The morning after our massive hike at Carnarvon was fairly painful to say the least. Sitting up in bed the muscles were aching and the legs weren’t too keen to carry us. This didn’t stop us from looking over some pamphlets to discover the Blackdown Tablelands weren’t too far away and had already been recommended. Arriving into the National Park early afternoon and bodies still very weary, we decided to have a lazy afternoon and take on the two short walks we had lined up the next day. Having to pre-book our campsite at the Munall Campground, we decided number 9 looked good. Upon arrival we discovered that someone had taken our spot, so instead we moved onto 13 as there were plenty of free sites. Having fully set up and just starting a fire, we noticed a couple of vehicles slowing as they were approaching us. Murphy’s law, with soooo many free campsites still unoccupied, we had unknowingly relocated into this groups pre-booked site. Old mate grumpy pants was quick to have a go at us and threatened to call the ranger to have us moved. It wasn’t until his wife calmly said “Lets just go to another site, there’s plenty around”. The rest of the night was peaceful.
The next day lead to a quiet, simple 2km walk with more Aboriginal heritage. Information boards were scattered with knowledge of how they used the land and various plants in day to day life, such as grinding seads off wattle flowers to create flour for cooking. We even came across a fence from old stock yards that were ingeniously crafted into the tree. After this leisurely walk we headed south in the Tablelands to the Gudda Gumoo track for a lookout. A short 1.9km to the lookout and we had breathtaking views over the national park. From this point there was another section with 240 steps that lead to the Rainbow Falls. Still a little sore from the other day, we clumbered down to see how magnificant they were. We both agreed afterwards that these were by far the most stunning waterfalls we’d ever come across. Crisp, fresh water cascading down numorous cliff edges into a pool of clear water, plus it had a sandy river bed! Not knowing we were able to swim, we hadn’t brought bathers. As we couldn’t miss this opportunity we stripped down into our jocks and went for a dip! Having had a blast, the consequences of a commando walk back to the carpark, was well worth it. We would definitely recommend the Blackdown Tablelands to anyone whe finds themselves in the area.
Unfortunately, we had to keep moving on from here as we had found ourselves on a rather tight schedule. A few days earlier, we had decided we’d reached a stage where we were ready for a short working gig. Nay trawling over Gumtree, had stumbled across an ad for a “Home help and Gardener” position on The Brook station 2 hrs from Charters Towers. Knowing this could be an in for some cattle work with a little cleaning on the side, we applied. Less than two days later, we’d recieved a call from the station owner who said “You fellas sound great!”. After working out the minor details, he was keen to take us on for 3-4 weeks. The commencement date needed to be within 5 days as he was about to muster his 4000+ cattle.
We were now having to make some distance back and bunkered down at Bedford Wier (45 mins north of Blackwater). Luckily we only stayed here for a night, as our running theme of unwanted neighbours continued. While enjoying the sunset at the wier with a delicious goon cab sav, a group of 3 men set up camp only 5m from us in a spacious paddock. Waking up this next morning, we had one of the laborious days of driving ahead of us. Squeezing in the Tablelands meant a solid 6 hours of road trip classics. Nay occasionally napped, many licorice allsorts and party mix lollies consumed, before finally finding ourselves in Charter’s Towers. A phone call to the station lead to the owner suggesting a night in town to arrive at his station with fresh faces the next morning. We both had a restless sleep from excitement and nerves, for the next day we were to wake as farm hands and work at a station in Central Queenland!!
