; there’s 33000 times more water in the Great Artesian Basin than in Sydney Harbour). He related lots of humorous stories and jokes as well as a couple of poems. He also conducts tours (7.30 am – 6.00 pm) which includes lunch and morning and afternoon tea for $125 a head. If things had been a little different we would have loved to have done his tour – another time perhaps!
It’s raining lightly at the moment – hope we don’t spring a leak!
Tara’s 18 tomorrow! Bloody hell, where’ve the years gone?
Well, good news, of a sort. The local Toyota people diagnosed the problem with the Prado as a fault in the torque converter but that it should be OK to drive for about 2000 km. We basically had three options: 1) stay here and get it fixed which would involve the locals pulling out the gearbox and sending the faulty part to Rockhampton for repairs and then put everything back together – could take a week ??? 2) drive to Rockhampton, get it fixed then continue our journey which would have meant cancelling and rebooking van sites; 3) continue on to Mt Isa and get it fixed there. Enquiries revealed that the expertise existed in Mt Isa to do the work but a delay could be caused by waiting for the parts to arrive from Syd, Bris, Melb or Townsville!!! We opted for the Mt Isa solution as we can continue our journey pretty much as scheduled. The only problem is that we’ll have to miss Adels Grove and Lawn Hill NP – which is really disappointing – it also means spending an extra four days in Mt Isa. Going to Adels Grove would stretch the 2000 km distance but then we’d still probably have to spend extra days in Mt Isa as well. The temps in Mt Isa have been high 20s-low 30s so maybe we can get a sun-tan. Of course the big unknown is still the cost of the repairs. Please pass the hat around!
We woke this morning to light rain – just enough to settle the dust and soften the insects on the van and car. As a result we had a big clean up. Mum did two loads of washing last night and today cleaned out the inside of the van. We also did the outside of the van and the Prado in and out. Everything is shiny and clean, at least until the next lot of rain or dust!
The train, Outback Spirit, from Longreach to Brisbane stopped here this afternoon so we made our way to the railway station to have a look. It usually has 16 cars and it had to stop twice at the platform – firstly to load on the luggage and secondly to load on the passengers. I wonder if trains have torque converters??? Maybe we should travel by train in future.
Off to Barcaldine tomorrow – where the Labor Party had its origins.
Last night when lining up the Prado and van ready for an early getaway, I noticed a whine coming from the transmission. The last time the Prado had transmission problems it cost just over $4000! Needless to say we had quite a “restless” night worrying about the possible repercussions. As night became day it was obvious that the decision to move out a day early was the correct one – it was quite overcast and although rain was not threatening we probably would have spent the day walking around with bent necks from watching the sky. The other advantage of leaving early today was that it would allow me to front up to the Toyota dealer tomorrow and get the noise assessed. As well we still have the option of doing a car/van clean up. The drive to Emerald was uneventful and was mostly flat with some quite spectacular hills around Springsure. You can run, but you can’t hide! We were stopped at a rest area taking some photos of these hills when a guy asked where we were from. The ensuing conversation revealed that he was from East Corrimal and travelled across to Broken Hill, up the Stuart Highway to Alice Springs, across to Mt Isa and then down to Emerald via Longreach. He had a time limit of 4 weeks and was travelling with his heavily pregnant wife and daughter (about 3 yrs old) in a Landcruiser and camper trailer. On arriving in Emerald we went on a look-see tour. There’s not much to see, in fact it’s quite an uninteresting town. The Botanic Gardens and the historic railway station were probably the highlights. We were amazed to see that the railway line to Emerald was electrified! Perhaps it has something to do with the rail line being used for coal exports (?). Wendy and her family lived here for a number of years while Ron worked on the gem-fields and I can understand their aversion to the area. It does have a Woolworths and Coles (both shut on a Sunday) as well as Maccas, KFC and Red Rooster (if that counts for anything). Petrol from Woolworths with a voucher is 154.9 cpl so I suppose it’s not all bad. Not a good spot to be holed up in if in fact the Prado does have a major problem – oh well, fingers crossed!
We woke this morning a little stiff, enough to discourage us from any major walks. As a result today was a low activity (rest) day. We did head out mid-morning and did a 3 km walk to get out the kinks from yesterday. The walk was up Mickeys’ Creek Gorge however the side walk was far more interesting. We progressed past the sign which said “Formed track finishes here” (as others had obviously done) and ended up in an extremely narrow gorge about a metre wide with daylight showing at the top. Being caught in there during a sudden downpour would certainly have made life interesting.
More magnificent scenery – the colours are just spectacular!
I’ve got to say, Carnarvon Gorge has been one of the most awe-inspiring places we’ve visited in Australia. We’ve just absolutely loved it! This afternoon we were talking to another couple and they asked if, having seen just about everything, we’d come back again. Our answer was a very definite, yes.
After lunch we explored the area around the resort and after checking the weather forecast on the internet at Reception decided to get out of here a day early. Late showers are predicted for Sunday with heavier falls possible on Monday. It probably won’t be a problem but for our own piece of mind decided to go a day early. The road out has two particularly steep sections which, with the slightest rain, could become quite treacherous. We lose a night’s accommodation as there is no refund. We’ll stop the extra night in Emerald use the day to have a van and car clean-up before we start heading west.
What a terrific but tiring day. We set out at 8.30 to do the Carnarvon Gorge Walk. The complete walk, with all the side excursions is 23 km however we opted to do the section which provide access to the four most popular parts – a distance of 12 km. Walking up the Gorge in the early morning was absolutely fabulous and didn’t change one bit as the day progressed. The colours were outstanding – the white of the sandstone cliffs in the sunlight, the greyish-white of the flooded and spotted gum tree trunks, the dark grey/black of the ironbark trunks, the bright green of the sand palms and the darker green of the cycads. Starting to sound like a botanist, aren’t I?
The walk crossed over Carnarvon Creek 10 times before we reached the end of our section – each crossing involved rock-hopping. Fortunately the rocks were quite large and stable so it wasn’t in the least hazardous. Each crossing is numbered so you can easily find where you are by referring to the walk map. By the way, the complete walk involves 22 creek crossings and of course each crossing on the way out has to be recrossed on the way back.
Our first stop was at the Moss Garden – water dripping through the sandstone has created a carpet of mosses in a cool, humid side gorge. The Art Gallery consisted of a large collection of aboriginal art - stencils of hands, aboriginal tools and weapons and engravings. Ward’s Canyon involved quite a steep climb but was very rewarding – another cool, humid environment with an ancient species of king fern dating back to the time of the dinosaurs. The final “attraction” was the amphitheatre. This involved another uphill walk and a ladder climb before passing through a narrow opening into the actual amphitheatre which was like a huge cavern without the roof. The base was approx 60 m in diameter and the walls sloped upwards to an opening about 30 m across.
Six hours after we had set out we arrived back at the car park, tired, exhausted but exhilarated by what we had seen.
A National Parks ranger presented a slide show here tonight and provided a few more insights into the park and its operation. Interesting to note was the fact that the ladder we had climbed to get access to the amphitheatre has already been repaired three times due to the force of the water coming through the opening and that the previous ladder had been completely washed away in a previous flood event – such is the power of nature!
