Wednesday 30 August - Lara Wetlands

An early start this morning as we had to be at the caretakers van by 9.15.   Jumped in the back of a truck and sat on hay bales for the drive up to the homestead.  The homestead is built in the Queenslander style.  I don't have much information about it as there was no information given about it for you to keep.  The present owner wanted to restore the homestead, set up the wetlands camping area and run cattle on the property.  Unfortunately her husband died in a helicopter accident and her debt makes it impossible for her to stay on so the property is up for sale.  We had a look around the old homestead and was given lots of verbal history of the place.  Probably too much information all at once to absorb.  Morning tea was also supplied.  It was a very enjoyable tour and worth the $10 fee each.  The homestead was lovely but would need more than a million spent on it to restore it.    Ian walked back to the campground while I returned on the back of the truck.  We chatted to a couple who had just arrived that day and then it was back to the van for a late lunch.  Once again did nothing until it was time to poach ourselves in the hot pool.

 
 
 
 

Tuesday 29 August - Lara Wetlands

Went for a walk around the Lake passing the amenities which are about 400 - 500 metres away from us and then continued on to the caretakers office.  We put our names down for the homestead tour tomorrow.  Continued on for a few metres to where another Kokoda was parked and had a chat to them.  After discussing the ins and outs of their van they decided to walk with us to our van.  The couple they are traveling with also joined us.  We continued around the Lake to our van to discuss the ins and outs of our van.  What should have taken us 30 minutes turned in to 2 enjoyable hours and filled in the morning nicely.  After lunch we read until it was time to hit the hot springs.  Chatted to a few other couples while we poached ourselves in the pool before returning to the van to shower and settle in for the night.  
 

 
 

Monday 28 August - Lara Wetlands

Packed up and drove into Barcaldine.  Filled up the gas bottle before visiting the Tree of Knowledge.  This is the original ghost gum tree where the striking shearers met and was the start of the union movement and the Labour Party was conceived.  The tree was poisoned in 2006 but was preserved to now stand as a permanent memorial.  Around to the supermarket to stock up, packed it away and set off for Lara Wetlands.  A long trip today.  28km later we were at the turn off.  There was a car and van parked waiting for us to turn in.  It was the ladies who were our neighbours at Lake Dunn.  They were just leaving after 2 night here.  We talked to them for a little while before heading 13km down the dirt road to Lara Wetlands.  Booked in with the caretaker and the drove around the Lake to find a spot.  Set up and then chatted with a couple walking by before having some lunch.   Had a wander around for a look and then joined another couple in the hot springs for a soak and chat. Others came and went joining in our "places to see" discussion.  Returned to the van for the evening.  

 
 

Sunday 27 August - Barcaldine

Very sorry to pack up and leave this morning but we must move on.  Drove back to  Aramac but drove straight through and on to Barcaldine.  We planned to stay 2 nights here to catch up on some washing and restock the fridge and pantry.  Set up at the showgrounds and I set off the washing machine while Ian went for a walk.  In the ammenities was a sign saying the showgrounds would be closed from tomorrow for a fortnight due to some event here. This means we again move on tomorrow and I have to get all the washing done today and we will have to do the shopping tomorrow morning before we leave (nothing open on Sunday).  They have also closed their laundry so I have to put everything through our little machine so the sheets and towels become 4 loads! At least it is warm with a bit of a breeze so hopefully will get them dry as well.  Will do a load of clothes tonight and another one in the morning to hang out when we arrive at our next destination.  Trying to get the blog updated as we expect to be out of service again tomorrow for a few days.

