Category Archives: Queensland

Queensland

The Brook – The Final Weeks

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After the past massive week we had just accomplished, we were ready to have a lazy weekend around the homestead.  The farmer had advised us of a waterhole only a stones throw away which could be a nice day trip.  Packing a small lunch we went exploring.  After an hour of walking we came across the creek and what we had thought the waterhole was (later finding out the actual “waterhole” was still 1km past where we had gone).  Along side this beautiful place was the Basalt Wall which had been created by a local volcano.  We were careful not to venture too deep, as one could easily lose their bearings on an overcast day with the surroundings looking ever so similar.  It was indeed an amazing piece of The Brook.

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Back to our working reality, Monday-itis was slowly kicking in. The final two weeks seemed to fly by as fast as the holiday had so far.  We found ourselves in the house more regularily completing the jobs we were originally hired for.  We were still never up for a boring day, doing such a great variety of work.  From cleaning, mowing with a ride on, looking after the kids or just general handy work around the station, we were away from our standard 9 – 5 jobs and loving it!  They quickly discovered that we were seasoned painters as well and soon enough we were outside giving the school a make over with a fresh coat of paint.  We did however, only just hold back the urges of painting each other!

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As the next weekend rolled in, we were given details about the Cattlemen’s Ball in Greenvale (still over 2 hours away).  Deciding it could be fun, we packed our best flannies and went for a night out!  Totally different from what we had expected, it was still good fun.  As soon as we walked in, it seemed all eyes were on us as we were obviously not from the area.  Needless to say we made friends with some local youngsters who knew of The Brook station and with that, we partied the night away.  We also ended up being the only ones who actually camped behind the pub (making us stand out even more as tourists) as we were expecting a few swags from what was mentioned in the brochure.

Coming into the final week of work, we had really felt the last three had slipped by far too quickly.  Slowly running out of meat, the farmer was in need of a kill.  Mind you the meat before this seemed endless with delicious beef coming in all ways (even gigantic T-bone steaks!)  Lucky for us we were able to head along with the farmhand for this fascinating process.  He lead us through the complicated steps from when the cow was simply shot in the field, to the detailed process of making sure he didn’t taint the meat with any unwanted flavours.  To our suprise, he even let us skin it!  After enjoying a well earnt beer from this life changing process, we queried the farmhand in making a rug from the hide.  His response was simply “It’s very easy!  I’ll show you how to peg it out, salt it, rub it with a coarse stone and in time it will be beautiful!”  This was definitely going to be one project to remember.

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With the week wrapping up we finished the variety of small jobs around the house by playing more games with the kids and the odd handyman fix up.  By this stage we had also gained quite a loyal companion by the name of Lucky who was their farm dog that spent far more time with us than at the homestead.  Mark was even able to live another life long dream of mowing the airstrip in an old school tractor!!  The final day we were in the yard Nay was able to drive the Bacho over to the far yards (took a solid 45 mins) but sadly we both just missed a calf being born.  We watched in awe as the calf was standing and drinking milk from its mother in under an hour from birth.

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As the final day arrived there were emotions flying around from both parties.  Excitement was buzzing as we were onto the next stage of our adventure.  It was a strange feeling knowing we would probably never return or hear much from these amazing people who had let us into their homestead.  Even though we were there to work, we had gained such life experiences we could never have imagined.  So jumping in the car (with Brook the cow hide strapped to the roof rack), we were heading away from the property and had our sights on Airlie Beach where the first of our visitors were coming to see us…

Queensland

The Brook – Another Week In

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Needless to say we had a well earnt weekend ahead of us as there was no work on Saturday!  Knowing this we decided to slip back into town to do a big shop for the next two weeks and touch base with society (no reception and minimal WiFi at the station).  We also made the most of being in town and had a cute date night at the drive in movies!  Only $5 each for 2 movies, we unpacked our snacks and set up at the back.  It had a vintage feel to it as the sound from the car speakers crackled from the use of old school equipment.  To survive the movies, we had to sling the speaker provided into the car and crank it on max.  What a night we had!

