This Adventurous Age

Adventures travelling and working around Australia.

Category Archives: 2002 Travels


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2002 Travels June 13

THURSDAY 13 JUNE     ADELS GROVE

We were not up and going as early as I’d hoped to be.

The National Park Guide indicated that several of the walks were best done in the earlier morning, or mid afternoon – not in the heat of the middle of the day.

The 10km of road to the National Park was very corrugated and rough. Having to go back and forth on that was going to be one drawback of staying where we were. But the route into the Park is an interesting one, winding between hills.

I’d thought we could do one of the shorter walks, like to the Cascades, to walk ourselves in, and because it was 11.30 when we set out from Adels Grove. I’d packed the makings for a picnic lunch, with the intention of eating it at the National Park camp area.

But John decided when we got there, that we would do the longest walk. out over the sandstone ridges, to the Upper Gorge, and back via Indarri Falls. That was a circuit of a bit over 7kms! So I packed the lightest lunch makings into the day pack and left the block of cheese and the vegemite jar at Truck.

The track climbed very gradually, between sandstone ridges. The going underfoot was alright, but it was hot. Then it was a fairly easy climb up to the ridge tops.

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The Middle Gorge in the distance, from the ridge tops

From the Lookout there were great views over the Upper Gorge.

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The Upper Gorge, showing the way in from the Middle Gorge

 

Lawn Hill Creek is fed from springs that originate from the nearby eastern edge of the limestone Barkly Tablelands. A number of the other streams of this corner of Qld originate in the same way and feed into the Gulf of Carpentaria. This origin means they flow all year round – a permanent water source for the local pastoral properties and the like.

 

In the area of the National Park, Lawn Hill Creek flows through a deep gorge, cut into red sandstone. The Gorge is split into three parts, by shallow rapids -Cascades – between the Lower and Middle Gorge, and by the low Indarri Falls between the Middle and Upper Gorge.

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Lawn Hill Creek narrows at the end of the Upper Gorge

The contrast between the red gorge walls and the deep green colour of the creek water was striking. Because of the permanent water, there is a lush riverine ecosystem along the creek banks – a stark contrast to the dry scrub and grassland country surrounding it.

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The top end of the Upper Gorge, showing scarring from wet season floods

 

We had lunch sitting on a bench seat that some thoughtful National Parks person had installed up there, overlooking the gorge. I had some salami and tomato to go on our Cruskits – the toppings were a bit sparse, though, and I didn’t eat much.

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Upper Gorge from the Lookout

Saw a freshwater crocodile float around in the water, below us. According to the Adels literature, these are the only kind of crocs in the creek and Gorge, and they are very timid, preferring to avoid people rather than eat them!

Just as we were about to leave the Lookout, saw two canoes paddle into view, from around the corner in the distance. We said we must do that, one day, while we are here!

The track went down to the edge of the Gorge, then followed it for a way, through pandanus, and often with the water right at our feet.

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The track beside the creek, in the Upper Gorge

Then we reached the Indarri Falls – low cascades over tufa (hardened calcium deposits) walls. This wall across the creek was quite wide, with about four different water cascades going over it. Again, incredibly photogenic.

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Indarri Falls

We sat by the falls, just looking about, for a while. Could see big and small fish in the water, which looked quite deep. It was definitely not a place for John to swim! It actually looked as if it would be hard to get out of, with deep water right to the edge, and slippery banks.

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There seemed to be a track where people could take canoes around the falls. I didn’t think getting into and out of canoes would be all that easy, here, either.

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Middle Gorge walls at Indarri

After our sojourn at Indarri, the track became unexpectedly hard going – up and down rocky ridges, and it was very hot. A lookout gave us great views over Indarri Falls and the Middle Gorge.

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Indarri Falls and the Upper Gorge

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Indarri Falls. The rough canoe exit point was at the far left

After about a km of this and a couple of tough climbs, we came to a high point that overlooked the campground – it was a relief to have the end in sight.

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The Middle Gorge from Indarri Lookout

The track was a very steep “staircase” down. I would not have liked to be going up it!

I could see why people get the heat exhaustion that the lady at Adels had warned us about!

It was 4.30pm when we completed the walk. Had a bit of a wander and look around the camp area.

I was been disappointed that, at the National Park, there was not an information display of any note, and no sales outlet for things like postcards. There was just a shelter with brochures on offer – the same brochure that we’d been given at Adels – and a few notices pinned up. I guess I’d been expecting something like there was at Carnarvon Gorge.

