MT ISA TO NORTHERN TERRITORY AND DALY WATERS

FULLARTON REST AREA TO MT. ISA, CAMOOWEAL, TENNANT CREEK AND DALY WATERS

 

MONDAY 2ND JUNE   -   We left our overnight stop and headed towards Mt. Isa, 184 kilometres further north.  We stopped at Cloncurry to visit a memorial cairn for Burke and Wills, commemorating the place where the explorers passed through.

We continued along the road and the landscape changed from very flat, dry and dusty to colourful hills and trees and made a pleasant change from the barren lands we had been driving through.  We reached Mt. Isa after lunch and pulled into Sunset Tourist Park where we stayed for 2 nights.  They were fully booked when we rang that morning, but said we could go on the overflow area if that suited us.  We didn’t have much choice.  We learned that the Annual Rodeo, lasting 3 days, would be taking place in August and everywhere was fully booked. There were also a lot of mine workers living in the park.  

We weren’t too happy being in the overflow area at first as it was right behind the entrance gate, but we were parked beside a nice grassed area with a big tree.  Everyone kept asking us how we’d managed to get the best spot in the park.  After walking around the rest of the park, we had to agree that we did indeed have the best spot, as the rest of the park was very dry and dusty with very little shade available.   

 

Mt. Isa is one of the World’s top ten producers of copper, silver, lead and zinc.

Mt. Isa is the “Rodeo Capital of Australia”. It is in the North West Region of Queensland and located 1,829kilometres from Brisbane and 883 kilometres from Townsville.  It covers 43,310 square kilometres, with a population of 24,000.

On 19^th January 1924 Mt. Isa Mines Ltd. Was established, so a town and all the amenities were needed to attract workers for the mine.  At one time, the town held the record for the most consumption of beer than any other similar town in the commonwealth.  By 1955 Mt. Isa Mines became the largest mining company in Australia.  In 1968, the town was declared a city. 

Some famous people born in Mt. Isa are:

Simon Black – Australian Rules player

Deborah Mailman – Actress

William Barton – World famous didgeridoo player

Pat Rafter – Tennis Champ

Greg Norman – Golf Champ

Scott Prince – Rugby player

Altiyan Childs - Singer

We went to the City Lookout and got panoramic views of the city and the mine area.  There was an amusing signpost showing distances to many national and international cities. 

TUESDAY 3RD JUNE   -   We went for a drive to Lake Moondarra, 16 kilometres out of town.  It was the city’s main water supply and was also a popular spot for boating, fishing, water-skiing and canoeing, with picnic areas.  It hosts the Annual Fishing Classic, one of outback Queensland’s most iconic events which has been happening for the past 16 years.  The lake is stocked each year with barramundi fingerlings, sooty grunter and long tom.  Sleepy cod are also in the lake.

The dam was constructed in 1957 and was called Leichardt River Dam.  It holds 107,000 ML of water with a maximum depth of 11 metres when full.

It was really beautiful and quite an unexpected lush oasis on the other side of a big industrial mining town that’s very dry and dusty.  There were lots of birds flying around and peacocks roaming freely around the picnic areas. We took the scenic drive around the lake and went for a walk across the dam wall. 

Mt. Isa operates the School of the Air and helps around 220 students covering an area from Northern Territory to Burketown, and Birdsville. 

WEDNESDAY 4TH JUNE   -   We were happy to leave Mt. Isa.  We found it to be a big, dry and dusty industrial mining town.  To be fair the town is in a chronic drought situation and I suppose they’re doing the best they can.  We drove further north for almost 2 hours towards Camooweal and got stuck in a pretty nasty accident.  The police had blocked the road off and were trying to free a man that was trapped inside his 4WD and trailer that had rolled over into the side of the road.   He had pretty bad head injuries but was conscious. We were behind a huge cattle truck in the front of the queue.  The animals were getting upset and pooping everywhere.  Richard went to see if there was anything he could do to help, but the police had it under control and were waiting for the Royal Flying Doctors to arrive.  It was a long, flat, straight stretch of road, so we don’t know what made the car roll over.  We just hope he was ok and felt quite upset afterwards, so glad that it wasn’t us involved in such a horrid accident.  We had to wait almost an hour for the road to reopen again.  We continued driving north and the landscape was quite beautiful with big undulating hills and different shades of browns, greens and yellows along the way.  There were trees around and it was more interesting looking at the colour variations.  By 1pm we had crossed the border into The Northern Territory. 

