Beyond the Black Stump

It's official!  We're well and truly into the outback now.

We left Charleville and headed north to Augathella, about an hour's drive.  This is a great little town and was well worth the hour or so we spent there.  Our first stop was the  Information Centre/Art Gallery where we saw a 20 minute film about the area and it's history.  This was originally sheep country with large merino sheep stations which ran more than 200,000 sheep and employed 60-70 shearers.  Now it is well established as cattle country.  The Art Gallery has a good historical photographic display.  Augathella was known for bullock teams and bushrangers.  The Kennif Brothers were local bushrangers.  Colourful murals line the main street and depict the history of the wool industry.  The local football team is the Mighty Meat Ants and they are celebrated by a large sculpture in Meat Ant Park.

From Augathella we travelled further north to Tambo, a town on the Barcoo River.  It was very hot so we decided to camp 25km north of town.  The vegetation is changing again and we're starting to see some bottle trees close to the road.

The following morning we drove to Blackall.  This is a very interesting town and has the "official" Black Stump which was used to standardise the maps of Queensland.  Now we are definitely Beyond the Black Stump.  From Blackall we proceeded to Isisford and Oma Waterholes where we will be camping for a week.

There's Plenty to do in Charleville

There's plenty to do in Charleville.  We've been here for 3 days and there's been plenty to keep us busy.

We arrived from Lake Houdraman and its emus with a large chip and several big cracks in our windscreen, having been hit by a stone from a passing car.  Our first stop was the Information Centre to get a list of windscreen repairers.  Whilst there we booked into the evening show at the Cosmos Centre and Thursday's Bilby Experience and got some information on things to see over the next few days.  There's heaps to do here, and that's with some attractions closed until easter.  We settled into the Bailey Bar Caravan Park and spent the hottest part of the day in air conditioned comfort in the caravan.  Unfortunately the show at the Cosmos Centre was cancelled due to cloud cover, so we transferred our booking to Thursday night.

The windscreen replacement has been a story itself.  The correct windscreen, with rain sensors built into the glass, would not be available for 6 to 8 weeks as it needs to come from Japan.  The repairer has managed to get one without sensors and we dropped the car off Thursday afternoon.  We've transferred our Cosmos Centre booking to Friday night because we might not have the car back until Friday.  As it happened, the car, with new windscreen, was delivered about 6pm.  NRMA Insurance have been helpful.  They are arranging for a new windscreen, with sensors, to be ordered and we'll get the replacement fitted when we're in Townsville - in 6 to 8 weeks.

Thursday morning we set off to do a tour of the Meteorology Station and watch the release of the weather balloon.  Unfortunately the tour was cancelled as the station was having technical problems so we decided to visit the Royal Flying Doctor Service Visitor Centre instead.  We watched a short video about the RFDS in Queensland and looked at the displays and memorabilia.  This is such a vital service to the country.  It free to use and provides all manner of medical and ambulance services.  The RFDS is funded by donations and fundraising.  There are regular clinics as well as emergency and GP consultations.  We get a real sense of security knowing that such a service is available to outback residents and travellers.

At 10.30am we arrived at the Parks and Wildlife Centre for the Bilby Experience.  These native marsupials were known as "rabbit eared bandicoots" because of their long, paper thin ears.  They are quite big animals with females weighing about 1kg and males up to 2kg.  They are opportunistic omnivores and will eat anything available from seeds and grasses to insects and small reptiles and mammals. We sat through a presentation on these cute animals, followed by a video about the 2 guys who set up the "Save the Bilby Fund".

This centre has an active breeding program and is helping to repopulate this endangered species.  Then we walked around the enclosure area, looking at their burrows.  Bilby burrows can be 2m underground where it's cool, about 22C.  They are nocturnal animals, so we didn't see any in the enclosures.  After our walk we were introduced to a female bilby.

She was very soft to touch - the fur was soft and fine like cat fur.  Apart from the long ears, the main distinguishing feature of the bilby is its tail.  The tail is about 20cm long, black with about a 10cm white tip.  It has a "mohawk" with fur on the top and bald underneath, and has a bone hook near the tip.  This was a great experience and we really enjoyed it.

