Mt Isa to Katherine via Wonorah Bore, Banka Banka Station and Daly Waters Hotel

Tuesday 20th May

Left Mt Isa early. The area up here is inundated with Ulysses Motor Cycle Club members. They had their annual rally at Alice Springs and apparently there were 2500 in a parade up the main street of Alice. Some of the bikes are amazing with little camper trailers behind them. Every colour of the rainbow and some quite elderly riders.

We arrived at Wonorah Bore about 1.30pm after winding the clocks back 30 minutes at the Queensland/Northern Territory border. The speed limit on the open road in the territory is 130kph so some cars do fly by.

Looking out from the caravan at Wonorah Bore

Wonorah Bore is a very old bore where the drovers used to water the cattle but it has long gone into disrepair but it is quite a nice spot to pull up if you are self sufficient from a bathroom point of view.
We met a lovely lady travelling on her own and enjoyed happy hour together.
There was a lovely sunset and the next morning a stunning sunrise but we couldn't stay outside and enjoy it as the flies drove us back inside.

The caravan parked at Wonorah Bore

Sunset at Wonorah Bore

Sunrise

Sunset

Flattering insect nets

 Then it was on to Banka Banka Station. We had stayed there before. It was a nice relaxing afternoon.

 The people next door were from Wallerawang and he knew Rays aunt and uncle, Carmel and Bob and their family. He was the butcher in Wallerawang and is going home to work at the butcher shop in Portland. Another couple from the Sunshine Coast joined us for a very pleasant happy hour.

And yes we do have happy hour every day. Sometimes on our own and sometimes with nice people and sometimes with d**kheads.. Those of you who travel will know what I mean.

We got away early the next day and were at Daly Waters Hotel just after 11am.

Those of you that have been reading the Blog for a few years will know we have been here before. In 1862 John McDougall Stuart successfully crossed the continent from south to north. After discovering fresh water Stuart named the area Daly Waters in honour of the Governor of South Australia, Sir Dominic Daly. Then cattle drovers used the water for the cattle. The telegraph line followed. Daly waters was a major Air Force base during WW2. The airfield was the first International airfield in Australia serving Australian and American personnel.
Bill Pearce opened a Drovers Store in  1930 which today is the Daly Waters Pub.

We went to the pub for dinner sharing a Beef and Barramundi dinner. Two more people joined us, Greg and Wendy from Victoria. Really nice people who are on their way to Darwin. Entertainment wasn't so good this time. The guys couldn't sing very well. One of them had so much electronics I thought he had a 3 piece girl band backing him and I was looking for them. Ray said to have a look at the box on the table and sure enough it was a backing tape. BUT I did get up and dance to the Time Warp with Wendy and Ray took some photos to prove it.


Next day, Friday 23rd May we were moving on to Katherine. It was a bit cloudy when we woke up and a fairly thick fog rolled in and stayed with us for about 50km up the road. We got to Katherine before lunch and went into town for lunch and to do a bit of shopping. For those of you who know Katherine it hasn't changed that much. The alcohol rules have changed and the locals no longer drink on the median strip in the middle of town. they just hang around outside the shops instead.
We ordered some chairs from the camping store and will pick them up on the way back through in July.

After coming back to camp we went and had a lovely swim in the pool. Very refreshing. It is a very warm afternoon.
The next morning we went down to Katherine River to take some photos. It is a lovely spot with the water tumbling over the weir.

 

We are going for another swim this afternoon and tomorrow we head to Timber Creek and we are booked on a sunset cruise on the Victoria River. So on the next Blog I might have some photos of crocs.

Emerald to Mt Isa via Jericho and Longreach

Wednesday 14th May

Leaving Emerald we headed west to Alpha where there are supposed to be 27 murals. Well we found a few but someone had forgotten to paint them after the sun faded them. So they were a bit of a let down. So we went to Jericho on the River Jordan,
In 1988 the town built a sculpture called The Crystal Trumpeters in memory of the Israelites who walked around the Walls of Jericho for 6 days, before blowing their trumpets on the 7th day and watching as the city walls collapsed. The crystals represent various moments in the Old Testament.

