Inland Queensland

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Cairns - Innot Hot Springs - Undara

Day 225
Friday, 05 October 2007

With battery trouble again delaying our start by several hours we first stopped at a battery establishment to have a load test done on our main battery (still original equipment). Although it had the amps it couldn’t hold them so failed the test. Time for it to go so we had a new one fitted - hopefully that will be the last of the problems in that regard - all our batteries have now been replaced on this trip - three all up. Still they get a fair bit of a flogging on a trip such as this so effectively need to be viewed as a c consumable item.

With our progress out of Cairns somewhat delayed due to our ongoing 12volt problems we arrived at Innot Hot springs for a quick look. The springs range in temperature from tepid to almost boiling so you need to be careful where you put your feet and don’t go running off into the water expecting a warm spa temperature. It was a good break after travelling the very dangerous Kennedy Highway - a single lane bitumen road with a multitude of road trains barrelling along its length 24 hours a day. One dangerous bit of road.

Finally arrived at Undara Resort- in the dark and so a quick set up was in order - much to the surprise of our immediate neighbours. He said later that he came out to give us a hand after a few minutes and we had already had it all up! Certainly the beauty of not having to worry about flat ground and having any canvas on the ground is beneficial on many an occasion.

Undara National Park ( Lava Tubes)

Day 226
Saturay, 06 October 2007

With our booked tour (you don’t have an option here- you have to go on a guided tour or you don’t get to see them) in the morning we set off with 20 odd other travellers / tourists on the ubiquitous Toyota coaster bus to the National Park. The park was, originally, part of a cattle station and when it got converted to NationalPark part of the deal was exclusive tour operator rights for a decade and then limited rights for others after that. All part of the compensation package. Still it needed to be a national park or it would have been degraded.
Our guide was a unique little character who had his tourist speech down pat but seemed to get thrown quickly if any question out of the norm came his way. Upset the rhythm I guess! Having said that the tour was pretty good, albeit a little quick for the one we selected - but a good taster of the tubes. Admittedly a longer one might have been a little much for the kids - although we have found on this trip that their concentration span for various natural attractions is much better than kids twice their age. All depends on their level of interest, no different form anyone else I guess.

The tunnels were quite spectacular and with my nickel background I found them quite interesting as the basic process for nickel formation is essentially similar. So to see these tubes, their scale and think of the volume of magma running down their 160km length is pretty amazing stuff. Its hard not to be surprised by the processes old mother nature has come up with! As with most things scientific the debate rages as to their timing, temperature, ages and other physical characteristics of the tubes. One thing is for sure though and that is they are quite special - and definitely worth the visit.

Undara - Fletchers Creek

Day 227
Sunday, 07 October 2007

After leaving Undara we trekked around the rim of the Kalkarni Crater a remnant volcano with good views over the volcanic countryside. From the rim you get a pretty good look at various sections of lava tube which have collapsed - recognised by the development of localised rainforest plant communities - endemic to the collapsed lava tube ecosystem and nowhere else.

We ended up at free camp on the banks of Fletchers Creek. Apparently this place gets pretty crowded in main tourist season with some of the long term travellers / grey nomads / recycled teenagers camped up for months at a time. With perennial running water and a few good grassy spots it is easy to see why - although the many road trains rumbling past the only bad thing.

We learnt later that the area was vested in the local council to be used as a free camp on the proviso the council provides some form of facilites (rubbish and toilets and looks after them). Apparently the area along the banks of the creek were then excised form the property and hence its existence today.

Fletchers Creek - Charters Towers

Day 228
Monday, 08 October 2007

Arrived in the quaint town of Charters Towers, with all its well preserved buildings it had a feel that I instantly liked. Not really what I was anticipating - I expected a bit more of a run down old mining town. The amount of grand old buildings was testament to the prosperity of the time and the fortunes that were made. We went to the old stock exchange where they used to have 2 dealer and 1 public trading periods per day. Apparently the public one was quite a social event on the Friday and one not to be missed. You weren’t anybody if you weren’t seen there of a Friday night.

