First – A note to all who subscribe to our blog. It appears that wordpress, in their wisdom, have changed the format of the email notification you receive when I make a new post. Instead of just telling you about the new post, they include the entire post in the email. This may or may not suit you, but I don’t think there is anything I can do to change this. Personally I would far rather you click on the link ‘Read on Blog’ at the top of the email for a better experience. Let me know what you think. Regards Cuppa. EDIT: Ignore the above. I found many website owners were unhappy with the change to the default notifications & thankfully some had found a way to revert to how it has been in the past. Future notifications will no longer contain the full post.
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After four enjoyable weeks at the Tibooburra Aboriginal Land Council camping site, where we had been temporary caretakers (in lieu of camping fees) we left at the beginning of May. During our time there we had got to know a handful of local residents & had learned how to restock our dwindling food supplies via an order to Woolworths in Broken Hill, delivered by Tibooburra truck driver, Bert. We had purchased occasional requirements from the two shops in town, but choice was very limited & fresh produce often far from fresh their services being primarily for passing tourists & not locals who all get their supplies via Bert.
Roads north through Channel Country had begun to re-open after the floods. Many remain closed, limiting the route we could take, but as we moved northward more opened, increasing our choices a little almost daily. Consequently our route planning changed often. Some roads were opened either to ‘High Clearance 4wd’s only’ or ‘With Caution’ but on the whole we were surprised at how good we found the going. With such a huge & widespread flooding event we imagined that what we might find would be akin to a ‘war zone’ with heartbreak, decaying corpses & very limited opportunities to pull off the roads, but although we encountered a little of this, the amount was minimal. Probably for two reasons. 1. We drove through the flood affected areas without ‘lingering’ as we had no wish to add to the load on the shoulders of those affected & 2. Because the road opening ‘decision makers’ had done a good job & we had waited long enough. We could have gone a week earlier & would likely have had a slower journey as it was clear that a lot of ‘first aid’ repair work had already been done to the roads. As it was, part of our decision making had also been to wait until we had voted in the General Election. This occurred a few days before election day – a phone call to the electoral commission had assured us we could vote in Tibooburra, but many social media posts contradicted this. To be sure we ordered ‘postal vote packages’ just in case. (Voting is mandatory in Australia – with fines for not voting – even so we support the mandatory obligation & wanted to vote anyway). As it turned out a ‘remote area polling team’ (of 4 people) visited the town for 3 hours a few days before election day & we were able to vote at the CWA hall. Apparently if they had had the usual voting booths open in town on election day we would have not been able to vote ‘out of state’, but as it was it all turned out OK ….. including the election result (from our perspective). 🙂
Our route through the Channel Country took us to our intended destination of Boulia, albeit via a different route than we had hoped for. We had wanted to get there via Windorah, Lake Machattie & Bedourie. This has turned out to be the longest flood affected area with the Bedourie/Lake Machattie road opening to High clearance 4wd’s only yesterday (21st May) . An alternate route from Boulia to Birdsville had opened by the time we reached Boulia, via station tracks & passing by the eastern side of Lake Machattie, where we had hoped to see mass pelicans. As it was we didn’t try as word had it that because the flooding had been so widespread, pelican breeding would occur over a much wider area rather than being concentrated at Lake Machattie as occurs during ‘normal’ flood events, plus we learned that the eastern side of the lake was on private property with no access to the likes of us.
The good news though was that the Donahue Hwy (between Boulia & the Northern Territory border) which had been closed by the flooded Diamantina River, & looked likely to stay closed for some time re-opened earlier than we had expected. Our plan B of heading north from Boulia via Mt Isa & up the Tablelands Hwy through to Daly Waters was shelved, now that we could take the Donahue & the Plenty Highways across to Alice Springs. A note for anyone not familiar with these roads the term ‘highway’ is misleading. Mostly they are either single lane bitumen ( with dirt sides to move to in the event of oncoming traffic) or are dirt roads (of varying widths & condition).
So our move through the Channel Country was a ‘moving feast’ of decision making on the run. All overnight camps only, moving on daily, not our usual style. It is not only draining of our energy levels, but we pass by much & see less. Sometimes though it’s ‘just how it is’. Even now, as I type this on the eve of returning to Alice Springs for the second time in 2 weeks we have had just two two night stays since leaving Tibooburra 22 days ago, all the rest have been ‘one night stands’. And we know that the next two weeks wont be much different. This happens when commitments for specific dates occur & we find ourselves with an ‘itinerary’ . It really only needs one commitment to change our usual ‘going with the flow’ style and we have 3 commitments ahead of us …….. but more of that later.
