Today was to be the beginning of an adventure some years in the coming. We were about to break new highway ground and head out west into the real outback of south-west Queensland, right on the edge of the Channel Country.
Out here we would be closer to the Strzelecki and Simpson Deserts than the coast. Cameron Corner, the point at which the State borders of Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales meet, would be about 300 kms to the south-west.
As this photo from 'Google Earth' shows so clearly, the road west out of Cunnamulla, the Bulloo Development Road (too insignificant to show on this shot), would be taking us across what looks to be a bleak and barren landscape. As it turned out, the country through which we drove, a tad shy of 200 kms to reach Thargomindah, was far less forbidding, and, in places, positively green, again as a result of the floods from the north in the aftermath of Cyclone Trevor and local falls.
We tossed around the idea of making a day trip even further west from Thargomindah to the site of the famous Bourke and Wills 'dig tree', but decided that the 600 km round trip journey was a bit much. Instead we settled on a plan to visit the tiny settlement of Noccundra and its well known hotel on the Wilson River.....a mere 250 km round trip!
But all this was academic at this stage......firstly we had to settle into Thargomindah, a town which our advanced reading (we actually did our homework this time!) told us was home to a good caravan park and some interesting infrastructure.
So after our R&R in the delightful garden surrounds of the Warrego River park in Cunnamulla, we turned left off Weir Road and made our way across the road bridge
which gave us our last look at the still, shining waters of the Warrego upstream of the town weir.
The day had dawned clear and bright, and with the rising sun at our backs we headed out into (for us) the unknown, reflecting on the fact that, apart from our detour up to White Cliffs, this was to be the first time for a few years that we would be marking, as done, a new route on our charts.
We could not have asked for a better day as we made our way out into the flat grazing plains west of Cunnamulla where the red earth contrasted so markedly with the flush of green across the paddocks.
The cleared paddocks around Cunnamulla soon gave way to scrub country, but on this first leg into the small town of Eulo some 65 kms to the west, I was more than pleased to find that the road was wide, flat and even. For a 'development' road, this came as a pleasant surprise, but I suspected that I should be making the most of it whilst I could. I was right as it later turned out.
The run into Eulo was preceded by the first of a series of low rises where the roadside earth morphed from red to light brown.
Eulo is anything but a metropolis, little more than a pub, a general store and several shops and cafes, but visitors come her for a couple of reasons.
Located near the Paroo River, historically Eulo was a gathering place for those mining for opal in the surrounding district (we shall later visit the extraordinary nearby opal town of Yowah).
During the late 1800's it was home to the infamous Isobel Gray, who, with her husband bought and ran the town's Royal Mail Hotel. The 'Queen of Eulo', as Isobel became known, had scant regard for the law, and apart from her penchant for dishonesty, her rather oddly liberally minded husband raised no objection to Isobel serving customers with more than beverages.
It is said that she often spent more time in the upstairs bedroom than behind the bar, but looking at this old photo I would have to comment that the punters of the day must have been beyond desperate to have valued her as a courtesan!
The earlier Eulo was also well know for its famous 'Paroo Track' where the world lizard racing championships were held each August. This quirky outback venture was brought to a halt in 2000 after protests by environmentalist and others.
In 2011, another form of local fauna, this time long since dead, shot to prominence in Eulo. It was in that year that, not too far from the town, the site Australia's most highly concentrated accumulations of megafauna fossils was discovered.
These included a Diprotodon, the largest known marsupial to roam earth's prehistoric landscape. A full sized bronze statue of 'Kenny' now stands in the town to commemorate this find.
For those who like to get down and dirty, Eulo has just the thing. Some 12 kms west of the town, natural release valves of the Artesian Basin have created interesting mud mounds, and the locals have taken full advantage of this phenomenon. Today tourists are encouraged to visit the town and indulge themselves with a mud bath when it is claimed that "nature's own unique formula" will tone and revitalise one's skin. We did not feel compelled!
Opal outlets, craft shops and cafes also encourage tourists to tarry, but we were not to be counted amongst their number. Perhaps another day.
With Eulo in our mirrors, we soon came to our second river crossing for the day, this time over the Paroo, after which the Shire through which we were passing is named.
