SUNDAY 4 JUNE     OPALTON

Last night seemed a little warmer and the sky was blue again today.

John went noodling on the heaps after breakfast.

Another flowering bush on the mullock heaps

The creepy one left – good!

We went for a walk after lunch, taking the back track towards the Outpost. We passed quite a substantial stone house, looking un-lived-in. Thought it might belong to seasonal miners, but B told us later that it belonged to a Winton man. The story was that in his poking about for opal, he dug up some bones by Sandy Creek, reputed to be those of three old timers who had been murdered. He took the bones to his house. He then had a ferociously scary night and since then had refused to ever sleep again in the house, believing it to be haunted by the murdered men! He wanted $25,000 to sell it, though.

So you know where you are…….

We did a bit of specking as we walked. There were lots of old mine shafts on the flats.

Central Opalton – looking toward the Outpost store

As we made our way back, a resident from a camp near the Bush Camp, came across to us and showed us an opal he’d just noodled on the nearby heaps. As he spoke to us, he kept his face turned away from us – not sure if he was ashamed of his teeth, or did not want to be identified! (We had earlier commented to ourselves that a foray through this area and the surrounding hill country would make a dent in various State Most Wanted lists!)

Anyway, the gent said we could noodle in that area. He came back a few minutes later – he’d cracked the stone and reckoned he’d just made $2000-$3000! So he was very happy – obviously he’d needed to tell someone!

We noodled there very enthusiastically, but it was pretty late in the afternoon and we couldn’t really see well enough. Next time!

A low loader trundled in carrying an excavator. He seemed a bit lost. He said he had to go 35kms beyond the airstrip. That was rather vague, but we thought his destination was possibly Devil Devil or Opal Creek, and were wondering how on earth to describe the way to him. Then a 4WD came by and said he’d lead him out there.

I made pumpkin soup. We had that for tea with salmon steaks and salad.

The battery seemed to be struggling to power the fridge now. Some of the things in the freezebox seemed to be softening a bit. Clearly, we needed to revisit our whole solar power system and its adequacy, at some stage.

The kero lamp had given up working too – blocked jets?

This was our last night round our campfire. It was a good. clear night for it – the starry sky was brilliant.

It had been a great stay out here, marred only by the power supply issue.

SATURDAY 3 JUNE   OPALTON

It was another really cold night. The overnight low registering on our weather station in the van has consistently been 3 degrees. The day was sunny again, but the wind was much less today and so it felt a bit warmer.

In the morning, John fossicked on the heaps. I made roti breads. After lunch we both went out onto the heaps for a while and brought back a few rocks to investigate.

Flowering bush growing on the mullock heaps

We talked for a while with an older couple who arrived with an old Toyota and van. They were following a mud map from the Matilda Centre in Winton, to drive a circuit via the Mayneside ruins and Lark Quarry. They decided to push on and camp in the bush – more his idea than hers, I felt!

The last two nights have been very quiet out here, with just M and B, and us in the camp. A young guy arrived this afternoon and he parked at the next hut. He said he drove tracks across from Longreach. I thought he was a bit creepy – not sure about him!

L came back from Winton today. M was keeping an eye on the Outpost while he was gone. L said that he would not be able to cope with the coming GST and would close the Outpost down rather than be forced to try to master it. That would be a pity – he serves a valuable function in this area.

Tea was the last of the minestrone soup, chops, potato done in foil in the fire, bacon, egg for John, tomato for me. We even had a few bits of green veggies.

Our fresh supplies have lasted rather well. I used the last of my fresh milk this morning. We still had some fruit left.

John rad-phoned a couple of relatives. They’ve had ‘flu. There has been snow in the Dandenongs!

WEDNESDAY 31 MAY     OPALTON

There was a lovely blue sky and an unpleasant chilly wind.

Pottered about as usual in the morning.

John was really getting the water clearing process working well now – it is fine for washing hands, dishes.

Ash in water causes the suspended clay silt to settle to the bottom

Siphoning off the clarified water

Last night S and G, the Europeans, put both the yabby nets – theirs and ours – into a waterhole, and got forty yabbies overnight. I took a photo of them, cooked and lined up on M’s table.