Went to the Venus Battery, a large 7 stamp battery which toll treated for any miner/ company who were willing to pay their price. The owners made a whole swag of money apparently as they were one of the few with a steady supply of water. The show featured a hologram movie display which was both entertaining and informative. The battery is still in pretty good nick, albeit some repairs and maintenance have occurred, although a few of the stamp batterys have been removed and utilised elsewhere. The original steam boilers are no longer there as it was converted to electric power at some stage and the boilers sold off for a pittance apparently. Would have been a very loud, dusty place to work when under a full head of steam. Story has it that the workers had a myriad of ways of being able to fleece the miners of the odd gram of gold here and there so workers and miners were constantly on the lookout against each others tricks!

That night we went to a small movie show at the lookout atTower Hill which overlooks the town and features in much of the towns early history (the site of the original discovery for example). The show was about ghosts and gold and interwove myth and legend with some historical facts about the early gold rush days.

Charters Towers - Townsville

Day 229
Tuesday, 10 October 2007

Before leaving we went via a small museum which was chock a block full of old Charters Towers memorabilia. It was an informative place that was renovated by a local (ex) surveyor and now constitutes a business of sorts. Kids did some panning for gold and came away with a few grains of gold so were pretty happy with that effort.

Townsville

Days 230 - 233
Wednesday, 10 October - Saturday, 13 2007

Spent some time with friends and lazed away a few days at their house. The kids got their overload of watching movies on DVD. We caught up on some schooling, diary writing, etc - again the old logistics. We managed to get out a few times though!

We had heard that the aquarium at Townsville was not to be missed so we spent a day there

Townsville - Hydeaway Bay

Day 234
Sunday, 14 October 2007

Hydeaway Bay - Airlie Beach

Day 235
Monday, 15 October 2007

Airlie Beach

Days 236 - 237
Tuesday, 16 October - Wednesday, 17 October 2007

Airlie Beach - Mackay - Clermont

Day 238
Thursday, 18 October 2007

Just travelling. Picked up the trailer from the caravan park at Hydeaway Bay and then headed south-ish via Mackay. Just before Mackay it simply bucketed down - certainly the heaviest rain we have seen for a long time and with wipers on their fastest setting we were still lucky to see where we were going. This still didn’t seem to deter people from sitting on your rear end though through windy roads of the Great Dividing Range foothills.

Arrived in Clermont (pronounced Claremont), an old mining town which has seen a number of copper, gold and now coal mining booms (and busts). Blair Athol Coal, the major player in the immediate area, subsidises a town and mine tour so we hoped to book ourselves on that first thing tomorrow.

Clermont - Alpha - Jericho - Barcaldine

Day 239
Friday, 19 October 2007

Luckily we were able to get on the (free) tour of the mine and town which took up the whole morning. The majority of the tour was at the Blair Athol Coal mine. This was reasonably interesting although, by coal standards, a relatively small mine. Unfortunately the dragline was broken down during our visit so we didn’t get to see it in operation.

Also stopped by the local museum as part of the tour and they have a fair bit of material on the development of Clermont throughout the mining and pastoral industries rise(s) and falls. They had a heap of machinery in various states of repair / disrepair from both the mining and agricultural perspectives - although their ‘coup de grace’ was the brightly painted scarlet red old style dragline bucket in pride of place out the front. This bucket, by itself, weighs 85 tonnes and is big enough to drive your Landcruiser into and open the doors to get out!

One other interesting stop was at the original General Store at Copperfield. This was in operation when they had 5 copper smelters / flues just outside of Clermont. The family that started it owned it right up until ~1974 when the old fella who was the remaining family member decided to simply shut up shop. Literally. He simply closed his doors and walked out. Accordingly it is now a snapshot in time from 1974 with all the stores on the day he left all still intact! So there are bottles/jars/cans of aeroplane jelly, vegemite, Ardmona two fruits, and a whole swag of other things (‘Pix’ and ‘People’ magazines) from what both Amanda and I remembered from our childhood. The defining piece on display were three boxes of Arnotts biscuits and a fruit cake in their original tin and all still with biscuits intact!!!! Simply amazing to see such a well preserved snapshot in time that hadn’t been vandalised. I must admit though, that I liked the irony of an old Lifesavers display stand that had been stocked with various packets of cigarettes and tobacco!