The camp area there was quite dry and dusty with mostly small sites. It was nowhere near as nice as Adels. Notices said that campfires were banned. The showers were cold water only. But the creek was wide and deep there and clearly attractive for swimming.

There really did not seem to be that many people in the campground, despite the lateness of the afternoon. So much for the notices we’d seen at places like Gregory Downs, saying the campground was booked out.

We drove back to camp with the Truck air-con going. Nice.

There were more people in the Adels Grove campground when we got back.

After much appreciated showers, John got the campfire going. We baked potatoes in foil in the embers, then John BBQ’d the lamb fillet that I’d marinated this morning in a Korma mix. I made a salad too. It was a very enjoyable dinner.

The night featured a superb starry sky, with a sliver of a new moon. But it got cold once the sun had gone down.


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2002 Travels June 12

 WEDNESDAY 12 JUNE   GREGORY DOWNS TO ADELS GROVE   91kms

We had a fairly leisurely pack up and departure, not having far to go.

It was hard to hook up the van – the jockey wheel was wedged in the river pebbles. I really should have thought to put down a board to rest it on! John became really impatient with my efforts.

It was a pleasant enough run to Adels Grove. The way was fairly flat, sometimes quite substantially scrubby, other times rather bare grasslands. There were occasional scrub lined dry creek gullies; we needed to slow down and take care not to hit these too fast. Eventually a low range appeared in the distance.

The turn off to the zinc mine was about 45kms from Gregory Downs. The unsealed road got worse after that – there must have been more maintenance done on the section that served the mine. John perceived the road as rougher than I did.

There was not much traffic at all.

After crossing several more substantial stream channels fairly close together, a couple with shallow water in, we came to the entrance to the Adels Grove campground. Made our way along a driveway to a donga building that was the office – with a large building site beside it. There were a number of really attractive trees about, so first impressions were favourable.

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Just as we were driving in, there was a distinct roar, and a plane took off from a nearby airstrip – it was a Flying Doctor plane.

We asked for a site that would give us plenty of sunshine for the panels, as this was an unpowered campground. We were told that each site had its own tap, fireplace and BBQ plate. The cost was $16 a night – we booked in for a week, so got the final night free, which brought the cost down a bit. Received a brochure about the place, with a map of the campground, and also one about the Lawn Hill National Park.

The office, which was in a green painted demountable donga style of building, had a small shop area at one end, with some basic supplies, and a freezer that held icy poles.

To make some conversation while we were being processed, I asked how many staff were working here, and how easy it would be to get a job in a future tourist season – the lady replied that it would be quite easy. That was an interesting idea to tuck away.

I asked about the Flying Doctor plane we’d seen. A tour guide had been taken ill and evacuated. To myself, I wondered what would happen to his tour group now, but it seemed too inquisitive to ask. The reception lady did say that it takes the plane 45 minutes to get here from Mt Isa, and that they’d had two other emergency evacuations in the past few days – but that rate was not normal! We had visited the Cairns Flying Doctor Base, back in ’98, so were aware of this coverage of the outback for medical emergencies – but this was the closest we’d come to seeing it all in action.

Although the bookings book I could see on the office counter looked quite hectic, there did not actually seem to be that many campers in the place. I thought maybe people book here, over the phone – as we did, with no deposit needed – but go to the National Park first and find out that they can get in there after all. We had always intended to stay some time here, as Melbourne friends had told us it was nicer than the National Park campground.

We drove to the camp area, a little distance away from the office. The campground covered quite an extensive area. There was a really good separation of the natural bush and trees, between most sites – they were more like clearings in the scrub. It was very pleasant to find something different from the normal geometrically laid out campground. Our site boundaries were marked by white painted rocks.

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We had a very good sized site. It was not too far to walk to the amenities block, which was rather basic, but clean. The hot water for showers came from a wood burning heater arrangement, outside. There was no laundry.

Set up. Had lunch. Lazed about on our site, as it was quite hot. No other campers came in to the sites near us.

We’d been told at the office that the construction site was a big new building that would be the managers’ residence, kitchen, office/shop and an open-air licensed restaurant. That seemed a bit ambitious, out here, was my initial thought. The construction area was roped off. As the campground was some distance from it, we were not likely to be disturbed by building noises, fortunately, as it was otherwise a lovely, peaceful place.