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Back to The Brook the next evening we were refueled and ready for another action packed week.  On arrival we noticed our resident shower frog was having a tasty snack!  Starting with some minor cleaning jobs through the house (including Mark’s dream job of driving a ride on lawn mower) we were soon called out from the mundane scrubbing of walls, into the field.  This time heading over to the small yards (only a 2 min drive from the homestead) we found ourselves drafting another mob of cattle.  This mob was fairly fresh on the scene as we found them a bit more of a struggle to feed them through the process.  Finding ourselves in muddy, swamp like conditions with drizzle really testing our moods, the afternoon flew by as the last of the cattle were drafted.

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With fresh faces the next day we found ourselves tagging cattle before they were relocated to another paddock.  In our minds, helping the farmhand would be a breeze by simply moving the cattle through the yards – oh how wrong we were.  After demonstrating with a couple of cows, Nay was then placed on the “crusher” (a device to hold cattle in place) and Mark was on the end of the tagging mechanism.  Together we were a well oiled machine.  Once the nerves subsided from the first few inexperienced moments, the farmhand sent cattle to Renee where she held the cow in place and Mark then tagged (similar to piercing a person’s ear).  We also learned how to dehorn the more mature cows that snuck through when younger.  This prevents these horned cows dominating the mob in regards to food and water and minimizing potential injuries to humans.  We swapped places with excitement flowing through our bodies as we shared some laughs and frights, while disgruntled cattle made for some interesting moments as we tagged their ears.

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The next few days blurred by as one stayed back at the homestead and the other took the ranger out with the farmers to muster more cattle.  In this scenario, it was an entirely different world to the week before.  Being the only driver in the ranger, lead to quick decision making as our ears were glued to the cb radio awaiting the next order.  Driving through unchartered terrain with grass almost 3ft tall in some places, was one hell of an experience.  Nay came back with stories of running over a coil of barbed wire laying camolagued in the grass which caused all types of complications.  To make matters worse a couple of hours later, she ended up with a puncture over 30mm in diameter.   Upon pulling over, Nay discovered that she had ran over a tree root approximately 150mm long and 30mm wide and had to yank it out of the tyre.  Mark had a small chuckle after these stories were shared. Lucky for him, his mustering experience the following day lead to no misfortunes.  He still had a fantastic day to remember as he burnt through the unknown terrain mustering the mob of cattle and chasing after cheeky cows that wanted to go astray.  Each evening led to stories being swapped as the one who was left cleaning at home could only live vicariously through the stories of the musterer that day.

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As the week was winding up, we had one final day of drafting cattle in the far yards.  Being pumped for a friday, moods soaring, the day began with some wild and cranky cattle.  The kids of the farmer had joined us in the yards for the day and helped move them while also using the fences as a jungle jim.  Moods were slowly dropping as dark clouds were rolling in and cows were less obedient (in a handful of cases we were having to sprint up fences as we were charged!)  Churning through the 1200 head of cattle we finally made it to the end.  One last job of moving them to another paddock and we were clocked off for the day.  If only it was that easy.  Driving in an old Cruiser with no driver door and minimal brakes, a storm came rolling in to really ruin a Friday evening.  By 5:30pm we were dirty, muddy and stunk with a variety of scents on us.  A slow cruise back in the ranger with an icy chill blowing in and mud flapping through the windowless doors, we were spent.  So pleased it was the weekend we were in bed early and keen for a rest…

Queensland

The Brook – The Beginning

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As the morning blew by in Charters Towers, we found ourselves down a dirt road with all eyes pealed for a little street sign, “The Brook”.  Making our way to the homestead we were faced with two houses and not knowing which was the boss man’s.  Nerves pumping with a flow of excitement we saw the farmer emerge from the nearest house to introduce himself.  From here we went inside for a yarn and a coffee where he introduced us to the rest of his family.  With his three kids in tow we were shown around our quarters for the next month.  With basic amenities, a shed with a freezer and sink for a kitchen, it was perfect for what we needed.