After the tour we headed off along the backroads to Alpha and thence onto the Landsborough Hwy to Barcaldine. Stayed in the showgrounds ($10.00 unpowered) - along with 30 odd characters who were on some form of organised tour whereby they were all riding postie bikes from Brisbane to Cairns via the Gulf - each to their own I guess! They obviously had some entertainment at night which, unfortunately for us, included some of the worlds worst Karaoke singers. Luckily they carked it by 9:00 pm and the rest of us were put out of our misery of having to listen!

Barcaldine - Ilfracombe - Longreach

Day 240
Saturday, 20 October 2007

Only a small drive today of about 110km so we arrived pretty early, dropped off the trailer at the park in Longreach and headed straight to the “Stockmen’s Hall of Fame”. This renowned exhibition celebrates far more than stockmen and explores much of early Australian history and development and the role that various industries played in the opening up of inland Australia.

There is, during the height of the tourist season, a show with stock horses apparently. This was discontinued about three weeks prior to our visit, as it was getting too hot for the horses. Fair enough…….but I found this quite ironic in an exhibition that glorifies and expounds the hardy nature of our pioneering stockmen/women and the animals they used that this display showcasing the skills of the pastoral industry workers be called off because its too hot - in September! Don’t get me wrong, if that is what they reckon is the right thing to do, all well and good but the paradox / irony really piqued my sense of humour! Where would Australia be now if, in the real world, all the mining/pastoral/agricultural industry parked up in September through to March because it was too hot!

Anyway the museum / exhibition centre is chock full of great information / displays and we spent the majority of our day there. You could easily spend a lot more time there perusing /reading /reminiscing about what life was like back “in the good ol’ days”!

Longreach - Lark Hill Quarry - Winton - Longreach

Day 241
Sunday, 21 October 2007

Set off early-ish as we knew we were in for a long day to get out to the Dinosaur display at Lark Hill quarry and then back to Longreach in the day. In my infinite wisdom we made an on the fly decision to take the back country “shortcut” through station tracks/access roads. Not having a full fuel load was, in hindsight, not the best decision so as it happened we ended up going further and spending much longer finally getting to the quarry (and after having to divert back into Winton to get fuel anyway). We also only just made the last tour at 2:00pm as access to the quarry site is by guided tour only.

Lark Hill Quarry is the site of the worlds only known dinosaur stampede and the tracks are well preserved and tell an (almost) unarguable story about a large predator (an allosaurus - a relative of old mate T-Rex) stumbling upon a large herd/mob/flock/gathering of smaller dinosaurs (chance for a bit of tucker) and then running amuck into them scattering them back from the direction from where he came. Apparently the area was, at the time, a spit jutting into a lake - hence the reason for them being there in the first place (having a drink supposedly). This hypothesis and site was the basis for the stampede scene inJurassic Park apparently.

It was quite interesting to see the large tracks of the predator walking along in a straight line that then deviated once it looks like he has seen the smaller dinosaurs on the lakes edge. Although the tracks are incomplete, and some supposition has taken place as to the course of events, the story seems infinitely plausible, as some several thousand tracks are seen to be overlain on the larger predators (and the immediate area ) all roughly heading in the same direction and with some shown to be skidding (ie in a state of panic). The tracks are in a remarkably well preserved state - although once initially exposed and partially documented they were left open to the elements. An initial shelter erected over the tracks simple served to provide a great shade area for the kangaroos/wallaroos/wallabys who then contributed to the tracks degradation even further through physical and chemical means. It was only in 2002 that the current structure of rammed earth walls and an outer skin of foam sandwich insulated walls was constructed. Amazingly though one of the rammed earth walls actually fell down on top of the actual exposed dinosaur tracks! Designer blamed the architect / who blamed the builder who blamed the designer etc etc.

