Author: kbosh40 at hotmail dot com

22nd April, 2023.

Spending a few days camped up in Mt.Isa, .

Mary Kathleen Mine – wow, a pretty amazing place, definately worthwhile visiting, even camping(free)would be very nice. There is so much recent history here. Lots of Giant milkweed flowering – such a pest. The colour of the water in the pit is a beautiful blue but there is no birdlife or signs of any animals going near the water – they know!

We drove out to Lake Moondarra – a beautiful lake but only for day use, heaps of boaties use this dam for fishing(baramundi are plentiful apparently), water skiing, general boating & swimming. The picnic area’s are well utilised & are really good, there are a few. No camping, caravan parks etc. Another place to definately visit & enjoy a relaxing, quiet time.

the track to the pit, countryside is quite green from recent rains

Apple of Sodom (Giant Milkweed)

a beautiful lake

picnic & day use area

A Kite sitting high in the rocks

a lot of boaties

April 14 – April 22, 2023.

Quick stop at Cobar Peddy for fuel then up the Stuart Hwy to Alice Springs. Lotz of rain along the way & in Alice, we camped up for few days & since none of the roads were opening going south (Oodanatta track) we changed our plans, the Plenty Hwy was supposed to be open so Mt.Isa here we come. The road was resonably good in places & a bit damp in other places, had a few wet crossings but nothing too serious. We camped up near a telstra tower behind some trees – Into QLD, drove to Boulia, needed fuel, then onto Mt.Isa

Driving into Cobar Peddy, this is a underground B & B on the side of a hill

a ‘hat’ tree

operational wind farm

working mine

our camp spot

had a few of these

sections of road -very good

always seeing cars parked up!!!!!!!

QLD here we come

cattle in good nic

Entering Boulia

Boulia

Moo’s on the move as we drive to Mt.Isa

We treated ourselves to a flight over Lake Eyre, no water but still an amazing experience & our pilot did a great job with hardly any bumps. William Creek is surrounded by Anna Creek Station which happens to be the largest working station in not only Australia but the world, it is 23,677sq klm which is slightly larger than Israel. There are scattered water points/or dams approximately every 10klms, we saw a few cattle at some of these on our flight. The following photos are taken while flying over north & south Lake Eyre – it was a great experience.

Woo ho – here we go…..

overlooking a small section of Anna Ck Station

cattle at one of the many dams/water points

Erosion caused by previously heavy rain

mist rising from the salt lake

Donald Campbell set his land speed record in this section of the lake.

The blue line follows the track we drove, on the map Arkaroona Wilderness to Copely, Marree, William Creek, Cobar Peddy up the Stuart Hwy towards Alice Springs.

We were advised in William Creek not to go to Oodanatta unless we wanted to be stuck there as there was rain forcast. It was good advise, we stopped at Cobar Peddy, fuelled up us & the ute & headed north, the skies opened, not too heavy at first, we camped up approximately 12oklms south of the NT/SA border, just got set up & the rain came down. It rained all night, at 0730 hrs the rain stopped so we shut up camp & drove on, the rain returned, we drove through to Alice Springs & camped in caravan park for 2 nites – it was very cold until the stopped.

After leaving Muloorina Station we jumped back on the Oodanatta track driving NW, we came across a quaint little place called Mutonia Sculptue Park, Robin Cooke was the sculptor of these quirky things – quite amazing & very interesting.

Along the way there are quite a few railway slidings & water tanks, approx every 20klms you find these & in between, old creek crossing bridges, not always complete but enough so you can work out what they are. Also came across 2 ‘very pink’ water tanks that were in working order because there was some cattle having a drink, not long after we drove into the budding metropolis of William Creek – what an interesting little town, quite a lot of history & relics of years go by.

We camped up in the caravan park which had very good facilities and walked over to the pub for dinner, sat amongst the many different decorative items.

Plana Henge

Making music

i think this one called ‘dream catcher’

‘lotz of humour’

‘down on his luck’

‘robot & bus’

‘the spinning wheel’

railway relics

WOW! pink water tanks

Driving into William Creek

our camp

interesting decorating items

April 10 -13th

Marree is located approximately 685klms north of Adelaide at the juction of the Birdsville track & Oodanata track, it was first known as Hergott Springs & changeds name to Marree in 1883 although the railway station kept the Hergott Springs name until 1916. There are quite a few relics of the Ghan (old ghan) engines located in & around the town of Marree. The Tom Kruse truck is amongst the relics in the museum park, Tom Kruse was one of the drivers delivering mail & supplies between Marree & Birdsville(along the Birdsville track). The Marree Hotel was built in 1883 & is the only solid sand stone structure in working order left in Marree. The camel sundial(which apparently shows the exact time) was built from old railway sleepers by the Afghans, they also built the 1st Mosque(1862) in Australia, there is now a replica of the original mosque in the park. At one stage Marree became known as ‘little asia’ due to the large population of Afghan cameleers. Took a look in the Lake Eyre Yacht Club, lotz of memorabilia of past years & facts about Donald Campbell who on 17th July 1964, at his 2nd attempt, set the land speed record on the dry salt pan of lake Eyre in his Bluebird car.