The first thing we noticed was a speed sign for 130 KP!!!  - we were staggered.  The landscape continued to be very flat, dry and yellow with very few trees.   At 4 o’clock and after a long day travelling 410 kilometres, we pulled into our overnight stopover Wonarah Bore Rest Area. 

OUR FIRST FREE CAMP IN NORTHERN TERRITORY

 

It was a very big area, set well back from the road.  It was already quite full and we found a good flat spot to park.  There were no toilets there which was quite unusual.  We had a wine and chat to our neighbours, glad that we’d finished driving for the day. Vans pulled in until quite late in the evening.  We certainly wouldn’t be on the roads that late.  We try not to drive past 4pm as there are too many kangaroos around by then.

THURSDAY 5TH JUNE  -   We left the rest area at 9am and continued our journey.  We stopped at Tennant Creek to have a look around the town and get petrol.  It was a pretty small town, full of aborigines hanging around and didn’t have a very nice feel to the place.  There was a caravan park, but we certainly wouldn’t stay there.  We were a  bit disappointed as we’d expected it to be a bit nicer and a bigger place.   We had a quick lunch in a roadside pull off and carried on with our trip until we came to Newcastle Waters Rest Area, 700 kilometres later at 4pm.  It was a small rest area and luckily, we got the last spot available.  At the back of the rest area we could see over a big green valley stretching for miles.

FRIDAY 6TH JUNE   -   We left our overnight stop and headed for our next destination, 132 kilometres north, to the historic spot of Daly Waters, 600 kilometres from Darwin and 1 ½ hours from where we’d stopped over the previous night.  We were glad to only have a short drive today.  Daly Waters had an old historic pub, established in 1930, and licensed in 1938, with a caravan park next to it.  Some of our friends had been there before and told us not to miss out on the experience.  We got to Daly Waters Caravan Park at 11.30 and it was quite full already.  It’s a very popular spot and had powered sites for $28 per night, or unpowered, with an overflow area across the road.  We opted for a powered site for a change.  We quickly set up and wandered down to the pub to have a look around and to order our dinner for the evening.  They had a daily special “Beef n Barra” for $29 with a help-yourself salad bar included.

INSIDE THE PUB - NOTE THE LEGS COMING OUT OF THE CEILLING!!

 

THERE ARE CAPS, BRAS, -SHIRTS AND FOREIGN CURRENCY HANGING EVERYWHERE INSIDE  

 

 

A coach of lunch time visitors turned up and the place was rocking with a musician there also for a couple of hours.  There was a steady flow of caravans coming in all day and the powered sites filled up pretty quickly.  We had a site with a tree at the back of the van which gave us some shade.   It was a really old quirky sort of place with some real characters living there.  Most of the bar staff were backpackers.   We were directed to our site by the darkest skinned Scot’s man on his famous bicycle called Lightening that we’d ever seen.

SIGN OUTSIDE THE PUB - AS IF YOU NEED A REASON TO DRINK11

 

THE SIGN OUTSIDE THE LOCAL 'HOLESALE' SHOP

 

THE LOCAL 'HOLESALER' SHOP

 

Daly Waters is famous for having Northern Territory’s oldest pub and Australia’s first international airport, which was a major Air Force Base during WWII for both American and Australian Air Force personnel.  It was used for flying mail into the Northern Territory from Queensland and then became a refuelling point for Qantas international flights through to Darwin and onto Singapore.  The original hangar is still there. 

