Savannah Way

28 July

Set off early from Kingfisher camp as we had a long drive ahead to get to King Ash Bay, our next night’s stop.

First stop along the way – Hell’s Gate Road house. Fuel even more expensive here $199.5 cents a litre!!!!


Several interesting river crossings,

lots more dirt and corrugations, over the border into the northern territory where the road did improve slightly, two cyclists heading from Mt Garnet(south of Cairns) to Broome!!! and this eagle that was not disturbed by our presence...

A few quick phone calls as we pass through Borroloola and on to King Ash Bay a small fishing enclave on the banks of the MacArthur river.

Lazy dinner of fish at the local club (wasn’t even local fish as we found out later!!)

Girls at the gates

23 July

After a day of R and R with Bob and Sue we packed up and moved on to Gregory Downs, stopping off at the Cloncurry library on the way through, to use the internet for emails etc.
Passed through a few locust storms along the way
Gregory Downs was an expensive fuel fill up ($1.69) and a nights camping a little way back from the river away from the crowds. We didn’t manage to find the idyllic spot that David had suggested until further exploration up river the next morning

24 and 25 July

The road was dry and dusty with quite a few passing road trains.
Next stop Lawn Hill where we camped at Adels Grove just outside Lawn Hill National Park, as there aren’t very many camping sites available at Lawn Hill (20) and we hadn’t pre-booked. Adels Grove was commercial, quite busy and expensive $16 per person per night + 3% for card! but pretty and we scored a nice shady spot not far from the creek.
We used Adels Grove as a base to go to Lawn Hill and we were glad we did as Adels Grove was more sheltered with more facilities. Lawn Hill Park itself was magical though – we went on several walks in the morning including the cascades, the Island Stack and Wild Dog Dreaming,

and then did a 2 hr canoe trip up the Lawn Hill Creek to the Upper Gorge carrying the canoes over to the top of Indarri falls

Spotted a beautiful red winged parrot.

Sebastian Maio bought Lawn Hill as a property and bequeathed the pieces he could not use to the government for National Park. Maio is apparently a rich Brazilian, who came to Australia, could not speak English, and hired a Sydney taxi driver to interpret and drive him around properties for him to buy!
The Lawn Hill creek as it was 15 million years ago had calcite deposits that formed like scum on the top of the water. When it accumulated it sank to the bottom and solidified trapping things in it and formed something called tufa.

This is one wild river. The Gregory was obviously a big river too but the banks less scoured as the gums bound the banks better. The Lawn Hill creek seemed like a devastation zone!
By climbing up surrounding hills at both Adels Grove and Lawn Hill we were able to get a phone signal, thanks to the nearby century copper mine, and were able to make a few phone calls such as to Chasely to wish her a happy 5th birthday.

26 July

Quick trip to Riversleigh the World Heritage Australian fossil mammal site before packing up and heading north. At Riversleigh we went on an 800 m self guided tour of what they called “D Site”, fascinating as to how they could make out whole animals from the fragments of bone in the rock. This is apparently part of a gulf snapping turtle.

Next on to the Savannah Way to Kingfisher Camp. Not a big distance but fairly slow going. Lots of gates to open and close,

some interesting river crossings

lots of bulldust, black cockatoos flying overhead, and an emu with her baby chicks,

finally reaching the oasis of Kingfisher Camp at 6pm. Because we are by now getting quite expert at setting up camp it didn’t faze us that the sun was already on its way down when we arrived.

27 July

This is such a magical place that we decided to have a lay day. Repack the cars; pack away all our cold things – its 38.5 deg in the tent! And generally catch up with letters, photos, etc and enjoy the environment by bushwalking, canoeing in the Nicholson river, where John spotted a crocodile and relaxing.

On the road again tomorrow for Borroloola and King Ash Bay so hope we can do some blog updating from there.........

Out of Range

We have been out of range for a few days now, hence the gap in postings. However I am now sitting in a rest area just outside Borroloola where we do have a signal so am able to update the blog

Oasis

22 July 2010

Bob and Sue made us very welcome on their property, where we set up camp on their back lawn. John mentioned that he had seen a black circular structure on Google earth and enquired as to what it was. In the morning Bob drove us to Kuridala, where there was a black circular slag heap some 400 metres across formed by dumping of slag from a railway track run around the outside of the heap. Kuridala was an old copper mining town with 30 pubs established in 1911 with the mine decommissioned in 1920 after the world copper price collapsed after world war1.

Mystery explained.

We decided to stay an extra night at Bob and Sue’s so we spent the afternoon catching up on washing, cleaning and generally tidying up our campers.

Across the Plains

21 July 2010

Early departure from Kynuna after being treated to a magnificent sunrise over the plains, because we had decided to stop off at McKinlay for a hearty breakfast.