Muloorina is situated 54klms NW of Maree, on the edge of Lake Eyre. It is both a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station & a formal bounded locality in SA. The campground is located on the Frome River with a permanent Artesian fed pool, what an amazing place, lotz of space, concrete picnic tables, good shade trees, 2 flushing toilets, excellent swimming & just awesome. We camped up for 2 nights, took a drive approximately 55klms from camp along a very sandy quite corrugated track to Level Post Bay which is located on the Madigan Gulf & part of Lake Eyre North (cannot drive any further), on the drive back we passed Goyder Channel that links the 2 parts of the lake (nth & sth)- its a pretty amazing place. When the lake has water in it, the deepest point of the lake is located at Level Post Bay and the Lake Eyre basin contains the lowest natural point in Australia at approximately 15mts below sea level.

‘old ghan’ & ghan relics

railway station

water tanks for the steam engines

Tom Kruse truck with the Marree Hotel in the background.

a very popular annual event.

camel sundial

replica of the mosque

the only store in town

amazing art work on the tanks in the park

Lake Eyre Yacht Club

seating outside of the yacht club…..

Muloorina Station

crossing over the dog fence which is on the station property

luv the windmills

hasn’t been used for a while????

our campsite – very nice

the beginning of the artesian bore, not pretty, but improves.

yep, the water is soon warm & clear.

then into the cool deep fresh water…….:-)

plenty of birlife

we drove the blue line to Level Post Bay from our camp

After packing up camp at Noccundra we headed south west to Cameron Corner. The roads were really good, a few corrugations but nothing to complain about, Cameron Corner is quite a cute place, we camped up for the night & splurged out with dinner at the pub/shop – it was very nice. Obviously a lot of people leave their caps behind -there were 1000’s. We were advised here at C/Corner to fuel up at Lyndhurst on the Outback Hwy(apparently the cheapest anywhere).

A bit fresh next morning, had coffee & breaky, packed up KK & away we went, within minutes/seconds we were in South Australia, once again roads were good. Saw quite a few cattle along the way & 1 black camel that seemed to be guarding the cattle????not sure but looked like it. We came across quite a few emu’s as well. We drove along Merty Merty Rd which goes to Merty Merty & joins the Strzelecki track going north to Innamincka, we turned off approximately 150klms down the road (L) onto a smallish track then jumped onto the Strzelecki Track heading south towards the top end of the Flinders Ranges, from here we veered left onto the Mt Hopeless Rd & headed to Arkarooka Village, we camped up for the night. Next morning we drove on the Copely Rd to the Outback Highway at Copely & headed north towards Marree.

we have good directions

Road is open – yea ha

99% of road is in awesome condition.

so many hats

definitely having some “wow”moments here at c/corner

a bit like a roller coaster this track but still good

Saw quite a few of these critters

not sure but I think the camel is their protector

& there is definitely some ‘cuties’ here

on our way to Arkaroola Village(top end of Flinders Ranges)

our camp at Arkaroola

check in/restaurant/info place

pointing you in the direction of Arkaroola

yards of long time ago

no go for any of these

on Copely to join the Outback Highway at Leigh Creek (another good rd)

just gotta love the windmills

Fuelled up Lyndhurst & headed to Marree along the Outback Highway.

Noccundra is approximately 142klms west of Thargomindah (QLD) along the Adventure Way/Bulloo Development Rd & it is situated on the Wilson river. There is a well known pub there that was built in the late 1800’s & is still serving beers. The camping area is now located on the banks of the Wilson River which is about 750m walk from the pub – WOW, what amazing camping, you can camp up anywhere on the banks of the river & its glorious, the river is typical outback town caramel colour but its still very lovely, lotz of birdlife, even saw a couple of my favourites – pelicans, had dinner over a lovely little fire & the moon was rising to be in full. We were here Good Friday so the pub was not open but I would recommend this place as a fantastic camp up spot. It is a free camp with toilets & hot showers available next door to the pub – there is a donation box which I hope everyone uses.

