This Adventurous Age

Adventures travelling and working around Australia.

Category Archives: 2003 Travels


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2003 Travels August 4

MONDAY 4 AUGUST      MUSSELBROOK

We kept the canvas window flaps of the tent open, all night. Because of the curve of the tent roof, we could lie in bed and look straight up at the stars, which was rather magical. There are so many, and they are so bright, out in this country.

We slept quite well on the air bed – a while since we’d used this!

After breakfast, set out to drive to Chilli Gorge, following another of Ranger J’s mud maps. This was a set of rather wobbly lines, with crosses over track junctions to show where we should not go! I was not convinced, however, that all possible deviations were thus covered! It had annotations like “tall ridge”, “ironstone escarpment”, “down through deep valley saddle”, “bulldust”.

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Mud Map!

Having the GPS made me a bit more confident. If I entered enough way points as we went, then at least we should be able to find our way back to camp!

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Track to Chilli Gorge

We took one wrong turn, but ended up at a pretty water hole anyway, which we thought might have been Black Cockatoo Water Hole.

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Probably Black Cockatoo Water Hole

Much of the track was along ridge tops, with increasingly dramatic vistas of ranges and distant gorges.

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Following a ridge top

Lots of the creek beds had stands of gutta percha, which we’d noticed by the track on the way in, yesterday too. John was determined to get some, later, for home wood working. I found a gutta percha tree that had been injured by flood debris, last wet, and gathered some of the large balls of golden resin that had formed along the scar. I’d been told that, in the early days, this had been used as a primitive form of dental filling. It certainly was set hard.

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Great views from the ridge tops

We eventually reached the end of the track we were following, near the gorge, some 25kms from camp.

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Chilli Gorge over in that range somewhere

Walked up the creek bed, into the gorge, carrying our packed sandwiches.

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Followed the creek bed into the Groge

It was quite spectacular – rough and rugged. Water pools and sheer rock faces eventually stopped us from going too far, so we stopped and ate lunch beside the water.

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Near the start of Chilli Gorge

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Chilli Gorge

Then climbed to the top of the escarpment and could see the gorge extending a long way back into the range. We followed the ridge for a way, until stopped by a very steep sided gorge ahead of us.

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Rugged country

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About as far as we could clamber

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Red rock walls of Chilli Gorge

Walked back to Truck and set off back to camp. Felt confident enough to explore some of the side tracks on the way back, but always eventually retracing our way, with the help of the GPS.

 

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Spinifex and rocky ridges

KT had left this morning, to head to home in SE Qld, where he was due to have his fourth hip replacement!

So we were now alone out here.

We had been most heartened, out at the Gorge, to find the skeleton of a cane toad that had clearly been turned on its back and eaten out through the stomach. Some birds, notably crows, had learned to do this, thus avoiding the deadly poison sacs on the toad’s back shoulders.

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Cane toad skeleton – eaten from stomach side

An interesting event happened back at camp, whilst we were relaxing after our drive. We heard, quite clearly, a ringing telephone! It took us quite a while to work out that a butcher bird was making the sound! He had obviously heard the amplified phone ring, when the camp was in use, and now mimicked it. It seemed totally incongruous.

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Survivor tree near mining camp

This night on our own passed uneventfully – no spooky noises in the night.


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2003 Travels August 3

SUNDAY 3 AUGUST     MUSSELBROOK

We were actually getting away on a break!

Set off south down the Riversleigh road, to the grid that marked the Shire boundary. Then we took a track west. along the fence line. This soon took us into range country – very interesting.

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Truck heading into Mussellbrook country

We stopped to look – very carefully – at a great sinkhole in a section of limestone country, and at different plants and wild flowers. We saw a pair of bustards.

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Limestone rock outcrops – similar to those at Riversleigh

Crossed a patch of black clay country – no trees there, as these were cracking clays. The tracks on such ground are always rough and corrugated!

The very rough mud maps, drawn by J at the Ranger Base – and in which I did not have a great deal of faith – actually proved adequate to follow.