One of the crystal trumpeter depictions

The crystal trumpeter sculpture

A Crystal Trumpeter

There was a free camp there at a place called Redbank Park and it was beautiful. The nicest free camp we have stayed at. Right on the river with some grass around and even some flushing toilets which is always a bonus.

Our camp at Redbank Park, Jericho

The free camp area at Redbank Park, Jericho

River Jordan at Jericho

We left Jericho and headed towards Longreach stopping at Barcaldine for morning tea. We went to the Apex Park beside the Thomson River at Longreach. It is a free camp and is always packed. Everyone keeps a reasonable space between each other so no one is crowding you.

The Apex park free camp at Longreach

Our camp at Longreach. We are in the middle of the picture

Paddle steamers on the Thomson River at Longreach

Thomson River, Longreach

We decided to stay 2 nights as Longreach Show was on Friday and Saturday and we thought that would be nice to go to.

The weather is clear but there is a stiff breeze blowing which keeps the temperature down but stirs up the dust. We went to the show. Only $10 each to get in. Not a lot to see. We looked at some alpacas and learnt about their habits. They had some alpaca garments for sale but they are pretty pricey. A 50g ball of natural spun alpaca wool was $11.50.

Alpaca at Longreach Show

We had a look at the chook pavilion and the arts and crafts and spent some time looking at the cattle judging.

This little bull won first prize in the 16month to 20month section. He is going to be a big boy when he grows up.

Ray had a dagwood dog which he hadn't had for years but was disappointed as it was made with a frankfurt instead of a saveloy.

We bought some beautiful cheese from a couple who go around the show circuit selling cheese from artisan cheese makers throughout the east coast.  We bought some smoked, red Leicester, vintage and a mild blue. I also bought the obligatory show bags, only 2 though.

On Saturday we were on the road again. We stopped at Winton for a late morning tea/early lunch. Leaving Winton we had to pull over again for another wide load, 6 metres this time.

Give Way to another wide load

Next we saw a huge herd of wild camels and an abundance of road kill with various birds getting a good feed from it. We had decided to stop at Kynuna Roadhouse for the night. Nothing special but it was quiet but the flies could pick you up and carry you away. We had dinner and breakfast at the roadhouse.
Next morning we headed to Mt Isa via Cloncurry.
We are staying here for 2 nights to catch up with the washing and the Blog and then we will head further west staying at Wonorah Bore on the Barklay Highway and then over to Three Ways and north up to Banka Banka Station,then Daly Waters to visit the well known pub and then to Katherine. I will update the Blog again in Katherine

Lennox Head to Emerald via Forest Glen, Warrun Dam and Cania Gorge

Monday 5th May.

Well, today is our 29th wedding anniversary and it is also the day we leave Lennox Head. We took Lee to the airport yesterday afternoon as she was going to Sydney to do a course for a week. We aren't leaving Lennox until about 2pm today as we are taking the van to Nambour to have a service done and as Bushtracker is in an industrial area and we are just going to sleep out the front of the factory in the van, we can't get there until after 5pm.

According to the surfer next door the surf is pounding today so we went for a drive up to the lookout and he was right. There must have been 50+ surfers in the water and the surf was rolling in beautifully.

Looking toward Lennox Head from Pat Morton Lookout

Maura with Boulder Beach, Lenox Head in the background

Ray with Boulder Beach in the background

Surfers at Lennox

We got away at 2pm but didn't get to Bushtracker until 6.15pm. The traffic on the north side of Brisbane was pretty heavy and it was peak hour by then. Lucky we had made a curry in a camping slow cooker we have. You just make it in the morning, cook it on the stove for 20minutes then put it in a special thermos and then  into an insulated bag and it cooks while we drive along. A wonderful invention

We put the van into Bushtracker at 7am and headed down to Alexandra Heads Surf Club for breakfast. It was beautiful down at the beach. The sun was shining and there were heaps of people doing the same thing. What a wonderful money spinner this is for Queensland Surf Clubs. Cafes, restaurants, bars, brilliant.

Surf Rescue jet ski on Alexandra Headland beach

We did some shopping and went to Caloundra for lunch, then we went and booked in to Forest Glen caravan park for the night and just sat on our site with no van until Bushtracker gave us a call about 4.30pm

The next morning we got away about 8.30am and headed north. We stopped at a lovely rest area just north of Gympie for morning tea and then stopped at Gayndah for lunch where we were befriended by a lovely brown lab who we think came from the orange farm next door. As with all labs he knew where to get a feed. From all of the travellers who stop at this rest area for lunch.

