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Week 2, Day 8
Cobbold Gorge Resort
Total: 2109kms, Today: ~ 5kms in a tour bus
Today's adventure was about why we'd come to Cobbold Gorge in the first place. The gorge itself is a crack in the sandstone that runs through an area of about 80 sq kms . While the original sandstone layers are around 1.7 billion years old, the current gorge is thought to have been created by the Earth's movement as recently as 10,000 years ago. The family-run resort is part of their 'Robin Hood' cattle station and has been made into a 4700 hectare (~11500 acres) nature reserve.
Surprisingly, until the late 1990s, no non-indigenous people knew of this amazing place. The gorge has a permanent source of water and can only be appreciated by boat. The boat trip is conducted in specially built electric powered punts that just fit through some of the very narrow sections (down to 2m/6') and tight turns. We also had a very informative walk around the surrounding area with our guide, Graham, who showed us Bush Tucker, a historical grave site and a track that seems like it may have been used by one of my forebears in the mid-19th Century.
(Top Lt) It's very difficult to get a good overall view of the Gorge unless you fly over it.
(Top Rt) Some parts have vegetation but most don't.
(Lwr Rt) The punts are double-ended as there's no room to turn them around.
(Lwr Lt) Some of the amazing rock formations.
Week 2, Day 9
Cobbold Gorge Resort
Total: 2109kms, Today: 0kms
A bit of a rest day today. The area we were camped in had a local inhabitant just behind the wire fence. For the last two days he had been cavorting and carrying on trying to entice one of two females we had seen. He would dance up and down in the trees, shaking branches and making a variety of noises in order to attract attention. I had spent quite a bit of time trying to get a close look at him, but he always seems to be behind something.
Here you can see him hiding between his two bowers. Unlike the Bower Birds we get in the Lamington National Park (the Regent and Satin Bowerbirds), this is a Great Bowerbird. This one is grey with a small purple patch behind his head that grows during courtship. Also unlike the Satin Bowerbirds at home, this one collects mainly white stones and not blue baubles. Having given up trying to get a decent shot of him in his natural state, we went up to have coffee at the pool only to find him eating crumbs from the floor of the dining area.
You can see the purple patch on the back of his head.
Some other birds that were around the resort were:
(Top Lt) Red-Tailed Black Cockatoos
(TopRt) Galahs
(Below) The elusive SueRossus in her native environment
One of the joys of outback travel is the no-nonsense ways those who live here express themselves.
Short, sharp, to the point and with visual confirmation for those whose English is marginal.
Week 2, Day 10
Cobbold Gorge Resort -> Croydon
Total: 2341kms, Today: 232kms
We set off with some trepidation knowing that we don't have a spare tyre for the caravan and have to retrace our steps over the road that caused the problem. 85kms later, we reached Georgetown and found the only tyre repairer open on a Sunday (I suspect there are only two in any case). An hour later, he came up with the rather regretful news that the repairs to the tyre would probably not last more than about 50kms as the stone had forced its way right through the carcase and left a split about 1.5~2" long. That certainly put the trip to Lawn Hill on hold as there was no way we'd attempt more dirt roads with a dodgy spare, so the next change of plan now had us staying on the bitumen as far as Mt Isa, a town with a population of 22,000 where a wider (and presumably cheaper) range of tyres would be available.
Having left Georgetown, and Eric, our Vietnamese tyre-repairing hero, we stopped at the Cumberland Chimney for lunch and a bit of bird-watching. Cumberland Chimney is all that's left of a gold refining battery in what was the gold mining town of Cumberland, 20 kms west of Georgetown. There is a man-made lake left over from the mining days that is home to water birds.
Cumberland Chimney, with the lake on the left. It would make a nice overnight campsite.
We have never seen, nor even heard of, Green Pigmy-Geese, yet here were a pair swimming around (female on left, male on right). They have beautiful swirls in their body plumage.
There were also Brolgas, a couple of Black Swans, Magpie Geese, Jacanas and Purple Swamp Hens,and a host of ducks, but most stayed on the far side of the lake. Obviously a bigger lens is needed. Santa??
Why did the Goanna cross the road?
No idea, as this one didn't. It just sat there for about a minute pretending it was invincible and then went back where he came from. It was about 1.5m / 5' long.
It shouldn't try this trick in front of road trains or it will quickly be an ex-Goanna.