It was an interesting site though to see so many tracks in the one area and so well preserved - it was worth the long drive. By the time we ended back in Longreach it was around 6:30pm and we had driven 670km for the day!

Longreach - Ilfracombe - Barcaldine - Jericho

Day 242
Monday, 22 October 2007

One of the main attractions in Longreach is that it is the birthplace of QANTAS. Accordingly there is a museum where a large museum/ display is on hand to document the founders and people and the events which led to the formation of one of Australias most well known and recognised companies. Whilst they don’t have the original plane (an AVRO504K) there is a replica of it inside the main museum. The original hangar and the office that Hudson Fysh (one of the original company founders - along with Paul McGuiness) is still there, incredibly, along with all the original furniture used by Hudson Fysh when they were just a fledgling company on the bones of their arse. They even had some of the original woodworking machines used when the company built there own DH50 aeroplanes (under licence from de Havilland) - apparently one of only a few airline companies that flew what they made! This included making wings from scratch - one of which is hanging on the wall. Pretty amazing to think that all this was occurring in Longreach in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Longreach seems a long way out west today let alone what it would have felt like back then. To put it in perspective…..when McGuiness and Fysh were contracted to put in place staging airstrips from Darwin to Longreach as part of “The Great Air Race” to accommodate the intrepid aviators they had to set off in their modified Model T Ford across country with no roads to get to Darwin. It is this journey (over 2100 miles and completed in 51 days via Borroloola)that crystallised their resolve to begin, and operate, an outback aeroplane service to tame the tyranny of distance of the vast Australian Outback.

It was also interesting to read about their involvement in the first flying medical service with John Flynn from the Inland Mission years before it became the organization that it is today. Their were pictures of sick people being hoisted into position into a two person wood/fabric plane with a block and tackle and delicately (?) placed into the seat to be taken to medical treatment.

A video on the restoration of their first 707, which was found neglected on an airstrip in England, was quite fascinating. Given that the plane was their actual first jet plane acquisition and the first jet passenger plane in Australia it is quite significant. Getting it off the ground and airworthy required something like 1500 man hours (predominantly from retired QANTAS staff who “cut their teeth” on the 707 fleet in their working careers). In fact it is the same type of plane that John Travolta now flies (himself) around the world in and parks in his own runway adjacent to his house in Florida! So there you go.

There is also a retired 747 plane (three times the size and weight of the original 707) on display which you can visit if you stump up for even more cash. This we didn’t do.

After doing the obligatory late lunch (1:30 pm) stop at the local bakery for a bite to eat we headed back eastwards finally ending up as far as the Jericho showgrounds where we were the sole occupants - good value though at $10/night for a powered site with toilets and hot showers. We were also able to use the wood we had been carting around for the last few days and had ourselves a campfire - which was useful for the making of the apple crumble for dessert!

Jericho -Alpha - Emerald - Springsure

Day 243
Tuesday, 23 October 2007

After spending the morning rotating wheels and repacking wheel bearings on the trailer - a necessary evil, we left in the direction of Carnarvon Gorge National Park….whether we would get there remained to be seen. As it happened we got as far as Emerald by 4:30pm in the arvo and only pushed a further 75km on to Springsure - to stay in the showgrounds. So a comparatively easy day and head off first thing tomorrow into the National Park.

Country town showgrounds are becoming a bit of a habit for us - you end up with a heap of space usually have hot showers in some capacity (admittedly they are not everyones cup of tea) and they are cheap at usually around the $10.00 night. Springsure was even cheaper as there was no notice on what to pay and where to pay it so we expected to see someone come around to collect a fee. This didn’t happen so we had a free night.

