West, Centre & Flinders – Days 24 to 29 – Mt Isa and Other Things

Posted on August 22, 2016 by Kevin & Ruth Sheather

This is the sign that welcomes you to Birdsville. We photographed it on the way out. The +/- 7000 relates to visitors at major events

The next two days were spent travelling back to Boulia, so there is not much to be said, as we were covering ground already covered in this trip. But we did take some photographs, of things that we had missed on the way down.

People hang the strangest things beside the road

Have you ever seen such a descriptive name?

But Boulia to Mount Isa represented new fields as we had not travelled this road before.

The ranges near Dajarra

This part of the Diamantina Developmental Road can be best described as a single lane ribbon of tar punctuated periodically by wider stretches of pavement, officially named Passing Opportunities – and Dajarra. Dajarra is a predominantly Aboriginal town about 140 kilometres north of Boulia. It is situated near the only decent range of hills that is encountered on the entire journey, until nearing Mount Isa.

The Museum in Dajarra

Much of the country is treeless plains of varying quality but a good portion carried good grass. Other parts are not so lush and have the appearance of not having received as much rain as pastures further south.

I mentioned in a previous post the lack of cattle grazing on the fresh grass. It appears that cattle are being trucked into the area from

Grazing lands south of Mt Isa

further north. Someone to whom I spoke suggested that the cattle were sourced from the area around Catherine in Northern Territory. We camped at a rest area about 60 kilometres north of Boulia and during late afternoon and early evening saw around 10 double deck three trailer road trains, fully loaded and heading south. Just before we reached the rest area we had seen a herd of several hundred beasts that looked to have been recently unloaded.

Sun sett at our Peek Creek Bore camp sight north of Boulia

This stop, at Peek Creek Bore afforded us the opportunity for a second camp fire for this trip. But the fire did not produce enough quality coals to try using the camp oven.

Mount Isa is a shopping and washing stop for us. We have been here at least five times so there is not much new to see. This time we approached from the south so passed not one but two power stations that we had not seen before. Mount Isa is a substantial centre dominated by the huge mine operated by Mount Isa Mines.

One of the power stations at Mt Isa

The stage at the Drovers Museum. Anne Kirkpatrick, daughter of Slim Dusty, will perform here during the festival

This stop over was for Friday and Saturday nights, so on Sunday morning we continued north west to the border town of Camooweal. You may recall that two of our fellow dinner guests at the remote Middleton Hotel were on their way to Camooweal to assist with preparation for the annual drovers’ festival. Camooweal has a drovers’ museum which is the base for the festival. This is where we found the folk that we met at Middleton. I had told them that we would call but they were still surprised to see us.

Ruth talking to our new acquaintance at the museum

The museum has the normal memorabilia but also a great deal of cattle droving related artifices, dozens of artists portraits of droving identities and several displays that tell the history of cattle droving in northern Australia. All this is supplemented by a video made of a conducted tour of the museum. We had no trouble in spending 90 minutes there before taking our leave of our new friends.

Model stock yards are used to demonstrate cattle handling techniques

Cattle grazing against the background of a grey sky

Mount Isa is in a mountainous area but is surrounded to the south, west and north by the flat sweeping plains. The pastures through which we drove are not as green as to the south as they have not had the same amount of rain. The border between Queensland and Northern Territory is a line drawn across a featureless plain that stretches to the horizon in every direction.

This is the Barkly Tableland, that covers a large part of Northern Territory and encroaches well into North West Queensland. It is prime grazing land and produces a substantial proportion of Australia’s beef.

Some of our fellow campers at Avon Downs

Our journeys on this Sunday has brought is to Avon Downs Rest Area, about 60 kilometres inside the NT border. Avon Downs cattle station surrounds us and the Avon Downs police station, the first in NT, is across the road. We are sharing the space with about twenty other vans, motor yard. Occasionally another road train thunders by, but less frequently as the night passes, we hope.