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Arriving on Thursday, it felt fantastic to slip into a day (and a half day saturday) working week to kick things off.  We spent the Friday with a small induction and got into some general cleaning around the house.  We were also introduced to feeding the Wieners, which are teenage cows that are being wiened off their mums.  The kids who were keen to show us everything, rushed us over to the ranger (a small 4×4 ute) and took us out to feed these small juvenile animals.  The half day Saturday lead us to cleaning out a water tank that was full of grime and sludge.  As we both got stuck into scraping out the last of the gunk, we thought we were filthy.  Unknowingly, we had far dirtier days ahead!

A relaxing rainy sunday followed before we were thrown in the deep end with cattle.  He lead us out to some yards (later known as the far yards) which were a solid 30 minute trip from the homestead in the ranger.  Asking how big his station was, he answered with “52,000 acres”.  From this now small drive to the far yards, we knew we hadn’t even touched the sides of his land and the mind was struggling to get a grasp on how large a farm we’d landed on.  Upon arrival, he took us through an induction from how to walk with cattle, a bit about the yards and the process of weighing and drafting (sorting cattle out into types).  He dropped us in a pen with a few hundred cattle and we began processing them before we knew it.  What a thrill it was to move the herd through each pen all the way to the weighing bay.  This was only the beginning.

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Later this week we had two of his neighbours drop in to help for a big muster.  Leaving the homestead at 6:00am, adrenaline was pumping for what the day had in stall for us!  Finishing our processing from the previous day, we later headed over to the paddocks where the others had set off to muster the main mob.  At this stage our world was spinning, coming to the realisation of where we were and slowly closing in behind and around us was nothing short of 3000 cattle.  It was something we’d only seen on tv.  Thrown straight into the deep end again we were asked to help muster the back half of the mob in the ranger.  Having little knowledge, it wasn’t a suprise when the cattle (swear they knew we were freshies) decided to break out of the group and stapeded straight around us.  With all the comotion we heard the farmer shout over the CB “Quick!  Drive behind them before they all break out!”  Moving into action we threw the ranger into gear as fast as we could and zoomed behind the line to pull them back with the rest of the mob.

Once coming into a laneway section of the farm we slowly moved the cattle along to the direction of the yards for drafting.  At this stage the calves were becoming tired and dropped toward the back of the mob losing their mums.  With a little one deciding to give up and jump the fence, the farmer was quick to lift the barbed wire and shoot under on his 2 wheeler.  After capturing the calf, he then slung the young one over his knees to ride back to us and drop him in the ranger at our feet.  A second one gave up and Mark was instructed to run over and pick him up and carry him back to the ranger for him to enjoy the trip with his other mate!  There was even a moment where Nay was in the ranger by herself with these two trouble makers and while trying to apply the brakes, a calf had its hoof on the accelarator!  As this happened, the other one had his hoof and head tied in behind the gear stick and slammed the ranger into neutral. Once all cattle were in the yards we went through the process of drafting this enormous mob.

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After a restful smoko with fruitcake and billy tea, it was into a full on afternoon of drafting.  With the main boss man and his two neighbours, the five of us worked like dogs.  We felt it such a privalige to be among three experienced stockmen, being able to watch them in action.  We began with yarding up, drafting into particular groups, and then in the final hours, Nay was gathering calves into the branding area and Mark was helping the farmer hold the calves still. That afternoon we branded over 120 calves.  As the sun set on that friday afternoon, the yards emptied and the workers were cruising back to the comforting homestead.  Beers were cracked over a debrief of the weeks events and we savoured that first crisp drop of beer as it was well earnt after a massive week past.

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Queensland

A hidden tableland leading to an unexpected destination

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The morning after our massive hike at Carnarvon was fairly painful to say the least.  Sitting up in bed the muscles were aching and the legs weren’t too keen to carry us.  This didn’t stop us from looking over some pamphlets to discover the Blackdown Tablelands weren’t too far away and had already been recommended.  Arriving into the National Park early afternoon and bodies still very weary, we decided to have a lazy afternoon and take on the two short walks we had lined up the next day.  Having to pre-book our campsite at the Munall Campground, we decided number 9 looked good.  Upon arrival we discovered that someone had taken our spot, so instead we moved onto 13 as there were plenty of free sites.  Having fully set up and just starting a fire, we noticed a couple of vehicles slowing as they were approaching us.  Murphy’s law, with soooo many free campsites still unoccupied, we had unknowingly relocated into this groups pre-booked site.  Old mate grumpy pants was quick to have a go at us and threatened to call the ranger to have us moved.  It wasn’t until his wife calmly said “Lets just go to another site, there’s plenty around”.  The rest of the night was peaceful.

