Well - we set off on 2 June this year for the outer reaches of Qld - wanted to look for opals as
well as see a lot more of this great country.
Headed up through
Jerilderie (from
Melbourne) - on to
Bourke - what a depressing town that is - apart from Kidman
Camp which is trerrific. Cunamulla - then across towards
Yowah to look for the famous
Yowah nut. We stayed in the Artesian Waters CP - pretty basic - but power, shower and
toilet - all
bore water straight from the
bore - which was just near the CP shop/office - the
shop is only open for a couple of hours a day - they have lots of stock - and the people come from everywhere on Wednesday morning when the truck carrying mail and new supplies (including fresh bread) arrives - I think it comes in Friday as
well.
Ian at the CP puts on a dinner of a Wednesday night - $13 - 3 courses - soup, corned beef & veggies - apple turnover and fresh cream - yum!! Good company from lots of the locals is a bonus as a lot of them come too.
Anyway from there to
Quilpie - Channel Country CP - typical outback town - wide streets - very spread out - can get just about anything in either of the two supermarkets - which aren't in the main drag - but down the back on a corner - one near the school. Good
bakery - the lady who has it is an ex world champion shearer - pub - opal shops, of course - newsagent - coup;le of other shops as
well.
The CP was run by Gina and Noel and their two kids - the atmosphere at this CP is just like being at
home - the campfire burns 24 hours - happy hour every day - sometimes with
camp oven damper - campfire dinner - lots of poetry read mostly by Gina - mostly very funny - and she puts on a great show - we were there over the June long weekend - and come 11:45 am Saturday - the town closes up - the pub is open but not much else - no fuel unless you want to pay $10 surcharge per car for them to open up. But we had a great time - one place I would definitely go back to.
Quilpie to
Longreach -via
Windorah -
Jundah and
Stonehenge - good road, apart from about 14 k unmade just before
Toompine pub. Stayed at
Stonehenge 1 night - just a small gravelled
parking area with one power pole - 4 plugs - good shower and
toilets - pub -
Longreach - Gunnadoo CP - there is
free camping out on the Thompson River - which looked pretty ok - town has just about anything you oneed - good
bakery - went to the Qantas museum -terrific.
Longreach to
Winton -
Good road - not far so we decided to head straight out to
Opalton - 123 mostly dirt road - good condition -
Opalton Outpost is the only thing to alert you to the fact that you are actually there - some rought dwellings in the town and the outpost has unpowered camping out the back - shower and
toilet - they also have some dongas you can stay in - but it is all a bit unorganised - information wise as to where to go etc - anyway the day we arrived was beautiful - sunny, warm night though we had a fire - next morning 6:30 am - the skies opened up - we drove around a bit and got a couple of bits of colour - but really too wet to do much
fossicking - waited till lunch time and then decided to leave as we didn't have time to get caught out there - took almost 3 hours to do the return trip - lots of water over the road, and very, very slippery - apparently some blokes got bogged 6 times but they must have gone off the road onto the side - and maybe were travelling too fast.
Into
Winton - motel for the night - dinner at the RSL next door - next day into CP and put camper up to dry out - had a ook around the town - another town where the shops are spread out - the
bakery is down a road behind a house - interesting!
Winton -
Hughenden
- wanting to go out to Porcupine
Gorge - but the road was closed due to rain - some people had been stranded in t here for a couple of days - se waited, but the rain started up again - so couldn't get there - however the museum at the
visitors centre is excellent value for about $3.50 each - full size dinaseour(??) skeleton, dvds to watch, lots of artifacts etc - really gives a good idea of what it would have been like.
Hughenden - Charters Towers - rained all the way - stayed in a cabin as it was just too wet to put camper up - Charters Towers Caravan Park - fantastic cabin - better than some motels we've stayed at.
Charters Towers -
Emerald
via
Clermont - another typical outback town.
Emerald - CP pretty full - we got last powered site - regrouped, dried out, washed clothes - bit of shopping etc.
Had been raining there - so
gemfields were too wet to do much
fossicking - so went to a gem
shop and did a bucket - got a bag of wash to bring
home.
Emnerald down to Caloundra - on the
home stretch now - son lives in Caloundra - raining - again!! -
Heading south now - past
Ipswich -
Kalbar where daugher and son-in-law and four grandsons live - camped in their back yard -
Headed for
home - stayed in cabins -
home on 2 July
A pretty enjhoyable month - apart from rain - seen parts of the country we had never been before - some
places we will go back to again - some we won't.
jules