STUCK IN THE MUD and DINOSAURS

10^th June, 2015

We've headed east once more and check into the Discovery Caravan Park in Cloncurry for the night. This caravan park also has accommodation for workers at the nearby mines and a canteen which serves breakfast and evening meals. Tourists like us can also take advantage of the buffet style meals that are served so we treat ourselves to dinner that night with the workmen. The other advantage of staying at the park is that we can also use the washing machines and dryers - all provided free complete with washing powder. Anything that looked remotely like needing a wash was quickly gathered up and deposited in a washing machine. In the morning we were on the road again - fully restocked with groceries, water, gas and squeaky clean. By lunchtime we are pulling into the small country town of Julia Creek and one kilometre east of the town is a freecamp beside a billabong that is run by the local council. The water in the billabong is supplied by a local farmer from his bore. There is a volunteer host on site who registers everyone in and checks to make sure all rigs are fully self-contained. RV's are allowed to camp a maximum of four nights. We decide to stay for two nights and find a spot looking out over the water.

Our campsite at Julia Creek

All was going along nicely until the second night of our stay. Julia Creek (and surrounding areas) have been in drought conditions for over three years, so when the pitter patter of rain on the roof woke us up in the middle of the night we were pleased for the farmers and after closing a few hatches and open windows went straight back to slumberland. Around 6am we were aroused from our slumber by the revving of engines. We'll try to paint a picture for you of the camping area. There is a billabong around which a tarred road runs. Camp spots are beside the tarred road on black soil. When it rains on black soil the dirt becomes like super glue and sticks to tyres, shoes, mats, feet, hooves …. you get the idea. If you try to drive your vehicle on the rain soaked soil, the result is a build up of mud on your tyres and if you try to move you just sit still in one spot and spin your wheels. Four wheel drive is no match for rain sodden black soil. We took a peek outside. The camp area was a hive of activity. Vehicles were doing their darnedest to tow their caravans out of the mud and onto the tar. In most cases this was only a matter of a metre or two away but they weren't going anywhere fast. Luckily our camp host had a powerful ute that he towed his fifth wheeler with. He gradually worked his way around the billabong and with a snatch rope pulled any vehicles with caravans attached that wanted to leave up onto the tar. He also pulled vehicles up onto the tar that had been unhitched from their vans. There was no way that they were going to get back to their vans to hook up. We took one look at the mayhem and decided that we would stay put and wait for the ground to dry out. The estimate for drying out was approx three days. Sounded good to us and along with about six other campers we settled in to watch the grass grow and the soil to harden. The following photos are some that we took after the rain stopped. 

We're OK as long as we stay put. 
The tyre marks in the mud are from the guy camped beside us who had to be towed out.

Our jockey wheel seems to have that sinking feeling

Cars on the  tar after being dragged out of the mud

This guy solved the problem of getting to his car by spreading out his mats

A visitor during the rain was this brolga

After the fourth night of being camped the ground had dried out nicely and we planned to leave the following day. It was then that Wok noticed a slight problem with our suspension in the van. The van had been listing to port but we had mistakenly assumed it was because we had sunk in the black soil a little bit on that side. How wrong we were! The rear spring on the port side was broken. Obviously the spring had broken somewhere between Cloncurry and Julia Creek and we hadn't noticed. Did we fail to mention that the highway between these two towns (along with many of the outback Queensland roads) is a minefield of culverts and floodways! Along with bouncing all over the road you have to contend with dodging all the kangaroo roadkill. Anyway – Wok got the chance to try out his over-the-top jack that was supplied with the van

Wow!  I actually get to use this magnificent jack ... hope it works!

and crawled under to disassemble the spring

If this wrench doesn't work, I have my handy dandy tomahawk ready!

and assess the situation.

Hmmm!  Yep!  Gonna need a new spring!

Our host was sympathetic and said we could stay as long as we needed. By this time we had already stayed four nights and as it was the weekend nothing was open. Oh well – more time to enjoy the nightly happy hour and wonderful sunsets.

Sunset at Julia Creek

On Monday morning Wok moseyed into town and found a mechanic who could help. 'No problems mate. I'll order it in. It just has to come from Townsville on the transport.' Of course it does ... and Townsville is only a paltry 640 klms away. We cross our fingers and toes! Wonder of wonders - the spring arrived overnight and amazingly was the right part! By that afternoon Wok had the new spring installed and we were ready to hit the road. Our two night stopover at Julia Creek ended up being a seven night layover but we found helpful and caring country folk who are really doing it tough. Hopefully the years of drought are coming to an end and there are good seasons to come. If any of you are passing through Julia Creek – take a break and stop at the Information Centre. They have a live 'dunart' – feeding times are 10am and 3pm!