Springsure - Carnarvon Gorge NP

Day 244
Wednesday, 24 October 2007

Arriving in Carnarvon Gorge NP it was a bit on the late side, unfortunately, to begin the trek up the gorge to the art site and other side gorges. Its also a pity that the campground at the NP - which looks really good, is only open up during the school holidays and a commercial enterprise further back down the gorge is the only other option. Hmmm methinks some creative deal making going on here…..

By the time we had spoken to the rangers and worked out our plan of attack a late arvo storm blew in so we headed back to “Takarakka Bush Resort” . I’m sure by calling it a ….resort gives you licence to charge a little bit extra as the assumption is you get some flash facilities! Admittedly the place was pretty reasonable - although the setting wasn’t any better than the area adjacent to the NP office.

Amanda had the kids do some schooling given that after a big walk tomorrow (~20km) their concentration span will be fairly minimal.

Went down to the Platypus viewing pool that evening but didn’t have a great deal of luck. We did see a big splash that we surmised was probably a platypus but you couldn’t guarantee it. Other than that we heard a few noises but no definitive sightings. Try again tomorrow.

Carnarvon Gorge NP

Day 245
Thursday, 25 October 2007

Absolutely bucketed down with rain last night so everything got a fair old wash. The canvas needed a wash anyway and stood up to the test and we remained dry.

Again tried our luck down at the platypus pool but to no avail. A fair modicum of luck is needed I think to see one of these little critters - but if you aren’t there you have no chance I guess!

Wolfed down breakfast and then headed off to the NP and the start of the big walk up the gorge itself. We initially had planned to only go to the main art gallery site and then do some of the side gorge walks on the way back (the rangers recommended modus operandi). Kids enjoyed the continual crossing and recrossing of the Carnarvon Creek via the stepping stones (20 crossings in all by the time we reached our destination). The main art site was quite good with both stencil and engravings to be seen in a very extensive array. No definitive panels were present although various specific items were identified in terms of tracks, fauna, utensils/weaponry and peculiar to this area were a multitude of engravings of the female vulva. The exact meaning of these engravings has been lost in time unfortunately and there was no interpretation offered. My guess could be that it might mean a number of things;

§ A celebration of the female form
§ Recognition of the local tribes females fertility
§ Representation to some animist dreamtime spirit to ensure the females fertility
§ A tribal way of recognising and proclaiming a birth
§ Or simply the blokes getting up there of a Friday night and waxing lyrical about their nocturnal exploits - excluding hunting prowess!

Who knows as its all conjecture as, like with many other local aboriginal cultures, the vast maority of knowledge from the elders has been lost in the last 100 odd years. We spoke to one of the indigenous rangers and she had plans to try and tape one of her uncles (an elder of the Karingbal tribe) - we urged her to do that as the amount of knowledge that the remaining old timers have locked away in their heads will be gone forever in the not too distant future unless their stories are told and recorded.

The art site was pretty simplistic with a predominance of stencilling of hands, although boomerangs, stone axes, nets and a few other objects were also apparent. No where near as complex or rich an art site as Arnhemland in the Northern Territory but very good just the same and in very good condition.

Interestingly the stencils were confined to mainly one end of the rock wall and engravings dominated the remaining 2/3 of the sheltered wall. Emu, kangaroo, unidentified paw prints, human footprints, emu egg clutches and the dominant female vulva overprinting almost everything were thick from the floor to two metres high. One other dominant characteristic was the one engraving of the rainbow serpent ( mungubberra) which ran along the wall for approx. ten metres. Interestingly the rainbow serpent (whatever it is called in the local lingo) seems to be the one unifying element across all aboriginal cultures. Given that many had languages of their own that were not transportable from clan to clan it is interesting that this one dominant dreamtime spirit transcends all language/area/cultural barriers.

We decided to continue up to Cathedral Cave - a further 4km upstream, to the other main art site. Whilst this was a good walk it did add a fair bit to our planned itinerary but after arriving there we decided it was a worthwhile addition. The art was principally stencilled but displaying a few more variations/types of weaponry along with some engravings. The cave was an enormous sandstone overhang which had been partially protected from the elements. A dig site along a section of the wall had shown that engravings were evident 90cm below the current floor level - indicating that occupation in the area has been for a significantly long time.