In 1862, John McDouall Stuart crossed the continent from South to North Australia.  He discovered fresh water and named the area Daly Waters to honour the governor of SA, Sir Dominic Daly.  Fresh water was vital for droving cattle and Daly Waters was the last watering hole before the perilous Murranji Stock Route.

We wandered down to the pub at 5 o’clock for the hour long happy hour and were entertained by Steve Kerley an old bush poet/singer/comedian. 

 

He had us in stiches with his jokes and yarns.  The pub was very full and everyone was enjoying the entertainment.  Our meal was beautiful, huge servings of wild barramundi and perfectly cooked steak, along with all the salad you could eat. Terrific fun, and good value.  We’ll definitely be stopping here on our way down from Darwin. 
 
It's been another action-packed week with lots of travelling - 1,250 kilometres.  We finally crossed the border in Northern Territory and are steadily making our way up towards Darwin-   
 

NEXT WEEK:  We’ll be heading to Katherine, our last destination before finally reaching Darwin – another 310 kilometres north

WOODGATE BEACH TO ROCKHAMPTON, LONGREACH AND WINTON

 

WOODGATE BEACH TO ROCKHAMPTON, LONGREACH AND WINTON

TUESDAY 27TH MAY   -   We were very sad to be leaving Woodgate Beach as we so loved the place.  It was time to move on once more.  We set off to meet our friends in Rockhampton 360 kilometres further north on The Capricorn Coast.   We stayed at Parkhurst Tourist Park 15 minutes drive from Rockhampton. It was a small caravan park set back from the main road and was $25 per night.  There were a lot of permanent residents there.  Our friends Rob and Ros and Molly their dog have been there since February.  We last saw them in January in their beautiful home in The Barossa Valley.  We spent three fun filled days with them and really enjoyed catching up once more.

Rockhampton is the beef capital of Australia, with a population of 39,200 people.  There were 6 life-size bull statues throughout the town, representing the main breeds of the area. We visited Kershaw Park which was beautifully set out with 2 stunning waterfalls. 

 

FRIDAY 30TH MAY   -   We left Rockhampton to start the 3,000 kilometre trip to Darwin.  

A bit of trivia - it was 3 years ago today that we sold our house in East Hills.

We travelled for 377 kilometres through Queensland’s Central Highlands through Blackwater and Emerald.  We stopped for lunch in The Botanic Gardens in Emerald and visited the 25 metre high Van Gogh “Sunflower” painting on a huge easel in Morton Park.  It was the main feature of the town.   Emerald was once a major sunflower producer and was a large, modern country town.  Next we passed through the beautiful Drummond Ranges, Chocolate Hills Road, Too Good Creek, Dingo and Bluff and on through the Capricorn Highway to the tiny spot of Bogantungan, where we stayed in the rest area beside the railway line to Longreach for the night.

 

A rail disaster happened in nearby Medway Creek in February 1960. During a bad storm, part of the bridge was knocked out.  2 children and 7 adults drowned that night and 43 people were injured.  Men from Bogantungan were first on the scene.

There were 5 other vans parked up for the night.  It was a gold coin donation payable in the railway museum.  

SATURDAY 31ST MAY   -   We set off from Bogantungan and passed through Alpha and Jerico.

A BUS SHELTER IN JERICO

 

We stopped in the interesting town Barcaldine for lunch. It featured in the Great Shearer’s Strike in 1891.  The Tree of Knowledge, a large Ghost Gum, was a spectacular feature in the town.  It grew outside the railway station for over 180 years, until it was poisoned in 2006, and was a place of inspiration for the striking shearers.  It has held a special place in the history of Australia and received the highest possible heritage honour in the National Heritage List in January 2006.