Tuesday 22 - Saturday 26 August - Lake Dunn

First stop today was Aramac to pump the tyres up, top up with petrol and grab some bread.  That about covers Aramac.  Now we are detouring again.  This time to Lake Dunn.  We had never heard of the place, let alone thought about going there until other travellers mentioned it.  Sounded nice so off we went.  Along the road in there are about 7 sculptures made from pieces of old farm junk.  They are made by a local lady.  There is a triangle of 200 km with the sculptures along it but we didn't do the dirt section of it just along the 70 km into Lake Dunn.  When we arrived we found a nice little spot 20 steps from the water's edge between 2 trees which gave us a little more  room as no van could fit between us and the trees.  We are actually on private property and the farm owner Marg (mid 80's) drives down from the farm house to collect your camping fees every night in a golf buggie.  There are toilets and showers here and for an extra fee you can connect to power but our solar panels kept us going.  What is there to do here, nothing!  Pure peace and quiet.  Ian has kayaked a couple of times until the wind picked up so it was no longer enjoyable.  We have chatted to numerous people and have found out about another nice camping area to try out in a few days.  There a quite a few bird watchers here and one of the ladies that were next to us saw 67 different kinds during their 5 night stop.  Another couple told us there were 83 different species here and they weren't leaving until they had seen them all.  Last time we saw them they were up to 78 and had been told of an area they would find some they didn't have.  We have been very lucky because at the moment the lake has more water in it than it has for 3 years.  It was just about empty 5 years ago.  Only draw back no communication with the outside world.

 
 
 

 

Monday 21 August - Muttaburra

Ian wanted to check the tyre pressure while the tyres were cold so this was the first thing he did this morning.  They were a bit low so he got the pump out to inflate them. Obviously the pump thought pumping up 8 tyres yesterday was too much work and went on strike today.  Thank goodness it didn't stop working yesterday.  At least they are inflated enough to continue on until we can put some more in.  Yesterday Ian was looking at the map of the area and found the town of Muttaburra.  When he looked it up in the brochures we had, it sounded nice so we decided to make a slight detour and turned right instead of left.  Why, because we can.  So we are now in the geographical centre of Queensland, set up in the council ran caravan park.  Had some lunch then headed into town.  Once again it is a small country town trying to encourage tourists to visit and spend some money.  We headed to Dr Arratta Museum which is housed in the old district hospital which closed in 1989.  Dr Arratta was the doctor here for 35 years around the 1920's and the museum houses old medical equipment.  The town was much larger then and people from Winton and Longreach would come to the hospital here.  The building of the railway to Winton and Longreach instead of Muttaburra caused the towns decline.   Next stop was the Union Camp and Union Hole where in 1891, 400 striking shearers camped and got their water.  According to our tour guide at the museum, this was the start of the Union movement and in the nearby town of Barcaldine the labour party was founded.  Continued our tour of the town and stopped off at A.A. Cassimatis Store and Cottage.   This museum shows the living conditions in the early 1900's and the general store in a small and remote community.  The business was established in 1913 by the Cassimatis family who moved here from Greece.  It was not only a general store, it was also a bank, green grocer, haberdashery, liquor store and motor mechanic.  The doors closed in 1978 and the museum was started.  Had the usual array of items found in museums.  The area is also where the Muttaburrasaurus fossilised dinosaur skeleton was found in 1963 by a local grazier.  There is a life sized replica in the main street.  Back to the park where we are 1 of 5 vans here for the night.  

Sunday 20 August - 100 km south of Torrens Creek

We originally were going to go back via Winton as we missed going to the Dinosaur Museum there.  But we have now visited two other dinosaur museums and have decided we have seen enough for the moment so we headed on roads not driven by us previously.    Arrived at Torrens Creek, topped up with fuel, let down all eight tyres and hit the dirt road.  We are heading in the direction of Aramac with the first 33 km being dirt.  We managed to navigate the corrugations and dust reasonably smoothly no thanks to the idiot doing what appeared to be over 100km coming towards us.   We had to just about come to a standstill as the dust was so thick we could not see the bull bar in front of us.  When we saw a roadtrain heading towards us we presumed we would not be able to see again but he slowed right down and we passed each other easily.  We averaged 60 kmph for the 33 km.  When back on the bitumen we pulled over to pump the tyres up.  This took us 45 minutes but included a peak in the van to see if any damage had been done.  Once again we had a mess in the fridge.  The lid had come off the pickled onions and the liquid had spilled out.  Put the lid back on and travelled a further 70 km to a roadside stop.  We pulled up and had lunch and decided to stay for the night allowing us time to clean the fridge.  We also found that something had pierced a whole in a bottle of water so that was also trickling out.  Mopped up the mess and cleaned the fridge.  Our campsite is adjacent to the road and from 1pm to 4pm six cars drove past, from 4pm to 6pm two cars went past.  From 6 pm to 10 pm one roadtrain passed.  Overnight four roadtrains went by that I heard,  Ian managed to sleep through two of them!  As we were the only ones staying here Ian once again set the camera up to experiment with his star photos.