Entry 4 – 2023 – April – Adelaide South Australia to Hughenden Queensland.
We had experienced 3 aborted departure dates before finally succeeding with a continuation of our Australian travel adventures for 2023.
Our first hold up was with an unexpected dental delay. Eventually we advised our dentist we had provided them with ample time to fix our alleged issues. Sorry but anything else can wait. Glumly the dentist conceded to our wishes. The 2nd hold up was with Steve’s 91-year-old dad’s tumble resulting with 6 broken ribs and then there was the mystery illness Mary contracted. Grrr.
It felt good to be travelling again, though we were both feeling tired, half expecting to incur another hic-up to our 4th planned departure date. Our first day of travel resulted with us clocking up about 85 kilometres before calling it stumps for the day. We camped on the outskirts of an old disused football oval at the town of Tarlee. We walked around the oval for some exercise, assessing our location. There were only 5 other caravans scattered about. As we walked past one of these caravans a bloke yelled out.
Ironically it was Martin whom lived two doors down from Steve’s parents. They had grown up together and socialised into their early 20’s. We had bumped into Martin & Maria the previous year but had only enough time for a short (excitable) conversation. On this occasion we chatted quite a bit and remembered to obtain a photograph of one another, some 45 years older.
Normally when heading out with a faraway destination in mind, for no specific reason we usually endeavour to clock up a substantial number of kilometres in the first few days.
For this trip we both had a different mindset, content to just amble along with no specific plans. We stopped regularly for a look or a walk about be it at a roadside location or as it transpired in the townships of Burra and Yunta.
Our pencilled in first destination was to be at the town of Broken Hill. Most of the landscape on the drive from Adelaide to Broken Hill was un-captivating with mostly flat treeless plains. It still required an element of attention, on the lookout for wildlife in the small bushes nearby the road. There was the constant presence of vehicle destroying dead kangaroos on the road. We saw many emus grazing on bushes close to the roads edge. The emus blended in with the background scenery making them almost invisible till we were in a position where we were unable to stop if one ran out in front of us. Then there were the goats. So many wild goats, also hard to spot until you were almost upon them. We did see some dead goats and emus on the road and roadside.
It took 3 days of driving to travel around the 500 kilometres to Broken Hill.
We had previously explored much of Broken Hill and its offerings. Unfortunately for Broken Hill it didn’t provide any enthusiastic type of atmosphere, enticing you in when we arrived. Nothing stood out from our memory banks to inspire us to stay a while. We appreciated the available internet/phone reception, topped up with fuel, food and we continued onwards.
Our next pencilled in target location was the town of Cobar located about 500 kilometres east of Broken Hill. The scenery wasn’t quite as desolate as seen south of Broken Hill, though we were in outback Australia with a lot of non-tingling scenery.
There were still the ever-present kangaroos lying on the road and at one stage we needed to deviate around a large wild pig lying on the road surface. We were constantly monitoring the terrain ahead on the lookout for emus and the increasing goat population whom were becoming more confident with ownership of their surrounds.
We were adjusting to our required driving time lines, with only one overnight stop before Cobar. There were plenty of road side rest areas along this section of road with some beautiful settings. We regularly stopped, swapping drivers and stretched out at some of these rest areas, enjoying the scenery and its accompanying sounds.
All the main entry roads into Cobar had grand display signage welcoming you to Cobar. It was still an old mining town past its glory days similar to Broken Hill but it felt far more hospitable and welcoming. The choices for us for a night stopover was a caravan park or the option to free camp at several locations around town. One of the free camp locations was at the base of one of the welcoming town signage spots which was quite popular. It was late afternoon when we arrived and most of these locations were well patronised. Mid-morning the following day most of the free camp locations were empty. We chose to stay in town at another free camp location at the rear of the RSL club.
The atmosphere of Cobar enticed us to stay for a couple of nights. We visited many of the publised attractions. There was the current mine pit not far from town and a walk around town and its back streets provided some interesting viewing. About 5 kilometres from town was another free camp location at the towns old water supply lake. Next time we stay at Cobar this lake will be our preferred camp location. It had a beautiful bush setting with lots of bird life about. Though the dusty roads could be annoying.
This had been our first time in Cobar and we found it to be an enjoyable country location. We decided to head north from Cobar, passing through the towns of Bourke, Cunnamulla, Charleville, Augathella and Barcaldine, a route not previously travelled by us. Of interest we had previously spent time in most of the main towns along this route, having entered these towns from a different direction.
We stretched out at the Bourke information centre with a walk about viewing some interesting, different sculptures.
Leaving Cobar, the road surface looked to be of good paved bitumen. It was just ok but we were being tossed about by its unevenness. We found the need to lower our normal travelling speed to provide a more comfortable ride.
We left Cobar on the Thursday preceding the Easter long weekend period. Around the coastal “populated,” regions of Australia the Thursday prior to Easter would be an extremely busy period for road travel. We were far, far away from the coastal regions, well and truly in the out-back of Australia. It seemed the roads were even quieter than normal. We spent a night at a road side stop, all to ourselves. Quite unusual. We decided to push on, driving during this period with less vehicles about to contend with, providing a more relaxed driving experience.