As it started to get a bit cooler, later in the afternoon, we walked down to Lawn Hill Creek, which was part of the place. We walked along its bank, on tracks through quite lush vegetation. The creek made a really large waterhole at one point. There was one section where there was obvious flood damage, with undermined banks, and that was fenced off from walkers.

We encountered B and D again, also walking around exploring. They were with a tour group, having left their van at Gregory Downs. They came in today, for one night only. They went walking at the National Park this afternoon and were going there again in the morning, to go canoeing on Lawn Hill Gorge. They said the tour groups stay in tents, on the other side of the Office area from where we were. Obviously, some meals were provided for them.

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Lawn Hill Creek at Adels Grove

According to the information we’d been given, this place had been established in the 1920’s, on a former mining homestead lease, by a Frenchman – Albert de Lestang. He set up a type of botanical gardens here, experimenting to see what would grow in these conditions, and sending seeds to other Botanical Gardens around the world. The name Adels Grove came from the initials of his name.

In the early 1980’s a couple set up the bush campground here, but they had sold it a year or so ago. I supposed that new owners explained the new building activity?

Our tea was pasta with tuna and capers.

I tried to teach John the card game Mike had taught me at Duck Creek. Don’t think I properly remembered it, because it did not seem to flow as well.

No TV here, of course. We haven’t had it all that much, so far, on this trip, and I have to say that I do not miss it!

Although, on our way out here, we had seen no sign of the mine, apart from the road turn off, at night could see the glow of reflected light from it.

We are finally at Adels Grove/Lawn Hill! Two years ago, adverse weather caused us to abort plans to come here.

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2002 Travels June 11

TUESDAY 11 JUNE     GREGORY DOWNS

The camp area emptied out somewhat, fairly early in the morning.

We walked around and had a look at the vacated places, but then decided to stay where we were, rather than go to all the hassle of packing up the camp and relocating, for only one or two nights more.

Went for a drive out along the Camooweal road, to try to find the canoe trip access points to the river, shown on the General Store brochure. Wanted to see what the river was like at these points, and also if there were camp spots there – we would be coming back this way after our visit to the Lawn Hill area, and might find somewhere great to prop for a little while.

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Gregory River

We found an access point about 18kms out, marked by two drums beside the road. It was a bit tricky to get into – the track was eroded, then sandy, but it led to a beautiful, huge, area for camping – on firm ground, not river stones. The river was beautiful here,too, some rapids, with pools above and below. There were a number of drums for rubbish about, so obviously it was regularly used. It would be a great spot for tents. John said he would not be keen on trying to get the van in there.

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Gregory River, about 20kms upstream from camp area

Another track, this one about 12kms out, was marked by one roadside drum. It led to a large area of river stones that were deep and not compacted, like the ones where we are camped are. There was a Coromal van there, on about the only patch of ground that was viable to tow on. The river was narrower there – a pool, with no rapids.

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Reflections in a deeper pool

On the way back, we bought fuel at the hotel – $1.69cpl! Also bought a pack of steak at the Store – John’s choice.

Had a late lunch back at the van. By now it was hot.

Went for a swim in the afternoon, as we had seen others doing. I walked upstream along the bank to a place where there was a divided channel and a narrow “race” around a bend. I went in there, where there was a very strong current, like a spa. I got bumped a bit by stones in the race, and then the current wanted to seep me under a clump of pandanus. I caught a branch of this to keep me out in the open, and got some splinters!

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Rapids in the river

I advised John not to do the race section, but to enter the river below it, into calmer water. The current carried us down to our camp, fairly quickly. It was hard to stop there and just sit in the water, due to the current. The river looked deceptively lazy but the current was definite.

We went back and did the float down again, from the calmer section. Then sat in the water for a while. It was clean, clear and cool, and a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

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A motor home came in. The couple looked about. John encouraged them to park near us – they seemed desirable neighbours and would create a buffer from those maybe less so.

As the afternoon wore on, it became cool quite quickly, and suddenly too cold to be lazing around in wet bathers.

John lit a little campfire and cooked potatoes in foil, then the steak and some zucchini halves on his mesh grill. He also cooked some eggs and made himself a steak sandwich, with bread. I found the scotch fillet, though tender, to be very bland – not as tasty as southern steak. Different cattle breeds, obviously. The meat was not good value, having cost us $8.

