Dags'n'Dogs Outback Adventure - week 3 ... The Queensland Outback

Week 3

Night 16 - Jundah

Having spent 3 nights in Longreach QLD, we were ready to move on. The car window had been fixed and all the little running repairs to van had been completed, we topped up the water in the van, fuelled up the cruiser and headed south towards a place called Stonehenge. We quickly ended up behind three road trains but thankfully they all pulled into a rest area for break allowing us to pass and pick up the pace.

As we neared Stonehenge it was clear that it had rained either that morning or overnight. The sides of the single lane bitumen road were very soft, throwing up plenty of mud each time we needed to pull over to let on coming traffic pass. We stopped to check out the Stonehenge Address book which is the only man made stone formation in the area.

Started by the local postie many years ago, you can leave your name and town on the side of the road in rocks -but you need to find your own rocks, not using those already there. It stretches for more than a few kilometres now.

Moving on, we drove into Stonehenge but there isn't much there really but we did stop to check out the local facilities at the local camping reserve. This little park had good facilities, clean toilets, washing machines, power and is situated across the road from the pub. The nominal per night fee is paid on an honour system and not bad for $10 a night. Denise whipped up a couple of toasted sangas for lunch and we continued on towards Jundah, stopping at the jump up, Swannvale Lookout.

This was a nice place and somewhere where you could simply take in the view, have a break, a BBQ or actually set up camp for night if you wanted to. There was a good track in and turning circle suitable for vans and the views were fantastic. We let the drone out over the lookout as the three road trains we passed earlier caught us and climbed the jump up.

Heading into Jundah, we eventually caught the road trains again right on the edge of town but they continued on while we stopped to have a look around. We passed the the new caravan park in town, picked up some cold beers from the pub and continued down to the Thompson river to see if we could find a free camp on the river. Thankfully it was not muddy and we were able to find a lovely spot right beside the river where we set up camp for the night. The fishing rods went in, fire was lit and we settled in for a relaxing evening... ahhh the serenity.

Night 17 - Coopers Creek

Not having far to go today, we took our time packing up and as the sun rose, the dogs were loving it, lazing around in the sun, soaking up it's warmth.

Denise decided to walk the dogs while i did the last minute checks and as we met down the track, another camper came out to warn us that unfortunately, they had lost their dog overnight to a 1080 poison bait. This came as bit of a wake up call to us. We hadn't even given a thought of things like this and had been letting our dogs wander around off the lead although never really out of sight. With the dogs back in the car, we started the 80km to Windorah.

We arrived at Windorah before lunch time, stopping to check our the solar power array, let the dogs have a run at the local park and topping up the fuel at the general store. Our planned camp was only 20km out of town on the Coppers creek so we made our way there and despite it being reasonably busy, we found a nice quite spot on the river and set up camp. Firewood was very scarce and there were warning signs on the way in about the huge fines for cutting down trees so it was lucky we had brought our own. Being there at lunch time meant we had a chance to do a few things, which i did with a beer and fishing rod while Denise made herself comfortable in the van to escape the flys. As the afternoon turned to evening, we sat around the fire, enjoyed the sunset and our dinner before ending the night with our now ritual game of cards.

Night 18 - Quilpie

There was one unfortunate thing about the road from Windorah to Quilpie, roadkill. It's a shame but long sections of the road were littered with roadkill, most likely due to the drought pushing the kangaroos along the side of the road in search of feed or water and the road trains that frequently travel the road. Apart from that, the 250km drive was uneventful, arriving in Quilpie around lunch time. We stopped at the visitors centre, checked out the museum, stopped at the church with opal alter and picked up a few supplies from the local supermarket. Quilpie has a visitors fossicking area so with plans of striking it rich, we headed out there were i met a fellow fossicker who taught me the art of finding opals. With in 15 minutes, i had found my fortune and we set off to find a camp for the night.

Just out of town is a free camping area on the Bulloo river and we found a spot with a nice gravel base, a little bit of water and some firewood within easy reach. The weather looked like it was starting to close in so we left the van hooked up and went about our regular routine, fire, relax, feed the dogs, dinner, cards and bed.

Night 19 -21 - Charleville

It was Saturday morning and we slowly packed up and prepared for the 200km journey to Charleville. Everything was set to go, Denise had taken the dogs for a walk up the track expecting me to meet her once i had finished the final checks up but as i hit the start button on the cruiser, there was nothing. No lights on the dash, no engine, not even a ticking noise, absolutely nothing.

Luckily Denise had not gone too far up the track and she made her way back, i went through my options to get the car started. I could try and jump start the car off a deep cycle battery in the van but the jumper leads were in the back of the car and without power, the rear door would not open, I could swap the batteries over and try and start the car off the deep cycle battery but this would not be good for the life of the deep cycle battery. As I disconnected the battery from the cruiser and pulled it out, i could tell immediately by the swelling that it was not in good shape and it needed to be replaced. Being where we were and where we intended to go, i decided there was no point taking any chances and after years of paying for RACV roadside assistance, i decided it was time to give them a call. They were great, they passed the call to the RAVQ who had an agent in Quilpie and within an hour we had a new battery delivered and all for around the same price i would have paid anywhere else in country.

With the crisis over and the cruiser running again we head off to Charleville.

Arriving in Charleville, the weather looked promising for the farmers and i'm sure every drop they got helped but by mid afternoon the skys were already starting to clear. Dropping the van at the caravan park, we headed into town to pick a few things for dinner but the main street of Charleville at 3pm on a Saturday is certainly not a buzz of activity. Luckily the only place open apart from the pub(s) was the local Supa IGA and $2 shop so we picked up what we needed, took the dogs for walk and settled in for the evening

Sunday we did a little sight seeing. We visited the old house museum which had some really interesting items on display as well as a lot history on the town. The old house, originally a bank, still had the the old safe still in place and there were some really interesting photos of the town in its hey day including photos of the main street being a foot under water during it's major flood. It was fascinating to learn that Charleville was the birthplace of in-flight catering for Qantas and that during world war two, the US had a significant airforce base here too. As was becoming custom in all towns we visited, we had a drive around the town, found a school football oval (bindy free) and took the dogs for a run. Late afternoon was spent cooking a Sunday roast Lamb on the Weber, getting a few things done (like a load of washing or two) and for a treat, after dinner, we visited the local RSL and had a poke for an hour or so.

Monday, the shops were open and we had a cruise through a few shops, we went out to see the rain making Vortex canons and give the dogs a run while in the afternoon we did the US airforce top secret air base tour. Can't tell you what we saw, it's a secret but the Norden bomb sight was pretty cool.

More in week 4.........