From Tibooburra our route took us first to Noccundra, a place with a pub & a waterhole. That’s all. The waterhole was a very pleasant place to camp by for the night. Interesting to observe the debris in the trees surrounding it, giving a clear indication of the flood water – just a week or two before our arrival up to the level of our shoulders. We were quite astonished to find that the ground had dried sufficiently to take the weight of our 7 tonne truck. It boded well for the days ahead. Our imaginations had given us thoughts of being unable to drive off the actual roads themselves! The desert was already looking green & lush. This we expected to continue across country we have travelled before & the opportunity to observe the difference was something to look forward too. An early sign was the large number of Emus we saw as we drove. Kangaroos less so as they tend to stay away from roads when there is plenty of feed & water sources elsewhere. The amount of roadkill was less than we have encountered in the past, & mostly young animals.
Next night was at Eromanga. As we drove from Noccundra we saw our first small flock of budgies in a long time. Their irridescent green & incredible tight formation aerobatics in the sunlight always a joy. They have become ‘common’ over the past few weeks, but never ‘grow old’. That first sighting was cause for loud cheering inside the OKA’s cab. Eromanga’s free camp is cared for under the watchful eye of ‘Old Bob’ who introduced himself as that, (& had it embroidered on his shirt). An elderly, laconic & well travelled scholar who has embraced Eromanga as his home in his twilight years, & clearly enjoying the embrace he receives from the small population of this tiny ‘hamlet’ in return. We visited the towns tiny museum, which told of history & people. Sadly it had had water through it as had most places in town. A rudimentary clean up was still needing more work, but Old Bob, & other residents were grateful to the outside assistance they had received to clean up their homes. There was no ‘pity seeking’ just bush pragmatism & ‘getting on with it’. Our visit to the dinosaur museum a bit out of town was a ‘fizzer’. When we baulked at what seemed excessively high prices for a short guided tour through the research lab in a separate building, we were offered a cut price option, which we mistakenly thought would allow us to wander at our own pace without the ’tour guide commentary’. We should have paid more attention. All we got was to watch a video on a large screen & left feeling we could have seen similar online. Back in town we checked out the dinosaur sculptures & noted the flood damage to the bitumen car parking area. Dinosaurs have become the focal point of this town as like most of the channel country this was once the middle of an ancient sea & today fossils of extinct sea creatures turn up on a regular basis. Their existence as a tourist drawcard, along with fossil fuel mining in the area keep the town alive. We visited the pub for dinner & a drink that evening (both enjoyed) giving the landlord cause for both confusion & amusement when MrsTea ordered a ’shandy’. Now we are far from regular drinkers & certainly not pub regulars. MrsTea failed to appreciate the reality of most remote Australian pubs where beer comes in bottles or cans, rather than being drawn from a barrel. Shandy back in the days before we became ‘ex-poms’ was a glass filled with a mix of ale & lemonade. Here as with most similar pubs, both beer & lemonade come in individual bottles, & it seemed that being asked for a shandy was a new experience for the landlord. I saved the day by saying I would have two beers & donated half of one of them to MrsTea’s glass! 🙂 It could have been worse, she could have asked for a ‘lager & lime’! 🙂
A result of the floods has been an increase in flying & biting nuisances – flies & midgees. Whilst the midgees haven’t seemed to be an ongoing problem in the way that flies have, fly nets have become an essential part of our clothing between dawn & dusk. Thankfully mosquitos haven’t been too bad. Fly spray inside our living quarters is something we are please we had. Mesh on the doors & windows keeps most of them out, but sitting outside absolutely requires the fly nets.