It feels good to be on the road again and as we near the town of Richmond there are lots of signs about dinosaurs. Yes – we are in dinosaur country again! The information centre/museum in Richmond was pretty easy to find. One could hardly miss the reproduction of a Kronosaurus out front

My!  What a big mouth you have Mr Kronosaurus!

and the plaque informs us that the skeleton discovered in 1926 was snaffled up by our American friends and is now on display at Harvard University.

In 1989 a station owner was searching for fossils along a creek bed and discovered what proved to be the complete skeleton of a Kronosaurus. So we now have our own Kronosaurus to show off and it is on display at the museum in Richmond.

Kronosaurus skeleton on display at Richmond

There are lots of fossils on exhibit at the museum and we really liked this little guy called Minmi.

Minmi - Richmond Museum

Minmi was a herbivore and grew to the size of a large wombat.

Minmi possibly looked like this - isn't he cute?

The museum was very interesting with lots of fossils on exhibit and a working archaeological laboratory where you can see the fossils being prepared for display.

Don't look now Wok but there is a plesiosaur eyeing you off!  Luckily he is not a carnivore.

Really, really, really large ammonites!

We spent quite some time wandering around the displays and it was afternoon by the time we got away. Two days later we arrived in Longreach where we grocery shopped and topped up with fuel. Then it was on to the caravan park at Ilfracombe (about 25 klms east of Longreach) where we did our washing and filled up our tanks with water before heading south to Oma Waterhole for some rest and relaxation. We're not sure if 'fishing' comes under the heading of rest and relaxation but Wok was really pleased when he caught this eel-tailed catfish. Yummmm! These are really nice tasting fish.

Who's a pretty fish then  ....  ?

Guess a couple of weeks here won't be too hard to take …..

CORELLA DAM and FOUNTAIN SPRINGS

2^nd June, 2015

 

We've crossed the border back into Queensland and after a short stop at Mount Isa to top up our groceries, water and fuel have continued east for 65 klms. We have not camped at Corella Dam before but our nephew Greg has and says it is a great spot. So we turn off the main highway at a sign that says Clem Walton Park and let ourselves through a gate across the road and follow the dirt road for about 3klms. The road veers to the left through another gate to Clem Walton Park and veers to the right towards the dam. We follow the road to the right and as we come over a rise the waters held back by the dam come into view.

Corella Dam

Our nephew was right! This is a beautiful oasis hidden away from the main road and there are lots of free camping spots around the northern edges of the water. We find ourselves a great spot overlooking the water and set up camp.

Our campsite at Corella Dam

This isn't a large lake and Wok takes a hike around the water's edge to the dam.

The wall at Corella Dam

The lake isn't at full capacity, which is not surprising seeing as this area is in the grip of a drought, and blue green algae is a problem ….. so it's advisable to not go swimming or drink the water. No worries! We are quite happy to chill out and do a bit of R and R watching the pelicans, ducks, egrets and cranes search for their supper along the shore. Not far from Corella Dam is a mining trail and on one of our 'chill out' days we decide to do a bit of exploring. The road is little more than a track and most of the oncoming traffic seemed to be of the four legged variety.

At least these guys know which side of the road to be on

We stop at the information board where the town of Bellara once was to read about these early miners.

 

 

There is not much left of this once busy mining town – just some concrete foundations of buildings, homes, the railway station and freight loading facility.

Wok investigates the remains of the freight loading facilitiy

Hidden among the spinifex was this lonely grave.

 

A track branched off here to go to the mine at Hightville about 4 klms up into the hills. We passed by the railway siding where the smaller 2 foot railway line coming down out of the hills met up with the wider gauge railway line at Bellara.

Railway siding on the way to Hightville

Further along the track we spotted a kangaroo and joey sitting in the middle of the track. They soon hopped away as we got closer to them.

Wildlife hazard ....

The track got rougher and rougher until finally we decided that enough was enough.

The track sort of deteriorated from here ...

From where we left the Jeep it was a couple of kilometres to a tunnel which had been hand dug to allow the smaller train access to the mine.

