Tag Archives: Weir

Far North Queensland

The End Of The ‘She’ll Be Right Tour 2016’

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​With an early rise, Woody thankfully started crawling again as we booted toward The Archways, just out from Chillagoe.  As we were following Stu were fortunate to spot an Emu shoot across the road with it’s baby in Stu’s dust trail.  Leaving camp so early we decided to have breakfast at another Indigenous site with a few rock paintings.  These quiet mystical gardens around the art reminded us of a scene from Lord of the Rings.

Only another 700m up the road we came across The Archways.  This self guided cave system was spectacular.  We went at our own pace, quickly discovering to gain access into the real depths of the cave you needed to be unbelievably skinny or a 5 year old.  Being neither, we still enjoyed exploring around.  After leaving the main cave system we climbed up a cliff and found another small entrance with a tight squeeze.  Sneaking through we came head to head with a few bats.  Not knowing who was more scared, Stu smacked his back and Mark his shoulder while the bats bumped into us!  

Leaving the magnificent caves behind we arrived at Chillagoe.  We were so excited to be able to swim at the weir as it had been a long time since our bathe in fresh water at Laura.  We spent a while taking silly selfies of us bombing into the water and finally getting the ‘perfect’ photo.  Achieving this, Stu continued to limp toward Herberton as we stayed to check out a couple of other places of interest around Chillagoe.

A short drive from the town centre and we were at the Balancing Rock.  Walking through a similar paranormal environment as The Archways, this giant balancing boulder had minimal points of contact with the ground and looked to almost be falling over.  Trying to help keep it up, Nay nailed her positioning with the camera but Mark seemed to be a little off!  

A last stop at The Smelters was incredibly fascinating.  There was an abundance of information on how each chimney played its roll to break down the rock to obtain the ore.  The most interesting fact was that these chimneys were 3.75m wide with an astounding 1m thick wall!  Even though the Chillagoe Smelters treated 1,250,000 tonnes of ore while producing the largest remaining slag dump (mining waste), it remained unprofitable over its lifetime.  It did however, boost North Queensland’s prosperity by creating thousands of jobs and opening up the uncharted QLD outback!

Chasing after Stu towards Herberton we passed many marble piles containing endless amounts of 20 tonne marble cubes – a large industry around Chillagoe!  On the way we ducked into the Montalbion Pioneer Cemetery which was a sad visit. Of the 68 people buried there, 32 of them were children under 10!  Montalbion was a pioneering town from the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s and these deaths obviously highlighted how tough their lives were.  Finally making it to Herberton we dodged the caravan park and were recommended to camp by the river by the bloke at tourist info.  Back in civilisation we made a necessary stop to the butcher.  That night we feasted on reasonably priced nibblies and red meat.  This was a welcomed experience having lived off tinned soup and chunky for the last 2 weeks!

As the AFL grandfinal was coming up we went to Atherton thinking it would have some atmosphere.  However, the 3 of us were the only ones drinking in the bistro (because the gamblers kicked us out from the sportsbar) with a couple of occasional onlookers.  No one seemed to care for the sport but we were still over the moon that Doggies smashed Sydney!

The last days before Buzz and Woody parted ways we had planned to go out with a bang.  Heading to Lake Tinaroo we found a great spot for one last big night and say goodbye to Big Red.  After Nay made a delicious apple crumble in the camp oven, we played ball games, stoked a big fire, pumped the music and drinking games started.  The night flew by and as we were about to jump into bed, we realised Big Red was still up and about partying!!  He had once again survived a big fire dance.  We decided it best to leave him at the lake in hope someone finds him and loves him as much as we did.

This leads us to the end of the ‘She’ll Be Right Tour 2016’.  This is what we lived by on Cape York and whenever we were unsure, the answer was always ‘She’ll be right!’.  Spending a total of 7 weeks, 2760kms, endless laughs, unforgettable memories and a few serious hang overs, we truly did see and experience the Cape at its fullest.  Along with these moments we couldn’t forget the minor inconveniences that occurred along the way.  Stu thankfully made a tally of these which included:

When we left Cairns we didn’t expect to do or see the things we have.  Adventuring through the Bloomfield, exploring the amazing beaches of The Cape, tackling the challenges of the OTT, catching and tasting the abundance of sea creatures on TI and surviving the wild Old Coach Road has created memories that are going to stick with us for life.

After one last goodbye we parted ways with Stu as we went the opposite direction.  A change of scene was on our horizon as we made our way west, back to a familiar Territory… 

27/09/2016 – 05/10/2016

Queensland

A hidden tableland leading to an unexpected destination

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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.

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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.

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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!!

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Queensland

A prehistoric drive to Barcaldine..

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Coasting down the Capricorn Way, windows down, music up, we had not a worry in the world as the town of Winton approached us.  This little piece of outback Queensland is famous for their dinosaur exhibitions as it stands to have found fossils from the age of the great beasts.  As we originally planned to see a museum filled with these great dinosaur bones, this little town offered us other amusements.  We had been informed by the same lovely old mate from the Crocodile Dundee pub, to check out the famous Arno’s Wall in Winton.  Although tourist information didn’t explain this at the site, he gave us the back story behind the wall and how it is famous today.

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Arno’s Story
There once and still is a gentleman that loves collecting god forsaken rubbish and hoarding it on his property.  Several years ago now there was an exceptionally large and hidious pile alongside council property.  The council had forever harrassed poor Arno to remove this rubbish or they would take action to have it removed as it was an eyesaw.  Now as no tourist information reveals, Arno’s response to the council was to concrete his belongings into a stone wall to stick it to them and forever his hoarding memories remain.  This wall is now a tourist attraction adjacent to Arno’s Park in Winton.

After a bit of messing around at Winton – chatting to a local for a solid hour or so in regards to work, camping at their local billabong and sharing Arno’s memories, we kept heading east to Longreach.  Arriving at Longreach on a Saturday only meant one thing which hadn’t happened for a solid month, a night out!  Staying at a caravan park (with a spa for an afternoon relaxation session), having some afternoon beers with a couple of friendly neighbours, we then found ourselves at the local pub for our first counter meal of the trip!  After a delicious parma and chips, we walked down to another pub to be subjected to some great creative live music and a dj.  Here where we danced the night away and Nay even found herself gaining the attention of an extremely friendly female!

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You could only imagine the next day was a bit of a struggle.  Leaving after the 10:00am departure time (we had also made good mates with the park managers) we struggled merely 80km east that day to land at Charles Lloyd Jones Weir just south of Barcaldine.  At this tucked away location we rested and spent two nights of free camping chilling by the Weir and they were very protective of their toilet paper in the loos!  We did experience however, our first sight of drizzle since leaving Melbourne.  This didn’t effect us too much as the awning was quickly erected and we took shelter.  Unlike any normal camping adventure we got stuck into a 100 piece jigsaw puzzle!  The rest of the time here flew by and we were back on the road as Mark, like a little kid, was getting very excited about digging up sapphires in the Gemfields!

Historic Road Trip Fact
Barcaldine is home of the Tree of Knowledge and its current housing sadly due to vandalism.  Although deliberately poisoned in 2006, this tree still stands today as a marker for the founding of the Australian Labor Party.