Week 2, Day 11
Croydon -> Normanton (via Karumba)
Total: 2641kms, Today: 300kms
A visit to the Croydon Heritage Centre before we left town was a very rewarding one. We found out some more family history about Chris' great-grandfather that we hadn't previously known. We had found out from a previous visit that he had managed Croydon Downs cattle station from 1878 to 1888, but we were now told that he started Delta Downs station as a subsidiary station in 1888, moving stock from Croydon Downs to get it going. He retired in about 1905 but lived in Croydon until his death in 1910.
The staff at the Centre were very helpful in digging out old cuttings that we hadn't seen on our last visit.
Delta Downs still exists. Its 1,224 km2 / 472 sq miles of grazing land is now run by the traditional owners, the Kurtijar peoples .
I must drop them a note about the state of the sign.
We dropped the caravan off at the caravan park in Normanton,and headed off to Karumba to watch the sunset over the Gulf of Carpentaria. Needless to say, this was accompanied by locally caught banana prawns, barramundi & chips and a refreshing beverage.
Two pelicans hope for scraps off the returning prawn trawler.
On our way into Karumba,there were lots of wildlife along the road. At left are a pair of Brolgas, while below is a colourful Rainbow Bee-Eater.
Not shown were the hundreds of Wallabies on the road as we drove back to Normanton after sundown! Despite their best efforts, we've managed to avoid getting a bonnet mascot so far. There were, however, all over the golf course. (There more than double this number but half fled when I accidentally slammed the car door while getting my camera out.)
No, I have no idea why the Karumba Golf Club has a microwave attached to its sign.
Week 2, Day 12
Total: 3241kms, Today: 600kms
A rather big day today, so not too much photography. We did take a few shots at the Burke & Wills Roadhouse.
What you're looking at here in the form of three 6-deck cattle road trains, is the ability to move somewhere in the vicinity of between 700 and 850 head of cattle at once (They work on weight rather than individual beasts). I suspect my great-grandfather may have appreciated this way of moving cattle.
We've been this way before, but I never found out about the history of this Aero Commander next to the Roadhouse. I foolishly wandered into the bar and asked the barmaid (US backpacker) if she knew anything about it. She pointed at a sheet on the wall.
This proclaimed that the aircraft, called an EMU 0410E, had been built in 1939 in Melbourne and was far ahead of its time. It worked for the Australian Secret Service during WW2, and took photos of the Hiroshima Atom Bomb drop at the end of the war. It also is alleged to have uplifted 32 passengers, 48 hens and the Administrator's pet pig on a non-stop flight to Melbourne during the Darwin evacuation after Cyclone Tracy. It supposedly arrived in its current position after a heroic forced landing and has been here ever since. The bottom of the info sheet says:
"Research completed by Dick Smith commenced in the early morning, 1st Jan 2005 and completed exactly 3 months later."
More Australian Bush humour to catch out the new chums.
Week 2, Day 13
Mt Isa
Total: 3242kms, Today: 1km
We've had a problem with the 12v power to the rear of the car, so today I was going off to see an auto electrician. The evening before I had taken one last look at the fuses (in 3 different locations) that ran the power outlets with no luck in restoring any movement of electrons to run the freezer in the back. So, off through the caravan park at the required speed of 5kph and out onto the road where the Cruiser managed to get to ... 10kph. It had gone into 'limp' mode.
The ultimate indignity!
Putting the fact that I'd fiddled with the fuse boxes together with the vehicle's inability to proceed normally is surely more than a coincidence. Deposited at the same auto electrician that I was aiming for before the 'limp' problem, we were fortunately back on the road by late afternoon, somewhat chastened and lighter in the credit card. Mea Culpa, etc...
Oh, and they fixed the original problem, too.
Week 2, Day 14
Mt Isa
Total: 3272kms, Today: 30km
A bit of shopping, sightseeing and sorting out the van's tyre problem. As I'd decided that we would ditch the original spare (now on the van) and put two new tyres on the van and keep the remaining new-ish tyre as the spare. Great idea, but of course there's only one of the right size tyre in Mt Isa. Where's the nearest one to make a pair? Townsville - a mere 900 kms away.
"No worries. We'll have it here by midday tomorrow." Hmmmm.
(Lt) No Calgary, only Kamloops. Sorry, Margaret!
(Below) Sunset over the mine site.
Continue to Week 3 (Under construction)
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