Railway tunnel near Hightville

From Bellara we continued along the track until finally we were at a dead end. We could see water through the trees at the base of the cliffs and hopped out of the Jeep for a look. After walking along a track beside the creek whose waters were disappearing into the dry creek bed we emerged at an open area in front of a spectacular gorge.

Wok at Fountain Springs

The colours in the cliff faces were fantastic and the spring fed water was crystal clear. This awesome gorge was called Fountain Springs and apart from one information board at a rest area out on the highway there was little else to tell people what a hidden gem this was. We retraced our steps and drove back to our campsite a little weary and very dusty.

Oh no!  The Jeep got dirty!

We weren't in any hurry to clean up though and sat back to watch the resident kite swoop down over the water hunting for a fish for its dinner while the sun went down on another perfect day in the great outdoors. Life is good!

Sunset at Corella Dam

 

THINGS WE SEE ALONG THE WAY and THE DEVILS MARBLES

28^th May, 2015

Heading north of Alice Springs, it's not long before we are stopping for a line of latitude – the Tropic of Capricorn.

Roger, Gwen and Fay fight with the bush flies at the Tropic of Capricorn

Honestly – you would think we were a bunch of tourists the way we pile out of our cars and start taking happy snaps of all and sundry. It is at this point in the blog that we should tell you that speed restrictions in the Northern Territory vary quite considerably - from 50 to 60 klms per hour in the towns to 'open slather' on the roads. They have however covered this unrestricted speed with suitable signage. 

Unrestricted speed advisory sign

Never mind that it is impossible to read when travelling past at our sedate speed of 95 klms per hour let alone at warp speed. Of course nowhere does one see the rules and regulations concerning the evasive actions needed when faced with an approaching 'roadtrain' let alone (and heaven forbid) an overtaking 'roadtrain'. Our advice – Just get out of their way and give them as much road as they want! About 133 klms north of Alice Springs is Aileron Roadhouse. We had read that there is a sculpture worth seeing there so we pull off the highway and take the short loop road in. Ahead of us we can see the roadhouse but our attention is drawn to the giant figure of a man standing on the hill behind the roadhouse.

Giant man sculpture in the distance

We pull up near the roadhouse for a better view of the sculpture

Getting closer to the giant man

and discover that the sculpture is of an Anmatjere Man (the local aboriginal tribe).

Anmatjere Man

Beside the roadhouse is an aboriginal craft museum and also a giant sculpture of an Anmatjere Woman and Child. Wok was taken by the 'perentie' lizards standing guard to the entrance of the roadhouse

Nope!  That lizard doesn't look like he going to give up that can of VB he's holding.

and when asked where the restrooms were the lady behind the counter simply said to follow the signs. We are pretty sure this is one of the signs. 

The lady said no-one could spell 'toilet'

Back out on the driveway we noticed this ute loaded up with bikes, camping equipment and kids stuff.

All loaded up!

Sitting in amongst all the clutter was the 'dog' – relegated to minding all the gear and not looking too happy about it.

Not happy Jan ... !

That night Roger and Gwen and us camped out at a rest area while Barry and Fay travelled on to the next roadhouse for the night. The rest area was quite popular and we counted over 35 caravans/motorhomes camped there for the night.

Our rest area campground for the night

The next morning we met up with Barry and Fay and then travelled on to the Devil's Marbles.

Our rig at the Devils Marbles

These impressive granite boulders have been eroded over 1,500 million years

and one might think that just a slight push on one of those preciously placed rocks could bring the whole lot tumbling down. One might think that but one would be wrong – these babies are here to stay.

Our little caravan then hit the road again and at 'Threeways' we stopped for our last lunch together at the roadhouse. Our travelling buddies were going to continue north to Darwin while we turned east towards Queensland. Lots of kisses and hugs goodbye and we parted ways. We were quite comfortable travelling along in our air conditioned Jeep but when we stopped at Barkly Homestead to fill up with fuel we realised that it was quite hot outside – 35 degrees. The trees at the roadhouse were full of screeching galahs feeding their young so not a quiet place to have a rest.

Noisy galahs at Barkly Homestead

We continued east and pulled in at a rest area for the night. There were a few caravans crowded around the front part of the rest area and we could see one lone caravan parked way out in the scrubby grass at the back. We wondered how they had got there and investigated and found a track leading off the back of the rest area. We slowly trundled down the track, past the lone caravan we had seen and then found a quiet spot all to ourselves and far enough from the highway to hardly hear any road noise.

