AROUND AUSTRALIA 2008
Saturday 26 April to Friday 9 May
Sydney to Kununurra
Blog 1
We drove out of Sydney on a lovely sunny Anzac Day long weekend. We headed north to Maroochydore for some minor work on the caravan and spent a few nights at Cotton Tree caravan Park situated on the mouth of the Maroochydore River. It is a beautiful spot and we enjoyed watching the board gliders against the beautiful sunset.
Our first stop after Maroochydore was at Lake Monduran, 20km north of Gin Gin. The sun was setting over the dam and we enjoyed the birds as we sat around the camp fire and soaked in the peace.
Mosaics in the footpath and the lovely sculptures explained much of the local history of Childers as we wandered up and down the main street. We bypassed Rockhampton but stopped to enjoy the beautiful statue of the Brahman Bull and then turned west on the Capricorn Highway spending the night at Mt Hay.
As we have travelled these roads many times before we didn’t stop for any sight seeing but headed west to Broome. We rested at Longreach for a few days to break the journey and were lucky enough to arrive at the restaurant at the stockman’s Hall of Fame to see 70 old drovers and their partners getting together for a 20 year reunion. They had a great time and we had a great time watching them.
We continued west through Winton and decided to take a detour to Boulia, a road as yet untravelled along the Kennedy Development Road. Lunch was a highlight at the Middleton Pub which is about half way between Winton and Boulia. The pub is an old wooden homestead with a great veranda looking across at the “Hilton Hotel” which offered No TV, no air conditioning, no pool and no cost. It was very cute. We had lunch on the veranda with the flies and the dogs.
Boulia is a little town of 300 population with it’s famous Min Min experience which is an animated display telling the stories and theories of the Min Min lights of the area. They are lights that have been recorded since 1912 after the Min Min Hotel was burnt down and have been seen at various times by many different types of people since then including the last sighting in 2007.
They haven’t been explained by scientist but there are various theories including electromagnetic radiation caused by the rocks of the area, the atmospheric conditions at various times and of course the spirits of both aboriginal and white people of the area. The Pitta Pitta people who are the Aboriginal tribe of the area have seen the lights long before 1912. They say the lights are the spirits of past people. What ever the explanation, the phenomenon certainly seems to occur.
A must see is the Corroboree Tree, situated behind the Boulia state school with a student population of 18. The tree is the last recognised Corroboree Tree of the Pitta Pitta people and is a Waddi tree which can only be found in the Boulia/Diamantina Shire. The wood is known as one of the hardest timbers in the world.
Before leaving Boulia we wanted to see the old Stone House and were shown around by Dick Suter who is in charge of the House and the Museum beautifully organised by him and his sister. What a character!!! His stories made the experience even more enjoyable.
He had collected, cleaned and documented all the exhibits and organised the material in the museum over the last 10 years. All the murals have been painted by his sister.
We saw lots of majestic Wedge tail eagles along the Diamantina Development Rd on the way to Mt Isa. After Mt Isa the countryside was mainly grasslands as we headed through Camooweal and into the Northern Territory west along the Barkly Highway and north on Stuart Highway towards Katherine spending the night at the caravan park at the Pink Panther Pub in Larrimah. The beer was lovely and cold after a hot dusty day.
We watched the owner of the Timber Creek Caravan Park feed the fresh water crocodiles in the Victoria River before heading to Kununurra the next day for a few days there.
Saturday 26 April to Friday 9 May
Sydney to Kununurra
Blog 1
We drove out of Sydney on a lovely sunny Anzac Day long weekend. We headed north to Maroochydore for some minor work on the caravan and spent a few nights at Cotton Tree caravan Park situated on the mouth of the Maroochydore River. It is a beautiful spot and we enjoyed watching the board gliders against the beautiful sunset.
Our first stop after Maroochydore was at Lake Monduran, 20km north of Gin Gin. The sun was setting over the dam and we enjoyed the birds as we sat around the camp fire and soaked in the peace.
Mosaics in the footpath and the lovely sculptures explained much of the local history of Childers as we wandered up and down the main street. We bypassed Rockhampton but stopped to enjoy the beautiful statue of the Brahman Bull and then turned west on the Capricorn Highway spending the night at Mt Hay.
As we have travelled these roads many times before we didn’t stop for any sight seeing but headed west to Broome. We rested at Longreach for a few days to break the journey and were lucky enough to arrive at the restaurant at the stockman’s Hall of Fame to see 70 old drovers and their partners getting together for a 20 year reunion. They had a great time and we had a great time watching them.
We continued west through Winton and decided to take a detour to Boulia, a road as yet untravelled along the Kennedy Development Road. Lunch was a highlight at the Middleton Pub which is about half way between Winton and Boulia. The pub is an old wooden homestead with a great veranda looking across at the “Hilton Hotel” which offered No TV, no air conditioning, no pool and no cost. It was very cute. We had lunch on the veranda with the flies and the dogs.
Boulia is a little town of 300 population with it’s famous Min Min experience which is an animated display telling the stories and theories of the Min Min lights of the area. They are lights that have been recorded since 1912 after the Min Min Hotel was burnt down and have been seen at various times by many different types of people since then including the last sighting in 2007.
They haven’t been explained by scientist but there are various theories including electromagnetic radiation caused by the rocks of the area, the atmospheric conditions at various times and of course the spirits of both aboriginal and white people of the area. The Pitta Pitta people who are the Aboriginal tribe of the area have seen the lights long before 1912. They say the lights are the spirits of past people. What ever the explanation, the phenomenon certainly seems to occur.
A must see is the Corroboree Tree, situated behind the Boulia state school with a student population of 18. The tree is the last recognised Corroboree Tree of the Pitta Pitta people and is a Waddi tree which can only be found in the Boulia/Diamantina Shire. The wood is known as one of the hardest timbers in the world.
Before leaving Boulia we wanted to see the old Stone House and were shown around by Dick Suter who is in charge of the House and the Museum beautifully organised by him and his sister. What a character!!! His stories made the experience even more enjoyable.
He had collected, cleaned and documented all the exhibits and organised the material in the museum over the last 10 years. All the murals have been painted by his sister.
We saw lots of majestic Wedge tail eagles along the Diamantina Development Rd on the way to Mt Isa. After Mt Isa the countryside was mainly grasslands as we headed through Camooweal and into the Northern Territory west along the Barkly Highway and north on Stuart Highway towards Katherine spending the night at the caravan park at the Pink Panther Pub in Larrimah. The beer was lovely and cold after a hot dusty day.
We watched the owner of the Timber Creek Caravan Park feed the fresh water crocodiles in the Victoria River before heading to Kununurra the next day for a few days there.