Cameron Corner here we come. 🙂

the NOCCUNDRA pub

showers/toilets – amazing

2 of my fav’s on the Wilson River

we had a great little fire, awesome coals to cook dinner on.

here she comes…..

WOW! what an awesome full moon we shared.

GOOD MORNING

crossing the Wilson River on route to Cameron Corner

After leaving Toobeah pub we headed west, drove to Thallan, a small country town located in the Balone Shire on the Moonie River approx 600klms west of Brisbane. The town silo’s are surrounded by prime grain growing country making them a central hub for other areas, in late June 2017 the painting of the silo’s began, the 1st of their kind in QLD & are included in the Australian Silo Art Collection. William the giant Northern Hairy Nosed Wombat statue is also a crowd drawer as well as the many other statues in the town. The Francis is the local pub & they make an excellent steak sanga(we indulged).

We headed north approximately 60klms to our camp spot for the night at Nindigully Pub located on the Moonie River(free camp with great hot showers & clean toilets), we had an amazing meal there & can definitely recommend both these places for a visit. The Moonie River has a lot of birdlife & a few people were catching fish, don’t know what they were. The ‘Paperback Heroe’ a romantic comedy(starring Hugh Jackman) was predominantly shot here.

Drove through St George, saw lotz of cotton. Had a brief stop in Cunnamulla for a few supplies & to check out the ‘swagman’. Drove on heading SW to our next stop Noccundra, saw lotz of emu & 1 particular fellow driving in opposite direction probably a little too quick gave us a parting gift…….you get that.

Thallon Hotel

Peter walking to the viewing area for the silo’s from the park.

WOW! they are amazing

a few works of art in the park area

Railway guy sculptures

blacksmith statue

William the giant hairy nosed wombat

Nindigully Pub

one of the locals

Moonie River

the KK in the background

Moonie river with pub in background

the weir on the Moonie river

our campsite

Lotz of cotton in St George area

This is Cunnamulla

Lotz of emu

broken windscreen

next stop Noccundra

Left Mingoola Station & headed towards Texas, Glenlyon dam only 6klms away – quite a nice spot. The road to Texas crosses over the Glenlyon dam wall which is very nice, so much water, lotz of cacti fruiting along the roadside.

It was very nice driving through this country, all the animals fat & lotz of feed for them. Not a lot of road kill which is nice, drove through a few country towns & arrived at Goondiwindi, the home of the mighty Gunsynd, fuelled up & did some food shopping then kept going. Got to a little place called Toobeah & camped up behind a pub – very nice. We dined at the pub which was a really nice place.

Driving towards the dam wall

lotz of cactus fruiting at present

other side of dam wall

driving over the wall

the dam can be seen from a long way

WOW! the Goondiwindi Grey.

another mural in goondiwindi

our camp – very comfortable

Drove approximately 60klms west of Tenterfield to where Mary & Gary were helping a friend on their farm while they were going to be away. WOW – what a beautiful property but also lotz of work to get it back to a good working farm. The property situated on 2 rivers -the Mole & the Dumaresq. Cows, dorper sheep (wool shedding sheep grown for meat) & few ponies & collie dogs. There was also wild pigs, deer & goats roaming the properties. But the walks Mary & I did were fantastic(although not always easy).

Due to the recent rain(we had a great storm our 2nd night there), the mushroom supply was good – so we were able to go out & collect lotz to go with our dinners.

Fencing was big on the agenda, kept everyone busy. Also the lambs had to be drenched & needled – over 100, interesting job, took longer than you would expect, those little critters can be a bit feisty at times.

Daniel & Stanley(Mary son/grandie) arrived after 2 days & the fishing comp was on….Dan got a nice murray cod, quite a few carp caught, Peter &Stanely caught some nice yellow belly; a good time had by all.

Thankx Mary & Gary for a wonderful week.

On the road again.

Mary standing on the NSW side of the bridge.

Dumaresq River (both sides of bridge) which is the NSW/QLD border.

2 days after we got there it was in flood, very close but did not go over the bridge.

on our walks

classic fungi

had some great veiws

found these locals on our walk

one of Mary’s favourite activities – preping the mushrooms

sunsets were awesome

some dinner on the way

beautiful fire

fencing

preparations for lamb drenching etc.

red wing parrots were frequent visitors

fishing in the Mole river

56cm Murray Cod with Stanley

Mary & her carp

Peter caught a nice yellow belly

Daniel, Mary, Stanley, Peter & Gary – what a great crew.