The Paroo, like the Warrego, does not flow constantly. In fact, other than in the wettest of years it is little more than a series of waterholes. Looking upstream as we crossed, it was clear that we were seeing this river 'in a good year',
even if the upstream waters had been trapped by the weir just downstream of the bridge. But beyond this barrier, the Paroo, a typically 'outback muddy stream' was actually flowing, and in these regions, water is water, no matter what the colour or composition.
Shortly after crossing the Paroo, we passed this road junction where the signs indicated that we were still 125 kms from Thargomindah, and that if we had turned left, we would reach the border hamlet of Hungerford in 117 kms.
I use the words 'border' and 'hamlet' advisedly. Hungerford lies right on the QLD, NSW border, similar to the town of Cockburn on the SA, NSW divide. But Hungerford makes Cockburn look like a veritable metropolis.
Taking a quick 'virtual' detour, I can share with you that here in Hungerford there is precious little but a pub
and the gate in the dog fence which divides the two states (thanks to 'Aussie Towns' for the two photos).
But apart from its isolation and geographic balancing act, this remote little spot does have another quite large claim to fame. The famous bush poet Henry Lawson actually walked here from Bourke, taking three weeks to do so.
As to why, well, that's another story, one of literary rivalry and a bet, but I'll leave that as homework for any inclined to pursue it (it is worth doing!!).
Lawson had much to say about his experiences on this trek, not the least of which was an opinion about the name of the town.
But I digress...back to our trip to Thargomindah. Not too distant from the Hungerford junction, roadside pools of water provided more evidence of the passage of the recent rains. We valued this as a rare sight indeed in this part of the country.
We had not travelled too much further when the Bulloo Development Road, became just that, typically narrow, and, as we were confronted with more hills ahead,
caution and a good lookout became my watchwords behind the wheel. This is road train territory, where the huge cattle trucks thunder along taking up as much of the bitumen strip as they want.
Passing room is strictly limited, and as this shot shows, we 'took to the bush' on each occasion to allow these highway giants right of unhindered passage (this one was actually a bit of a pretender....normally there are three trailers behind the prime mover).
One thing I will say about all we met today was that each driver was quick to politely acknowledge our understanding of the right of passage on these roads with a toot and cheery wave. We have struck (figurative speaking that is) many who are far more arrogant.
As we neared our destination, the countryside altered quite dramatically. We were now driving through sparsely timbered gibber country, were the entire landscape was littered with small and larger rocks and the surrounds took on an appearance much more like the images presented by 'Google Earth'.
And then, as we reached the outskirts of Thargomindah, the proximity of the Bulloo River wrought another dramatic landscape change.
Today had been a relatively easy run, but we were still happy to be arriving.
We had one more river crossing to go, this time across the floodplains and
the healthy looking flow of the Bulloo River. Again we had been lucky.....this is often nothing more than a dry watercourse.
The highway brought us directly into the main street of Thargomindah, where another town sign bore reference to the fact that this was the site of Australia's first hydro-electric power plant.
Like so many outback towns, the main street was welcomingly wide,
and took us directly to the park entrance at its western end.
Here I duly hove to
whilst Liz toddled over to the office across the road and booked in. We had read that this was a relatively new park with good facilities and where a deal of effort was being made to 'green the red earth'. There was obvious evidence of this here at the entrance (but there was still more to do!).
With our dues paid, we were invited to meander on in and pick our own patch.
The powered caravan sites are grouped on the northern side of the park, where we were more than pleased to see the shade trees dotted throughout this section.
Having arrived relatively early we had the pick of those which were not already occupied, and after a deal of debate, chose one of the drive-thru sites which I judged would provide a fair bit of afternoon shade across the van. These decisions can always be a little fraught, because until the sun actually begins to set, the compass bearing showing 'west' is not always a true guide of where the shadows will fall.