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The next day lead to a quiet, simple 2km walk with more Aboriginal heritage.  Information boards were scattered with knowledge of how they used the land and various plants in day to day life, such as grinding seads off wattle flowers to create flour for cooking.  We even came across a fence from old stock yards that were ingeniously crafted into the tree.  After this leisurely walk we headed south in the Tablelands to the Gudda Gumoo track for a lookout.  A short 1.9km to the lookout and we had breathtaking views over the national park.  From this point there was another section with 240 steps that lead to the Rainbow Falls.  Still a little sore from the other day, we clumbered down to see how magnificant they were.  We both agreed afterwards that these were by far the most stunning waterfalls we’d ever come across.  Crisp, fresh water cascading down numorous cliff edges into a pool of clear water, plus it had a sandy river bed!  Not knowing we were able to swim, we hadn’t brought bathers.  As we couldn’t miss this opportunity we stripped down into our jocks and went for a dip!  Having had a blast, the consequences of a commando walk back to the carpark, was well worth it.  We would definitely recommend the Blackdown Tablelands to anyone whe finds themselves in the area.

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Unfortunately, we had to keep moving on from here as we had found ourselves on a rather tight schedule.  A few days earlier, we had decided we’d reached a stage where we were ready for a short working gig.  Nay trawling over Gumtree, had stumbled across an ad for a “Home help and Gardener” position on The Brook station 2 hrs from Charters Towers.  Knowing this could be an in for some cattle work with a little cleaning on the side, we applied.  Less than two days later, we’d recieved a call from the station owner who said “You fellas sound great!”.  After working out the minor details, he was keen to take us on for 3-4 weeks.  The commencement date needed to be within 5 days as he was about to muster his 4000+ cattle. 

We were now having to make some distance back and bunkered down at Bedford Wier (45 mins north of Blackwater).  Luckily we only stayed here for a night, as our running theme of unwanted neighbours continued.  While enjoying the sunset at the wier with a delicious goon cab sav, a group of 3 men set up camp only 5m from us in a spacious paddock. Waking up this next morning, we had one of the laborious days of driving ahead of us.  Squeezing in the Tablelands meant a solid 6 hours of road trip classics. Nay occasionally napped, many licorice allsorts and party mix lollies consumed, before finally finding ourselves in Charter’s Towers.  A phone call to the station lead to the owner suggesting a night in town to arrive at his station with fresh faces the next morning.  We both had a restless sleep from excitement and nerves, for the next day we were to wake as farm hands and work at a station in Central Queenland!!

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Queensland

One hell of a trip through Carnarvon…

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As we weren’t able to camp at the actual Carnarvon Gorge Campground outside of school holidays, meant an early wake up from Nuga Nuga.  Burning down the highway we were finding ourselves closing in on Carnarvon as our surrounds were becoming that of a rainforest.  Now, the days hike ahead was no simple feat.  A 9.7km one way track lead to the furthest point of interest, the “Big Bend” and along this track there were several other fun filled landmarks to see along the way.  Quick calculations demonstrated that this walk was going to be over 22km (seeing all sights) and surely one to remember!  With our bags packed full of food for the trek ahead, we psyched ourselves up and made our way along the first river crossing into the Gorge.

