Kerry and Peter's Blog

October 26th – 28th, 2022.

After leaving Bedford Weir we drove to Blackwater & had a yummy pie at the bakery, from here we drove to ‘Old Gordon Station’, a friend of Ben’s (Bronte) caretakes the station, it is located approximately 50klm north on the Fitzroy Development Rd at Dingo, QLD, then approx 60klms NE from the turn off to the station. It a fantastic place, the MacKenzie river passes through the property so the water was on the rise. Bronte has an amazing garden, full of roses & dessert roses plus a great vege patch which gave us lotz of supplies. We helped out at the station for a couple of days & had a fantastic time, our last night we had a massive storm luckily not too much damage.

Next stop Lawgi Hall Park rest area, 30klms S Biloela on the Burnett Hwy, a fantastic overnight stay, great toilets & water. Beautiful spot & quite popular. We got up early next day & drove to Monto, did a little shopping & feasted on carrot cake with our coffee – very nice.

Drove to Waruma Dam which is approximaely 50klms NW of Eidsvold & set up camp another great spot. We put several redclaw pots in, so hopefully we will have more success here. This is our last camp with the’Leburbs’ ( our great mats from Bargara), lotz of feasting on amazing food & game playing, thankx Gary & Rae. Got lotz of redclaw………………………yea!

Old Gordon Staion

Bronte has 4 working dogs.

Dessert Rose

A variety of roses – beautiful

sunrise

Swamp mahogany – eucalytus robusta

sun going down

entrance to ‘old gordon station’

next stop/sleep

our campsites

sunset – WOW!

driving into Monto (QLD)

Monto has some great locals.

Wuruma Dam

below the wall of the dam

our camp sites

lotz of Mumma’s & bubba’s

A few ‘big’ boys around….

sunset

Yummo – Rae’s famous oysters kilpatrick, sooooooo nice

a few more locals

a storm on its way – beautiful night

checking the red claw pots

not a bad catch

18th – 23 October 2022

Bit late with blog but you get that.

Bedford weir is located 25klms (N) of Blackwater on the Mackenzie River in the Central Highlands region of Queensland, it is a free camp although donations are appreciated, it has great ablutions & a great place for camping, fishing boating & relaxing. There is quite a lot of wildlife & the camp area is overseen by a pride of peacocks who chat at night & roam the grounds during the day.

The day after we arrived the rain began, although we weren’t inundated, upstream of us was, the water level was rising quite a lot. Vehicles were driving over the causeway early on the first morning but not for long.

We had a great campsite & managed to stay dry with the rain we had over the 4 days, the last few days the sun was shining & the water was still rising…..We put in some redclaw pots the first day, our catches weren’t the best but it was nice going out in the boat, as the water rose some of our pots were hard to find, Gary & Rae had placed a couple on the other side of the weir to us but because the water rose so quick they were unable to retrieve them & it wasn’t possible to get to them via boat either- so they were donated. But we did manage to get a couple redclaw.

Every morning we would walk down to the causeway to see how much the water was rising – in the photo’s watch out for the ‘giveway sign’ it will give an indication of the water levels. The water still had not peaked when we left Bedfors Weir, lotz of locals (humans) were checking out the water levels everyday too.

A lovely place, even with the rain & flooding.

our camp sites

one of the many……

still able to drive over causeway the first morning(approx 30cm deep)

the water colour – a nice shade of green

so many galahs around the place

water definitely changing colour

give way sign emerging into the water

Pink Bohemia’s flowering everywhere – very beautiful

grevillea near the ablutions in full flower too

the locals keeping an eye on the water levels

not a bad size, just not many

early morning jaunt to the causeway

woo ho – lotz of fun with these two 🙂

boys putting pots out

topside of weir

water still rising, the 1st day we tied boat to small tree near reeds

sun going down

After the ‘sculpture trail’ section we did, we arrived at Barcaldine – WOW! quite a lovely spot, lotz of history.

