Warwick to Atherton

With the arrival of winter in Warwick heralding the start of sub zero temperatures it was time to head north to visit our daughter Sondra and her family who now reside on Thursday Island (T.I.), located thirty five kilometres off the tip of Cape York.

For this trip we’ve allowed ourselves five weeks to get to Punsand Bay http://www.punsand.com.au/ where we’ve booked a powered site at the one and only camping grounds for two weeks.   Sondra and her family will sail over from T.I. in their 7.6 metre (25 foot) cruiser, stay with us for awhile, and then we’ll all head over to T.I.   From T.I. we’ll head back home as we have reservations for the Jersey Boys concert in Brisbane mid August.

Leaving home after a particularly brisk -3c morning, first stop was the Gold Coast where we’d organized to have a heavy duty clutch fitted to the car prior to tackling the arduous Cape York tracks; it turned out to be a wise decision as the old clutch was on the verge of “giving up the ghost”.

For the three days that we were “car-less”, we either “hoofed it” or utilized public transport (which was surprisingly user friendly).   It was also a great opportunity to catch up with friends, “doing” happy hour or dinner at one of numerous nearby eateries.

With the return of the vehicle and a report that all was well we departed the Gold Coast Saturday morning heading north to the Sunshine Coast where we stayed the night with Leigh’s cousin Marj and husband Steve – it turned out to be quite a hectic night.   Feeling a little worse for wear the following morning it was time to get down to the serious business of travelling to Cape York.

Leaving Marj and Steve’s relatively early first stop was Gympie to refuel prior to turning west and heading inland.   It was a pleasant day’s drive travelling via Gayndah and Eidsvold, eventually stopping at the small community of Cracow located between Eidsvold and Theodore.   Whilst a gold mine still operates nearby the population of the once thriving gold mining town has dwindled to barely fifty and is now all but a ghost town with the only enterprise remaining in the town being the pub.   In an effort to attract tourism, the mine operators have constructed a free camping area abutting the old court house housing an information centre while the camping area consists of concrete pads, power, an ablution block, barbeques, fire pits, etc, and would by the envy of most van parks.

 The pub itself is owned by Fred Brophy who with his Boxing Troupe is a feature at numerous country shows and rodeos throughout Australia; Fred’s Boxing Troupe is the last remaining boxing troupe in the world as the practice has been banned in the UK and the USA.   The pub is adorned with all sorts of paraphernalia hanging from the ceiling, various items adorning the walls, graffiti on any and every surface attesting to visits by peoples from all corners of the world, and of course a bevy of young ladies working behind the bar as an added inducement for younger patrons to stay.

Monday’s travel was a fairly monotonous affair retracing territory we’d traversed on several previous occasions; we eventually spent the night at Rolleston.   Departing the next morning at a civilized hour we stopped briefly at Emerald to refuel, had a brief discussion whether we’d visit the nearby Gem Fields, and after deciding in the affirmative, headed for Rubyvale and Sapphire.   As it turned out neither of us were particularly impressed with the area and other than stopping at Rubyvale for lunch in a rather swish eatery, we continued towards Barcaldine eventually overnighting in a secluded clearing just of the highway and out of view of the passing traffic.

Following a peaceful nights sleep our first scheduled stop of the day was the small rural town of Alpha only to discover the entire town was closed for the local show and rodeo.   Moving on to the next town of Jericho fifty kilometres further on we were again greeted by the same scenario although in this case at least the local café was open where we subsequently adjourned to for a coffee and a chat about life in a small country town with a group of local kids who decided to join us

We eventually arrived at Barcaldine about lunch time only to find that other than pubs, that nearly everything else in the town was closed including the tourist information office.   By the time we eventually gained access the bank (yes, it was closed for lunch and we needed money) and then obtained any relevant brochures from the tourism office for the next leg of our trip it was too late to continue with any further hence we ended up staying the night at the showground

With the forecast of rain for the following day it was decision time regarding which route we would take.   Option One which involved some dirt roads was to head out to Aramac and Muttaburra and then on up to Hughenden via Torrens Creek while Option Two was the main highway to Cloncurry which we’d done heavens knows how many times - we decided on Option One.

 Leaving Barcaldine Thursday morning first stop was Aramac sixty plus kilometres to the north.   The road conditions were pretty good and while we encountered the odd spit of rain it was nothing to be concerned about.   Aramac is for some unknown reason associated with Harry Redford alias Captain Starlight.   Back in 1870’s Captain Starlight supposedly stole one thousand head of cattle and in company with two others drove the herd overland to South Australia.   He was eventually returned in shackles, tried, and found not guilty.

Stopping in Aramac we visited the local bakery with the intent of having a refreshing cappuccino only to be met with “naaaa sorry mate we only got instant coffee”.   Not to be deterred we crossed the street to a café displaying the “Merlo Coffee” sign and ended up with instant coffee.   Oh Well.