Into a Moss Garden and onto the Amphitheatre
3.2km into our journey we came across our first turnoff, the Moss Garden.  Temperatures pleasantly dropping we found ourselves in a magical lagoon where all we heard was water trickling from the sandstone formations.  This garden is solely created by the mass of sandstone in which rainwater slowly penetrates until reaching solid rock and is forced out of the gorge wall.  The process of water flowing from the wall creates a mossy covered sanctuary where we found ourselves in.  A further 1.2km along the track and we came to a steep climb of stairs through which a tiny crack in a sandstone wall gave a greatness to behold – a natural occuring amphitheatre.  Over thousands of years through erosion water had created this hidden wonder.  During times of flash floods, the amphitheatre acts as a giant washing machine on spin cycle and with the subsiding water, all the contents are thrown out through the entrance.

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An Art Gallery like no other
With a total of only 4.3km down, we had made it to our third turnoff.  Not knowing what to expect from an art gallery in the gorge, we found ourselves quite lucky to experience this rich Aboriginal history.  An entire wall was covered with a plathora of detailed Aboriginal stenciling.  These included a range of stencils of hands, fishing nets, weapons of both Aboriginal and Europeans and even dark evil spirits from the dreamtime.  We stumbled across a visitors book which we quickly discovered the pen didn’t work and unfortunately couldn’t leave a memo.  Lucky for us someone had already written what we were thinking! After a late morning tea at this unique art gallery and only a quarter into the journey we continued deeper into the gorge.

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To the Big Bend!
From the art gallery, our ever changing surroundings became denser and more overgrown and at every rivercrossing it was a gamble on which stepping stone to take along the unmarked path.  This also lead to finding a vine to have a swing off!  Before we knew it we had arrived at the final three points of interest, all of which were 500m apart.  The first was a smaller version of the art gallery, the second was another gorge off the main path and the last, but definitely not least, was the “Big Bend”.  Being 2pm when we sat down, we knew we had enough time for a bit of tucker and a refreshing dip.  At this magnificant bend along the river, there was the most tranquil, crystal clear waterhole, which consequently made our quick swim bloody cold as the water was like ice!

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The long struggle home
Having a gruelling 9.7km walk back, we pumped ourselves up and started on the return journey.  Wanting to tick off all of the landmarks, we had to make one more stop on the way back, Ward’s Canyon.  Just to add to the burning sensation in the legs there was a steep 270 step climb to reach the canyon.  Nevertheless it was well worth it, home of the king fern and a peaceful waterfall.  This is the only location the king fern can be found in central queensland as it’s family is mostly on the coast.  Another fun fact is that the fronds on these ferns can grow up to 5m long!  Not your everyday garden fern!  Ticking off all the points of interest, we churned through the last of the kms and found ourselves back at the carpark. Entire bodies aching by the time we were there, we spent $1 for cold showers, with satisfaction knowing we had conquered the mighty Carnarvon Gorge!

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With no idea of where our next major destination was or how bad our bodies would wake up after this epic trek, it was all a suprise to where the next stage of this undetermined adventure would head…

Queensland

A Springsure Massacre to a peaceful Lake Nuga Nuga..

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Over the past few days, Nay had been reading about a terrible and gruesome massacre which happened near Springsure in 1861.  As we were very intrigued to find out more about this event, we pulled up just north of town to stay at a rotary park.  From here we had a great view of a sheer mountain cliff and reading further we discovered it was named Virgin Rock.  The rock had been given this title because if one were to look closely, carved by the wind and water over time, is Mary nurturing baby Jesus.

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Heading west from Springsure approximately 13km we stumbled across a small sign that pointed out “Wills Graves”.  Due to lack of tourist information, we only knew this would lead us to the massacre site from our prior research.  A further 21km down a dirt track, which farmers frowned upon tourists entering as it unsettled their cattle, we made it to the carpark.  With another 1km walk, we finally came face to face with the graves which held a very haunting past. 

The fascinating back story of these murders was that a rich white man (Horatio Wills) had taken a hefty amount of land to run cattle.  Due to another recent killing of many Aboriginals on a nearby station and their dispair of more land being stolen, they decided to take action and retaliate.  Under the cover of darkness they snuck into the Wills camp near the homestead where they murdered 19 members of the Wills party.  This Springsure Massacre was the highest number of white people murdered by Aboriginals in history.  In a total uproar from this deliberate attack, the whites went on a rampage and slaughtered over 250 Aborigines.  To date the numbers are still unknown of how many died but we quickly discovered there is minimal information on this disgusting period in the Australian Frontier Wars.