On the morning of our departure from Eromanga, the road to Thargomindah was reopened, however we knew that Thargo had been one of the worst affected towns, after it’s levy constructed around the town had failed. The news had already been full of stories about folk losing everything in a small town where few, if any, could afford unaffordable home insurance. Folk back in Tibooburra with relatives at Thargo had spoken of most houses needing demolition rather than just hosing out. We had no wish to be ‘rubberneckers’, nor to ‘impose’ upon folk still grief stricken, & decided not to go that way. Soon they will need visitors again to bring much needed income into the town, but we were too ‘early’ for that. Instead we headed toward the larger towns Longreach & Winton on the northern edge of the flood affected areas. Here instead of damage & despair, the water & minor flooding had been good news in a dry land. Our route took us to Windorah (almost) where we were able to cross the still very swollen Thomson River, flowing just centimetres under the bridge, with mud & water glistening all around on both sides of the narrow ribbon of tar seal, before turning north toward Longreach via Jundah. In Jundah we saw the sad telltale signs of the flood. As well as what in the past when there was a single river, this time there were still mutiple river channels all swollen & fast flowing, & in town streets of houses with once comfortable furniture, mattresses, white goods etc piled up outside them waiting to be carried away as refuse. As we left Jundah we were passed by a roadtrain carrying much needed hay for local farmers to keep surviving stock alive in country now covered with mud.
Between Jundah & Stonehenge we chanced upon an overnight free camp with great views. Swanvale Jump up had views to the horizon which we enjoyed mainly through the flymesh on our windows.
Arriving in Longreach taught us the value of maintaining an awareness of what day of the week it is. Something we had had little reason to consider until we found everywhere shut on account of it being a Sunday with a Qld public holiday the following day. MrsTea accepted that her shopping list she had prepared would wait until we reached Winton. Again a place we have visited a couple of times in the past so we felt no need to visit it’s main attractions again – the Stockmans Hall of Fame, the School of the Air centre, & the Quantas museum. We camped for the night at the Apex Bush camp a few kms out of town. It’s a popular spot on the Grey Nomad circuit, so as expected was full of caravans, although not as full as we have seen it in the past. Not really our cup of tea, but it met our needs at the time. It was also where we met Darryl & Cathy, a pair of Kiwis travelling Australia towing a Tvan. This chance meeting has resulted in us travelling together temporarily. The first time we have ever travelled with anyone else!
They leapfrogged us when we spent a night in Winton (in the carpark behind the ‘famous North Gregory Hotel where Banjo Patterson wrote our unofficial anthem ‘Waltzing Matilda) & we caught up with them later at the Middleton Hotel – small pub (& nothing else) half way between Winton & Boulia where we met the then owner (& outback character) ‘Lester’ years ago. Lester has since passed away (RIP) & the pub is now owned & run by his son & his wife. Floods here had had an impact. They had to abandon the pub & had only been back there for around two weeks when we arrived. The water had caused the failure of their fridges with all the contents found in a stinking rotting mess. Not at all pleasant, but as is the outback ‘way’, they were just getting on with it. I recalled Lester telling me about his son’s exploits as a chopper pilot, mainly mustering work, in the past. Sadly a crash had injured him quite badly, leaving his wife carrying the load of running the pub, although he was hoping to fly again soon. She was less enthusiastic about this possibilty. So hard to imagine this country flooding. It’s ‘flat’ as far as you can see.
The road between Winton & Boulia is always an interesting drive.
We took Darryl & Cathy to one of our favourite camp spots not far away, a spot Lester had shared with us once he had determined that we were ‘alright’ & not the run of the mill tourists he tolerated on a day to day basis.
By the time we reached Boulia, we knew that the Donahue had been reopened & we could head west from there on what for us would be pretty much ‘virgin ground’ for us. With the exception of Noccundra & Eromanga, everywhere we had been since leaving coastal South Australia were places we have been before. This was a good feeling although I think Boulia will always remain somehere we enjoy returning to. This time around our camp out of town behind the racecourse, on the river, found plenty of water in the river, & even our own private little beach where Darryl & MrsTea braved the waters for a swim.
Our plans to cross the Plenty ‘almost to Alice’ taking a northerly track (Binns Track) up through the Davenport ranges changed. Instead we decided to head south on the Binns Track, to visit Ruby Gap, (& then on to Alice Springs). At this time we had not yet put the OKA through it’s paces as far as any 4wd’ing went, & the descriptions of getting in & out of Ruby Gap would test both us & the vehicle. Literature described the routes as being for ‘Serious 4wd’ers’, with lots of deep river sand & narrow rocky tracks. Testing ourselves & the OKA whilst in the company of others seemed like a good idea, especially given the remote nature of the place. To date we have been used to seeing between 1 & 10 vehicles per day, pretty much since leaving Tibooburra (with slightly higher numbers between Longreach & Winton. Once on the Binns track & into Ruby Gap we didn’t expect to see any other vehicles, so the possibility of getting stuck in deep boggy river sand 150kms from the nearest help (Alice Springs) was prominent in my mind. The need to ‘build confidence’ in the OKA was also prominent, & the opportunity to do this in the company of others a good way to do it ……. before taking on the even more remote Davenport Ranges alone. This turned out to be a good strategy, & has indeed built our confidence.