From the coffee shop we went in search of the tramway museum which apparently very few of the locals in this huge town of barely two hundred people even knew existed.   After inspecting the restored motor rails, carriages and other historical items it was off to Muttaburra.

Leaving Aramac the odd spit of rain became drizzle before turning into steady rain.   By the time we arrived at Muttaburra it was obvious we wouldn’t be travelling any further especially with road closure signs starting to pop up everywhere.   With the local caravan park already full we joined six other travellers camped next to the local aquatic centre, and there we stayed for the next three nights.

Muttaburra is best known for the discovery of possibly the finest skeletal remains of a dinosaur found anywhere worldwide in 1963; a full sized replica of “Muttaburrasaurus Langdoni” is now on display in the town park.

Friday arrived and the rains abated however the day was miserable, damp and cold successfully keeping us indoors doing crosswords, sodokus and reading.   However Friday night was a different story as the local pub becomes the focal point of the town’s activities.   Needless to say that’s where we adjourned too, had what would have to be the largest steak we have ever been served, partook of the raffles, drank wine, and watched the football with other patrons.

Albeit a tad cold Saturday morning it turned into a glorious day, lots of sunshine accompanied by a strong breeze, great for drying out the roads.   Following a discussion with the local police sergeant the previous evening we decided to remain a further day giving the roads time to dry out.   With twenty four hours to spare Mita decided it was as good a time as any to wash some clothes and with that headed to the Post Office which also housed the local Laundromat.

We eventually departed Muttaburra late Sunday morning heading for the Moarrinya National Park which, after viewing the National Parks website looked absolutely inviting.   After a pleasant days driving we eventually arrived at our destination located seventeen kilometres off the main road and accessed by a “goat track” – well I guess the website did say “high clearance 4WD vehicles only”; of course we just had to meet a road train on the track much to Mita’s dismay.

Our plans to stay for several days and enjoy the park came to naught as what was displayed on the National Parks website and reality weren’t quite the same.   Yes the camping facilities were great, and yes the immediate vicinity was pretty good, but be blowed if we were going to walk through waist high grass to explore the area and locate the supposedly beautiful billabongs displayed on the website.

Eventually getting back out to the main road the next morning we continued on our way towards Hughenden.   Stopping briefly at Hughenden Mita went to the local supermarket purchasing a few essentials while Leigh tried to ascertain the road conditions for the next leg to Einasleigh via The Lind which, in the end turned out to be a lost cause as the only information the tourism office had was provided by a couple of geriatric tourists earlier in the day who painted a picture of a road that should be closed.

Being sure that there had been more than enough sun and wind over the past few days to dry out the road, we decided to tackle the road.   About one hundred fifty kilometres north of Hughenden and by now starting to feel weary we stumbled across  a magnificent secluded camp site on the shores of a dam 900 metres above sea level where we stayed the night.

Although we are well and truly in the sub-tropics, we have been quite surprised how cool it’s been.   Since leaving the Sunshine Coast we’ve had the heater on most mornings and on two occasions, all night.

As we still had close to another three hundred kilometres of dirt road to tackle it was a relatively early start on the Tuesday morning which turned out to be a wise decision as the road conditions while not dangerous were far from ideal.   We eventually arrived at Einasleigh mid afternoon only to find that our intended camping site was no longer available as some entrepreneur had decided to open a caravan park.

Now let me see if I’ve got this right, the town consists of one pub, five houses, and one tourist attraction, so we’re now going to dissuade camping by forcing people to pay for accommodation; pretty dumb decision especially since most of those campers would have been transients who if they decided to stay would have patronised the local pub for drinks and meals.

After viewing Copperfield Gorge, the one and only attraction in the community, we left town, travelled thirty kilometres, and spent the night camped beside a creek.

Awakening Wednesday morning to the threat of rain (once again) we wasted no time packing up and making a “bee line” for the sealed Gulf Development Road eventually stopping at Mt Surprise to refuel, re-inflated the tyres, have a coffee and then head for our next destination, the nearby Undara Lava Tubes.

Arriving mid afternoon, we booked in, organized a tour of the lava tubes for the following day, parked the van and then headed out to the Kalkani volcano crater that purportedly offered panoramic views of the surrounding countryside.   One and half hours later after scaling the damned thing and then walking around the crater rim, it was back to the car just as the rain arrived.

Following a night of rain that continued into the morning we donned our wet weather gear and joined the tour group for the lava tubes, a tour that we’d partaken in previously but wanted to experience once again.

If you ever get the opportunity to inspect the tubes, do so, you will be amazed.   The tubes were formed approximately 190,000 years ago and extend for hundreds of kilometres; they are the largest known network of lava tubes in the world with the average dimension being 18 metres (60 feet) high by 25 metres (80 feet) wide.

After another night of rain it was time to head for Atherton and civilization where we’ve been invited to stay with friends Norton and Marg at their holiday retreat located on the shores of Lake Tinaroo.