Robyn takes in the view

That night we watched the sun go down over empty plains. A great way to spend our last night in the Northern Territory.

WEST MacDONNELL RANGES

25^th May, 2015

Time to explore to the west of Alice Springs. Roger and Gwen have Barry and Fay with them in their car and we tag along behind. Roger figures the best way to approach the problem of so many things to see and maybe not enough time to do it all, is to drive to the farthest attraction first and work our way back. Whatever we miss seeing today can then be seen on another day and not so far to drive. Sounds like a plan! We have all packed picnic lunches and are in good spirits as we head west along the range.

West MacDonnell Ranges

Ormiston Gorge is our first stop for the morning at 135 klms from Alice Springs. This is a very pretty gorge with towering red walls and a near-permanent waterhole. The following photos are a selection of the ones we took on our walk along the creek in the gorge.

Wok and Fay walk along the creek bed at Ormiston Gorge

Wok is very small against the backdrop of the gorge cliff face

Ormiston Gorge reflections

Love those reflections ...

Wok Gwen, Fay and Barry trekking up the gorge

Looking back at the lookout above the gorge

Further up the gorge

More reflections in the gorge and Gwen takes a break

This is as far as we go up the gorge

Fay and Barry share a piece of fruit while Roger, Gwen and Wok look for fish

After lunch we hopped in the cars and headed back the way we had come to the Ochre Pits. Things have changed since we last visited nearly thirty years ago. Back then we were able to literally drive right up to the ochre pits and wander about wherever we liked. There was no signage telling you about how the aboriginals used the ochre as face and body paint for different ceremonies and no signs telling you where you could and could not go. We remember showing the kids how the coloured ochre looked when painted on their skin. Now there is a designated parking area well away from the Ochre Pits with a concrete walkway leading to them and an information panel explaining the cultural aspect of the site. We stopped along the track to look at the first section of ochre in the walls of the creek bed thinking they were pretty good

Yes - very nice Wok!

until we continued further along the walkway and came to this.

Now that is a mural!  All done by mother nature!

Isn't nature wonderful. A feature wall like this would look fantastic anywhere!

Barry, Roger and Fay at the Ochre Pits

We all wandered around taking lots of photos before heading back along the track.

By the time we had driven back to Standley Chasm it was going on 4pm and didn't leave us enough time to explore it before the gates closed at 5pm. Yes! This natural attraction now has an opening and closing time and a fee for the pleasure of you being able to walk along the track to access the chasm. A conference was called and it was unanimously decided that we would come back another day when we could spend more time enjoying the scenery. We were all pretty tired by the time we got back to the campground so a Red Rooster dinner with a MacDonald's ice cream sundae seemed appropriate. The following day Wok was up early. The Jeep was due for its 10,000 klm service so we had booked it in at the local dealer. We then spent the day doing routine chores like the laundry and when we got the Jeep back went grocery shopping. Our last day in Alice Springs – we hopped in the Jeep and headed west to take a walk into Standley Chasm. Just outside of town is the memorial to the Rev. John Flynn (1880 – 1951) founder of the Royal Flying Doctor Service. His ashes lie under this giant granite boulder that was removed (with local aboriginal approval) from the Devil's Marbles which is a sacred site. It is a simple but appropriate memorial for the man who was known as 'Flynn of the Inland'.

Memorial to Rev. John Flynn

We finally arrive mid morning at Standley Chasm, pay our walking fee, and head out on the track.

Wok heading along the track to Standley Chasm

It is a pretty walk along a tributary of the Finke River system (also a dry river) and the white gums have been twisted into many different shapes by the floods that have surged through the narrow cleft between the sandstone walls.

Wok takes a break under this natural arch of a gum tree

The track becomes a bit of a climb over the rocky creek bed but we can see the chasm up ahead through the trees.

Standley Chasm is just behind the trees

Although we have been here before Standley Chasm is still an awesome sight

Wok at Standley Chasm

with towering walls separated by a couple of metres.

The chasm gets narrower the further up you go

Wok enjoying the scenery

The chasm only receives direct light for a short time around midday. The sun lights up the rich red colour in the sandstone walls and the gorge beyond. It is 11am so we decide to wait for the midday sun

The sun is nearly overhead

The splendour of the chasm caught by the sun's rays

and are so pleased we did. It was a perfect way to spend our last day in the 'Alice'.