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Published: September 20th 2011
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We are finally heading west, and things are getting quite remote, and dry, and hot, and dusty…..and fantastic! This is the start of the real Aussie Outback - a great way to end the trip. Right now we have stopped for the night in a small town called Cloncurry, where we can finally connect to electricity after five nights without, and the air con went on straight away. We have just discovered that Cloncurry’s claim to fame is that it is the hottest town in Australia, having recorded the country’s highest temperature - 53.1 degrees! Fortunately, today has not been that hot.
We have just spent three heavenly days in a very remote area called Lawn Hill (so remote and out of the way in fact, that at one stage we had considered not going!) After travelling nearly 100 kms on dirt road, travelling through scrub lands and not much else, we arrived at what can only be described as an oasis - a camp site called Adel's Grove, 10km down the road from the Lawn Hill National Park. Here, in the middle of nowhere, is a massive gorge fed by ancient artesian springs, where you can go swimming (no
salt water crocs here, though the boys did see a fresh water croc while they were kayaking), and enjoy the greenery, a very welcome respite. Most of the days were spent swimming in various sections of the lake, as it was much too hot to do much else. Sadly for Burke and Wills, they missed discovering this oasis by 200-odd kms!
Prior to that, we spent a night at Gregory Downs, which is a bush camping spot by a river, which had such a strong current you could float downstream. We were hesitant to leave initially, as it was so nice, but then during the night we had some hooligans drive through with their music blaring, and then we were rudely awoken very early the following morning as trucks came in to fill their tanks with river water (they were part of the grading crew, and, while we did not appreciate them at 7am in the morning, we did really appreciate their handiwork on the graded roads!). A short while later a family came also to camp, and as the photos show, they too disrupted the peace and harmony of the area as they were, for want of a
better description, petrol heads!
We also spent two nights at Mt Surprise, again for the boys: so that they could go fossicking. Paul took Oliver and William out for a morning of sifting through dirt, and more dirt, and they returned filthy, but quite pleased with themselves, as they did find some little gems. Meanwhile, Quinn and I stayed behind and explored around the caravan park, and found a lovely little river (and found a few pretty little stones ourselves). We all wished we could have stayed a bit longer here, but we want to make it to the Brunette Downs rodeo by Thursday, and we have quite a lot of ground to cover to get there (and we wanted to go to Lawn Hill). There have been (and will be for the next week or so) very long days of driving - the boys are not too impressed by this, but they have started listening to “The Once and Future King” about Merlyn and King Arthur (written by T.H. White) which they are enjoying (unfortunately, Bryson has been put aside for a while…) We also visited the Undara Lava Tubes, apparently the largest and longest lava tubes on
earth. The result of fiery molten lava cooling so quickly on the outside, to leave a thick crust for the lava inside to quietly continue flowing to eventually drain, leaving long, hollow tubes, tubes which we today, thousands of years later, could walk through. And as a bonus, once every 20 years, the area floods, and water seeps into the tubes. Water filled the tubes this year, and we had the opportunity to wade through the icy waters.
As the distances to travel have been so vast, we do have to make more pit stops to break the journey. After leaving Atherton, we stopped at a bush camp by Leichhardt Lagoon, a most picturesque spot, though we could not swim in the inviting waters as salt water crocs apparently live here. We did see a most wonderful sight just after sunset: thousands of bats swarmed over us, the sounds and sights were quite incredible. William also spent a good hour taking photos (thank God for digital cameras!). He actually took quite some beautiful photos.
We also stopped at a small town called Normanton to stock up on some food. We discovered that things get quite expensive the further
inland you go. I bought some potatoes, three corn cobs, a pumpkin, a few bananas and apples, two litres of milk and a small tub of peanut butter, all for the small cost of $60! The town itself was rather dismal. Four pubs lined the main (and only) drag, and despite it only being 10am, they were already quite full, with locals drinking beer (though when I asked if I could buy some beer to take away, was told I had to wait until midday!) Very dismal.
Anyway, we now have a couple of long days’ driving ahead of us to reach Brunette Downs, which really is out of the way, but we figured worth the 600-odd kilometre detour to see an authentic rodeo. When next we will have internet connection (and electricity), who knows.
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kurt scheurer
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thanks and congrats
we are at the end of our european trip and will be back in SA from 30 sept came down from Bernese Oberland Interlaken and Gstaad today and find your report the world is a wonderful place form the Ice and snow of the Alps to find the other extrem of the red dust and semi desert of your report and the water oasis must be something absolutley beautiful !! keep on trekkeing and enjoy it and dont forget to follow the rugby world cup !! Kind greetings Kurt