November Trip 2009

Day 1 Darwin to Katherine. 302 kms.

This trip was organised mainly to pick up the camper van from Melbourne which I had ordered at the recent Caravan Show in Sydney. To keep me company? Anne and Christine also came along for the ride. The vehicle was well loaded with drinking water, camping gear, food, clothes, recovery gear and of course the car fridge, all required for the three week trip. The first stop was only 100 kilometres away to have lunch with some friends, ex land rover and I have known them from when I first moved to Darwin. After a good lunch at the Adelaide River Hotel which is a Heritage building dating back to when Adelaide river was an important road and rail stop in the late 19^th C.

Traffic was light on the run to Katherine though there were 3 tank transporters with tanks on the road.

Stop that night was at Katherine and even at 8.30 at night the temperature was 39C, though not as humid as Darwin.

Day 2 Katherine to Tennant Creek. 673 kms.

Just a straight run with only a few small settlements on the way. Mataranka was the  first stop and nearby are the hot Springs, a popular tourist stop and for those who like camping there is the Bitter Springs Reserve. A short distance down the highway is the Elsey Cemetery  a place made famous by Aegness Gunn’s novel “We of the Never Never”, one of the australian classics  having been written around the early 1900. We detoured into Daly Waters which is off the highway and was an important airfield during the early days of aviation and up to the end of WW2. At the airstrip the original QANTAS hanger is still standing. The hotel there is noted for its collection of banknotes from around the world donated by travellers. . The only excitement was when the rear battery shorted out and caused the car fridge to freeze everything. Still very hot but low humidity so whenever I touched the car I got a zap. Dinner was at the Memorial Club then it was off to bed after a long day.

Rest area Mataranka.	Main Street/ Stuart Highway  Mataranka mid day.
Petrol station Daly Waters, rather quirky.	Traffic lights Daly Waters, very rarely is there any traffic here!

 

Day 3 Tennant Creek to Mt. Isa. 661 kms.

We now turned east and travelled across the Barkly Tablelands unfortunately into a hot headwind. There were very few vehicles on the road though we over took an army convoy of trucks and communication vehicles. The route is very flat and it is here are some of the largest cattle stations in Australia where the cattle are mustered by plane or helicopter now and not by stockmen on horses. Besides the Barkly Homestead which sells petrol and fuel the only other civilisation in the Avon Downs Police Station. Soon after the Queensland border was crossed, Camooweal was reached. It is a small, remote community with a long history of cattle droving. Another 180 kilometres bought us to the mining city of Mt Isa which is dominated by the two tall chimney stacks from the mine. Must admit that the road from Camooweal to Mt Isa is now a far better road than what it was even a few years ago.

Countryside around Tennant Creek.	Three Ways Roadhouse. The road to Queensland on the left
Crossing the Barkley Tablelands	And 5 hours later, the Barkley Tablelands

Day 4 Mount Isa to Richmond 439 kms.

The highway out of Mt Isa was initially through hilly country with a few mines’ headframes dotting the landscape then by Cloncurry they has petered out. A morning tea was enjoyed in the Park there which displays items from the surrounding farms and mines. Due to its earlier mining history the town boasts several substantial government buildings, some of which are now museums. Lunch was at Julia Creek in a shaded reserve in the main street. It was so hot and dry here that some of the local birds were patiently lined up to drink from a leaking sprinkler. Also down the centre of street where the cars park, shelters were provided to keep the sun off the cars.

Richmond is noted for its Kronosaurus Korner, a working museum devoted to the marine fossils found in the area. Eons ago this area was an inland sea and from this area many new and nearly complete fossils have been discovered. The largest dinosaur Kronosaurus queenslandicus is now in Harvard University though a replica of it is situated outside. These reptiles date from the Cretaceous period and consisted of turtles, Ichthyosaurs which were a dolphin like reptile also known as fish lizards, and Pliosaurs and Pleisiosaurs. Inside was a display of some of the many fossils found and many are displayed as they were found. Nearby are a couple of sites where one can fossick for fossils. In the Lions Park are also Moon Rocks. These oddities are merely limestone accretions which vary in size from a golf ball to some weighing many tonnes. I made a quick trip out to one of the public fossicking areas and found some fossils, fragmented, of marine life.

Countryside approaching Cloncurry	Old waggon Cloncurry Reserve
Kronosaurus Korner and Pleisiosaur replica.	Mimi armoured dinosaur.

Skeleton of Pleisiosaur Eromamgasaurus Australis	And what he probably looked like
Part of Kronosaurus jaw, it is about 6 feet long.	“Dave” the Pleisiosaus

A baby ichtyosaur fossil.	Cooyoo fish fossil
Fossil jaw in workshop, from a Kronosaurus	Reolica of a 1850 stone dwelling.

Day 5 Richmond to Townsville 523 kms.

On the way to Hughenden there were several large trains passed, mostly hauling sulphuric acid to the mines or empties being returned. These trains were up to one kilometre long. Hughenden is still in dinosaur country and in the town centre is a large Muttaburrasaurus dinosaur which was found in the nearby town of Muttaburra. Also scattered around the town are sculptures of fossils found here made from scrap iron. There is also here another centre which also has displays about the history of the area. Lunch was some freshly baked pies from the local bakery in a shady park by the Flinders River. As the temperature here was very high, the trip route was changed to avoid the next section which would have required camping out in tents for a few nights so we headed to the coast and to Townsville. It was a change that night to walk along the sea front and feel the cool sea breeze as against the hot, dry winds of inland Queensland. The Esplanade is now a very popular place at night with its eating areas, which is a far change from what it was some 30 years ago according to a friend who had worked there for many years.

Moon rocks from Richmond	Bulk sulphuric acid train.
Muttaburrasaurus statue	Skeleton of a Muttaburrasaurus
Ammonite sculpture made from junk metal.	Twin rotary windmills and rest centre main street.
Dinosaur sculpture.	Hotel and Bougainvillea main street.