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After this history lesson we had lunch in the national park where the Virgin Rock was hidden.  Looking at breath taking views, we found ourselves high up over the town centre and its vast surrounds.  We left the memories of Springsure in the rear vision mirror to make a v-line to Lake Nuga Nuga (we even bumped into farmer George on the way with his 15 dogs in tow!).  As beautiful as Lake Nuga Nuga was, it appeared to be like Lake Eildon during a drought and we wished we could of seen it at full capacity.  It had fantastic surrounds, amazing camp spots with fire pits and many varieties of birds which were calling throughout the day, making it a magical time.  With Mark feeling a little sick we camped here a couple of nights and Nay even spoilt the crew with a mouth watering rum-raisin damper loaf! Delicious!

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These few days were very restful and did wonders for Marks illness.  Both fighting fit we were ready for the challanging 20km+ walk that Carnarvon Gorge had to offer us the next day…

Queensland

Disappearing in the depths of a Sapphire..

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A rather large drive from Barcaldine and we’d made it into the vast fossicking grounds of sapphires, The Gemfields!  A late arrival lead us to a quick and simple option of camping on a dustbowl of a reserve with some fellow caravans.  As Mark was keen to get a hold of some gems, some researching was done and he found a reasonable looking fossicking tour.  A restless sleep filled with excitement lead to an early 6am rise to see the red skyline as we crawled out of the camper to jump into our mining clothes.  In ragged singlets and shorts, pumped to dig up our fortune, we arrived at the meeting place where we followed our guide Keith to the dig site.  We were quick to discover he was one character of a bloke.

A short demonstration of what to do and we were thrown straight in a hole with a pick and shovel.  We had to dig away the dirt and get down to the old river bed where volcanos, millions of years ago, had erupted shooting various materials (including sapphires).  Here we shovelled the mess into buckets and seived them to a finer rubble.  We then used a smaller seive and put it through a process of washing.  This allowed the heavier material (including the precious sapphire pieces) to move into the centre of the seive.  After flipping it over after a wash we were able to spot if we had any rare and valuable stones in the mix with their glassy edge gleaming at us!

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After a solid day (with a smoko and lunch break!) and many buckets washed, we were quite successful with a small bag of treats!  Reaping our rewards after getting our hands dirty, we had them inspected by the professional cutter in town.  He informed us that three were of decent quality each worth approximately $100 after cutting!  Rather tired from the days events we retreated back to our reserve where there were only toilets without showers.  Improvising as we do and being so dirty from a days mining, we filled a bucket with water and had a make shift cold shower to the side of the reserve (we’re sure some caravaners were entertained!).

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The next day lead to some pottering around in the various towns of Sapphire, Rubyvale and Anakie to see what they had to offer.  We ended up stumbling across a grave of a humble piano tuner who was advised not to venture out fossicking due to recent flooding.  Nevertheless, his body was found at a later date.  The good samaritans tried to bury him but since the ground was so swampy, the coffin simply floated!  To finally lay his body to rest, they drilled holes in the coffin so it would sink!  Nearly 100 years after this incident, the “Piano Tuner” still had no name. Finally in 1992 his name was discovered and two plaques (a bit of a mix up there) were made for his restored grave.

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After this fascinating piece of trivia we left the Piano Tuner to rest and went into Emerald.  After restocking, we took the road sout to soon explore the National Park of Carnarvon…

Queensland

A prehistoric drive to Barcaldine..

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Coasting down the Capricorn Way, windows down, music up, we had not a worry in the world as the town of Winton approached us.  This little piece of outback Queensland is famous for their dinosaur exhibitions as it stands to have found fossils from the age of the great beasts.  As we originally planned to see a museum filled with these great dinosaur bones, this little town offered us other amusements.  We had been informed by the same lovely old mate from the Crocodile Dundee pub, to check out the famous Arno’s Wall in Winton.  Although tourist information didn’t explain this at the site, he gave us the back story behind the wall and how it is famous today.

