South Australian Trip March 2011

In the past, we often spent our holidays north of the Tropic of Capricorn to enjoy the warmth. Now, it was time to visit the Eyre and Yorke Peninsulas.
 
We departed from home on Tuesday, 8th March, heading to the Australian Motorhome Tourist Park, situated just north of Raymond Terrace. We encountered issues with our HF radio and needed to have it repaired at Lake Macquarie Communications in Newcastle. Luckily, it was just a loose connection.
Wednesday, 9th March, saw us start at 09:30, travelling through Maitland with a morning tea stop at Jerry's Plains, which also offers a lovely free camp. We had lunch at Cassilis before arriving at Mendooran for a free camp on the banks of the Castlereagh River, east of Gilgandra.
Thursday, 10th March, we left Mendooran in light rain. We stopped at Warren for morning tea and to empty our toilet cassette before continuing through Nyngan and Cobar. The night's camp was beside the Emmdale Roadhouse, about 100 kilometres east of Wilcannia.
On Friday, 11th March, we set off at 08:30, after a lively night, with our sleep often interrupted by the continuous arrival and departure of trucks. 
About 15 kilometres east of Wilcannia, the normally dry floodplains were flooded, with large flocks of waterbirds. The most remarkable sight was the fast-flowing Darling River at Wilcannia, just below the bridge level. We stopped briefly to refuel the 4WD with costly fuel, then continued to a rest area 16 kilometres west for morning tea. We had planned to stay at Penrose Park in Silverton, about 25 kilometres from Broken Hill. This park was established in 1937 as a recreational reserve for miners and their families working in the Broken Hill region.

Saturday, 12th March, commenced at 08:30. We went into Broken Hill to shop before heading to the caravan park at Peterborough to do laundry and fill the van's water tanks.
On Sunday, 13th March, we departed at 09:00 and passed through Orroroo, then stopped at Wilmington for morning tea and to empty the cassette. After that, we enjoyed the lovely drive through Horrocks Pass and continued to Port Augusta to refuel. 

We had planned to stay at Mt Ive station, but due to recent rains, the road was now closed. We pressed on further west to stay at Pildappa Rock, located 15 kilometres north of Minnipa. The rock is the largest wave formation on the Eyre Peninsula, offering stunning views from the top of the surrounding countryside.

On Monday, 14th March, under overcast skies, we set off for the drive to Streaky Bay. We had planned to stay at the caravan park, but it was fully booked for the following week, so we drove to Haslam and stayed at the free camp behind the jetty.

Tuesday, 15th March turned out to be a lovely day. We drove to Streaky Bay, went shopping, filled our water tanks, enjoyed a coffee, and then visited Murphy's Haystacks before camping at Coodlie Park. We left the van there and drove to see the Talia Caves, passing a Bushtracker on the road in. Unfortunately, they had their UHF turned off. 

Wednesday, 16th March, to Sunday, 20th March, was spent camping at Surfleet Cove in Lincoln National Park, approximately 30-odd kilometres south of Port Lincoln.

Even the locals were exceptionally friendly.

Unfortunately, the weather was cool and overcast for most days, but we had a beautiful day when we drove along the "Whalers Way." This is private property, and a fee is required to obtain the key for access. The scenery was simply spectacular.

Monday 21st March, again windy and cool, as we drove along the Eyre Peninsula into Louth Bay for a look. We then stopped at Tumby Bay and enjoyed morning tea by the water. Afterwards, we drove to Lipson Cove and took the 8-kilometre dirt road from the highway. Another Bushtracker was already camped here, and we introduced ourselves on our way to the campsite. A lovely couple with the handle of "Maitland Bushies."

What a difference a day’s weather makes.

We spent two nights camping at Lipson Cove before heading north to camp at Lowly Point, about 20 kilometres north-east of Whyalla. The next morning, we went to Whyalla and, with the help of the Nuvi 1490T, found a laundromat inside a shopping centre, so we killed two birds with one stone. We had checked online, and the road to Mount Ive was now open to 4WD and heavy vehicles, so we drove north to Iron Knob before stopping to reduce tyre pressures.
 
 
Thursday 24th to Saturday 26th March at Mt Ive Station

The road into Mt Ive station was quite muddy in places, requiring 4WD to navigate some of the longer patches, and we were surprised to see the submarine just outside the station entrance.

