Chapter 5 - Queensland - Dinosaur Country

Day 21 – Monday 12 June 2023 – Cunnamulla (Queensland)

Our departure north was delayed as we wanted to catch up with a friend who currently works in Bourke. We did that over a 9am coffee and wondered about the significance of the sculptures outside the 'Back-O-Bourke' centre.

Above & Below: Sculptures outside the 'Back-O-Bourke' centre

We took a selfie and headed north around 10:30. Another sunny day and a good road. We stopped for lunch on the NSW/QLD border.

As we ate our ham sandwich we watched as the weather seemed to change. Angry looking clouds and a head wind came to the fore.

Our view as we headed into Queensland

The quality of the road dipped, as we struggled with the head winds. It was hard work driving the remaining 125 km to our destination - Cunnamulla. However that was achieved and we headed into town just before 2pm. There was very little traffic on the road today.

Our first stop was to check out the art work on the water tower.

 

Three views of the art on the water tower

We soon had camp established at the Warrego Riverside tourist park, on the bank of the Warrego river. It was around 24 degrees.

Warrego River

After a relax we headed to happy hour overlooking the river - with a campfire and Tom Maxwell providing the entertainment. It was a pleasant 90 minutes.

Above & Below: Tom Maxwell, Happy Hour and Campfire

Day 22 – Tuesday 13 June 2023 – Cunnamulla 

I loaded the washing machine at 7:02 am and headed into the shower. The sun was yet to show its face. For the record Shirley was in the shower before the sun came over the lemon trees near us.

The park has lots of citrus trees that campers are allowed to take for their Gin & Tonics, Quite handy really .................. so we picked a few.

We headed into Cunnamulla to get some tourist information and buy a coffee. Both were excellent. We also stocked up on (gidgee) firewood in case we have a chance for another fire in the next few days.

We took a photo of a sculpture in front of the railway station. It was a rear view as the sun was too strong for a frontal photo.

Statues in front of the Railway Station

We headed back to camp and did a few jobs. (New friend) Ray installed a new radio in the caravan for me. 

Around 2:30 Darryl headed to the campfire (already lit) to start cooking the camp-oven stew. I added the damper to another camp-oven around 4pm. Soon after Tom Maxwell again providing the live entertainment.

Darryl and I were the only people cooking and the 50 or so other people were jointly entertained by Tom Maxwell, Darryl and myself. The temperature was around 24 degrees at the start so it was an excellent happy hour.

Campfire with camp-ovens, Stew, Damper

The six of us dined in the camp kitchen on stew and damper - we dined like kings.

Day 23 – Wednesday 14 June 2023 – Eulo & Thargomindah

Our three caravans departed Warrego Riverside Tourist Park around 8:30 am – give or take. 

It was only 68 km to Eulo where we had a coffee and a walk around town.

Noticeable items on view were the Diprotodon – one of Australia’s extinct marsupial megafauna species. Remains of one were found near here some years ago.

Diprotodon 

Flood Truck

We then smiled at the “Flood Truck” and frowned at the ‘Air Raid Shelter’. The Flood Truck is clearly used to travel through deeper water than when it was originally built. It has been retired and replaced by a newer version.

Air Raid Shelter would have been a scary place if it had needed to be used. It allowed for 50 people, all standing.

Air-Raid Shelter (covered by sand-bags and grass during the war)

It was another 125 km to Tharogmindah which is a town that is very much proud of its heritage. We admired the murals in the street and the restoration that had been performed on the old hospital, the old gaol and the first artesian bore to produce electricity in Australia.

Above 4 images: Murals on Walls

Old Hospital made of locally produced mud bricks

Old Hospital

Famous power-generating bore. The water comes out at 84 degrees.

Old Gaol

After a good look around, and lunch, we headed out of town to the free RV camp. The three caravans were all lined up, a fire was lit, and we sat around and chatted. Spuds were added to the fire. I chased some birds and got a couple of photos.

At the appropriate time a plate was put on the fire and dinner was cooked. It was good. We headed inside around 7:30 pm.

Above: BBQ dinner
Below: the start of the campfire

It has been a good day, with a top temperature around 18 degrees.

 

Day 24 – Thursday 15 June 2023 – Quilpie

The outside temperature of 5 degrees at 6:30 am encouraged me to turn on the diesel heater. I waited for a while then got dressed and went looking for a sunrise photo. It was nothing to brag about so I returned and had breakfast.

Shirley appeared in due course and we decamped around 8:30 am – our target being Quilpie.

Our first stop was the side of the road to collect some wood. Three roof racks were soon sporting a good load of dry Gidgee wood. Around an hour later we stopped at Toompine – “the pub without a town”.

A roof rack of Gidgee wood

Above & Below: Toompine Pub

As it was about 10:30 we opted for coffee and some great slices – and a cuddle of the baby son of the owner. It is a pub with character.