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Arno’s Story
There once and still is a gentleman that loves collecting god forsaken rubbish and hoarding it on his property.  Several years ago now there was an exceptionally large and hidious pile alongside council property.  The council had forever harrassed poor Arno to remove this rubbish or they would take action to have it removed as it was an eyesaw.  Now as no tourist information reveals, Arno’s response to the council was to concrete his belongings into a stone wall to stick it to them and forever his hoarding memories remain.  This wall is now a tourist attraction adjacent to Arno’s Park in Winton.

After a bit of messing around at Winton – chatting to a local for a solid hour or so in regards to work, camping at their local billabong and sharing Arno’s memories, we kept heading east to Longreach.  Arriving at Longreach on a Saturday only meant one thing which hadn’t happened for a solid month, a night out!  Staying at a caravan park (with a spa for an afternoon relaxation session), having some afternoon beers with a couple of friendly neighbours, we then found ourselves at the local pub for our first counter meal of the trip!  After a delicious parma and chips, we walked down to another pub to be subjected to some great creative live music and a dj.  Here where we danced the night away and Nay even found herself gaining the attention of an extremely friendly female!

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You could only imagine the next day was a bit of a struggle.  Leaving after the 10:00am departure time (we had also made good mates with the park managers) we struggled merely 80km east that day to land at Charles Lloyd Jones Weir just south of Barcaldine.  At this tucked away location we rested and spent two nights of free camping chilling by the Weir and they were very protective of their toilet paper in the loos!  We did experience however, our first sight of drizzle since leaving Melbourne.  This didn’t effect us too much as the awning was quickly erected and we took shelter.  Unlike any normal camping adventure we got stuck into a 100 piece jigsaw puzzle!  The rest of the time here flew by and we were back on the road as Mark, like a little kid, was getting very excited about digging up sapphires in the Gemfields!

Historic Road Trip Fact
Barcaldine is home of the Tree of Knowledge and its current housing sadly due to vandalism.  Although deliberately poisoned in 2006, this tree still stands today as a marker for the founding of the Australian Labor Party. 

Queensland

To Mount Isa and beyond..

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The next stretch in our adventure took us to a very small town of Gregory Downs.  Here we camped under a bridge beside a very chilly flowing river and among some grey nomads.  One sadly informed us that we had just missed their annual horse and canoe races!  Slightly disappointed we still had a relaxing evening and went to sleep in tremendously humid weather yet again.  Sleeping very lightly due to the conditions, we were quickly awoken in the middle of the night to a man cackling and using ungodly swearing in regards to aboriginals from an unknown source on top of the bridge.  Minutes later there followed the rumbling of a quad bike, with passengers astride, which we only assumed was searching for the owner of the cackle.  As quick as it all happened, the night was still again, but a slight unease left us feeling Gregory Downs was not the place to hang around.

The next destination was Mount Isa.  A town of two sides – on the east side were mines and the west housed the residents (only a stones throw from the mines!)  This was also the home of School of the Air (a school purely taught over telecommunications and online content).  While we were in Mount Isa we took the opportunity to take a tour of this school for a small $2 and was even able to sit in on a class!  Going through this well presented tour and some of the students backgrounds, we quickly learnt the hardships for kids learning in the outback.  We also took advantage of being in a major town, regathered resources and continued south east along the Capricorn Way.

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From Mount Isa we tucked into a ghost town of Mary Kathleen.  In saying a ghost town, from the mid 1900’s this establishment was totally abandoned and all that was left were the old cracked foundations of where a buildings once stood.  Not just a few, but dozens and dozens of slabs which left an eerie feeling with us as we drove through the deserted streets.  We of course decided to camp on the hill, right on top of the Catholic church slab!  The next morning lead to exploring an open cut uranium mine nearby.  7km up a dirt track lead to an enormous mine that was filled with water of a vivid sky blue colour (tainted from the uranium deposit).  A little explicit we know, but the picture shows you how good the views were…