We had our lunch in the ‘cave’, possibly overlooked by any number of dreamtime spirits, we continued a further 100m or so to Boowindi Gorge - a narrow gorge carved out by rushing floodwaters through the sandstone. Giant undercuts and sweeping bends lend a surreal experience to this gorge. Not a place to be wandering in if a flash flood came along though with sheer sides you’d be in for a wild ride downstream!

Now for the 10km walk home….but not before a ‘pick me up’ of my now infamous (within our circle of four) version of “lolly gobble bliss bombs”. I wont profess to having perfected the process but I have a pretty good approximation of the caramel/toffee covered popcorn -which seems to have rapidly become a Panting family favourite. Rhiannon, with her little legs, did very well with a minimal amount of complaining - although we had her distracted by talking about what she wants for birthdays and Xmas and then asking everyone else what they would like. By the time we go back to the car we were all pretty well knackered and looked forward to a rest, drink, hot shower and a nice meal followed shortly therafter by bed.

A good day.

Carnarvon Gorge NP - Rolleston - Moura - Theodore - Cracow - Eisvold

Day 246
Friday, 26 October 2007

After a quick t rip via the ‘Rock Pool’ (didn’t swim though) we headed off - back towards the coast…eventually. The route we took was definitely off the standard tourist route going by the looks we got from some of the locals as we passed through some of the country towns, which were primarily growers of various sorts.
Cracow was a ‘down in the dump’ gold mining town, there was even signs at the town entrance saying BYO water!!! Don’t think I’d want to be working there - the mine camp seemed to be right at the mill/mine so not a lot of thought for worker comfort. Interestingly this town was partly “shutdown” as if many of the store/shop owners had shut up shop and left town long ago (not unlike many WA country towns unfortunately) - this is in direct contrast to many of Queenslands outback towns that all seem to be pretty vibrant and alive and, almost without exception, very tidy and well kept.

Ended up as far as a small conservation park on the outskirts of Eisvold (a town originally begun by Norwegian settlers). T his placed looked nice and quiet so we set up….although, as we found out, the ants loved it as well, along with midgies and mozzies!!! We probably encountered more insects here than almost any other place on our trip so far! The light was struggling to generate any light under the weight of the insects crowding around it.

Eisvold - Gayndah - Ban Ban Springs -Biggenden - Childers - Bundaberg

Day 247
Saturday, 27 October 2007

Packed up early and got going before 7:30 am - a rarity. Gayndah was a nice country town wth quite a few people out and about for their early morning stroll and catching up with the gossip at the local café! We kept travelling via Ban Ban Springs, Biggenden, Childers (packed full of people around midday) and finally onwards to the infamous Bundaberg.

Those cane juice purists will be aghast but we didn’t end up going to the Rum Distillery and doing the “Bundy” tour. Our reasoning being that kids aren’t going to enjoy it and secondly I don’t like the stuff to start with so why pay for it on a tour!!! Besides which we were a bit late so would not have made the last tour of the weekend. We did do a Bundaberg distillery tour though - the Bundaberg Ginger Beer Distillery tour - complete with a full suite of drinks for tastings at the end of the interactive tour. Kids thought it was great to be included on a tasting - although they didn’t like half of the brewed drinks. We have all decided that sarsparilla (aka Root Beer) is the most disgusting drink around. Tastes like the cough medicine we used to have growing up.

The tour was good for the kids, teaching them all about the history and process of making ginger beer with various audio/visual interactive displays - as opposed to an actual tour of the distillery / factory. Bought our 6 pack of drinks at the end and had a laugh at the image and slogan printed on shirts and stubby coolers…it was a picture of ginger (admittedly an ordinary looking bit of gear) with the slogan of “I may be ugly but I’m a good root”!

So ends our Bundaberg experience.

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