Map of North Queensland showing where we have travelled during this time
A new addition for our ongoing blogs, will be a map showing exactly where we are as shown above, the yellow dots show the main towns visited in this blog.
Travelling down the Matildas Way the landsscape was dry and bushy with lots of ant hills and kytes circling overhead. Road kill was common as was the road trains which had three and four trailers behind them. Internet and tv non was existent. Aldi coverage on Debbies phone was absent for two weeks except in Cloncurry. John had switched his phone to telstra a few months back so was mostly ok.
The first section of our travels is just driving the kms to get to Quamby where we are meeting Dave and Andy who we met in SA. We are attending a rodeo at Quamby.
The next two nights were spent in a gravel pit free camps and the drive down the Matilda Hwy we past so many ant hills it was unbelievable.
In Quamby we set up and saved a spot for Andy and Dave and the next two nights enjoyed their company with lots of talk about travels and drones.
The rodeo was an amateur event but fun with lots of different events with horses, cows and bull-buck riding.
But the funniest event was the donkeys. This event contestants had to run out and put on a poncho and a sombrero run 150 metres and scull tequila then run back and ride a donkey. Some come out back to front with their legs around its neck and lying flat with their head at its rear. Watching the donkey buck and the girls holding on was hilarious.
Another event the girls wore beer googles that make everything look upside down and you see four of everything. They had to run around poles, drums and kick a ball. The glasses making them miss the poles and step high .
The night was back at camp listening to Luke Geiger playing music at the rodeo grounds till midnight.
Video of rodeo below
A hot sunny morning Dave cooked us some of his homemade cheese and bacon bread …Yum…before we left to Cloncurry. Here in Cloncurry we didn’t spend time sightseeing as we plan to come back this way next year we just did washing and shopping and got water for the next journey east along the Overlanders Way.
Julia Creek
A free camp by the creek
We left the van attached to the car and scootered into the info centre which had excellent videos and displays on the area.
It discussed how their water comes from the artisan basin via bores and how their use has changed to make water more sustainable with piping and not just the water pouring out and evaporating. The water is piped to the town water tower and is 50 deg so is cooled before use, unlike us on the coast that received cool water and heat it for showers etc. Annual rain fall is just 400 mls per year but the artisan basin has 75 million million litres all within the rock formations underground.
The Julia creek dunnart is one of three types of dunnarts and is native to this area. It stores fat in its tail for survival in dry periods and its diet of insects provide water as well. They have eight babies with a 13 day gestation twice a year. The centre had one and we watched the little mouse like creature eat his meal.
Other videos discussed the Open downs country with its black soil plains in the McKinley shire that opens to savannah plains ,timber areas and down to a limestone ridge in the south of the shire.
Sheep were once grazed here but now it is mostly cattle and properties sizes have grown to cater for this change of farming.
The pub in town had a nice beer garden which we checked out and then it was back to the camp where we chatted to our neighbour who was also our neighbour in Cloncurry. John had fixed their aerial for them and wanted to give him a beer for his job well done. Below a photo in Julia Creek.
Next day after trying unsuccessfully to get a Pfizer jab, we set up on the outskirts of town using the genie to power the fridges which were struggling in the heat before driving along a roller coast hwy to
Richmond
After many hot days and warm nights just under the sheet we woke to a cool windy day in the free camp here in Richmond.
We did the usual info centre spending two and half hours in the Kronosausus centre looking at the marine dinosaurs fossil exhibition and DVD.
110 million years ago this dry area was a inland sea called the Eromanga sea that covered about one third of the Australian continent. The interesting fact is that scientists think with climate change that this area will be a sea again in the future, now the area is very dry.
The Kronosaursus was classed as the king of the sea and up to 11 metres long and the largest sea predator with a bite twice as strong as a crocodile and saw full size models of molluscs and Kunbarrsaursus fossils that were on display.
We had lunch by Fred Tritton lake and left town after visiting the Cambridge Downs heritage display. See video below
The road to Hughenden was the worse bitumen road we have ever driven on in all our travels with lumps bumps and roll coaster driving most of the way. Parts felt like you were driving on jelly and both us and the four trailer trucks were bobbing everywhere, So dangerous and a disgrace to the Qld government. The country side was dry and flat.
Hughenden
We caught up with Dave and Andy again in this free camp for two nights. We stayed here for an extra two nights after they left.
Dave and John put the yabbie nets in the Dam across the road with a lot of success over the few days, about 30 keepers over three nights for us and same for Dave.
The first day was a windy day but still John and I scootered along the flinders river which is currently dry and viewed some of the sculptures along the way including the Comet windmill.
See scooter video below, the music on this clip is the theme music from the 1970,s Benny Hill comedy Show, for those old enough to remember
then into town for lunch at the FJ Holden and Elvis cafe
Followed by the Info centre and the Muttaburrasaursus Skelton. This dinosaur roamed the are of Hughenden and fossils found in this area are 130 million years old.
The centre had a video on porcupine gorge which told the history of the development of the rock and sediment formations from 500 million years ago and on, up to lava eruptions 5 mill years ago giving a basalt layer on the top. The river then craved the gorge though the layers in the rocks, the layers visible when we visited the gorge. See the gorge further down.
Then it was off for a scooter around town to see Mutt , the 🦕 replica and the windmill rotunda sculpture which celebrates federation in 1901 and is the main feature of the main street and other art work featuring dinosaurs,
Then around the the lake ending with a stop at the Coolabah tree and surveyors peg. The tree blazed when a party of men were looking for Burke and Wills and the peg used to survey the Hughenden area. Pic above.
Mt walker lookout 10 kms from town provided a lovely sunset and 7 metal window point looking out on the 360 deg scenery. We went with Dave and Andrea finishing with a sausage bbq.
Porcupine gorge 75km north of Hughenden was spectacular and was seen from two points
The lookout into the deep valley below
And the pyramid and the more open area of the gorge viewed from the campsite area. The pyramid showing the rock layers and the gorge a sandstone base with swimming areas and deep holes, one 14 ft deep.
A 1.1 km walk down allowed a closer look at the valley which John completed, me stopping part of the way down when it got too steep. I was a chicken and John said afterwards that I could of easily of done the climb as well.
After wards a quick look at Native well before back to the van, on our return stopping at whistling bore and Ebony and Ivory a black and a white tree intertwined together.
We left Hughenden for the journey to Charters Towers with a overnight stop at Prairie pub. A small town that was really not much more than the pub but provided a lovely meal with the company of 5 other couples all using the free camp facility here. It was full of memorabilia especially old stockmans hats, saddles and mannequins. The old dining room quaint and also full of old things. A pub with real character that even has a buffalo in the paddock next door.
Next blog Charters Towers