About 45 minutes after leaving the Toompine Pub we arrived at Quilpie. We sought out some tourism information then headed to “The Lake” for a lakeside unpowered campsite. It was a great spot to spend a couple of days.

Ray had some drama with his fridge but Kay flexed her fingers and weaved some magic. Hey presto, working fridge.

I lit a fire and soon after cooked some scones on the camp-oven beside the fire. The troops were impressed. The camp-oven seems to produce my best scones.

Above & Below: Camp-oven scones

As the scones were cooking I added – to another camp-oven – some lamb, onion, capsicum, mushrooms, carrots, zucchini, potato and some magic sauce from Shirley. Kay later provided some spinach.

Lamb & Veggie Stew

The sunset was pretty spectacular and the dinner pretty good – with leftover scones to soak up the gravy.

Magnificent Tree

Above: The sun setting
Below: Some time after sunset

The circle around the campfire broke up around 7:45 as we all headed to our caravans.

Day 25 – Friday 16 June 2023 – Quilpie

As happened yesterday, the outside temperature of 5 degrees at 6:30 am encouraged me to turn on the diesel heater. I waited for a while then got dressed and went looking for a sunrise photo. It was better than yesterday.

Looking West at Sunrise

Shirley stirred around 7:30 and we drove to the amenities block for a shower.

After breakfast we headed in to Quilpie, which is the end of the railway line from the east.

We first visited St Finbarr's Catholic Church which has opal inlays in the main alter, the baptismal font and the lectern.  It was amazing.  It is a lovely modern church, where mass is only conducted on the fourth Sunday of each month.

Opal Inlays in the Altar, Lectern & Baptismal Font - St Finbarr's

Magnificent Tapestry - St Finbarr's

We topped up on diesel and visited the three small museums in the middle of town.

After returning to camp we had lunch, then relaxed and admired the view. At 4pm Shirley and I saw "feeding the emus". David & Davo were two locally bred and fed young emus. They were happy to have Shirley give them a pat as they ate their pellets. 

Shirley Feeding and Patting Davo the Emu

Around this time Ray and Gill were involved in cooking roast pork and veggies - again in the camp-oven - and ably supported by Darryl.

Campfire and camp-oven dinner

The sun gradually dropped as happy hour drifted into dinner time.

Sunset Across the Lake

Ray and Darryl delivered the roast pork and veggies, with Gill and Kay providing the apple sauce and gravy. Shirley and I were happy to enjoy the fire and the hive of activity (there was no room for two more cooks).

Roast Pork & Veggies

Dinner was superb. It was maybe our 10th fire and sixth camp-fire dinner.

As we ate the colours over the water changed again.

The Sunset Colours 40 Minutes after Sunset

The Colours Even Later

Around 7:45 we called it quits as the fire died down and the night air got colder. Our top of 20 degrees has dropped to maybe 13.

Day 26 – Saturday 17 June 2023 – Quilpie to Eromanga

The 4 degree start to the day and the beckoning sunset had me turning on the heater then heading outside for a photo. It was 6:20 am and worth the effort.

Pre-dawn colours

I went back inside and decided on an early breakfast. I made enough noise that Shirley got up. The day started with the short drive to the showers. As we returned to the caravan the sun was just appearing – so Shirley can say that she was up before sunrise.

Sunrise

We broke camp and started the 125 km drive to Eromanga. Along the way we scored a photo of some dinosaur sculptures, and took a photo (or two) of the road).

Flat road with trees

Flat road without trees

An indication that we were in Dinosaur Country

An indication that we were in Oil & Gas Country

Eromanga (population not many) has three main claims to fame:

-   Firstly, Eromanga is the most distant - of any Australian town - from any ocean.  So we must have been in the middle of Australia somewhere.  All coastal points are over 1000 km away.
 
Secondly, they are one of the primary (but low key) oil producing areas of Australia, and
 
They are the location of one of the major dinosaur finds of Australia.  

We arrived at the Natural History Museum in time for a coffee before the 11 am tour. Over coffee we took a photo of the ‘Native Apricot’ that was sitting in a vase on the table.

Native Apricots

The tour commenced on time with a 20 minute video, then we heard all about the dinosaur digs, and the process they follow to preserve the ‘fossil finds’ and then uncover the complete bone or fossil.

Cooper the locally found dinosaur (a Titanosaur) is the hero, and he apparently stood over 6 metres high and was over 30 metres long – too big to fit in the large display room that we were in. They were too big to forage in the forests, so they just stripped the edges of the forest.

Left: A dinosaur bone being repaired
Right: A 'dig' find protected by paper mache and plaster

The laboratory with the legs of 'Cooper' in the middle of the space

We returned the 3 km to Eromanga and set up camp in a free RV area – 90 metres from the local pub.

