Flinders Ranges Trip August 2010 - Day 3 and 4.

Once again we got up as the sun came up and packed up after a coffee. We continued south but the road tended to be several kilometres from the dog fence now, although we took a few trips down some side roads to the border and saw some ruins on the other side of the border but couldn't go across to take any photos. Then after slowing down around a corner I ended up with an emu trying to force me off the road. It ran into the side of the car, luckily the damage wasn't too bad, for either me or the emu (it looked confused for a bit and then ran off). The Paj ended up with some damage to the front drivers side panel between the door and the wheel. The main downside was that the drivers door would only a foot or two which made it much harder getting in and out to open the roughly 40 million gates we passed through on the rest of this trip (OK maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but not much).

Continuing south we passed through Silverton, stopping briefly for a photo.

Then it was on to Broken Hill to refuel and grab a bite to eat. Followed by one of the most boring drives in the world, across the Barrier Highway before stopping at Yunta where Brett topped up his fuel and I probably should have done the same, as with his new larger fuel tank he could almost have outlasted the lightly sipping Paj and I never would have heard the end of it. Then it was north from Yunta along the road to Arkaroola. We stopped at the ruins of Waukaringa for a few photos and ended up spending a fair bit of time looking over the remains of a gold mine situated on top a nearby hill and trying to work out what a long hand built stone tunnel was for.

On our maps we spotted an abandoned farm a bit further north and off the main road, so we went to investigate. It was pretty modern and probably only abandoned within the last 10-20 years. The maps showed another track leading out to the main road, so we started to explore and found it hadn't been used in many years but we ended up finding a great campsite of the beaten track. We set up camp shielded from the wind and gathered some wood for a campfire and settled in for the night.

The next morning we gave the sun a chance to warm things up a bit before we climbed out of bed as it had got a little chilly overnight. The disused road we were on continued to get worse and at times we ended up going across country as the washouts were too deep to drive through. We found another old set of ruins which looked like they had been used by miners or farmers. We found a metal stamp that we didn't identify until later on when we went for a tour of the mine at Blinman, it was part of the packaging for some explosives. Then finally we were back on the main road and we headed to the Flinders Ranges via  Erudina and Martin's Well. Along the way we stopped at Pugilist Hill lookout for a few photos.

Then it was onto the main road through the Ranges where we stopped at Rawnsley Lookout before heading off to have a look at Sacred Canyon.

Then as we still had plenty of daylight left we stopped at the Cazneaux tree -

and we continued on to the scenic loop around the national park seeing Bunyeroo and Brachhina Gorges.

We then went and checked into the Willow Springs station as we wanted to do the Skytrek 4WD track the following day. We set up camp at a great spot and went for a drive Stokes Hill lookout to the sun set over Wilpena Pound. Then it was back to camp for a great hot shower and some dinner and drinks around the campfire. Brett helped me experiment with taking photos using just moon light.

Flinders Ranges Trip August 2010 - Day 1 and 2.

I was up early so that I could have a quick shower and pack the last of the fridge stuff in the car before heading off just after 4 am. It was an easy drive up the motorway to the BP servo at Blacksoil where I had arranged to meet Brett. Arriving a bit early gave me the chance to have my traditional travelling brekkie of a coffee and a sausage roll. As I walked out of the servo at about 5:30 am, I'm greeted by the familiar sight of Brett refuelling the Cruiser. After a bit of a chat and final check we hit the road out of Brissy. 

It was a relatively easy drive out through Toowoomba, Dalby and St George where we refuelled  and had a chat with some of Brett's friends who were on the way home after a couple of weeks away. They told us that the Darling River run was open (previously the web page for the NSW roads suggested it was closed), so we decided to change our plans a bit and come home that way. Then it was on to Cunnamulla where we had a quick stop while Brett topped up his fuel.

We passed through Eulo and decided not to camp on the banks of the river there and pressed onto Lake Bindegolly Nat. Park (about 40 or so Kms short of Thargomindah) where we found a great camping spot beside the lake. The only real problem was that the wind was blowing and we couldn't find anywhere to get out of it, so we didn't light up a campfire that night.  We set up camp, went for a bit of a walk to the lake to take some photos and then settled in with a drink or two to discuss the problems of the world and how at that moment we didn't care.

It was an early night to bed as we had been up early and covered quite a few Kms (1070 for me) during the day.

