Arrived back in ACT from
Hay River Trip last night after long drive from
Windorah.
Left Tullamarine at 0605 on 4 Oct, arrive
Brisbane about 0820. Find Macair terminal hidden at Jetstar area. Boarding of Metro 32 delayed due to 'technical ' issue with aircraft. First leg to
Charleville takes 1.5 hrs. Scheduled 20 minutes on ground stretches to 40. Same at
Quilpie and
Windorah. Arrive
Birdsville 1520. Mates in vehicles pretty toey so I leap aboard my own Landy as passenger and we head west.
Traffic jam at bigred with many vehicles heading E (trying to at least). We
camp somewhere in QLD at dusk. $89 taxi ride to airport that morning seems a long way away. Almost no flies! Next morning its Poeppel Oil
Well and north to Beachcomber oil
well. Heading NE along the shot line from here we turn left at the white marker then head N along the swale. Dry country vegetation starts to show some small trees, then a discernible river bed with bigger trees, then a massive wide river bed with huge river gums.
We pass two other parties heading S. A short poke along Madigans Line just to see what its like. Weather pleasantly warm.
Finally reach
Batton Hill Camp. Lindsay away somewhere. Have shower and press on. Fuel at Jervois. Plenty Hwy in good nick but two roll overs in last week resulting in serious injuries.
Donoghue in excellent nick. Turn R at Glenormiston for Cravens Peak station.
http://www.bushheritage.org.au/our_reserves/state_queensland Met by Len and Jo on arrival. Impressive lightning display before brief storm at sunset.
Next day we tour property (233,000 Ha). 88km from house to W
boundary. See 25,000 year old aborinal rock etchings. Bloody hot - 46 degrees despite BOM chart
http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/silo/temp_maps.cgi. Visit Cunnamunka
waterhole. This is unforgettable. In the midst of typical Simpson dune country is a large fresh
water lake about a meter deep. Magnificent swim.
Next morning head south along shot line through Carlo Station to Ethabuka
http://www.bushheritage.org.au/our_reserves/state_queensland. Welcomed by managers Scott and Sajidah. Tour of NE part of property (214,000 Ha) in afternoon. Visit Pulchera
Waterhole next morning. Again, unforgettable swimming in deep
freshwater lake in middle of desert.
Depart for
Bedourie and
Windorah. Hotel in
Windorah is magic. $40 a night. Helped blind man at garage repair a tyre. Thunderstorm display at night fall.
Fang home 1700 km next morning. Takes 17 hrs. Back at work tomorrow.
Two Discovery 2s, one with gas injection which made a vast difference to range and torque. I'll be fitting one to
mine. One 3 series. I thought they wouldn't match the D2 in the bush - wrong. With 17 inch
wheels and Cooper STTs it went everywhere the D2s went but with more comfort and ease.
No punctures in twelve tyres.
I reckon a gas injected D3 would be the ducks guts.
See
http://www.bushheritage.org.au if you want a bit of bush of your own.