This morning, mother kite pushed Baby Huey out of the nest. Tough love! He hopped/flew to a nearby branch, then took off and flew! It must have felt pretty good. He was not good at landing, though, tending to miss the branch he was aiming for and crash down to a lower one. The parent birds hovered about him – literally! He had several more flying sessions during the day. We were so lucky to have been here at just the right time to see this.

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So now what do I do?

Sat by the remnants of our fire for a short while, after tea, but then it was an early night.


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2002 Travels June 10

MONDAY 10 JUNE   LAKE JULIUS TO GREGORY DOWNS   320kms

Neither of us had been looking forward to extracting the van from our site, this morning, but we managed, with quite a bit of to-ing and fro-ing. I made very sure that the chocks stayed behind the wheels until we were securely away from the drop! We needed low range gears again, to take the rig back down the hill from the camp.

Then we had to back track to the Kajabbi road. This continued to be fairly rough until we were almost at Kajabbi, then we were mostly out of the hill country and more onto plains.

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Quartz blow by the Kajabbi road

It was still really interesting country to pass through, with the track running roughly parallel with the Leichardt River. We crossed a number of dry watercourses. This would not be a road to take after rains! Then we crossed the Leichardt itself – just a graded sort of causeway through the channel.

Kajabbi was once an important place, the railhead for cattle to be transported after being droved from the Gulf Country. There were also copper mines in the area. We had seen some signs of recent mining activity in the area we drove through – a bit of a revival?

The township was now only a few old houses and the Kalkadoon Hotel – named for the rather ferocious aboriginal peoples of the area, who strongly resisted white encroachment, and were quite feared.

We stopped at the hotel, because of its iconic nature. After all, who knows anyone who can say they had a drink at the Kalkadoon Hotel? John had a beer and I had a coke and we “talked to the locals”. They were friendly and informative, about mining, floods and the like. The township is right by the river.

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Kalkadoon Hotel at Kajabbi

From Kajabbi, on the advice of the locals, we took the River Road, through Coolulluh Station, to the Burke Development Road. It was quite reasonable going, and adequately signposted – just!

The Development Road, like most of them, was a single strip of tar, but with some widened sections in shallow dips and at creek beds.

Not long after we got on the Development Road, we began to hear the regular talk on the CB radio of an oversize load and its escort. Soon worked out that this was behind us, so we were concerned to stay ahead of same, rather than having to try to find a place to pull over. Much of the road was banked up quite high above the surrounding country, thus with nowhere to pull off – or even much shoulder.

There was quite a lot of traffic on that section of road too – long weekend traffic? We got really sick of having to pull partly off the tar strip, for oncoming traffic, some of which did not slow down when doing the same, thus spraying us with stones.

We reached the Burke and Wills Roadhouse and pulled in there to fuel up. $1.05cpl.

About three minutes after we reached the Roadhouse, a truck pulled in, carrying a large fishing boat. That was the source of our radio traffic. Bound for Karumba, we guessed.

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The load dwarfed the pilot vehicle!

After refuelling at the Roadhouse, we parked to eat our lunch there. Encountered a man from a local (Melbourne) bowling club, who John had bowled with in Mt Isa, last week, and who had been staying near us in the caravan park. They (B and D) were heading for Gregory Downs too.

Now we turned west – onto the Wills Development Road – the usual single strip of tar.

We stopped by the bridge over the Leichardt River – significantly downstream now of where we’d encountered the river before. The river there was a rich brown colour – lots of the local red earth in there. The river was much lower than the level of the road bridge – from the height of the latter, we figured the river can do some pretty impressive flooding. This area can have some major rain events, from intense low pressure systems that are the aftermath of cyclones that cross the north Qld or Gulf coasts – in the northern, summer, wet season.

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Leichardt River from bridge on the Wills Development Road

Gregory Downs consisted of a hotel and a store, at a road junction, by the Gregory River.

We stopped at the store – Billy Hanger’s general Store – to seek information. There, we collected a very informative “brochure” and were directed to drive across the bridge to the camp area.

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Much of the brochure was devoted to information about canoeing on the Gregory River, with a canoe hired from him. Looked interesting!

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We easily found the camp area beyond the bridge – lots of rigs strung out in a row, beside the Gregory River, on the pebbly/sandy mix that would be the river bed in a flood.