We actually camped a night in town then drove out to Lloyd Jones Wier, the water was quite brown but they had previously had quite a lot of rain so there was fresh water flowing through. We put the red claw pots in & managed to get a couple feeds & went for a few walks – a lovely spot. It has been wonderful to spend time with our mates(Gary & Rae) from Bagara while discovering these amazing places in Queensland. We cooked up a roast chicken & veges in the camp oven (worked out well) & also cooked up a few savoury scones for morning tea. Its a free camp with donations excepted – definitely worth it & is quite a popular spot, lotz of wildlife & some interesting walks.

Beautiful bottle brush flowering everywhere & the parrots think it’s Christmas.

next stop

Brown water but still quite lovely.

our camp sites

great ablutions

Roast chicken in the camp oven – very yummm

lotz of visitors

out walking

love the pelicans….

Erect prickly pear – fruiting & was very yumm

Rae & Peter relaxing

more visitors

Good morning, Australia……….

This is the only part of the sculpture trail the we did but was fantastic.

We drove down Eastmere Rd towards Aramac & stopped at the sculptures – they were quite amazing.

Mary & I walked down to the ‘bronco’ from our camping spot

The ‘crayfish was at the entrance to the Lake Dunn camping area.

The racehorse was actually at the race track & off the road a far way so I could not get a very good pic.

9th – 14th October 2022

Lake Dunn also known as Pajingo Bola, meaning ‘Big Fella Waterhole’ is the only wetland area in Central Queensland & consequently home to a large waterfowl population, it is located in Upland & approximately 63klm NE of Aramac. It is located one third of the way along the well-known sculpture trail, the redclaw (yabbie) is at Lake Dunn. Its a very popular spot for campers, fishers, water skiers, bird watchers & picnic-ers. There is a reserve next to the camping area where there is several tennis courts, a basket ball court, a concrete cricket slab (in the middle of a paddock), kids play area & a resonably sized club house with power, apparently the Ballynetty Recreation Club hold a few ‘big’ events here every year. Gary & Mary (Peters sister) & Storm the dog arrived & stayed for 2 nights – it was great to see them again. The last few days we were at Lake Dunn, it was very windy & cool so we only went out in the boat mid-afternoon to collect the ‘catch’ of redclaw……..not many in numbers but quite large in size, there was a mix of redclaw & blue claw. Rae cooked them up to perfection & we all managed to have a pre-dinner feast, very enjoyable.

Spent a few days in Cairns doing running repairs etc, then drove to Elarish & caught up with Peter’s sister Margaret her son Ben & family – was great to spend night there, next stop Miriwinni – cousins Danny & Julie, always good when the girls flog the boys in 500 -thankx guys. Cardwell for 3 days with great mates Mandy & Raymond, Peter had a game of golf – very enjoyable time as usual in Cardwell. Next night we camped up just south of Townsville with John & Lyn, friends from Beenleigh- it’s amazing in the places where you catch up with mates. From here we went to Ayr, we stayed with Belina, Terry & girls – we met these wonderful people on Croker Island 5 years ago & have kept in contact.

Theresa Creek Dam is approximately 22klms SW of Clermont-a very delightful spot, lotz of unpowered sites scattered around the lake, water skiing & redclaw catching seem to be the most favourite of activities, we met up with Gary & Rae, our good friends from Bargara here. We spent a few nights here & put the little boat in, very nice, with the boat we were able to put some redclaw pots around the dam where you weren’t able to walk. Gary caught 99% of the redclaw in the pots he threw in off the bank, the boat pots were not very successful but it was nice out on the water.

From Theresa Creek we drove approximately 270klms to Lake Dunn via Laglan Rd. Lake Dunn is a fresh water lake located on Ballneety Rd, Dunrobin in the Upland district. We drove over Mistake Creek, there were quite a few ‘pink bauhinia’ trees full of flower along the banks, also saw lotz of moo, some very cute ones too.

The sunrises & sunsets are truly amazing.

Danny, Mary & I walked up to the dam wall, zig zagging around the dam edge – it was a great walk.

There were quite a few pelicans on the dam, WOW, they are so beautiful.

There was quite a few lillies – Water Snowflakes in the inlet bays – very cute, we placed most of our pots in these areas & it proved to be quite successful. The redclaw were quite plentiful but we did release lotz.