The next morning we were awake and packing up not long after the sun came up and drove into Thargomindah to refuel the cars and have a bite to eat. They recommended that we stick to the bitumen and go through Noccundra (on the way to Tibooburra) rather than the back roads as they were still pretty rough. We stopped for a quick stretch at Noccundra before we finally hit the dirt roads. Refuelled the cars at Tibooburra and had a great burger at the Pub for lunch. Then it was off down the Silver City Highway to Milparinka. We stopped here and had a wander around the ruins, taking a few photos and wondering about how hard life would have been out here in the old days.

Then it was off to Hawker Gate which is on the NSW/SA border. The road wasn't too bad and was marked as an alternate way to Broken Hill. All along the border is the dog fence which is fairly well maintained and there is a track running along side the fence for the whole length of it. As you are not supposed to drive along this track we kept to the main road which was in easy viewing distance of the fence. As it was getting  late we started to look for a camp site and found a great spot just beside Lake Boolka, so we set up camp and luckily the wind died down as the sun set, so we got the campfire going. After a quick bite to eat and a drink or two we were ready for another early night in bed. 

Easter 2012 - Currawinya trip Day 5

We were up fairly early and packed up quickly to hit the road a bit after 8 am. Then onto Goondiwindi for the others to refuel and we had a bit of breakfast. Even after many hundreds of kilometres on the bitumen my Paj was still dropping lots of red dust in the Caltex parking lot.

 

 It was at this stage I parted company with the others as they headed back to Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast via Toowoomba while I headed off to Warwick and the Gold Coast. The traffic was fine until I hit Warwick and then every man and his caravan seemed to be on the road back to Brisbane, also there was a very high police presence between Warwick and Aratula. In fact from the top of Cunninghams Gap to Aratula there was just a long line of traffic moving very slowly, much to the disappointment of the police radar trap half way down the range.

I was going to stop at my favourite bakery in Aratula on the way back, however the line up of cars meant it would have been several hours before I could rejoin the traffic stream. Luckily, when I turned off to Boonah just after Aratula most of the traffic disappeared and it reduced even more after the turnoff to Beaudesert. The section through Canungra into the back of Nerang was also a very smooth run, unlike normal. I refuelled at the Caltex at Palm Beach and the run from Cunnamulla had taken 98.05 l of diesel to cover 920.6 kms. Giving 10.7 l/100km which I was very happy with, given the Paj was loaded with camping gear and had the OzTent, Maxtrax and awning on the roof rack. The electronic readout was showing in the low 11's for most of the trip.

Then it was back home to unpack the car, shower, and then relax with an Easter egg or two that didn't get eaten over the weekend.

All up a great 5 days with friendly people and some beautiful scenery.

Easter 2012 - Currawinya trip Day 4

I was up relatively early to pack up the tent and get ready to start the trip home. While waiting for the others to get finished I headed down to the nearby ruins to take some photos.

 

 

 

 Then a bit after 9 we headed off back to Eulo by way of a road through the back of the Park. It was in very good condition and we ended up stopping briefly in Eulo for Adam to add a Jerry can of diesel to his SWB Paj to make sure he could get back to the nearest fuel at Cunnamulla. The other two shorties had Auxiliary tanks so we didn't need to worry too much about fuel.

Then into Cunnamulla for a full refuel and then onto Bollon where we had lunch by the creek. So far there was almost no traffic on the road and most of the towns were closed on Easter Sunday. Then a leisurely drive to St George and finally onto the Nindigilly Pub where we made use of their free camping to set up for the night. 

 

 

 

 

Then happy hour was happening at the pub so we wandered down for a few drinks. We ended up with quite a few drinks and also had dinner there but that was soured by the fact that after ordering at 5:30 pm we didn't actually get our meals until about 9 pm. Still a round of drinks on the house in compensation was a partial relief. Two Road Train burgers were ordered, one for Adam and Cameron and the other for Wayne and Curtis. In hind sight this was extremely optimistic with quite a bit of uneaten burger being taken back to the camp fridges. As we wandered back to camp a fairly light shower of rain passed over but it hardly even made the tents wet.