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Some of the Gregory River camp area

Since there were about fifty rigs there before us, we did not have much choice of location. John chose a place, close to the original bridge – in full sun, for the solar panels. He backed the van in fairly close to the river. We had a pleasant outlook from the van’s back window, and from outside, of the stream and clumps of pandanus over the other side.

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Set up by the Gregory River

Later we realized that, if planning an extended stay, if arriving later in the day as we did, it would be best to park and stay hitched up, do a minimal set up, then suss out a good spot after the next morning’s departures.

We could soon see why it was such a popular place, as a free camp area. The river was superb – fairly shallow, and lovely to float around in during the heat of the day. The flow was strong enough to carry one a distance downstream. The water was clear, but greeny coloured. There were big paperbark trees and clumps of pandanus lining the river.

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Gregory River by our camp

There were two porta-loos, parked a little way from us – there to solve what would otherwise be a considerable problem, given the number of campers.

There was a new, high level bridge, a bit further downstream from the old low level ford/bridge we’d come across, built because of the new Century Zinc Mine, some 70kms to the west. There was the occasional burst of noise from heavy truck traffic across it, that we could hear.

It was a bit hard to get the van and Truck disconnected. The jockey wheel kept shifting in the rounded river stones we were parked on.

We set up, then sat and watched the creek and the plentiful bird life. Despite the number of other rigs, it was really very peaceful.

Then some yobs came and parked next to us – a weed spraying crew working on local properties. They threw rocks at any birds they saw. Horrible men. I went for a walk along the river side, rather than stay anywhere near them. After a swim and several beers each, they left.

Other campers pointed out a whistling kite’s nest in the top of a tall tree, nearby. It had a large “baby” in it. They had taken to calling him Baby Huey. Apparently he’d spent much of the afternoon standing on the edge of his nest, flapping his wings. They presumed he was getting ready to fly soon.

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Baby Huey getting ready to fly

There were numbers of Great Bowerbirds, crimson finches, honeyeaters – including the white gaped ones. A pair of these spent ages studying themselves in a nearby vehicle windscreen! There were purple crowned fairy wrens flitting about in the pandanus across the river. It was the first time we had seen these – wonderful.

Tea was soup from a packet, and corn cobs.

Went to bed really happy to be camped in such a great place.

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2002 Travels June 9

SUNDAY 9 JUNE   MT ISA TO LAKE JULIUS   105kms

We had driven the Mt Isa-Cloncurry road before, so decided to take advantage of the van’s offroad ability and cut through to the Burke Development Road via Kajabbi. I had seen a camp ground at Lake Julius advertised in some of the local literature picked up from the Information Centre, so we thought we’d overnight there. It looked interesting.

Drove out the Cloncurry road for about 20kms, before turning north on a dirt road. It was quite rough and rocky in parts and shook up some of the van contents!

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Cattle pad pathway on the Kajabbi road

But the scenery was spectacular – lots of mountains, white quartz blows, creek beds. In this rather arid country, the rocks of the ranges stands out really starkly.

After some 70kms, we turned west, for the final 15kms to Lake Julius. This section of the road was quite hilly. We missed the actual turnoff to the camp and had to double back. The final bit of road up to the camp was really steep – we needed to engage 4WD to pull the van up that. I was wondering what I’d let us in for!

The camping area was part of a large recreation camp complex, sited towards the top of a steep hill. The place was mostly camp buildings – I presumed it had been the original construction camp, when the dam was built in the 1970’s.

The actual camping area was at the hill top, was very small and whoever advertised it as a “caravan park” had never had anything to do with caravans!

It was cheap, at $5.20 a night, but was certainly not a proper caravan and tent area. There were three smallish tents pitched there already, and with the addition of us the place was full! Belatedly, we had realized that it was a long weekend holiday.

It was very tight to back into our site, with trees located in the wrong spots. The tenters had arrived not long before us, and had tried to spread out. The camp manager made them move so we could fit in. Not a great introduction to the (very) near neighbours!

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Lake Julius camp site

We had to manoeuvre around trees, and the site was right at the edge of a huge, almost vertical drop down to the dry Leichardt River bed – a long way below. I quadruple-checked that the van handbrake was on, once we were into the site, and that we put big chocks behind the wheels! It was certainly one of the more unusual places we had been to with the van.

There were some amenities in a donga building – but no paper in the toilets.