After lunch Shirley and I went for a walk and took another photo of another dinosaur sculpture.

Another dinosaur sculpture

It was around 22 degrees and time for a rest – but not before the Corellas and the Galahs arrived in the tree next to the caravan.

Around 4:30 we wandered to the local pub and gave them support. For dinner there was a mix of pre-cooked meals and BBQ.

By 7pm it was chilly enough to head inside.

Day 27 – Sunday 18 June 2023 – Eromanga to Windorah

We used the free showers to start the day and headed off around 8:30 am. We had 210 km to travel. The road was mainly flat and often one single strip of bitumen.

Flat & Straight

Just after half way we stopped for a coffee break and decided that there was fire wood to be had. During that process Darryl discovered a 2.5 metre (Darryl said 3 metre) long snake – minding its own business.

Black Headed Python

Wood collection was abandoned. Photos were taken and we hit the road.

Soon we came across a road kill being feasted on by three wedge tailed eagles. I was able to catch one in flight.

Wedge Tailed Eagle

Around 12 km south of Windorah we arrived at the famous Cooper Creek – where we decided to camp for the night. The photos below give you an idea of the size of the ‘creek’.

Above & Below: Bridge over the Cooper Creek

There were water birds aplenty and I was able to catch a few – sometimes in flight.

White Necked Heron

Black Kite

We had lunch and Ray went exploring down beside the water edge. He soon returned with a turtle that appeared to have swallowed a fish-hook and was entangled in the line and the sinker. We did the best we could to remove the fishing line, etc and Ray returned the little guy to the water.

Turtle, a Victim of Fishing Tackle

After a period of inactivity Ray, Shirley and I decided that a walk was in order. We saw the same birds that had been around all day, plus a spoonbill.

Yellow Billed Spoonbill

We admired the reflections on the water then settled into happy hour and then dinner. It was our balmiest evening yet and was Ok for dinner outside without the campfire - which was not lit thanks to earlier strong winds.

Reflections

Shirley cooked a great chicken stir-fry.

Day 28 – Monday 19 June 2023 – Windorah to Stonehenge

Although the night was not as cold as the last few nights, I turned on the heater at 6:30, got dressed, and headed outside with camera. The view was well worth the effort.

Pre-sunrise across Cooper Creek

We moved away from Cooper Creek around 8:15 am and headed into Windorah. Our first photo was of the solar panels that power the town during the day. Our second photo was of a mural on a high tank stand.

Windorah Solar Farm

Windorah Tank Mural

We visited the "I" (Tourist Information Centre) and got the information we wanted, plus a few oranges and mandarins from their overloaded citrus trees. Their museum has lots of old and rusty local 'stuff'. I was impressed with the boat that was used to deliver supplies down the Cooper Creek. 

Pre-loved 'Cooper Creek' Delivery Boat

Shirley found a (Nubian) donkey that demanded her attention. 

 

Shirley and her donkey

I could not resist snapping the little house below.

Little House on the Prairie

We drove 12 km out of town to see some locally impressive sand-dunes. The cattle were more impressive than the dune. Shirley found another friend.

 

Stalemate

We headed north on a flat and mostly straight road.

We stopped at the "Native Wells" and took a photo of that and a Spinifex Pigeon. The Native Wells are created by Mother Nature, and defy logic to hold water when many other places are dry. There are apparently six of them nearby. We saw two.

Spinifex Pigeon

Native Well - Maybe 600 mm across and 1200 mm deep

We headed on and slowed a couple of times to allow local cattle to wander across the road.

No need to rush

Parts of the roads that we have been travelling on are single lane bitumen with significant passing room on both sides.  This allows vehicles to get right OFF the road as a road train appears.  None of us want road trains in the dirt spewing dust and stones from their 50 or so wheels. Luckily we did not see many road trains today - just grey nomads.

We arrived at Stonehenge around 1:30 and talked to the lady at the "I", before heading out to the free camp on the river. The river was virtually dry, there was lots of tall grass, and the sites were considered unsafe. So we headed into the local caravan park, that was managed by the pub.

Camp was established and we all chilled out for a while. Around 4:30 Ray and I decided to have a chat to the folk at the pub - and that was enjoyable - apart from the fact that remote pubs like this do not have draught beer.

Stonehenge is the Defence Department’s site for the “over the horizon radar” that helps to protect our coastline. 

Stonehenge Pub

Shirley cooked some sausages and mash for dinner.

This chapter is Complete. Tomorrow we start a new chapter with visits to places like Longreach, Winton, Barcaldine and Lara Wetlands. I finish the chapter with a typical Outback Queensland town sunset photo.

Photo Courtesy of 'Handyman Ray'

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Last updated at 7:45 pm (NSW/Vic time) on Monday 19th June 2023.