The Wildlife Centre also has several yellow footed rock wallabies.  These are distinguished by their tails which have definite light and dark fur rings marking them.







The heat of the afternoon saw us back in the caravan waiting for the car with it's new windscreen.  At 40C it's a good place to be.  There are many interesting buildings in Charleville and we've seen some well restored high-set "Queenslanders" too.  The Hotel Corones has been host to many famous people.  Amy Johnston stayed there and bathed in champagne.






Clement Wragge had a theory that firing rain producing gas into the atmosphere from the Vortex Cannons would cause rain to fall.

Friday morning we drove into the shopping centre to visit the Historic House Museum.  This was very interesting with plenty of memorabilia from Charleville through the ages.  The house itself was the first bank in Charleville with a main chamber, vault, manager's family home and maid's quarters.  There were several very interesting scrapbooks covering various topics - the 1990 floods, bullock drays, fire and ice - which have been put together by a scrapbooking course.

We set off for the Cosmos Centre in the evening and and few minutes down the road received a call cancelling due to cloud cover.  Our visit was just not meant to be - maybe next time.

Saturday we are heading northwards.  The weather is certainly warming up now with expected temperatures around 40C.

Further Into Opal Country

We waved goodbye to Colin, Georgina and Linda at the Yowah Artesian Waters Caravan Park after a great 3 days in the cool of Tuesday morning to drive to Quilpie about 200 kms away.  This is the nearest town of any size.  About 120kms down the track we arrive at Toompine and stop for morning coffee at the pub.  Toompine is a pub with no town, population 2.

Near Toompine we pass some interesting rocky outcrops.

An hour further down the road we reach Quilpie which is in the Channel Country.  We'll be in the Channel Country for the next few weeks as we head northward.  We stop off at the information centre and have a look at the Art Gallery there. There is an exhibit of metal animals and a display of quilts and fabric art.

Quilpie has a number of artworks in the street with sculptures on the wide median strip and a mural depicting the "Ancient River" on the Library.  Quilpie has quite good facilities and we were able to stock up our cupboards, get scripts filled and get some cash.  

The Catholic Church of St Finbarr has an opal altar which was created by Des Burton who is known as the father of the boulder opal industry as he was a key figure in putting Queensland boulder opal on the world map.

We are camping at Lake Houdraman , another very picturesque location a few kms east of Quilpie on the way to Charleville.

Yowah - An Outback Oasis

We planned to stay one night at Yowah and ended up staying for 3 nights.  This is a real gem of a place, and not just because the main "industry" here is opal mining.  Perhaps it should be "Desert Sunsets".

Yowah is located within the grazing property "Moolya".  The property owner gave 700 acres of land to the Paroo Council in the early 1900s to establish the town.  Miners are not permitted to live in their mines and must live in the town about 4kms away.  This has resulted in a friendly town with about 70 permanent residents and about 200 people who live there for 6 months of the year in the cooler months.

We drove around the town checking out the sights.  Emus wandered across the road and we need to watch out for lizards and goannas sunning themselves. Yowah has an 18 hole golf course with a tin shed club-house and an "International Airport" will full flow through ventilation and 2 chairs for waiting passengers.  The bore drain provides a permanent water supply for fire fighting.

The fossicking fields are close to the town and there's some serious mining going on as well.

The bore provides an abundant water supply for the town.  Over 1.1million litres per day flow out of the Great Artesian Basin at 57C.  Local sculptor Linda scours the rubbish tip for car parts to turn into her "family".  Her imagination is boundless and she has some fabulous creations.

Our hosts at the caravan park are Georgina and Colin and they also have the Kaleidoscope Opal Mine which is a working mine.  Georgina took us for a tour.  It was very pleasant in the mine at 22C, much cooler than out in the sun where it was 35+C.  Small swifts migrate from Italy to nest in the mine tunnels.

There's plenty of social life here.  Thursday night is "Cooks Night Off" with Colin and Georgina cooking dinner at $15 per head.  Sunday night is "Bring a Plate Night" with everyone sharing.  There was plenty of food on offer on Sunday and no-one went away hungry.