Easter 2012 - Currawinya trip Day 3

Once again we had a bit of a sleep in and found that a cool breeze had in fact sprung up, so hopefully the temperatures through the day would be cooler. It ended up being about 10 deg cooler for most of the day. The sky also became much hazier, presumably from the dust whipped up by the breeze. During morning tea around the fire we decided to go for a bit of a drive down to Hungerford. We first tried what looked like a back track on the map but it appeared to end up in private property so we came back to the main Eulo-Hungerfordrd road and headed south.

 

 We stopped off at the Woolstores to have a look at the old buildings and had a cruise around the other camp site at Ourimperee Waterhole, which looked pretty nice. They had cold showers and once again there was not many campers.

 

 

 

 

 

 Then it was onward to Hungerford where we ended up having quite a nice lunch at the pub. The road leading south across the border to Mexico had a large gate to keep the southerners out. We lined the cars up for a photo and then headed back to camp for a snooze and a relax around the tent. 

 

 

Unfortunately the mozzies seem to be getting worse. More DEET needed. Wayne cooked up the rest of the yabbies and we had almost a complete meal from them. A bit more cheese and crackers and I didn't even cook up anything for dinner. Another few pleasant drinks around the fire before bed and the sad thought that we would be packing up in the morning.

Easter 2012 - Currawinya trip Day 2

We had a very lazy morning, with a bit of a sleep in and not doing much. Hot cross buns for morning tea around the fire  and discussing where we could go for a drive. Some lunch around about noon and then as it was pretty hot we decided to go for a drive in the nice air conditioned cars. We explored some of the ruins and leftover machinery in the area as well as some waterholes, which looked pretty much like the water hole we were camped on. There were a few other camps over the other side of the creek that we saw but there weren't a lot of people around at all.

 

 

Back to camp for afternoon tea and a bit of snooze before dinner. It was still very hot, around 36 but there was no breeze to cool things down. About 5'ish we gathered around the fire for drinks and nibbles, I provided some cheese and crackers and Wayne supplied freshly cooked yabbies with some sweet chilli sauce. Then the cooking show started around the fire, with Wayne cooking up tons of perch with a crunchy topping in the camp oven. This was after Adam extinguished most of the camp fire when the marinade from his chicken leaked onto the fire. All this time the mossies were being extremely annoying  just by buzzing around, not many were actually biting as the DEET from the Bushman's was pervading the air and discouraging them from landing. We could see the lightning from some storms a long way away and hoped this would bring a cool change.

 

Easter 2012 - Currawinya trip Day 1

The alarm woke me at the ungodly hour 3:45 am. I threw the last of the bags into the car and had left home by 4am. Driving was easy as there was very little traffic on the road. I went up the highway to Nerang then off to Canungra, Beaudesert and onto Boonah and finally the main highway near Aratula. Didn't stop at the Aratula Bakery for a change. A good run up through Cunningham's Gap and onto Warwick now that most of the road repair has finished. Then onto Goondiwindi (about 8:15 am) where I met up with Josh, Kemsley and Adam at the BP/Maccas to refuel the car and the body.
We left Goondiwindi about 9am and headed for St George where we did some last minute shopping and then headed onto Bollon where we stopped at a pleasant little cafe for lunch. Leaving here about 1ish we headed onto Cunnamulla for our last refueling stop.

Refeueling at Goondawindi

 

We saw quite a lot of emus in the paddocks along the road, with one getting very inquisitive about my car, so that I had to stop to avoid it. Onto Eulo and we turned off onto the dirt road to Currawinya just past the town. The road was is quite good condition but the dust meant we were strung out a fair bit so that we could see the road. We missed the turn to our camp site and ended up down the road a few kms until we realized we had to turn around, of course we hadn't actually checked the map before this. 
After registering and paying our camping fees we found Wayne and Anne and their kids and proceeded to set up camp. This was just after 5pm and the temperature was about 35 degrees, although it was very dry so it didn't feel that hot.

Corni Paroo Waterholes camp site more - 2

 

There was lots of annoying flies around which were replaced by annoying Mosquitos as the sun went down. The Bushman's kept them mostly away. After getting camp set up we sat down with a well deserved drink and watched Curtis bring in a varied catch from the creek, carp, perch and turtles. The carp were summarily dispatched, the perch kept for eating and the turtles released under their own recognizance to not get caught again.

After about 13 hours of driving and just over 1100 kms I was feeling fairly snoozy, so dinner was a couple of Easter eggs and after sitting around chatting for a few hours I headed to bed for a very good sleep.