Isisford to Lochern NP.

We are sitting on the bank of yet another river, or more precisely a large water hole several kilometres long, a section of the Thompson River which rarely, if ever dries up.

Having left Isisford the dirt road we took across to the Longreach Jundah road was in pretty reasonable shape, very few corrugations, 100kms of lots of dust & unpredictable cattle grids where it was wise to slow to first or second gear speeds to avoid unwelcome & potentially damaging jolts across the the ‘steps’ on & off the grids. All cattle country,although mainly just small mobs seen here & there, sometimes behind fences, sometimes on the road, but always near a source of water whether natural or piped. The country varied in gidgee densitiy for the first 70kms or so, becoming open plains of Mitchell grass (native grasses). We’ve already been though similar open country elsewhere , but mainly with the odd tree dotted here & there. This was different, What we have seen previously has been cleared country, whereas now we were travelling through natural plains. Vast flat land with distant horizons.

The beginning of the Mitchell plains coincided with another change of shire, a sign informed us we had returned to the Barcoo shire. Even without the sign it would have been obvious we had changed to a different local government jurisdiction. The dirt road changed quite dramatically from a good two car width (almost) road to one 6 times as wide & even smoother, albeit with far more dust. Clearly the Barcoo shire has different priorities for road maintenance than the Longreach shire.
Whilst making reference to local authorities, we found an interesting ‘Welcome sign’ hidden away at the rear of a shed in Isisford before we left. It had obviously once been erected at the entry to the town & conveyed the local feeling about council amalgamations which occurred back in 2007. We suspect that the strength of feeling it conveys could well take generations to subside. As a believer in the importance & maintenance of local ‘differences’ I am sympathetic to those unwillingly subjugated by bean counters who prioritise ‘economics’ above local culture.

The new looking Longreach to Jundah bitumen road (I don’t recall it being sealed when we were here in 2009) , complete with a rest area containing public toilets & a shaded table & seats provided us with a welcome lunch spot within in metres of the end of the dirt road.

Our maps showed a track we could follow from the Isisford road turn off into the Lochern National park. The distance looked less than heading north on the bitumen & then due west on the ‘main’ dirt road to the park, so we took it. After around 10 kms of little used wheel ruts across low scrub interspersed with gibber flats the wheel ruts began to take us in a different direction to that shown on the navigator & after a short time it became increasingly difficult to see any wheel ruts ahead of us. Unclear as to where it was taking us we cut our losses & returned to the bitumen, taking a different shortcut track a few kms further north. This one was easier to follow & the direction agreed with the navigator, eventually bringing us out where we expected & having provided us with an extra litlle adventure and a saving of around 30kms driving distance, 🙂

Along our ’ adventurous’ track we spied a mob of birds in the distance which were flying up from the ground, seemingly straight up for perhaps a couple of hundred feet & then diving back to the ground agian, over & over. This unusual sight of course took our interest & luckily the track took us closer, our approach totally ignored by the birds. Closer examination revealed not birds but a thermal column lifting, at some speed, lots of tumbleweed. I hesitate to call it a willy willy, as all willy willies I’ve seen before move across the country, whilst this one seemed pretty much stationary. Whatever…. it was an interesting phenomena to witness which we wouldn’t have seen had we taken the easier road.

This was yesterday (28th August) & we are now taking it easy at another pleasant camp spot. The Lochern NP is predominantly about the preservation of the permanent waterhole & the country which feeds it. All around us are dry channels running into the waterhole, & the ground is the light friable soils in which we would sink as soon as they became wet.

Our shade is provided by iconic Coolabah trees in this ‘Matilda’ country which also provide for a wide variety of birdlife. In particular we have enjoyed seeing brightly coloured ringneck parrots close by, through the open rear hatch of the Tvan, whilst laying in bed this morning.

Of course I have a line in the water, but the luck I experienced at Isisford is sadly not being repeated. Local lore has it that when the river is not flowing the Yellowbelly are fat & lazy. A little disappointing as I had held high hopes for the Thompson River, it being the only place I had caught a good sized Yellowbelly during our previous travels (a little further south at Jundah) but it was at a different time of the year & the river was flowing then. Perversely I have been more successful in gathering bait here than anwhere else. Both some leftover(uncooked) beef mince & a small can of the cheapest cat food we could buy has attracted a good number of freshwater shrimp into my bait net, but of course they aren’t much good in attracting fish presumably already full of their crustacean brethren. Maybe tomorrow (if the catfood lasts)! 🙂

Now late in the afternoon of our third Day at Lochern NP. It is warmer today, still no fish, (I gave up & packed the rods away this morning) but the little bush flies have come out in force. A hat plus head net is the only thing to prevent insanity. Waving hands is useless & foul language less so. Without the net the tiny little blighters manage to find there way into any available bodily orifice. The odd 5 or 10 are manageable but when you have a minimum of that number in each ear, nostril, eye socket & your mouth, whilst several hundred others are jostling to take their place the net provides relative peace ….. at least once those which have snuck inside the net have been dealt with! They seem to know when their chosen victims (us) want to relax.

 

Most of today we have been driving around the park’s ’scenic 4wd drive’ with only minimal interference from them. Not a long drive, only around 40-50kms, mainly in low ratio just because we wanted to go slowly & ‘absorb the views’, athough a few short steep climbs out of dry creek beds required 1st or 2nd low. The drive took us through contrasting country. Red dirt Gidyea swamps, open Mitchell grass plains & ‘cracking grey soil’ river flood plains similar to where we are camped at the waterhole.

Although we have seen similar similar country elsewhere, there were subtle differences in the mix of colours. What we particularly enjoyed though was being able to travel through it travel through it on a narrow track & often at little more than walking pace, stopping every so often to walk a short distance & listen to the silence being broken only by the rustle of leaves & birdsong. Birds were difficult to indentify, often just fleeting shadows, but we did manage to get the binoculars (MrsTea) & Monocular (myself) onto a small flock of around 40 – 50 Zebra Finches. The first time we seen them on this trip. I felt quite chuffed with myself – my eye followed the flock into a large bush, where their individual dark silhouettes ‘disappeared’. The ’Noc’ ( as opposed to MrsTea’s ‘Noc Noc’ which I am unable to use without seeing a double image) showed first flashes of bright red – their beaks, & sneaking a bit closer their tell tale black & white striped rear became more obvious. It is surprising how such amazingly coloured birds can at a casual glance pass as ’shadows’.

We came to the old Lochern homestead toward the end of drive, on the high side of the Thompson (which still had dwindling stretches of water in it, clearly sustaining a few unseen cattle as well as a couple of very large feral pigs who bolted across our path). Strangely the timber & iron clad water tank stand remained but absolutely nothing of the homestead dwelling bar a perimiter fence & gates, & what we think was an above ground septic tank plus a brick fireplace with no obvious evidence of having been used. There was another outbuilding in a state of decay, but we couldn’t decide what it’s purpose may have been. If anyone can tell us (& other readers) what it was used for from the photo please post a comment to let us know.

When we are back in the land of the internet I’ll try to remember to look up Lochern Homestead to see what became of it & possibly explain why there is a complete absence of the dwelling.