The trip so far,
so grab a coffee, a comfy seat, blanket if you need it & enjoy.
Charleville
A two day
stay at Charleville in a caravan park, we visited the weather station for a
tour & watched the weather balloon inflate & be released. We then went
& watched the computer track the balloon where the data was being collected
& processed so that the weather can then be released to the public. This is
a must as the information that is collected is unbelievable. We then travelled
to Quilpie & checked out other camping areas that our van possibly
shouldn’t have gone on those dirt tracks. J
Quilpie
Windorah
On our way
to Windorah there was water over the road in several places & around 200
metres of channel country, a low level bridge was covered with 12 inches of
water. Coopers Creek was flowing quite quickly so the kids got photos on the
tyres near the bridge. We stayed in the caravan park in town, cranked up the
a/c as the temp was about 40 deg. Then we set the cruiser up for the trip to
Birdsville the next day the van was left in the van park.
Birdsville
We drove out
of Windorah at sun rise for the 400km trip to Birdsville lots of wild life
along the road, after 120ks we hit dirt road, Kylie was driving so I hung out
the window & took a photo of the dust behind us. We turned off to head
towards Haddon’s Corner, the road was being graded. The next thing we got a
rock through the tread of the LH rear tyre yep not much luck with tyres, so we
did a tyre swap & decided to head towards Birdsville since that tyre was
buggered ( J 3- K 1)J We stopped for a break at Deon’s lookout, by now it was over
40deg & the flies were unbelievable. After a 7 hour trip we made it to
Birdsville, set up the tent at the caravan park (ouch $$) then cooled down at
the pub in the a/c. The next morning we drove out to Big & Little Red sand
dunes.
Little Red
An hour’s
drive out to the dunes we crossed several small dunes because there was a
detour due to water that had cut off the track to the main dunes. Well, there
is Little Red as we looked up the sand dune nearing the top was a lip &
then a quick turn right, shall we walk up first? Nope I gunned the cruiser H2
got to the lip & bogged down to the diffs the excitement in the car was
pleasant J I grabbed reverse & drove back down cool as cucumbers, got
a bit more of a run up not as far back as Birdsville but close, hit the bottom
of the dune in L3 full noise (Batman would have liked our smoke screen) hit the
lip grabbed L2 &&& we’re on top of Little Red no sweat. After some
photos & a look around we were the 1st there that morning. Hey
let’s check out Big Red!!
Big Red
We came to a
T intersection in the track, left to go across the Simpson Desert, right to Big
Red, let’s go right. Looking up at the dune there are 3 tracks, the left looks
like it goes vertical, right not as steep but longer, third is definitely chicken
run, so the run up begins, L3 noise
& smoke (the noise was from the engine, not passengers screaming I think) a
quiet voice from the passenger seat says you are going to the right??J
So we hit
the right track (opposed to the wrong track) up & around the top this time
there was laughter as we came over the top there was someone camped there, oops,
good morning & we kept going. The kids were off up & down sand dunes,
the views were spectacular there is so much water & bird life out there it
is incredible. We watched some others try the left track but it was too boggy.
We made our way back to Birdsville for lunch with the flies, checked out the
Diamantina river as it was in flood the river rose while we were there about a
metre. We had tea that night at the pub & left at dawn the next morning for
Windorah.
Windorah
We met John
& Janet at the van park who were from Longreach (we would meet up with them
again). We saw a purple land cruiser that a German couple where driving around
Australia filming a documentary on our country. We also went out to Windorah sand dunes for sunset the kids rolled down the dunes red sand & sweaty kids mix really well. The Sunday the kids ended up at
the Windorah Family Fun Day this was an all day event, they teamed up with one
of the local larrikins Dicko. The kids had a ball playing the team events, at
the end of each event points were awarded & totalled at the end of the day.
Because they were the tourists their teams name was the IRA country humour so
the points were added up after some lengthy discussions & maybe a few beers
& the IRA came in as the winners I think they had to many beers so they
were awarded with trophies & were invited back next year (stay tuned for
that). We finished up that night after 8pm we had planned on leaving earlier
that day so we stayed another night. You have to be flexible with your schedule
things change all the time.