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Back on track we had a pretty cruisy afternoon on the road and found ourselves late in the arvo at a famous pub, The Walkabout Creek Hotel.  This pub was famous for it had starred in Crocodile Dundee.  We were able to stay on a patch of grass in the paddock behind the pub ($10 each!) and even splurged and had a few beers where Dundee had sat with his croc!  As the old boy behind the bar had mentioned of a Combo Waterhole which was the inspiration of Waltzing Matilda, we thought it might be worth a look.  Pulling up to the spot, with a short walk along the creek we came to the actual location where Banjo Patterson sat under a coolibah tree to write his song.  Along the path it also had the intriguing history behind the song.  It spoke of the true tale from when the shearers went on strike and when the swagman was caught and found himself drowning in the river.  After reminicing in this small slice of great Australian history, we were only a few days from finding ourselves in the Gemfelds…

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Queensland

The Lawn is Greener on the Hill

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A short drive the next morning lead us to an oasis beyond belief.  From an unsealed road with minimal flora or fauna to be seen, we landed in the most beautiful untouched gorge of Boodjamulla National Park (Lawn Hill).  A well deserved swim was had before we sussed the area out to see what adventures this magical place had in store for us.  Already after midday, we had seen that you were able to hire canoes and paddle up the gorge.  Being late in the day we planned this for tomorrow and found ourselves a camp site to rest at for the afternoon.

Tingle the Termite Mound!
Driving along the roads we have come across many a termite mounds.  Talking about it for a while we decided to pull over by one of the larger ones, dress him up, and call him Tingle!!

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Once again using the trusty Wiki Camps app, we dropped in beside a river about 100m away from some other campers.  After just seeing the Boodjamulla Gorge in all of her beauty, this private little paradise we stumbled across was picture perfect.   Straight from a postcard, was a crisp lagoon with crystal waters and palms all around which gave plenty of shade.  Having a cruise on the surfboards and a peaceful afternoon of nothing, we started up the fire as the sky grew darker and the cane toads emerged for the nights event…

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As we settled in we saw some torches from a distance emerge over towards our campsite, assuming our neighbours coming for a chat. As three Aboriginals emerged, our neighbours were in fact the Waanyi people, traditional owners of the land in which we were camping. At first we thought we were in trouble, us white fellas trepassing on their land – but they were however, just coming over for a chat. 10 minutes earlier Nay had spotted a snake shoot after a toad at lightning speeds only a mere half a metre away from her chair.  Slightly on edge but thinking this reptilian predator was long gone, came the arrival of our Aboriginal neighbours. 
After informing us that the snake would have only been a harmless tree snake, Nay casually says “There’s it is.” as a brown snake slithers out from some local shrubbery less than 2m away from us!  As the five of us shot backwards one yells “Throw me ya shovel brudda!” and without hesitation starts wailing on the dangerous snake with weapon in hand.  After many a hits the snake went limp and was quickly thrown on the fire.  Adrenaline pumping and repeated phrases of “That’s a brown snake, dem snakes will kill ya!”, there had been some form of twisted fate that had brought them over at the right time, and our snake problem was solved.  You can only imagine after those events that the night was wrapped up quickly and we were tucked away safely in our roof top tent.

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The next day brought an early rise as we were to walk the gorge before the heat kicked in.  Back to Boodjamulla Gorge we completed the 4km loop that included the lookout which gave breathtaking views.  Once this walk was complete we headed over to hire a canoe.  A robbery of $27/hr with no other canoes 200kms in all directions, we sucked it up and went.  Least to say it was worth every dollar.  A short row up stream and we hit a series of large waterfalls and a swimming hole which was spectacular to explore.  From here we dragged the canoe along a short path and dropped it in the upper gorge.  Continuing to paddle upstream we had lunch along the way on the water (delicious gourmet tuna and saladas) and made it to a couple of smaller waterfalls where no one else had bothered to traverse.  After swimming, snorkelling (seeing an abundance of sealife in the shallows) and just generally enjoying the waterfalls we decided we should be making tracks back down.  With a solid 6km row back to the hire depot, we returned our canoe and jumped in the gorge for one last refreshing swim.

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For the better of not bumping into another snake companion, we set our sights on Gregory Downs after our massive day of activities at Boodjamulla.