Leaving Boulia via the Donahue – we found the single lane road sealed most of the way to the Northern Territory border. Just after it turned to dirt we passed a bunch of folk mustering cattle on motorcycles & horseback. We could see the dust in the air for a long time before getting close enough to see it’d cause. Half a dozen blokes on bikes & horses & another with a truck carrying their supplies, camping gear & ’spare’ horses. We waved as we passed & they waved back. After crossing the border our first night in ’the Territory’ was at Tobermorey Station. A cattle station with a very pleasant grassy & tree shaded campground. Here too they had been mustering & had a large mob of cattle in the yards just outside the huge levee they had built after being flooded in 2010. This time the levee had protected the homestead & campground. On the late afternoon we arrived the drafting in the yards was in full swing, separating those which would go onto the double decker, three trailer road trains & those which would remain. A full load went on that night, & next morning Another trailer was in place to be filled.
Two more nights on the Plenty Highway, a wide dusty red road were needed to get us to the Binns Track turn off. All was going well on the first day until suddenly it wasn’t! Warning lights flashed on the OKA’s dash indicating we had a battery problem. We continued driving until we could find somewhere to pull off the road so that we could have the ‘battery side’ in the shade. My mind was racing over the few kms, problem solving as we went. Easiest thing to check would be the battery itself, but it seemed unlikely that the fairly new battery would just suddenly die. And the gauges were telling me that the voltage was dropping. In which case it was more likely a charging problem. Again unlikely that a near new alternator would suddenly fail. Best guess was a loose connection or a broken wire. I was worried that when I switched off the engine there may be insufficient power to re-start it, but remembered that I could join house & start battery together with the turn of a switch, which gave me the confidence to kill the motor after we stopped. As soon as we alighted from the cab the flies were upon us. Seemingly millions of the damn things, & I couldn’t fault find with a torch whilst wearing a fly net. These remain the worst we have had. In my ears buzzing, up my nose, breathing them in & worst – in my eyes. Tiny little flies, making hard to see, wiping the corner of my eyes & squishing two or three at a time as I did so. The cursing level was high, accentuated by my anxiety to get whatever the problem was sorted. It was good to know in this situation that Darryl & Cathy were somewhere behind us, although we had no idea how far. By the time they arrived I had found the cause & was almost finished fixing it, so apart from us all continuing to whinge about the flies I was able to appear relatively calm. The problem was a wire terminal connector which had succumbed to metal fatigue on the corrugations. It joined the wire from battery to the alternator. Luckily part of the terminal remained attached to the alternator. Without that I was thinking I would need to set up Starlink to google info about alternators in order to know which terminal to attach the wire I had lengthened & fitted a new terminal to. Once done we started up without problem & all back to normal. Driving at 20- to 30kph with the windows open & lots of arm flailing rid us of most of the flies.
Another overnighter at a pleasant little free camp provided by the Atitjere aboriginal community, overlooking the Harts Ranges before turning south on the Pinnacle Track, one of many tracks under the conglomeration of tracks which comprise the long distance 4wd Binns Track. This was easy & very scenic driving, & a relief from the Plenty’s corrugations. The turn off to the Ruby Gap Nature Park took us over an undulating roller coaster of a ride until we reached the park itself some two hours later. The descriptions we had read of driving through the park itself were accurate & I admit to feeling a few tummy butterflies, more so when I actually saw the wide dry sand river beds we would have to cross. If I had realised that we didn’t have to just cross them but had to drive along the river bed for some distance, the butterfly level would have been significantly higher. After reducing the truck tyres to 30psi all round, I was pleased to find that we were able to negotiate the first crossing with relative ease. I had never tried anything like this before with an automatic transmission, let alone a 7 tonne truck. I decided to try 1st gear in high ratio & it worked ok, but later changed into low ratio & used second gear which made things a bit easier. All a learning curve & no doubt that it has helped my confidence levels. Check out the 30 minute video we cut together from several hours of travel below if you would like to join us for the ride. 🙂
We had the ‘luxury’ of two nights in the park & enjoyed a hike to Glen Annie Gorge (included stills in the video), along the river bed on the second day. What was an expected 5km walk turned out to be closer to 9km with hard going over rocks & soft sand. No path as such, just follow the river, except the width of the river varied along the route dramatically, until eventually it narrowed into a stunning gorge.