Some wild flowers along the way

We had set an easy task for Monday (22nd August) with only 190 kilometres to get us to Barkly Homestead Roadhouse. Cloud started to build yesterday and there were some blustery winds during the night. Lots of blue sky this morning but it did not last. Grey skies soon set in. As we pulled in to the fuel pumps at Barkly Homestead rain spots appeared on the windscreen. Rain has been forecast throughout the area for about this time. We thought we might be far enough to the north to miss it, but no such luck.

Flowers road side at Mt Isa

About the most exciting things to happen to us on the drive this morning was to be passed by two road trains. As an interest, as we have crossed this part of the Barkly Tableland, Ruth has been keeping an inventory of the traffic we met. That is, east bound traffic. I will include the details in a future post. But one comment can be made. If you remove the caravans and motor homes there is not much traffic left.

The Nine Pillars of Cobb & Co

The Nine Pillars plaque at Middleton. Under the sign on the right.

To back track a bit, during our stay at the Middleton Hotel our host pointed out to us a plaque declaring his establishment to be the Fourth Pillar of Cobb & Co. When a mail contract was awarded to Cobb & Co in 1892 the Middleton Hotel was already operating, having opened in 1876. It was soon joined by others that also became horse change stations and providers of food and overnight accommodation for coach passengers. All other hotels are gone with the only relic being the chimney of the Hamilton Hotel. That hotel, well known to locals was sighted on the Hamilton River nearer to Boulia.

Makunda Hotel was where the coaches from Winton and Boulia met. No sign of the hotel remains.

We found some of the plaques as we drove the rest of the way to Boulia. Number 1 is in Winton and Number 9 is outside the Min Min Experience at Boulia. A brochure that gives details of the old mail run, presented as a tour, is available at information centres. It includes a return route that includes the Diamantina Lakes National Park and points of interest along the Diamantina River.

West, Centre & Flinders – Days 22 to 23 – Enjoying Birdsville

Posted on August 19, 2016 by Kevin & Ruth Sheather

The Information Centre in Birdsville

We had problems in finding a place to park out van in the small caravan park in Bedourie. Enthusiastic watering to produce grass had turned most of it into a quagmire. It doesn’t take much water to create a bog hole in this country.

Set up in Birdsville Caravan Park

But there was no such pretense at Birdsville Caravan Park. It is an orderly, well kept park but there is not a blade of grass in sight. Fence to fence it is compacted fine gravel. The events that draw large crowds here, particularly the Birdsville race meeting and the Big Red Bash, have made it necessary that the park be able to handle crowds. The amenity block is sized accordingly. The races are less than three weeks away, so preparations for the crowds are under way.

The Diamantina River at Birdsville. Water levels are rising as the recent rains to the north slowly move towards Lake Eyre

Our Monday activity was to have been a trip to the Big Red sand dune on the edge of the Simpson Desert, but no sooner had we left town than out navigation system stopped showing us the way. This necessitated a return to camp to fix the problem. While I puzzled over the problem Ruth started some washing. By the time that we were ready to go it was a bit late, so we had lunch and set off to see closer sights.

The Bourke & Wills tree at Birdsville

Just over the Diamantina River there still stands a tree into which explorers Bourke and Wills cut a blaze and chiseled some markings. Look carefully and you can see parts of some of the characters that they cut, still visible after more than 150 years.

The Birdsville Racecourse from the highway into town

Right next door are the facilities for horse trainers, probably built here for proximity to the river. A little further from town the race course itself is located beside the highway, which is the northern end of the Birdsville Track. Preparation is also under way there.

Ruth stands beside the information booth at the Queensland/SA border

There is still a temptation to change our plans and go down the Track, so we drove the first 30 kilometres to gauge its condition. It is a full width gravel road and is in quite good nick at this end. Just some more grist for the decision mill.

A holding yard built from local timber

The drive took us over the South Australia border, which is only 15 kilometres south of Birdsville. By the time that we turned around we were well into the long sand dunes that cross the country side. The border is well sign posted by both states and an

The Birdsville Hotel. It has stood for over a century

Birdsville Bakery, home of the curried camel pie

Tuesday dawned, another cloudless day with a cool easterly breeze and flies. We made a fairly early start on the 35 kilometre drive into the edge of the Simpson Desert, arriving at the boundary of the National Park at about 10.00 am. Since the authorities had provided a picnic shelter there, the last one until the other side of the desert probably, we shared it with a family of Swallows that had built their nest in the roof frame.