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We found the place where we had to turn north for Musselbrook. Ranger J’s description of a gate that points up into the air, because someone forgot to put in a strainer post, was accurate. It also proved impossible for me to close again on my own – I wondered how anyone did it. I had to get John out of Truck to help.

The tracks were not as bad as I’d feared, but it still took four hours to drive the 120kms from Adels. As the crow flies it was only about 40kms.

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A good part of the track

We found that Lawn Hill Creek, where we crossed it, was dry, so the springs and tributary stream springs that keep it flowing at a constant rate past Adels, must be downstream of where we crossed.

Ranger J had lent us his old topo map, based on 66 datum. This showed really rugged country, with lots of gorges and water holes. It also showed lots of tracks from the mining exploration days, which now bore little resemblance to present reality.

Already I wanted to explore this area more than we would have time for!

The Rangers had said that there was much out here that was “culturally sensitive”.

We had been told that the whole of this part of NW Qld was rich in minerals. The old timers mined silver, and tin. The current Century Mine was mostly lead and zinc. It seemed that, back when BHP was exploring the Musselbrook area thoroughly, they intended to turn it into a large iron ore mine. But, before work began, the extent of the Pilbara (WA) deposits became apparent, and these were much easier to develop, so planning for a Musselbrook mine was shelved. But the mining reserve still existed.

There was supposed to be gold and other minerals under the limestone capping that covered some of the region, but it was hard to find out how much.

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Country around the Mussellbrook camp

We were to camp at the old Musselbrook mining camp, which had become an outstation and research centre of the National Park – recently decommissioned as same by the new Head Ranger. We came to feel that this was a waste of some big resources that had gone into maintaining it, including putting in a solar power plant.

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Mussellbrook Camp down in the valley

Upon arrival, we found there was a man called KT staying at the camp. He was a Musselbrook expert who had been coming there for years, for collecting and surveying activities for the Royal Geographic Society and for the National Parks.

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Rugged terrain around the Mussellbrook Camp area (from Google sat view)

There were several buildings at the camp and a kind of central area with a campfire area and some seats.

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Our tent and camp set up at the Mussellbrook Camp

We set up our tent to the side of this central area. This was only the second time, in the two years that we’d had the tent, that we had set it up. There was much “discussion” – polite term – about which bit went where.

When tent was satisfactorily erected, we took a short drive out to look at the nearby Home Gorge. We walked along this for some distance – it was quite pretty. Then we heard a mob of feral pigs up ahead of us, and decided to retreat.

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Home Gorge water hole

After tea – cooked on the campfire – we sat round it, and K joined us. We learned a lot from him about the history of the place and the current politics affecting it, especially the recent Parks decision to phase down the place.

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Old cattle yards near the former homestead

I was horrified to find that, as soon as the direct sun went off our area, hordes of mosquitoes appeared! We were so used to not having these at Adels, that I hadn’t thought to pack repellent, fly spray or mosquito coils. K gave us some coils, and we covered up as much skin as possible, despite the warmth of the evening. This was one occasion when I was hoping that the campfire smoke might blow my way.

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Covered up well, despite the warmth of the early evening

Sitting round the fire and chatting with someone so knowledgeable, was really enjoyable. However, we’d had a long day and K would have one tomorrow, so it was early to bed.

Apart from the occasional call of a night bird, the silence was absolute.


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2003 Travels August 2

SATURDAY 2 AUGUST     ADELS GROVE

On tent housekeeping again.

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Ever changing light and reflections on the creek – a very special workplace

We finished work at 5pm, then took an hour or so to pack Truck for our camping trip to Musselbrook. There was not much to pack because most camping gear was permanently in Truck. Mostly it was some clothes and food for two days and nights, plus some spare, just in case.

We heaved the caravan’s spare wheel up onto the roof rack and tied it there. Put in several containers of water.

At tea time, we farewelled the baby’s carer, who had finished her three week stint and was off to Isa tomorrow, with the current company tour group. The boss would really miss her – not only had she minded the baby, but also did her cleaning and washing. We would miss her too – because the nappy washing would probably go back to being done by whoever was assigned to the tent housekeeping.