And so to Alice Springs to replenish supplies, enjoy hot showers & to do a little preparatory maintenance for the next part of our adventure with Darryl & Cathy. A track I have long wanted to drive, one of the tracks bulldozed through the bush by Len Beadell in the 1960’s. The 331km track which runs between the Great Central Road (GCR) & the Gary Junction Road. (GJR). All of them dirt roads, but the Sandy Blight being a much narrower ’two wheel tracks’ type rather than wide red GCR & GJR. This would involve a 1600km round trip from Alice to Alice, taking in Uluru & Kata Tjuta en route. We were reasonably confident that our 350 litre fuel tank capacity should carry us around 1800kms, but would top up at Uluru just in case conditions saw higher fuel consumption.
We agreed to meet Darryl & Cathy at Curtin Springs Station as they were taking a different route southward. And so we did after we had had had a relatively easy drive there on ‘real’ highways, with an overnighter at a roadside rest area on the way. We & they had visited Uluru in the past, & our transit permits (obtained online almost instantly & free of charge) for travelling through aboriginal lands meant that we didn’t have to pay any entrance fee to enter the Uluru park , but with the expectation that we should move through the park without stopping. Nevertheless the eye magnets that are Uluru & KataTjuta were hard not to look at as we passed by.
Despite the build up, I have to say that whilst we certainly enjoyed this ’side trip’ from Alice that it failed to live up to my expectations. However I take most of the responsibility for this. A case of travelling with others for the very first time. We were out in front & they were somewhere behind. Despite their suggestions that we should drive at a pace to suit ourselves, I constantly found myself not stopping when I wish I had, thinking they would catch us up, & that I would then be slowing them down. That’s me, not them & a lesson learned should we travel with others again. We drove through a lot of very pretty country but I feel what I mainly saw was the road ahead of me. This was compounded by the incessant flies which resulted in both us & them shutting ourselves in much of the time rather than socialising outside. We did however have a couple of pleasant evenings around a camp fire after the flies had ‘gone to bed’.
The Sandy Blight junction road itself varied considerably from bright red sand, to rocky outcrops, to pebbly creek beds, to washouts & dunes. Corrugations were mostly unrelenting, varying from mild to horrendous. Softer deep sand was always a pleasureable smooth relief. However I think it fair to say that when Len Beadell & his crew were cutting the road through ‘virgin country’ that he went to great lengths to avoid any steep or difficult dune crossings, often going well out of his way to find a path around rather than over them. All the dunes we crossed were managed easily in high range 4wd. This is camel country & we saw camels most days. Only one on the track itself though (see video below).
Now we are back at the Showgrounds in Alice, where we will soon say our goodbyes, as Darryl & Cathy head south & west & we head north & west.
Our route is weather dependent. There is rain forecast which if it looks heavy, may see us head north on the Stuart Highway, but if conditions allow we will return to the Plenty Highway to then take the Binns Track Northward through the Davenport Ranges as originally planned.
I may have mentioned previously our hope of attending the Barunga Festival in Barunga, South Arnhem Land, approx 100kms south east of Katherine. That is now firmed up, with us having purchased tickets. This is in a couple of weeks time, 6th to 9th of June, & we are very much looking forward to it. What I haven’t mentioned before is that during our last week at Tibooburra we had contact with the owner of a small privately owned ‘bush camp’ about 17 kms west of Katherine who were in need of caretakers for their tourist season & have agreed to take this on from after Barunga through until the end of September. After which we will be caretaking The Mt Elizabeth Station homestead from mid October through to when the Wet ends in 2026. In some ways these longer stints in a single place will ‘make up’ for what has felt a rushed few weeks for us, perhaps a daft way to rationalise what we’ve done, but nevertheless a lesson hopefully remembered & something to look forward to. As far as after the Wet, we as yet have no plans, but I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time to come up with something by then!
Hope you have enjoyed the read & the pics. We’d love to read your comments or to answer any questions you might have.
All the very best
Love
Cuppa & MrsTea.