The road from town leas to the foot of Little Red. The Simpson Desert starts at the sign.

The sand dune known as Big Red is the tallest sand dune in the Simpson Desert. In reality it is the highest spot on a sand dune that disappears into infinity in both directions. The dune could be over one hundred kilometres long. A couple of kilometres to the south, part of the same dune, is Little Red. The road leads directly to Little Red which you can cross and continue on into the desert. Or you can turn right and follow the foot of the dune until you come to Big Red.

To drive over Little Red is a bit of an anticlimax. To drive to the summit of Big Red is one of the most iconic things that a four wheel drive enthusiast can do.

Just loo at all that lovely sand!

We parked at the foot of Little Red and I climbed to the summit along with two or three other people. We then drove to the foot of Big Red. Again I climbed to the summit and discussed matters with another driver who had taken the walk just before I did. We decided to reduce tyre air pressure, as recommended, and give it a try. I offered to video his ascent and did. He then took my camera as I returned to the car, reduced air pressure and made the climb. We ascended without problem. Another item ticked off the bucket list!

Parked at the summit of Big Red

The track down the western face of Big Red and into the Simpson Desert

A sign outside of the Birdsville Bakery

We agreed that the drive up the dune had been easy and wondered what all the fuss was about. Then we looked over the western edge and understood. Because of prevailing easterly winds most of the loose sand has been blown from the eastern side to the western side of the dune. Those travelling in an easterly direction face piles of soft sand, fluffed up by the wind. We watched as two drivers struggled with the conditions. They were still struggling when we drove back down the dune, re inflated our tyres and returned to town.

It was now lunch time. Another iconic activity in Birdsville is to eat a curried camel pie at the Birdsville Bakery. Ruth chickened and had ordinary beef. We washed them down with cappuccinos. The curried camel was not bad. It tasted a bit like beef but with a distinct difference. The accompanying picture will explain.

The main bar at the Birdsville Hotel

That left us with one last traditional activity before leaving Birdsville. A drink at the very historic and dare I say it, iconic Birdsville Hotel. We arrived at the same time as two of our fellow adventurers from this morning’s activity at Big Red. So we joined them and chatted about the kind of things that folk chat about under such circumstances.

The Birdsville Track reaches south into South Australia

For William Shakespeare the big question was to be or not to be. For us it was to go or not to go. Here we are at the northern end of the Birdsville Track and one of my ambitions has always been to drive its length. But if we do that we will arrive in the Flinders Ranges to a succession of 4 degree mornings and several following that will, in all probability, won’t be much warmer . That makes it a no brainer. Tomorrow we will retrace our course back to Boulia and from there to Mount Isa and points west. And ultimately south, but only after minimum daily temperatures increase a bit, hopefully.

West, Centre & Flinders – Days 20 to 21 – To Bedourie and Birdsville

Posted on August 19, 2016 by Kevin & Ruth Sheather

The sign at Boulia for the turn South

It is just less than 400 kilometres from Boulia to Birdsville, neatly dissected by Bedourie, which is about 200 kilometres from both. As there are no other towns on the road we made Bedourie our destination on Saturday and finished the journey on Sunday. On both days we arrived for a late lunch. That allowed us time to look around on our day of arrival.

The Royal Hotel Bedourie

Our last visit to Bedourie was by air, during our air tour of the area around Lake Eyre in 2011. The first night of the tour was spent at the historic Royal Hotel at Bedourie. Licensee Jim Smith had provided hospitality beyond the call of duty, so we called to see him. Sadly he was away in Mt. Isa. But we, as the only customers, got talking to the young lady behind the bar. Clearly she was a northern European back packer.

The part of main street at Bedourie

We mentioned that while here, we had visited nearby Cluny Station. That led her to tell us that she had been at a party at Cluny the previous night. Soon other party participants arrived. I could see another party starting, so we said our farewells and departed but with a bit more knowledge of life in this remote town.