Met a few truckies there that were carting lead and zinc from Cannington to Yurbi in Cannington Icons (Innovative Combination of the North).

Next we headed north along the Gidyea Bug Byway to look at Malvie Downs where John grew up.





Then on to the Flinders highway where we had to move right off the road for this to pass!!!!!!!!!



Stop off in The Curry to catch up with David Monaghan and lunch by the river then to Brightlands for the night

Matilda My Darling

20 July 2010...

Beautiful sunrise near the Darr river between a road and a railway line in the mulga scrub dotted with itinerant travellers.

Then off to Winton passing component of the NBN project

a loan tractor driving over the downs laying blue fibre optic cable next to a dinosaur sign.

In Winton 4 children played at the musical fence.

4 being exposed to 64 versions of that song at the Waltzing Matilda Centre. No we weren't at the Matilda Hotel for those watching us on tracker.

Mad dash to the Blue Heeler at Kynuna before the hordes arrived. First impression of the park a bit disappointing but we found a shady grove down the back where we set up and were soon serenaded in close proximity by three brolgas

and were rewarded by another beautiful sunset over the open plains, the eastern sky was flecked with red cloud while the sun sank silhouetting the corrugated iron sheds in the west.

No mobile phone signal at Kynuna and no time yesterday at Cloncurry so postings a bit late.

Up Up and Away

Most of our day was spent at the Qantas Founders Museum as it was so interesting. John went on the tours of the 707 and the 747 whilst the rest of us spent time looking at all the exhibits, and finding out about the restoration of the first 707 that Qantas bought. The restoration was done in about 6 months by volunteer crew and flown to Australia from Southend in England where it was discovered.

There was only enough time for us to do a quick shop before finding someone to set up camp for the night.

We had planned to camp in Longreach on the banks of the Thomson River but when we arrived it was dreadful – dry, dusty and packed with caravans lined up like a saleyard, so we decided to head on out west towards Winton and stop at Macsland rest area. What a contrast – beautiful peaceful bush setting and we can’t see or hear anyone else in the campsite.

Strike me Pink

The day started at Blackall with the first labour parliamentarian in Queensland elected from the Barcoo area after the 1891 shearer strike

and finished with the Tree of Knowledge in Barcaldine, another labour icon associated with that shearer’s strike.

The interim however was an exploration of commercial realities of the wool industry in looking at the only remaining steam powered wool scour in Australia – well worth a visit.

We also saw a memorial to Jackie Howe the wool shearer (who also sponsored TJ Ryan) and visited a rather magnificent old Masonic Hall in Blackall.

Finally we are camped in a grey Nomad enclave at Lloyd Jones weir on the Alice River 15 kms out of Barcaldine where some people have been here for months!!!

In Hot Water

Early start to the day, worth getting up early though for a beautiful sunrise.


Very cold again minus 1.9, but we soon warmed up at the artesian spa. So nice we were reluctant to get out, hence a delayed departure from Mitchell.

We are now in Blackall, camped cheek by jowl but they had a camp oven dinner that we joined in with having been entertained by a bushie folk singer

Good news re the tracker - it is now working John RTFMed :-)

Brisbane to ....

Minus 2 degrees

We left Brisbane rather belatedly at 11:30 am on Thursday 15 July so we only made Toowoomba by lunch time. Lunched at Picnic Point where it was very windy and cold.









We then spent quite some time driving around Toowoomba trying to find a locksmith to get keys cut as John had inadvertently left his keys at home.



Hence we only made it as far as Jondaryan Woolshed for the night. Bitterly cold but fortunately someone had lit a nice warm fire.

We met up here with the Morts and Ray who were on their way back from the Kimberleys but had struck car troubles in Bowenville.
They gave us lots of tips of where to go and what to see.

Slow going this morning from Jondaryan too cold to move fast.

Lunched at Drillham Creek, quick stop at Roma for refuelling and visit to the winery then on to Neil Turner Weir at Mitchell for the night.

For anyone following us on Spot - there seems to be an issue with it that John is trying to resolve. It doesn't appear to be tracking us as it should be.

Not quite on our way yet

Our scheduled date of departure has slipped a day. All being well we should be heading off on Thursday 15 July, heading for Longreach and Cloncurry.

You should be able to follow where we are because we will be using a satellite tracker which will show where we have been over the last seven days on a Google map on the web. The tracker sends out a signal every quarter hour or so when we have it switched on. If you are interested you can see where we have been at the following link after we leave:

http://tinyurl.com/Kimberly2010

Password: Cootha

We expect to have internet and mobile phone access in most big towns but plan to be out in the 'sticks' quite a lot of the time. So if you want to contact us we will eventually pick up emails and SMS messages. You can phone when we are in an area with Telstra NextG coverage.
If you have sent us a message and we don't answer you for a while it may be because we are out of range.
There is a website to check coverage at http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/maps/mcm/broadband.html#