Upon crossing the border into Queensland, the road surface still seemed to look ok to the eye but obviously was an illusion. It was horrible. The steering wheel was constantly vibrating and our interior stored equipment started to rattle. We were stunned by such poor road conditions, thinking it would have to improve shortly. It was a “110 kilometre,” sign posted road, but we found a 70-kilometre speed to be near our tolerated limit.
Some-how, we put up with these poor road conditions for nearly 200 kilometres before Steve stopped and lowered our tyre pressures about 5 psi from our normal travel pressure. Our ride improved a bit and we soldiered on. Grrr.
Our next stop was at the town of Augathella, the only town along this route we hadn’t previously visited. There was a lovely free camp area close to the business precent.
We enjoyed the quietness of Augathella. A walk about, showed a sense of a positivity from the town’s residents. Though it was the easter long weekend. There were plenty of people about congregated & camped in groups. We did set camp at what we thought to be a good distance from these groups. Unfortunately, at bed time sound seemed to travel, with an evening background noise of loud music and mostly happy, loudly spoken people.
We spent a second night at Augathella, resting up, enjoying some chill out time.
Continuing north our next stop up the road a bit was the town of Tambo. We set camp about a kilometre out of town at “Stubby Bend,” a great setting beside the Barcoo River. We do enjoy these types of remote settings.
At locations like our Tambo setting, we do like to go to sleep with all our curtains open. When we open our eyes in the morning, still with our heads pillow bound the beautiful setting around us streams into our caravan providing a wonderful soothing atmosphere.
Then your eyes focus on a glorious sunrise, forcing you out of bed to obtain that treasured memory with a photograph. Next the beautiful peaceful quiet background disappears with a loud chorus provided by the locals (birds) announcing the arrival of another beautiful day. Yes, it was lovely and comfortable in bed, alas, “life wasn’t meant to be easy!”
One of our target locations we had set our sights on prior to leaving home was a stay at Lara Station Wetlands. We arrived late on Easter Monday having planned our arrival after the Easter mob had departed. What can we say? Lara wetlands description is best presented by a photograph of our camp setting and the evening sunset. Come morning time, there was another beautiful sunrise, beckoning us outside.
We enjoyed spending time in the hot therapeutic artesian pool waters, bubbling out of the ground via a strategically located hollow log.
The longer we stayed, the more relaxed we became. It was a wonderful setting, much appreciated by all our feel-good senses.
We were feeling very contented after four days at Lara Station Wetlands. It was time to push on.
We had always utilized phone/internet services provided by Telstra, Australia’s largest provider. When travelling in outback Australia, Telstra being the primary service provider with little on offer by other Australian telco’s. Near the end of 2019, our telstra plan was due for renewal. We were planning for an extended time line in Canada during 2020 and decided not to renew our expensive Telstra plan until we returned from Canada. For the interim we obtained a phone plan from one of the cheaper providers who utilized services from Optus the next biggest Australian telco provider. The plan was around a 10th the price of Telstra rates.
Then came the covid-19 pandemic, placing everyone around the world into confinement. There were the restricted travel options for the next two and half years and our interim phone service, provided for all our needs.
Now 2023 we were resuming our “Outback Australian adventures,” travelling through outback regions, enjoying the isolated life style away from the populated coastline.
It quickly became very apparent; we were in need to return to a Telstra phone/internet plan. It seemed once we were away from towns without large populations our provider was silent.
Leaving Lara Station Wetlands, we had decided to prop at the town of Barcaldine for about 24 hours to attend to all our internet/phone needs. Our phone was showing a good strength reception but nothing worked. Out of frustration we decided not to stay and pushed on towards our next planned destination.
We continued north encountering the normal wild life road hazards. We were also travelling through regions with designated stock routes still in place from bygone eras. The importance of these stock routes now becoming apparent during extended poor climatic times enabling movement of stock along these routes where ample feed is available for their survival.
We managed to travel about 200 kilometres for the day before our bodies said no more. We stopped at another roadside rest area enjoying the peacefulness being all by ourselves. In the wee morning hours we were woken by the loud arrival of some road trains stopping beside us. As it transpired there were 4 road trains with refrigerated trailers. The fridge units were so loud we could feel our caravan vibrating, with us lying on our innerspring mattress. We looked at one another trying to think of a strategy to escape our dilemma. Thankfully we had one of those lightbulb illuminating experiences on this occasion and we located some ear plugs we had been carrying for years, yet to be used. With the noise deadening earplugs fitted we were rocked back to sleep by the gentle vibrations created by the refrigeration units. It was tempting to honk our car horn on our morning departure but we thought it to be more appropriate to let the truck drivers have a good sleep.
We continued driving north along the road from Barcaldine to Torrens Creek. During our first ten kilometres we had to stop twice for a Bustard bird standing on the road, waiting for them to provide us with a clear passage.
Within another 20 minutes we found ourselves again slowing to a near stop, this time for a pair of Brolga birds.
Bustard birds are a rare sighting with Brolgas also not often sighted. It was a special feel-good start to our day, with our senses still tingling from these special sightings for the next couple of days.
Up the road a bit we stopped at a T junction before turning left. We do like outback Queensland Road signage, taking a photograph of the sign pointing back down the road we had just travelled up.