But this time we got it right, and with a minimum of fuss set up and settled in. We had so often heard of, and talked about, this town, and here we were at last, with our thirst for new horizons and adventures undiminished. What a grand feeling this is!
even if the upstream waters had been trapped by the weir just downstream of the bridge. But beyond this barrier, the Paroo, a typically 'outback muddy stream' was actually flowing, and in these regions, water is water, no matter what the colour or composition.Shortly after crossing the Paroo, we passed this road junction where the signs indicated that we were still 125 kms from Thargomindah, and that if we had turned left, we would reach the border hamlet of Hungerford in 117 kms.
I use the words 'border' and 'hamlet' advisedly. Hungerford lies right on the QLD, NSW border, similar to the town of Cockburn on the SA, NSW divide. But Hungerford makes Cockburn look like a veritable metropolis.
Taking a quick 'virtual' detour, I can share with you that here in Hungerford there is precious little but a pub
and the gate in the dog fence which divides the two states (thanks to 'Aussie Towns' for the two photos).
But apart from its isolation and geographic balancing act, this remote little spot does have another quite large claim to fame. The famous bush poet Henry Lawson actually walked here from Bourke, taking three weeks to do so.
As to why, well, that's another story, one of literary rivalry and a bet, but I'll leave that as homework for any inclined to pursue it (it is worth doing!!).
Lawson had much to say about his experiences on this trek, not the least of which was an opinion about the name of the town.
"It is said that the explorers gave the district its name chiefly because of the hunger they found there, which has remained there ever since. I don't know where the "ford" comes in - there's nothing to ford, except in flood-time. Hungerthirst would have been better."The views of Lawson do not reflect the truth, which is much more pedestrian. The town was actually named after Thomas Hungerford, one of the first Europeans to travel through this area.
But I digress...back to our trip to Thargomindah. Not too distant from the Hungerford junction, roadside pools of water provided more evidence of the passage of the recent rains. We valued this as a rare sight indeed in this part of the country.
We had not travelled too much further when the Bulloo Development Road, became just that, typically narrow, and, as we were confronted with more hills ahead,
caution and a good lookout became my watchwords behind the wheel. This is road train territory, where the huge cattle trucks thunder along taking up as much of the bitumen strip as they want.
Passing room is strictly limited, and as this shot shows, we 'took to the bush' on each occasion to allow these highway giants right of unhindered passage (this one was actually a bit of a pretender....normally there are three trailers behind the prime mover).
One thing I will say about all we met today was that each driver was quick to politely acknowledge our understanding of the right of passage on these roads with a toot and cheery wave. We have struck (figurative speaking that is) many who are far more arrogant.
As we neared our destination, the countryside altered quite dramatically. We were now driving through sparsely timbered gibber country, were the entire landscape was littered with small and larger rocks and the surrounds took on an appearance much more like the images presented by 'Google Earth'.
And then, as we reached the outskirts of Thargomindah, the proximity of the Bulloo River wrought another dramatic landscape change.
Today had been a relatively easy run, but we were still happy to be arriving.
We had one more river crossing to go, this time across the floodplains and
the healthy looking flow of the Bulloo River. Again we had been lucky.....this is often nothing more than a dry watercourse.
The highway brought us directly into the main street of Thargomindah, where another town sign bore reference to the fact that this was the site of Australia's first hydro-electric power plant.
Like so many outback towns, the main street was welcomingly wide,
and took us directly to the park entrance at its western end.
Here I duly hove to
whilst Liz toddled over to the office across the road and booked in. We had read that this was a relatively new park with good facilities and where a deal of effort was being made to 'green the red earth'. There was obvious evidence of this here at the entrance (but there was still more to do!).
With our dues paid, we were invited to meander on in and pick our own patch.
The powered caravan sites are grouped on the northern side of the park, where we were more than pleased to see the shade trees dotted throughout this section.
Having arrived relatively early we had the pick of those which were not already occupied, and after a deal of debate, chose one of the drive-thru sites which I judged would provide a fair bit of afternoon shade across the van. These decisions can always be a little fraught, because until the sun actually begins to set, the compass bearing showing 'west' is not always a true guide of where the shadows will fall.
But this time we got it right, and with a minimum of fuss set up and settled in. We had so often heard of, and talked about, this town, and here we were at last, with our thirst for new horizons and adventures undiminished. What a grand feeling this is!
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