FOUR PUBS SIDE BY SIDE IN BACALDINE

 

Barcaldine is home to the first free flowing bore in Queensland sunk in Back Creek in 1896.  Artesian water is the life blood of the Outback and is referred to as liquid gold.  The water is naturally filtered and is some of the purest water in the state.  

After lunch we drove on to Longreach which was 324 kilomotres from Bogantungan, and visited the Qantas Founders Museum which was fascinating and had very interesting exhibits and documentaries showing the history between the founders Hudson Fysh and Paul McGinness.   The museum is home to the World’s only Bristol Fighter simulator, the aircraft both McGinness and Fysh flew together during WW1.

OUR VAN PARKED CLOSE TO A JET ON THE RUNWAY

 

RICHARD IN A FLIGHT SIMULATOR

 

A MODEL T FORD SIMILAR TO ONE USED BY MCGINNISS AND FYSH

 

 

It all began in March 1919 when the two Gallipoli veterans heard of a $20,000 prize for the first Australian to fly from England to Australia in 30 days.  Their sponsor died before the race and the executors of his estate didn’t support the race. 

Instead McGinness and Fysh accepted an assignment from the Department of Defence to survey the air race route from Longreach to Katherine.  They completed the gruelling route in a Model T Ford.  This journey strengthened their belief that an air service was the only way to link remote outback settlements. 

In November 1922, they won the contract to operate the first scheduled airmail service from Charleville to Cloncurry.  Qantas as we know it today, developed from that first contract  - an amazing story.

 

We stayed at Apex Riverside Park a free camp about 7 minutes out of town.  It was jam packed with vans when we got there at 4pm and we were lucky to find a spot to park for the night.

SUNDAY 1ST JUNE   -   We left Apex Park and headed to Winton.  We were keen to visit the “Musical Fence” on the outskirts of town. It was an odd collection of plastic barrels, pot lids and all sorts of metal objects put together in an auditorium with a wire fence attached to wooden sounding boards.  There was a bucket of cut down hosepipes and metal strips to bang and clang on all the “instruments” to your heart’s content.  There was also a make-shift drum kit.  It was really good fun and luckily wasn’t near to anything or anyone that could be offended by the “din”.  It originated on 20^th July 2003 with visiting artists gathering in Winton to perform a truly unique composition – the world premiere of “The Musical Fence”.  It was designed by percussionist and composer Graeme Leak and is the first permanent musical fence to be installed in the World.

Then we went to visit “Arno’s Wall” in Arnos Park.  The wall is 2 metres high and 70 metres long.   It was made from concrete and rock from Arnos Opal Mine in Opalton and is filled with an odd collection of old lawnmower parts, boat propellers, old machinery, vintage typewriters , motorbikes and other scrap items.  It was quite bizarre.

 

Winton is famous for dinosaurs and the dinosaur stampede.  At Lark Quarry Conservation Park, there were 3,300 footprints preserved in stone, marking the only known dinosaur stampede on the planet.

QUIRKY DINOSAUR GARBAGE BINS IN WINTON HIGH STREET

 

We visited The North Gregory Hotel which was the location of the first live performance of Banjo Patterson’s Waltzing Matilda in 1895.  Caravans can park at the back of the hotel for $10 a night.

 

Winton was an interesting place.  It was really dry, hot and dusty and   full of caravans driving up and down and parking in the main street. 

We passed through Kynuna and onto McKinlay where we stopped at “The Walkabout Creek Hotel” made famous by the movie Crocodile Dundee.  It was sold for $290,000 shortly after the movie.  The new owners have retained the rustic atmosphere.

 

After a long drive of 465 kilometres, we reached our overnight stop.  On the way to Fullarton River Rest Area, we almost hit a kangaroo.  Richard had to slow down as much as he could when we saw one dart across the road, and narrowly missed another following closely behind.  It was quite upsetting seeing how much road kill there was on the roads from Bogantungan through to our overnight stop – much more than we’ve ever seen before - lots of wild pigs, cattle and kangaroos.  I suppose it’s no wonder with the volume of huge road trains hurtling past day and night.