Jundah
Dicko had invited
us to the cattle station he was working on, on the Monday, so the kids could
help with the cattle. We arrived at the station where the yards were full of
cattle looks like he knew he was getting helpJ Josh & I got in the yards &
moved the cattle through the race HA HA where’s Josh? A cow put him up the fence
he was ok but he kept his eye on what they were doing after that. I was in a
small yard before lunch & some of the cattle were a bit toey next thing I
know a cow is looking me up & down her head is down I’m running for the
fence I don’t think my feet touched the railings but I was on top pretty quick
then I hear kylie laughing outside the yards she said that was close you nearly
had a horn in your butt, I said I’m 40 something & not about to let that
happen J. After lunch we got the calves in
the race dehorned, crouched, branded & tagged, this was a great experience
for all of us, the kids love talking about that day. We had put about 200 cattle & 43 calves
through the race. Thanks to Dicko & Leanne for a great day, we finished at
3:30pm & drove to Longreach that was a big day we drove into a head wind
all the way I had to get off the road for a road train & nearly got bogged,
the car & van were covered in mud they looked good.
Longreach
We stayed on
the Thompson River 5ks out of Longreach for 7 days I worked for 2 ½ painting at
a cafe in the centre of town. Josh got 2 yellow belly fish off some other
campers then they showed him how to fillet them he & Kylie battered &
cooked them that night for tea. We caught up with John & Janet where we
went to their house for tea one night we all had a great time Janet spoilt the
kids which they accepted quite well it was strange being in a house with so
much room thanks for your hopitaity it was a night to remember. There were a lot of people we met at the river it was usually an
hour walk to the toilets it was only a 100 metres away as you had to stop &
have a chat to everyone there & back. The day before we left Longreach we
met Ken & Deidre from the central coast in NSW we hit it off straight away
& we spent the next week travelling with them both. We are now heading to
Winton.
Winton
We headed
off to Winton after we fuelled up & topped up the water tanks we sort of
had a side/tail wind the plains winds are deceiving as you can’t see where it
is coming from so going was tuff around an hour into the trip we stopped at a
rest area for lunch as we pulled in behind a van which ended up being Ken &
Deidre a quick catch up & lunch. When we got to Winton we made our way to
long water hole camp ground where we found Wayne & Wendy already set up
& Ken & Deidre set up close by. There were some great yarns the next
few nights at that camp. This was the start of our travelling adventure with
Ken & Deidre. The next day we visited Age of Dinosaurs which was a great
day it is amazing that Australia has so many dinosaur fossils. We had a look
around Winton then it was time to move onto Hughenden.
Hughenden
Hughenden
was a one night stop over the Finders River was so clear we all ended up playing
in the river for a few hours. The next morning Ken & Deidre headed off to
Porcupine Gorge where we would meet up later that day. The walk down to the bottom
of the Gorge was 1km straight down lots of stairs, when we got down to the
water it was crystal clear it is amazing after seeing Brisbane Rivers how good
a clear river looks. We swam for a couple of hours some sun burn started to
show up, then the walk back up the Gorge started. The Gorge is in a NP so there
weren’t any other walks unless it was back down the Gorge so the vote was to
move on the next day. Back into Hughenden then to a free stay 90 k out of
Charters Towers which was between the highway & a railway line. We washed
clothes & had a fire between the vans not a lot of noise but more than we
are used to.
Charters
Towers
At Charters
we stayed in a van park stocked up on food & fuel the kids swam in the pool
& there was a jumping balloon there so that kept them busy for a while. From
there we went to Townsville & found a free stay on the beach called
Saunders Beach back in humidity we haven’t missed that. On the Tuesday our
travelling buddies decided to move on, even though we had only been travelling
together for a week we had experienced so much together, at least we know we
will see them again soon.
Babinda
We left
Saunders Beach & headed north 4 days in one place we had itchy feet. We
stopped for a break at a NP & decided to go on a bush walk to a water fall
about a km into the walk we hear Josh um hey I’ve cut my finger looking around
there was blood everywhere yep that’s a cut alright so back to the van he
picked up a fig & cut it in half while he was walking & quite a bit of
his finger, a cleanup & off to Ingham hospital where 4 hours & 4
stitches later we’re off to find somewhere to camp the night. Kennedy Store was
the choice it’s a free camp if you buy something from the store ;)? The store is
between a rail line & highway (just between) & on a rail crossing, the
first train was exciting & oops a quick shower after, there was only one
other train that night & he didn’t sound his horn at the crossing. Off the
next morning & rain has set in, a stop a Tully very wet as usual then to Josephine
falls for a walk no swim as Josh was a little sore, so onto Babinda to camp at a
free stay, this was for only 1 night there was a party. An important lesson
when free camping, stay 50ks from a town or if it doesn’t feel right don’t stay,
we weren’t in any danger but discernment is vital. So the next morning we went up
to Babinda Boulders set up camp & went down to the swimming area the water
was unbelievably cold so it was a quick swim & wash off. The night there
was much quieter. Bush walks the next day & another swim, we left the next
day a one nighter back down at Babinda so Kylie could work then we were off to
our next location so stay turned, go & wash up your coffee cup so it is
ready for the next postJ
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