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2003 Travels August 1

FRIDAY 1 AUGUST     ADELS GROVE

Back on tent housekeeping and definitely well on the way to recovery. Perhaps the fact that the Doc wasn’t unduly alarmed had an effect on my sub conscious?

We seemed to be having what passed for a wintery spell, up here. The nights were down to around 5-7 degrees, but the days were reaching about 25. I must have been getting acclimatized, when I started to feel that this was chilly!

Son phoned in the evening. He was concerned because they hadn’t heard from us for a while! I had been too busy and too tired to write letters. It was unusual, but nice, for him to show concern.


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2003 Travels July 31

THURSDAY 31 JULY     ADELS GROVE

The bloody supply truck arrived at 7am! This was crazy. We unloaded it in the midst of the tourists’ breakfast period.

I was very cautious about lifting!

I had to drive some fly-in guests, who had stayed last night, to the National Park, after breakfast, in the Troopy, then come back and collect the Flying Doctor from the air strip – it was Clinic day.

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The road to the National park passes through Larrys Gap in the Constance Range

I was feeling considerably better, but still not right, so lined up to take my turn at consulting with the doctor. He talked gall bladder problem (which would not be surprising given all cook’s fatty meals!), or giardia which he said was epidemic in these parts. First I had heard of this. Or maybe it was a muscle problem. He really did not know and took blood, for every test under the sun. He managed to get the blood the first try – a relief to us both. I still had a very vivid memory of the efforts of the Doomadgee doctor. last year, to extract blood – not pleasant.

I went back to cleaning tents with a sore arm!

Doc gave me an order for some tablets to take, if it did test out to be gall bladder. I collected these from the medical chest, but after reading the possible side effects, decided not to take them, no matter what the diagnosis!

It would be interesting to find out my cholesterol levels, because I hadn’t fasted this morning.


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2003 Travels July 30

WEDNESDAY 30 JULY     ADELS GROVE

On reception again. The comparative rest was helpful – better than bed making, right now.

Mail plane day – received some drawings sent by son, done by 18 month old grand daughter. They would decorate inside the van, for a while.

I took a phone call from a very irate neighbour, the owner of Herbert Vale Station, south west of here. Over the past few weeks, the boss had told a few parties of travellers, who had asked, that the “back way” to Camooweal was ok to travel. It was a route marked on some maps. The bosses had been that way, last year. I had never been that way, so did not give any directions on that one, and it was not on my mud map. But the boss had said, when asked, to just follow the shire fence line and not go through any gates. Sounded easy!

But Mr Herbert Vale was truly cross, because he had been finding parties of lost travellers all over the property and camped at his bores, awaiting rescue. The boss wouldn’t take the call, so I talked to him and said I would pass on his message, which somewhat condensed and censored was  – that it was not a gazetted road, he did not like lost tourists, the track was not good, it was not a faster short cut to Camooweal, and there were lots of gates! I did my conciliatory best and promised to try to deter all future travellers from venturing onto his property.

Under the circumstances, I did not feel it was politic to tell him that WE were about to transit part of Herbert Vale ourselves, soon!

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Two photos of a local grevillea species

Later, the Head Ranger from the Park, promised to phone the man and square our travel with him.


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2003 Travels July 29

TUESDAY 29 JULY     ADELS GROVE

On reception again. A little better, again.

The men – and bosses – had been periodically annoyed by toilet roll thefts from the amenities in the campground. The men working about the place, and us on reception, were regularly in receipt of complaints from campers that there was no toilet paper at all, down there. Since the men knew that they had restocked the places in the mornings  – and put spare rolls out on the cisterns or window ledges – the problem could only be outright theft. Went into the catalogue of “You wouldn’t believe what some tourists do……”

Even more annoying had been, during the school holiday period, a spate of kids (presumably) stuffing several complete rolls of paper down the toilets. I’d have thought that a place like this had much more interesting things to do, for any normal child.

Anyway, the upshot of all this was that we had now acquired lovely, big, covered, lockable toilet paper dispensers, and the men were fitting these in place. I was sure that resolute paper thieves could still take quantities away – but they would now have to work a lot harder at it!