We also noticed lots of Greyhound buses in both directions travelling from Cairns to Brisbane.

Next Week:  We will be continuing our journey to Darwin via Mt. Isa and Tennant Creek.   Stay tuned to see how far we get.

 

 

 

 

WE’RE AT WOODGATE BEACH

TWO WEEKS IN PARADISE 

TUESDAY 13TH MAY   -   We left Palmwoods on The Sunshine Coast and our friends Janet and Paul and headed 261 kilometres further north to Woodgate Beach on The Fraser Coast.   It was a lovely sunny day and after 4 hours we arrived “in paradise” Woodgate Beach Tourist Park  -  our favourite place in Queensland.  We stayed here 3 years ago on Stage 1 of our travels and have talked about it so many times and told many of the people we’ve met along the way about it.  To say we were really looking forward to coming back here was an understatement!!!  It was so beautiful to be driving along the beach front again heading towards the caravan park.  We pulled up at reception and got directions to our site.  We were at the back of the park this time.  There were quite a few vans already set up and they looked like they’d been here for a while.  The front section where we were before was almost full up.  It’s becoming more and more popular with people from Hervey Bay (1 ½ hours away) and Bundaberg (1 hour away) as a quick weekend destination. It’s also only a 4 hour drive from Brisbane.

 

Our site was under a shady tree and beside a tall hedge along one side and along the back of the site, so we were quite private.  We quickly set up and couldn’t wait to get down to the beach for a stroll along the white, flat sand. The beach stretched for 16 kilometres of pristine sand and was ideal for swimming, fishing, sailing, skiing and boating with calm waters protected by Fraser Island.  There was a paved winding path snaking all the way along the ocean, like a slithering snake, with tall leafy trees bending over in a cool protective canopy overhead.  There were picnic tables and seats at intervals along the side of the pathway, with ample space for everyone to sit and relax and enjoy the view.

The park was set on 8 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds backing onto 230,000 hectares of National Park.  There was an abundance of kangaroos, black cockatoos, lorikeets, poincianas, bougainvillea, eucalypts and pine trees throughout the park.    It had a lovely casual and relaxing feel and everyone was very friendly and only too willing to have a yarn with us.

The park owners were doing lots of improvements around the park and put in more undercover seating areas as they’re opening up the back section for more caravans.

There was a gazebo beach café at the front of the park which was always busy.  It overlooked shady trees and picnic tables across the road where people sat to have happy hour, relax and watch the water.  The park had a general store, camp kitchen and immaculate amenities, as well as a car and boat washing facility at the rear end.

VIEW FROM THE CAFE TO THE BEACH

It was unspoilt and idyllic with Woodside Beach Bowling Club at one end of the esplanade and Woodgate Hotel at the other.  In-between there was a real estate, hairdresser, post office, a second coffee shop and general store.  There were no high rises buildings, only houses either with permanent residents or holiday lets available.  The club was a 5 minute walk from the park and the pub about 15 minutes.

FRIDAY 16TH MAY   -  We were finding it very difficult to tear ourselves away from Woodgate and were feeling totally relaxed and “into the swing” of the laid back, relaxed  lifestyle there.  We had to drive into Bundaberg to pick up some kitchen cupboard latches that we had ordered from the Jayco dealer.  It was an hour’s drive and we had a look around the town, got the catches from Jayco, did some grocery shopping and had a lovely lunch overlooking Bundaberg River in the RSL Club.  We arrived back to Woodgate in time to have happy hour with our neighbours Peter and Penny.  They were cooking a roast chook in their turbo oven under their awning.  I’ve been toying with the idea of buying one, so I had a good chat to Penny to see if it was a worthwhile investment.  We’ve seen so many caravanners with them.  It’s a big, round glass dish with a lid – a mini oven.   They don’t use as much electricity as a conventional oven.  The beauty is you can keep all the cooking smells outside of the van. It was bigger inside than I’d imagined and you can cook a roast with all the veggies and potatoes around the meat.  Penny told me she cooks steaks, bacon and cakes with hers and it’s a crisper dry end result as you don’t need oil to cook with. Penny and Peter told us the 1300 watt oven works perfectly with a 2kva generator for free camping. There’s also a rinse cycle after you’re finished cooking and it washes itself – brilliant!!  They were going to Maryborough the following day to have their car serviced and kindly said they’d pick one up for us.  They’re usually $39 from Kmart or Big W.  Will let you know later in the blog how well it worked out.  Can’t wait to try for myself.