Cooked yabbies – feast for the camp tonight!

Went walking after lunch, all round the old area, as marked by the historic site signs. The old town had at least two hotels! It was hard to visualize what the town layout had been, just from the signs there now. But we know there were at least 600 people here about a hundred years ago.

Remains of the bakery

In the old town area there was lots of broken glass and pieces of broken pottery.

It looked like the new airstrip was bulldozed through the middle of the old town site. Apparently the Flying Doctor – the main reason for building the strip – can’t use it. It is not the dog leg in the middle that is an issue, but the windmill on a rise at the end of the strip. Oops! Mistake on someone’s part!

Memorial to a more recent death – and a warning

The old township was established beside the creek, which clearly dries up most years. We walked along the creek, past one big waterhole and a few small ones. I think we were seeing this area after an unusually wet season, judging by the growth we’d seen around Winton, and the waterholes in the creeks out this way.

The creek was really pretty. We saw the Cloncurry variant of the ringneck parrot, very clearly.

Coming back, along a narrow bit of the creek, we came across a place where the creek in a flood, appeared to have broken through down into an old shaft. Very deep and quite scary! Suddenly, the ground did not seem all that solid, especially in the creek beds!

John went very close to walking into a BIG spider, in its web, slung between two close trees. He got a big fright!

M told us that the old claims area, behind the Bush Camp, where we go noodling, is riddled with old shafts that are now full of water. It could be quite dangerous to go wandering too much out there.

New digging in the foreground and old mullock heaps in distance

We plugged the van to Truck again and ran the engine for half an hour.

B came round and John explained to him about the 4WD Radio Network and showed him the sched routine. Then John went off to show S how to dry sieve for gemstones – they are planning to visit the Rubyvale area next.

L told us he was expecting friends to visit and they arrived this afternoon – an 87 year old, with a much younger American wife. They were installed in one of the huts, with L hovering in attendance. We could hear much talk of opals, mines, leases, a local they all knew who was selling his lease, and so on.

Tea was minestrone, then zucchini slice made in the camp oven.

Camp oven zucchini slice

It was the last day of autumn. In 98 on this day we were at Mission Beach, last year at Erldunda. I wondered about 2001? Probably in the north of WA?

MONDAY 29 MAY     OPALTON

Today was sunny, but not really warm, after the cold of last night. Apparently, it was really cold in Canberra and Melbourne – snow, sleet and the like.

I had a sore shoulder and decided to take it easy for the next couple of days. Well, even easier….

The days were beginning to follow a similar pattern. We did some noodling in the morning, and general pottering about camp.

Poptop roof angled to get more sun on the solar system

I did some sewing, while John did some noodling.

We went for a drive to find a waterhole that L gave us directions to. We went up some tracks, broadly to the south east. Tracks everywhere! We found a water filled cut, but no waterhole per se. The old open cut was in an area with lots of old machinery and dead vehicles. It was probably about 6 kms from Opalton.

I soaked dried soup mix to make soup tomorrow.

Tea was yabby cocktail, followed by BBQ’d sausages – done on the wire grill over the open fire.

Not much warmth in the sunshine. Note our solar shower bag heating up.

SATURDAY 27 MAY   OPALTON

It was a pleasant, fine day.

We noodled on the heaps for a while in the morning, with little success.

John wanted to track down our lone traveller acquaintance from Rubyvale to suggest he come here, but the phone box here was not working, so that idea was abandoned. I cycled down to the phone box and back, which raised a sweat.

The phone box at Opalton – complete with stool

L told us that one of the miners, some time ago, wanted to use the phone and was so cross because it was not working, that he put a rope from his 4WD around it and pulled it over! Then he grew remorseful within a couple of days, and worked to put it back.

After lunch, did a bit more noodling.

John drove out to Sandy Creek to put the yabby net in a waterhole to try to catch some. He came back with three, which we kept alive in a bucket of water.

Tea was beef Mongolian and rice, using a bottle of Mongolian sauce.

The night was a bit cooler.

Love camping out in this sort of mulga bush – it was rather reminiscent of Gemtree, last year.

Late afternoon at our camp