A bridge over one of the channels of the Georgina River

The terrain between Boulia and Birdsville is flat, with few hills. It is the quintessential land of rolling plains. A little less than half way to Bedourie we crossed the Georgina River, which with the Diamantina, drains the north west area of Queensland, ultimately running into Lake Eyre. For most of the way to Bedourie the river and its flood plains were to our left, a never ending swathe of green, mostly treeless plain but with the normal growth of trees along the river.

The marker for the Tropic of Capricorn sits by the road where it crosses a treeless plain

I mentioned a post or two ago about explorer Major Sir Thomas Mitchell and his exploration of the area. One of his discoveries was vast areas of treeless plains covered with natural grasses. The most prominent of the grasses was named in his honour, Mitchell grass. The plains over which we were driving are Mitchell grass plains. This type of treeless country accounts for about 14% of Queensland’s land area.

The official marker for the Vaughan Johnson Lookout overlooks Diaimantina flood plains

On the border between Boulia and Diamantina Shires (Diamantina Shire is based on Bedourie), right by the road, is the most prominent hill of the trip. At the summit the councils have built a rest and information area. It is named after and was opened by Hon. Vaughan Johnson, now retired, but a long time member for the Queensland state seat of Gregory and a former government minister.

The steep climb to the lookout

I don’t want to over work the word but the view is magnificent. Through an arc of about 270 degrees the view is over flood plains, now green from recent rain. From this vantage point it is easy to believe that this area was once an inland sea. Equally interesting are the six double sided information boards that provide historical and environmental information. In a protective cage a piece of road building equipment used on the original road is now on display.

The old causeway over King Creek south of Bedourie

Bedourie is partially surrounded by Eyre Creek, a waterway that follows the road that we were on, now the Eyre Developmental Road, for some distance. A variety of water birds can be sighted at Cuttaburra Waterhole beside the road. The stream finally crosses the road for the last time, a little further south at Cuttaburra Crossing, before heading through a couple of lakes and into the desert, to then run south again to its final destination at Lake Eyre.

The main channel of Eyre Creek near Glengyle Station

The main channel of Eyre at Cutta Burra crossing

Diamantina Shire describes its municipality as “Where the Desert Meets the Channel Country”. This is an apt description. The further south the less frequent the lush green of newly growing grass and the more frequent becomes the expenses of red gravel, sand and clay patches and the scrubby salt bush type vegetation that dominates in these regions. And then, of course, there is the increased frequency of sand dunes, partially covered with vegetation, that stretch from one horizon to the other.

The sealed road crosses a sand dune south of Bedourie

The road was good. There is now only eight kilometres of unsealed road north of Bedourie and a bit less than 80 kilometres between Bedourie and Birdsville. The unsealed sections were in good condition. Our lower than normal average speed was the result of frequent stops to take photos rather than the condition of the road.

The road over Eyre Creek at Glengyle Crossing

Lush vegetation on the flood plains of the Diamantina

Birdsville, on our arrival, seemed to be full of motor bikes. They were roaring around the streets and the caravan park most of the afternoon. It seems that some groups of bikers are crossing the Simpson Desert and have all arrived in town at once.

This morning, at Bedourie, in our caravan park, I spoke to one motor cyclist involved with a group raising funds for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS for Kids). They have two groups crossing the continent from Cape Byron in NSW to Steep Point in WA. Some will cross the Simpson Desert but others will get to Alice Springs via the Donohue and Plenty Highways. They will join up to proceed to Uluru and then cross the Great Central Road and ultimately reach Steep Point, the most westerly point in WA. Challenging stuff! They had already raised about $65,000 as they reached Birdsville

Kevin & Ruth Sheather

The Mobilesheathers – exploring Australia

Tag Archives: Bedourie

West, Centre & Flinders – Days 24 to 29 – Mt Isa and Other Things

West, Centre & Flinders – Days 22 to 23 – Enjoying Birdsville

West, Centre & Flinders – Days 20 to 21 – To Bedourie and Birdsville