Days 23 & 24 365 km south to Blackbraes National Park, Emu Swamp Campground 412 km down to Winton via Hughenden. Blackbraes National Park is approx half way to Winton from Atherton. We were now firmly out of the Cape mindset and into an Outback Qld one.
It's a relatively new national park that is still in effect a cattle station, although not a working one. There's still a few cattle around, now semi-wild and the campsite is just a mown patch in the grass near a lagoon/dam that's very low in water plus there's no facilities. That doesn't sound great but it was actually really good and one of the best places we stayed on the whole trip.
There was no one else there, lots of animals and the night sky was amazing. I haven't seen so much Milky Way in my life, having never been out in the desert which I assume would be the most stunning due to zero light interference.
The following morning we got up early and watched finches, roos and even pelicans.
Note that the camping at Blackbraes is down a 21 km track in from the main road, basically driving an old station track. So count on about 45min each way for that.
The drive down to Winton was largely uneventful. We did call in at Porcupine Gorge National Park, about an hour down the road from Blackbraes. It has good campsites and facilities but was booked out when we checked. Seemed a nice walk down into the gorge but we didn't have time on the day.
Day 25 - 238km round trip to Lark Quarry
Main thing on the agenda was a trip out to Lark Quarry where the dinosaur tracks were discovered. This is 111 km from Winton down a mostly good dirt road with some low grade corrugations along the way. The quarry is out in the middle of nowhere in rocky, spinafex country. This would be hell in summer.
I've not been through the desert yet but this felt like a taste. As we walked through the spinafex I said to Jill "you have to be careful with this stuff, apparently it's sharp" as I proceeded to touch it .... and yep it is sharp. She thought that was extremely funny.
Here's the inside of the quarry now , under a really well designed protective building.
The story of how the tracks were found and the ups and downs of uncovering and protecting them over the years was very interesting. As is the information that can be gleaned just from tracks alone when explained by someone knowledgeable. It is very much worth the visit. One classic story was from before the building's construction when the footprints were open to the elements. Some bright spark had the idea to protect the dino tracks with a layer of hay and plastic sheeting. Well that was ok until a welding spark caused the whole lot to burn, leading to cracks in the fragile rock that the dino tracks are in !! And the other tale was some numpty from Townsville who decided she wanted a plaster cast of a dino footprint for her grandkids .... so she simply poured plaster-of-paris directly into the footprint without any underlying material. So of course the plaster couldn't be removed and is still there to this day. Apparently that cost her $10k. Quick detour on the way home to a "jump-up" which is just the local name for a geological formation that causes a sharp ridge in the countryside from which you can see a long distance of unchanging harsh terrain. Had an excellent pub lunch back in Winton at the Tattersalls Hotel.
Very nice food. And the owner is an avid bird watcher so my Dad was loving it, having a long discussion about all sorts of bird stuff.
Another great day.
Day 26 - 110 km round trip checking out the outback sites around Winton. We followed the so-called River Red Gum Route and some of the highlights of Bladensburg National Park. The route went to a few nearby waterholes/billabongs including Long Waterhole, Engine Hole and Bough Shed as well as the Shearers Strike Memorial. Get the guide map in town, it's a worthwhile tour. Long Waterhole looked to be an excellent place to free camp but also pretty popular. Bough Shed looked even better despite the extremely low water level. It's actually in the NP so needs to be booked but there seemed to be plenty of spaces when we visited. We stayed at a caravan park that we liked but in hindsight probably the bush camping option would have been better. It's very, very dry with no rain to speak of in at least 4 years apparently.
Bladensburg NP is well worth a visit. It's another ex-cattle station but with a lot more station history preserved compared to Blackbraes. Plus a lot of beautifully harsh country a few km's drive from the main station house. We checked out the buildings and then went for a drive (map at station). Amazingly the roo's seem to be doing very well. We saw quite a few mobs.
And here's three photos in a series I like to call "Knarly Outback Trees" Had morning tea at the first one (Scrammy's Gorge), you can see the tops of the trees in the gorge.
Didn't offer much shade for the car ....
We really liked Winton, although I don't think it would be much fun to be outside in summer. A well looked after classic country town.
Make sure you go in to Searles, opposite the North Gregory. They stock everything, just like local stores used to in every country town. We had a great chat to the owner. Good bloke. A previous version of the North Gregory Hotel saw the first performance of Waltzing Matilda.
We stayed at the Pelican Fuel Stop and Caravan Park and can highly recommend it. Discount fuel if you stay multiple nights and it's supplied by Caltex. The sites are small and a bit dusty but it's well located and the owners are friendly. Here's a couple of long-term residents.....