This is an amazing place, if the opportunity arrives we will be returning. 🙂

We spent a few days at the Country Club at Ravenshoe with one of Peters sister, Mary, Gary & Storm the dog, Mary & I walked up to Millstream Falls, quite lovely they also had a historical display of when the armed forces were stationed there for training puposes(many years ago) which was very interesting. It was an enjoyable 11klm walk. We drove into town one afternoon & had a drink at the local – very refreshing.

We all drove to Charleston dam – WOW! What a beautiful place, located just outside of Forsyth 2klms south of Georgetown (QLD).Met up with Julie & Danny Bosh again & one of their sons Russell & his wife -it was awesome, we set up camp approximately 2 metres from the waters edge, Mary & Gary 20m away & ‘Storm’ the dog.

We set up the little boat & put some redclaw pots in, Julie & Danny were getting quite a few each morning. Had lotz of fun going out in the boat, the bird life was pretty awesome & we had a few visitors while we were there(the animal kind).

Just a couple hour drive from Swan swamp & we arrive at Rutland Plains, had a few things to deliver to the station then off to the camp/fishing spot, driving through lotz of bull dust & dirt. Came to the Nassau River & camped up the top of the bank overlooking the river – awesome spot. No swimming lotz of ‘happy snappers’. There was quite a few barra caught with Peter catching the biggest, I actually caught a 82cm barra but there were quite a few in the 80 – 90cm size range caught. Had a great 6 days at Rutland Plains – thankx Danny for making it possible for us to join you guys. We all packed up camp & moved onto ‘Speedies camp’ which is located on Dunbar Station not far from Swan swamp(a couple hour drive) – lotz of ‘big’ happy snappers here apparently, we only here for 1 nite to help set up camp for Speedie & another bloke Chris & grandson who we will meet at this new camp spot, Craig & Lummy staying here for 2 nights, they took Peter & I out for a run while they were having a quick fish before dark – WOW! so many beautiful lillies & Craig managed to hook nice barra, there are quite a few ‘Century palms’ growing along the creek banks here apparently after they have seeded they die.

Danny, Julie, Peter & I left next morning, once we got to the main road(the Burke Development Rd) Danny & Julie went right, we went left, we stopped at the beautiful Mitchell River & filled our water tanks & drove east. We stayed the night at the Hann river Roadhouse, we never stopped here before although we have driven past numerous times – it was quite a nice spot and reasonably priced.

Next 2 nights we stayed with Jenelle & Darren (mates we met in Tasmania several years ago), they were working on Koolburra Station. Thankx guys was great to catch up again.

After leaving Adels Grove we drove through to Nomanton, spent a couple days washing, cleaning up etc. 31/8/22 – 3/9/22

Then on the road again aiming for Mentana Creek which is on Dunbar Station, we were lucky enough to be allowed to camp there, my cousins Danny & Julie know the manager so after a phone call we had the go-ahead. It was a great camp, just us & a few fresh water crocs, 3 amazing sea eagles & a few kite hawks & of course cherabin & barramundi….. We managed to catch 4 barra keepers & quite a few cherabin, we did lose a lot of bara but had fun trying, did catch a sooty grunter, a sleepy cod & numerous catfish – we had a great time, did lotz of walking. On 1 of our walk we saw the largest brolga’s we have ever seen, so tall. The bird life was great, the sea eagles are a magnificent bird & very clever, we used to put our fish frames & fish heads(separated) out on some rocks near our camp, they always knew & very rarely ever let another bird take them. Our breakfast usually consisted of toast plus whateva but thanks to Neil(another cuz) we have a great toasting implement.

We drove to the Mitchell river before heading to Swan Swamp, we were planning on filly up the water tanks but a grader was working so we gave it a miss, a beautiful river(does have crocs but tastes great). 🙂

From Mentana Creek we ventured north west, we were meeting up with cousins Julie & Danny Bosh(& a few others) at Swan Swamp – an amazing water hole in the middle of nowhere…..with lotz of critters. 8/9/22