Land speed records are held each year on Lake Gairdner, which forms the northern boundary of the station. We had hoped to be there for these events and also to meet up with some friends who were there for the same reason, but unfortunately they had already moved on because the races had been cancelled. The rains received earlier in the month are now covering part of the lake. The lake measures 160 kilometres long and 48 kilometres wide, with salt 1.2 metres thick in places, and is the fourth largest salt lake in Australia.

We were again surprised to find that we were the only ones camping at the station. We purchased a mud map of the property, which showed the tracks and points of interest, and while we were there, we managed to see most of these.

The highlight of being at Mt Ive is having access to Lake Gairdner. You cannot appreciate just how stunning it looks up close. Here is a selection of intimate shots:

On Sunday, 27th March, we left Mt. Ive and stopped for morning tea at Iron Knob, where I re-inflated the tyres before heading off to have lunch by the water at Port Germein. We then took the very scenic drive through Germien Pass on our way to Melrose. We spent two lovely nights camped here at the showgrounds.

On Tuesday, 29th March, we set off for Maitland on the Yorke Peninsula. We based ourselves at the showgrounds and took trips to visit the neighbouring towns. Our next few nights were spent camping at Stenhouse Bay in Innes National Park. Again, the weather was disappointing. We explored Corny Point and several other sites along the coast for future visits because we will return and spend much more time here.

Little Emu Beach:

We were now heading to Tanunda, making a stop at Ardrossan for morning tea, which included cakes from the local bakery. We have stayed at the caravan park in Tanunda many times. It's one of those parks with grassy sites instead of the unsightly ones with concrete pads. 

We were eager to revisit the Barossa wineries and purchase some wine. Some of the wineries we visited included Peter Lehmann, Saltram, Chateau Tanunda, Chateau Yaldara, and, of course, Grant Burge. We purchased some lovely 2001 Holy Trinity wine there, and they arranged free delivery to our home.

Mamre Brook House, the original residence of William Salter, the founder of Saltram Wines.

We spent six days camping at Tanunda. Our next overnight stop was Camp 1149, "Bunnerungee Bridge," as listed in the Camps 6 book. This site is located 198 kilometres south of Broken Hill. It’s a rather pleasant area about 500 metres from the road. Not sure if there is always water here or if it's from recent rains in the area.

Off to Broken Hill the next morning to shop and refuel before heading north to camp at the Packsaddle rest area just north of the roadhouse.

The next morning, we continued north to Milparinka. It's been 17 years since our last visit, and unfortunately, the place looked better back then. The pub has now closed, and the whole area appears quite sad. We paid a gold coin donation to view the police station and courthouse before departing.
 
Volunteers from Broken Hill come to staff these buildings, some staying for several weeks to help maintain the facilities. We considered camping at Evelyn Creek but decided against it and headed towards Tibooburra. The only change at Tibooburra since our last visit in 1994 is the construction of a new roadhouse with a store.

Our plan was to take the Wanaaring road to Bourke the next day, so we camped overnight in Sturt National Park. The "Dead Horse Gully" campground is several kilometres north of Tibooburra, yet another campground we had to ourselves.

During the night, the wind picked up and became strong enough to sway the van. It also started to rain, and it continued for most of the night. We drove to the roadhouse and refuelled the next morning, asking about road conditions. Staff suggested we would face no problems, so we headed to Wanaaring. After about 7 kilometres, the road became very slippery, with both the 4WD vehicle and the van sliding sideways. All our tyres had become slicks, and we were unable to clear the mud from them. We found an area on higher ground where I carefully turned the vehicle around and headed back to Tibooburra. Note the mud that has stuck to the wheels.

A quite strong breeze had now arisen, so we decided to stop for several hours. Instead of heading to Bourke, we chose to retrace our steps and return to Broken Hill. The breeze, combined with the sunshine, helped to dry out the road sufficiently for us to continue. We checked into a van park for the night.

We spent two nights in Broken Hill, and after hearing the forecasts for the week ahead, we decided to head east and return home. We stopped in Cobar and Warrumbungle National Park before spending our last night at Aspley Falls just east of Walcha.

Queensland Trip - October November 2010

We had previously attempted to visit the Mount Moffatt section of Carnarvon Gorge National Park on two other occasions, but were unable to do so due to fires and flooded roads. Our third attempt was also halted by rain. After calling the ranger from Roma, we decided to head further west and return once the roads had dried out. The plan now was to continue towards Winton, then loop past Lark Quarry to Jundah and Windorah, and afterwards pass through Welford National Park before returning to Mount Moffatt. So, we headed towards Mitchell and to the Neil Turner Weir just outside town, where we had camped on previous occasions.