Day 27 - 204 km to Longreach Started with a visit to the Australian Age of Dinosaurs, a working museum. This is quite convenient because it's not too far off the highway heading east to Longreach. You visit the little museum and see up close the actual dinosaur bones found locally and get a good presentation on the dinosaurs. It's well organised and very interesting. The main building is an example of excellent architecture, fit-for-purpose and sympathetic to the environment. It's perched close to one of the "jump-ups" that are quite famous in the district and make for a surprisingly spectacular long distance view. And obviously the dinosaur model is cool.
And you can visit the working laboratory, where staff and general public volunteers are working on bone preparation.Interesting but looks a bit tedious to do day after day.
It's a very good setup in a great location with a well thought out guided tour over both places, all started by one farmer who wanted the local community to directly benefit from the resource found in its soil. They have plans for a much larger museum with display of more complete skeletons. Probably a couple of years away yet. ** edit next stage opened in 2017. Highly recommended. And here's, an amazing fact; for a 3 week bone digging season each winter, they collect sufficient bones for 5 YEARS of bone preparation and assembly !
That afternoon we set up at the Longreach Tourist Park and saw as much birdlife here as anywhere on the trip, especially brolgas in the adjacent vacant block, corellas and apostle birds, which are very funny chirping their way through camp. The park is well setup, clean and tidy with roomy van sites but a little sanitised after all the bush experiences.
Day 28 - Longreach
Something I'd wanted to do for many years; the Qantas museum and it did not disappoint.
This is proper fly-by-wire .... as in lots of actual wires, looking up underneath the cockpit of a 747
And here's some advice worth heeding I think:
The museum was interesting but the highlight was going through the 747 and 707. The guy leading the tour was excellent too. There's also a Catalina flying boat, which looked amazing but a total death-trap. Then we drove about 25 km down the road to Ilfracombe to have lunch at the Wellshot Hotel, which has been on that site since 1890. Worth a visit. Looks like you can stay there, with rooms in a wing out the back and there's a small van park next door.
We didn't bother with the Stockmans Hall of Fame. We were all out of energy for stuff like that but it is within walking distance of the Longreach Tourist Park.
Day 29 - 315 km from Longreach to Bogantungan Breakfast. Feeling like the last leg now, heading east.
Quick stop in Barcaldine to see what's been done with the Tree of Knowledge since it died. Actually the monument structure is really well thought out and standing by the tree looking up was quite affecting.
Bogantungan is now almost a ghost town. It was once thriving as the railway was being built and now the station is a little community museum. Quiet free camp spot for us on the way to Carnarvon Gorge.
Days 30-32 - 333 km to the last major stop of interest, Carnarvon Gorge. Morning tea stop in Emerald and lunch stop in Alpha. Another possible detour would be the gemfields west of Emerald. We didn't have time but it's worth considering. Carnarvon Gorge is a well known Queensland destination so I won't go on about it too much, other than to say it is a fantastic beautiful place. Two nights is the minimum and three would be ideal. We stayed at Takarakka Bush Resort, which is just outside the Gorge National Park (3km) car park, from where you start all the walks. Takarakka has camping, van and cabin options and a good bush type setting and feel. This is a credit to them considering how popular the place is and how many people are there. And the wildlife around the site is off the dial.
Great bush walking. We caught most of the sites in a 4 hour out and back hike. The full hike through the gorge is also well worth doing.
Here's a couple of photos. We stayed two nights.
Day 32 - 462 km to Tara and a free camp at the showgrounds. We went south from Roma to Surat and then east to Tara. This avoids the main highway and we found this road to be quiet with minimal traffic but still able to sit on about 104km/h. I suppose some people would push on to Brisbane and do a long day but we didn't want to.
Home on Day 33. Only 288km
Bit of shock facing Brisbane traffic but here's our welcome .... always ready for tug-of-war.
Total Trip - 7,380km, all in Queensland.
Perhaps not huge by comparison to some round Australia trips but an epic first big trip for us.
Fuel Economy - highway average of 12.5 to 13 L/100km, except headwind going east from Winton was ~14.5. Dirt average of 14. Vast majority towing ~1,700kg camper trailer.
Travelling with a camper trailer was an unknown quantity for us before this trip but we loved it. Lots of planning, reading and research all worth it, out in the middle of a very big country but still in comfort. And the daily routine of it becomes something to enjoy. It's not without frustrations but nothing worth doing really is. Not long after getting home we were already planning the second big expedition to the Red Centre.
Back to the start of this trip report <here>
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