Hi all
Just back from up north. Headed back across from
Townsville to
Winton,
Boulia,
Plenty highway, Gemtree and the Alice. Few interesting pointers for anyone heading that way.
The caravan
park in
Winton (first one you come to from
Hughenden) puts on a great entertainment every night. Local poet, come comedian sits around the campfire and does some great Australian poems for 2 hrs, all for a gold coin donation. It was a great night but thought that the many who seemed to to grow short arms and long pockets at the end of the night were a bit mean.
Lark Quarry stampede makes you realise we have only been around for a very short while. We went cross country from Lark towards
Boulia and good raods across stations. Saves going back to
Winton.
Min min show at the
Boulia Info centre was really good. I am always a bit dubious of these manafactured events but this one was a beauty, excellent value for $9.
Plenty highway itself look easy but below the surface, the rocks are sharp. Both mate and I did a tyre, and this seems to be common for most travellers. So if heading that way, I would carry and extra tyre. Jervois can do repairs but if like me the trre is stuffed, there have a very limited range of tyres as expected.
The surprise.
Well we intended to fossick for gemstones behind Mt Hart
police station. Headed to the race course where people
camp but it was fairly grotty so thought we would
bush camp further along the road to the gemstones. Imagine our surprise about 2 k further on the track when we came across a brand new
bush camp ground, solar showers,
toilets, fires,
water, all in a lovely mountain ampitheatre. No signs to tell you anything, no signs on the Highway, no name on the campground, just everything there. Naturally we were the only 4 people there.
Had a great night and found a few specimens. Had a look ad the NT fossicking guide on the web and it shows the campground as the
Spotted Tiger Campground named after the
bore nearby. If you are heading across the Plenty, make sure you stop here, its about 2-3 km past the Harts Range racecourse. Asked a lot of people and no one in the area could tell us much about who built it or who runs it. Thought we were in Brigadoon!
One other campground to recommend. Coming back from Port a Gutter, we headed through Horricks Pass and stayed at
Melrose camping ground. It was cold night so managers supplied us with fire drum, kindling, wood, paper, though they might be going to
cook tea as
well!! Cleanest, neatest
park ever stayed in, free fire great amenities and all for $10. Can't get better than that. It was B cold though, the hose from the
water tank to the sink was frozed solid next morning
Hope these bits might be useful to others heading away
cheers