The tenters were families with young children. They were well behaved and unobtrusive, and the parents seemed not to resent our intrusion.

We unhitched Truck and did a quick basic set up. Had a fast lunch, then drove to look at the lake and dam.

Lake Julius was formed by damming the Leichardt River, downstream from both Mt Isa and Lake Moondarra. It was a back up water supply for Mt Isa and the area. We were surprised at how huge the body of water was – it was much bigger than we had expected.

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Some of Lake Julius

But it was the dam wall that was amazing – this huge wall of arches and barrel shaped forms. It was most impressive looking, and seemed more like something we would see holding back a major metropolitan water storage. Apparently it is unique in Qld. Actually, I could not recall ever seeing another one like this, anywhere on our travels.

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The Lake Julius Dam wall from downstream on the Leichardt River

There was only one place where we could reach the waters of the dam by road, and that was a rather small area. There were a few people there, fishing. We saw an aboriginal lady, and a man, catch a fair sized fish each – catfish, we thought?

There was a group of young adult students down there – some Australian, some American – who were being very loud and very into one-upmanship, and seemingly great complacency about their own superiority. This was very annoying and out of place in that otherwise quiet environment.

We followed a track to where we could access and explore the dry river bed, downstream from the dam wall, for a while. Looked for birds, with little success.

Then went back to camp and just relaxed for the rest of the day, sitting outside, reading, sewing and looking out over the views from our high vantage point.

Tea was barra marinated in a mix of ginger, chilli, lime juice, sherry before cooking. It was very nice, with some salad.

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2002 Travels June 8

SATURDAY 8 JUNE     MT ISA

Today was warm and pleasant.

After breakfast we drove to the shopping centre. I needed to stock up our food supplies for a few weeks – this was probably the last time we would be near a big supermarket for some time.

Topped up the Truck fuel – still 86cpl.

I bought the Weekend Australian and read that through the afternoon.

Late in the afternoon we packed up as much of camp as we could.

Tea was barra and fries – very nice.

There was a party at night in the house yard behind our van. It got rather noisy, but then the rather cold night seemed to drive them indoors and it quietened down. We could watch TV and then sleep in peace.


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2002 Travels June 7

FRIDAY 7 JUNE     MT ISA

There was some cloud build up again, today, but it was quite warm and rather humid. This was not quite “outback” weather and I decided it must be due to the Gulf, a few hundred kms north!

I did three loads of washing at $2.60 a load. It did not take long to dry outside.

We drove back to the seafood and ice shop and bought a chunk of frozen barramundi. It would make two good meals for us. The problem with only having frozen stock to select from was that the pack size of much of the fish was too big – and once defrosted had to be used in a couple of days.

Just pottered about the van for the rest of the day.

Tea was ham steaks and pineapple.


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2002 Travels June 6

THURSDAY 6 JUNE     MT ISA

The day started warm and sunny, but some cloud came up for a while, then went away again.

We took a picnic lunch and drove out to Lake Moondarra, nearly 20 kms from town. Refuelled Truck on the way – 86cpl.

On the way, called in at the seafood and ice  supply shop we knew of from last time. All their stock was frozen, but there was plenty that came from the Gulf fisheries. We thought we’d get some tomorrow.

Lake Moondarra was made by building a dam across the Leichardt River, which originates in the hills south of Mt Isa, and flows roughly northwards to the Gulf of Carpentaria, near Burketown. The dam, built about forty years ago, was intended to supply water to the Mt Isa Mines, but has also become the main source of the town’s water.

The lake was large, and quite scenic. It was unusual, to me, in that it supplied water for Mt Isa, but activities like fishing, swimming and boating were still allowed on it. I am used to Melbourne’s water storages, which are fenced off so people cannot even put a toe in them! It made me determined not to drink the tap water!

After lunch, John fished, got some bites, but did not catch anything.

I watched the variety of water birds that were on and around the lake: stints, pelicans, dotterels, herons, grebes, egrets, ducks. I did some knitting.

When John was sick of fishing, we went back to the van.

I noticed there was a travellers’ van with a sign outside, offering haircuts, so I approached the lady, and had my hair cut by her. She did a good job too, for $15.

Then we drove back to the shops, so I could collect my photos. John bought some more fishing gear. I was reasonably pleased with my photos.

John went off to bowls, for 7pm. The $8 fee to play included a BBQ tea, he said.