Friendly lab at Gayndah

Then to Eidsvold and on to Wuruma Dam. We decided to only stay here 1 night as it was hard to find a level site in the sun as the place was packed. It is a very popular free camp spot right on a lake. We need the sun to keep the solar panels charging. It was nice enough and very quiet at night but we decided to go on to Cania Gorge the next day (Thursday).

Maura at camp site at Wuruma Dam

Fellow campers at Wuruma Dam

Ray says "Cheers"

Cows having a drink at waters edge

Wuruma Dam

Ray and a friendly calf

Wuruma Dam ripples

Sunset at Wuruma Dam

 

Next day, Thursday we headed off to Cania Gorge. We had been there before about 15years ago and remembered it was a lovely park with some nice walks close by. We decided to stay for 3 nights and the next day walked up to a lookout in the park to take some shots.

Looking down on the caravan park at Cania Gorge from the lookout

Kooka helping himself to a drink

Our van from the lookout

We then drove down to Cania Dam and took a few shots. This area had been done up a lot since we had seen it last. Boat ramps and lovely picnic area built.

Cania Dam

Cania Dam in front of the dam wall

Tree beside Cania Dam

Ray made a fire and we had a leg of lamb done in the camp oven and it was delicious.

The next day we walked to Bloodwood Cave and Dragon Cave about 2 hours all around. Ray also walked up to the Gorge lookout but it was a bit too many steps for me.

Dragon Cave so called because of the dragon shape on the cave wall

Maura outside Dragon Cave

Ray on the bridge going from Bloodwood cave

Staghorn growing on the cliff

Path leading from Dragon Cave

 

That night Ray lit the brazier which I had bought him for last Xmas. It was lovely sitting around it as it gave out great warmth

Sunday morning we woke to another lovely clear day and we headed to Emerald. Neither of us had been there before. We had lunch at a place called Bluff and then drove through Blackwater, a very busy mining town. the road between Bluff and Blackwater we saw a sign which stated that heavy wide loads use this road and if the police direct you to park up you do so. Well I didn't think they would be moving heavy vehicles on a Sunday. Wrong!!! Around the next corner an escort vehicle told us to pull over and next thing this huge load comes along. It was an 8metre wide loader bucket on a low loader. It took up the whole width of the road. Luckily there was room on the verge for us to fit.

The 8 metre wide load we had to get off the road for

 

We got to Emerald about 2.30pm and have a nice site in a caravan park right beside the golf course. Very quiet. Emerald seems a nice town. A couple of big mines on the outskirts so lots of mine vehicles driving around. A couple of big shopping centres with the usual stores, Coles, Woolies, Big W, Target, Best and Less etc. We went for a drive out to Fairbairn Dam which is only 50% capacity so a bit dry.

 

Fairbairn Dam, Emerald

We then came back into town and went to the Tourist Information Centre. In a park behind there is a replica of Van Gogh's painting "Sunflowers". It is the largest painting on an easel in the southern hemisphere. It is huge and quite spectacular. Leading to it is a path with mosaics depicting the history of Emerald

Mosaic depicting mining in Emerald

Mosaic depicting the aboriginal past in Emerald

Sunflower replica

Sunflowers

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On Monday afternoon this fellow came around the caravan park selling trays of red claw to raise money for the local football club. He had caught them that morning in the dam. Only $10 for the tray and there were about 35 red claw already halved on the tray. We froze half for another day and with the other half we split them 3 ways. We had one lot done on the BBQ with just salt and pepper.

We had another lot soaked in coconut milk and then a lime squeezed over then and dry pan fried.

The third lot we did in garlic butter in the wok. These were the tastiest although they were all good. It was the first time we had them and they were really nice. A bit like a mini freshwater lobster.

Red Claw with salt and pepper on the barbie

Red Claw in coconut milk with lime juice

Red Claw in the wok with garlic butter

 

Tomorrow, Wednesday 14th May we are heading to a free camp at Jericho on the river before heading on up to Longreach on Thursday