We spent several days camping here before heading on to Morven, which is only 89 kilometres further west of Mitchell. We stayed at the Morven recreation ground, where a gold coin donation for using the facilities is appreciated.

 

We arrived in Longreach and checked into the caravan park after deciding that the free camp outside town on the Thompson River was not suitable for us. We spent many hours viewing the Stockman's Hall of Fame and the Qantas Museum. Hugh Sawrey, along with R.M. Williams, played a key role in establishing the Hall of Fame. We own a couple of Sawrey originals and were a little disappointed that so little of his work was on display.

This is a self-portrait of Hugh Sawrey.

Leaving Longreach, we headed to Winton, where we spent about five hours exploring the Matilda Centre, which we found very interesting. Our camp for the night was Long Waterhole, about five kilometres south of Winton.

And just after sunrise:

We set off early the next morning for the 110 kilometre journey to Lark Quarry Conservation Park. It is currently the only recorded dinosaur stampede on Earth. In this location, around 95 million years ago, a large herd of small bipedal dinosaurs gathered at the edge of a forest lake to drink. The herd was stalked by a large Theropod – a four-tonne, sharp-clawed, meat-eating dinosaur. The herd panic-stricken, stampeded across the muddy flats to escape the Theropod’s hungry jaws. A record of those terrifying few minutes is preserved in over 3300 fossilised footprints. The footprints reveal a cooler, wetter world, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth and the era of mammals was yet to come. The fossils had been perfectly preserved underground for 95 million years, but exposure to the sun, rain, people, and wildlife was beginning to cause damage. To prevent further deterioration of the Trackways, the building was designed to:

• Stabilise temperature and humidity fluctuations
• Stop water from running over the tracks
• Keep humans and animals off the fragile Trackways

We arrived an hour before the 10am tour, giving us ample time to take several walks behind the main complex. To our surprise, we were the only ones who showed up for the tour.

After the tour, we continued south towards Jundah. We had planned to camp on the banks of the Mayne River, but due to recent rains, the river was now in flood.

We continued hoping to camp on the Thompson River outside Jundah, but once again the whole area was flooded, so we stayed at the Jundah caravan park, which we had all to ourselves.

Spoke with the locals the next morning to find out that Cooper Creek at Windorah and the Barcoo River were also flooded. That left us no alternative but to drive back to Longreach on the bitumen.
 
 
The following day, we drove to Emerald and camped at Lake Maraboon, then proceeded to the Injune Caravan Park, where we spent the night and replenished our water supplies before heading off to Mount Moffatt. We met the ranger on the way in, who advised that there were many washouts caused by the recent rains and to take our time. Mount Moffatt is 160 kilometres north-west of Injune.
 
 
We camped at Dragonelly Rockhole, the same campground that Steve Gibbs and his group stayed at when they produced their first Bushtracker Lifestyle DVD. There are three other camping areas within the park, and the one suitable for vans would be West Branch.

We spent three nights camping at Dragonelly and had the entire camp to ourselves during our stay. In fact, only two other groups were camping in the park during our stay. The park averages about 2000 visitors per year.
 
You can take a circuit drive around the park, then stop and follow walking tracks that lead to unusual sites with many different types of rock formations.
 
 
Some of the formations include Cathedral Rock.

The Chimneys:

The looking glass:

Lot's wife:

Marlong Arch:

Top Shelter Shed, known as the roof of Queensland:

And our last night's campfire in the trusty "Pig" before leaving Mt Moffatt.

We decided to spend the following night at the Kapunda Fishing Club just north of St George, which is situated on the Balonne River. Yet another evening where we had the place to ourselves.

Our next day's travelling saw us heading to Lightning Ridge, passing through Dirranbandi and Hebel, before camping at a roadside rest area about 5 kilometres south of the Ridge.

We had never stayed at Yarrie Lake, which is situated about 25 kilometres south-west of Narrabri. They have powered sites, but we chose to drive round to the other side of the lake where we had the place to ourselves.

We visited the Australia Telescope on our way into Narrabri, then travelled through the northern part of Mt Kaputar National Park towards Bingara, where we often camp on the Gwydir River just outside town.

We spent several lovely nights camping by the river before the short drive home to Sawtell. Ros cooked one of our favourite dishes, chicken and almonds with chilli and lime juice.