I made myself a very nice salad tea – my sort of food!

John got back about 10.30pm. The bowls had been alright. The BBQ was after the bowls, so he’d just had it! More supper than tea. He wasn’t best pleased with the lateness of his meal.


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2002 Travels June 5

WEDNESDAY 5 JUNE     MT ISA

Today was warm and sunny. It was good to be away from the chill wind and the millions of flies of further south!

We drove to the Information Centre and browsed about there for a while.

Then it was off to a series of shops. I put films in for processing – the Kodak Express shop was very busy. John bought some items that he thought might fix Truck. At KMart I bought a couple of novels. John found globes to suit his really bright torch – he was really pleased about this. He also bought some glues and other oddments.

We had a late lunch back at the van.

I spent the afternoon knitting and reading. Now I have a grand daughter, there is some purpose to the knitting!

John spent the afternoon playing games on the computer.

Tea was potatoes and frankfurts – John’s choice. Yuk! I don’t know why John likes those things. The potato was nice, though


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2002 Travels June 4

TUESDAY 4 JUNE   BOULIA TO MT ISA   295kms

There was not much packing up needed this morning, and we’d stayed hitched up overnight.

We waited for the initial departure rush to get gone from the town, before we left.

Refuelled – the diesel at $1.07 a litre, was a bit costly for Qld, but there is no competition here. He had a captive market, given the distances between Boulia and anywhere else. We just put in 35 litres – enough to get us to Mt Isa.

The road north was a one strip bitumen one, all the way to Mt Isa.

It was an interesting drive with considerable variety.

There was a section that we thought was the edge of the Barkly Tableland of the adjacent NT – flat grasslands, but with some trees and bushes, unlike the true Tablelands, where the cracking clay soils prevent shrub and tree roots getting established.

There were some dramatic hills and ranges, especially after Dajarra, and as we approached Mt Isa. We crossed lots of dry stream beds – on cement floodways rather than bridges. I guess that in such a dry area, the times when these would flow and affect road traffic would be very few. The stream lines were better wooded and these areas of trees helped provide the variety.

At one stage, John pulled over and braked sharply, as a truck appeared, coming towards us. The radio made a severe static noise, which then persisted whenever the brakes were used – until we turned it off altogether. Then John noticed that the rev counter would stop working, below about 2600 revs, but jump back into action when they got higher. He was not sure what was going on, whether the problem was in Truck or via the connection to the van. Also uncertain was whether things would get worse! It was a rather inhospitable area in which to break down!

We stopped for lunch in a hot, open, area beside the road. John hadn’t managed to find anywhere to pull off near any of the several pleasant creek crossings we’d passed.

Whilst eating, I saw a man cross the road, on a crest in a cutting in the distance. This seemed rather strange, as there was no parked vehicle evident beside the road. I think I have become rather more alert and suspicious since the Lees/Falconio attack and disappearance, last year. So, I was not happy when John decided to temporarily disable our vehicle by taking out the fuses to inspect them! We eventually got going again, and then I saw that there was a road grader, parked up in a cutting – but now there was no sign of the man who we now presumed to be the driver.

Fiddling with the fuses had not fixed our problem.

We had not come into Mt Isa from the south before. It is not a town that seems to have any attractive approaches. All very utilitarian, with a dominance of power poles and lines, and all looking very dusty.

We went straight to the Sunset Caravan Park, where we’d stayed in 2000. I booked us in for five nights, at $17.10 a night, after discount.

We found the park was still only average, but better than most in the town!

After setting up, we drove to the Post Office and collected a bag of mail from home. There was little of interest in it, although the notes from the house sitter were amusing. There was nothing from our assorted offspring.

John checked out the Bowls Club. He booked in to play Thursday night. The reason I booked us in here for five nights was so he could play bowls on Saturday – but there is no game then. I can’t win! Now, five nights in this town seemed excessive!

I phoned Lawn Hill National Park, to the north. Was told that their camp area is booked out until July. That was OK as I had a preference for staying at the nearby Adels Grove campground, anyway. I phoned Adels Grove and booked us in there. I asked if M and H were there, thinking I could leave a message for them; was told they had been pencilled in for yesterday, but hadn’t arrived. I left a message anyway, in case they did arrive there.

We treated ourselves to bought pizzas, from a pizza chain shop. The anticipation was far nicer than the reality!

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