SUNDAY 18TH MAY   -   Time to try out the turbo oven!!

We went shopping to Childers, a 30 minute drive from Woodgate.   On the way there, we stopped at The Hollow Log – the local fresh fruit and vegetable shed.  We bought a bag of avocados for $2, tomatoes for $2, fresh zucchini, pumpkin, freshly picked broccoli and lots more.  It was so fresh and cheap, we couldn’t help ourselves.

We had a look around Childers then had lunch at the Post Office Café, where Russell Crowe had been spotted a few times when he first started going out with Danielle Spencer.   It was a lovely open plan balcony café, overlooking the town, with comfy cane chairs and ceiling fans.  The service and food were really good.

We bought a 1.6kg marinated, stuffed chicken and got back to the van anxious to put the turbo oven through its paces.  2 hours later we sat down to a beautifully cooked roast chicken dinner.  The chicken was really crispy and succulent.  Whilst we were tucking into our baked dinner, we put the oven on wash cycle.  It worked really well.

MONDAY 19TH MAY   -   We went down to the beach for an afternoon walk.  The beach was deserted, except for 4 kangaroos hopping along the sand and in and out of the water.  I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hurriedly put Sally back on her lead as the kangaroos were getting closer.  They hopped up to the grass verge at the top of the beach and watched her going past and then they disappeared.  We only saw them that one time.  We kept an eye out other days, but didn’t see them on the beach again, although there were lots to be seen in gardens munching on the grass and on the other side of the fences in the caravan park.  

FRIDAY 23RD MAY  -   We walked up to the Bowling Club for the 6.30 raffles and dinner.  We bought $20 of raffle tickets and were astonished to win 3 lovely meat trays:  2 trays of rump steaks and 1 pork roast that we’ll cook for our friends Rob and Ros next week when we get to Rockhampton.

The place was swarming with groups of the big electric blue Ulysses Butterflies.  They were amazing to watch and flew right into us many times.   I was fascinated and totally mesmerised looking at them. On the beach we watched them flying out to sea. 

PEAK HOUR AT WOODGATE

 

VIEW LOOKING UP THE STREET FROM THE CARAVAN PARK

 

THE PATH FROM OUR VAN TO THE OCEAN

 

SOME TALL COOL SHADY TREES

 

THE PATHWAY UP TO OUR VAN

 

THE PAVED PATHWAY ALONG THE 16KM OF BEACH

 

VIEW OF THE BEACH FROM THE PARK

 

A GNARLED TREE WITH A HORSE HEAD PROTRUSION AT THE BACK OF THE PARK

 

We’ve had a fantastic fortnight here at Woodgate.  It’s been so relaxing and idyllic and we’ve met some lovely people. We’ve read lots of books.   I finally got around to reading the new Jack Reacher novel by Lee Childs that I bought Richard for Easter.  We’ve also been reading some new female authors that we hadn’t read before – Sheila O’Flannagan and Di Morrissey that we’re enjoying – very easy readable books. Richard’s been fishing a few times, with no luck.

NEXT WEEK:  We’re heading north to Rockhampton for 3 nights to catch up with friends.  Then we’ll be heading inland to start the 3,000 kilometre drive through Emerald, Winton, Longreach and eventually up to Darwin.