North West Qld trip July 2021

[Big Red]

July 2021 Holidays

Covid worries leading up to my holidays meant that Brett and I could not make any firm plans about where to go.
We had planned on heading to Arnhem Land but we needed to book a couple of months in advance and we were not sure if we could get to go through Aboriginal lands anyway so we looked up what was in the centre of Queensland as a way to fill in time on the way to the north west.

Jeff had to stay at home this time and Phil was heading to the gulf area so it was just Brett and I this time round.

Friday 9th July 2021:
As soon as I finished work I hit the highway out west going through Toowoomba as I wanted KFC for dinner.
I remembered to put my mask on as I walked in but everyone just turned to stare at me … I was the only one wearing a mask … apparently I was now outside the area where you had to wear a mask … talk about feeling like a dick, I left it on to hide my embarrassment, lol.

I headed west until Jondaryn where I saw police lights in the distance and when I go closer found the road blocked after waiting for several minutes the policeman told me to head back to station road and go round so I turned round and headed back until I found the road … they had not put any detour signs up so I just had to wing it and after several Kms came to the back of a convoy with the lead car doing 30 kmh or so along the dead straight narrow one lane bitumen back road … every time a car came the other way he virtually stopped as he moved over on to the dirt which was quite muddy in places … eventually I got sick of it and overtook about 15 cars at about 40 kmh so that I didnt spray mud on them before getting back up to around 80 which was just cruising along … several kms later I turned right at a crossroad and as I looked back across the flat terrain I could see old mate had at least 50 cars backed up behind him.

The road I was now on came in the back way to Bowenville Reserve which was my intended camp for the night so it worked out quite well for me.

I pulled up next to the water and was soon crowded in by another group who spent a couple of hour setting up camp, chainsawing branches off trees and playing music before I dropped off to sleep.

[Big Red]

Saturday 10th July:
I stayed warm and toasty in bed until about 8:30 before finally getting up to make a coffee and as I was getting dressed Brett turned up so we chatted for a bit while I made coffee then hit the highway stopping at Roma to refuel.

We headed out to Mungallala then turning right, we followed google maps making our way towards Chesterton Range National Park.

We arrived at the turn off to find the road was no longer there so we headed further north to the next road across but it had a gate and a sign on it.

We back tracked and headed north again towards Sunnyside State forest but once again were stopped by a sign so headed west then north again before scooting into Sunnyside state forest and found a nice little camp spot on the sandy bank overlooking a pretty gorge.
Brett got some material caught in the zip of his Roof Top Tent and spent a fair bit of time sorting it out but all good now.
Firewood was a bit damp but plentiful and we soon had a fire going and worked out a rough plan on how to get out of here.

[Big Red]

Sunday 11th July:
We awoke to a light frost and temps below zero so didn’t really get moving until about 9 am.


extreme measures needed to get the kettle to boil for my coffee


We headed north up through the state forest and soon came upon a well laid out hut with sheds, water, satellite dish etc … looking like a government installation of some sort.



We continued on along a freshly graded track with only grader tracks and cattle tracks on it and named “proposed road” on the map.
We followed it out of the park and through another another one before coming to the left hand track we were supposed to take.
Obviously this track was regularly used … at least once a year … so we dodged and skirted our way along it mowing down bushes and small trees until we came to another gate with clear tracks on the other side and tracks to the west north and south following fence lines.
While we were there the local owner turned up and we had a bit of a chat and he gave us directions on how to get out past his place as he was out checking the fence lines … seemed like a very nice bloke and not at all worried about people driving through his 60 thousand acres.

We made our way out on past the bores and houses before hitting a well made dirt track to the west which we followed before turning north again.

The outback map led us a bit astray at one point but swapping to the Hema 150 showed more detail and we back tracked to find the right road.

Driving along we spotted a couple of scenic isolated escarpments and decided to climb them which gave us a great view out over the plains.

[Big Red]

We continued north on the dirt trying to stay away from the highway crossing the dog fence before finally coming out near Tambo where we refuelled then turned off for Alpha.






We spotted Five Mile Waterhole on the map so headed bush to find it crossing some dodgy mud filled creek crossings and not finding any major water so turned back to get back over the worst of the crossings before water filled the ruts and camped on a nice open flat spot surrounded by plenty of firewood.



A walk around camp found plenty of water filled creeks and waterholes but nothing flowing.
Talking about nothing flowing, Brett’s drinking water pump decided to abandon its post so we tried rewiring it to no avail then removed it from the side of the tank and cut the ends off a 308 bullet to use as a joiner and fixed his outlet hose to it making it a gravity system.
The campfire was good with a ton of coals radiating out to keep the chill at bay.

[Big Red]

Monday 12 July:
Another night below zero so when the sun was well and truly up we relit the fire and soaked up the warmth for a while before hitting the track back out.




The run up to Alpha was mostly bitumen and pretty easy except for a tree across the road and some rough ex boggy bits on the dirt.

We stopped for a drink at Alpha then headed north again before taking to the back roads and trying to decipher the often wrong maps.


Eventually we made it to Cudmore Resource Reserve


We tried to find a track to the interior of the Cudmore National Park next door looking for Aboriginal art work.


The park was a maze of new unmarked tracks but the track we wanted had disappeared; We eventually found our way to the spot on the map [which turned out to be an old dam] after traversing several other unmarked tracks and a lot of back tracking but saw nothing to hint at art sites.


We then tried to leave the park to the north but that track was also gone.


We headed south out of the National Park and back into the Resource Reserve where we set up camp beside an interesting cliff face above a picturesque watercourse.





Once again a nice little campfire completed the day.

[Big Red]

Tuesday 13th July:
Temp was a positively balmy 2.4 degrees overnight and we were up a bit earlier.
We decided to take a short cut down the power line clearing which turned out to be not so clear in the middle section, my little 6” chainsaw made it a touch easier to clear a fallen tree off the track but eventually the track got too overgrown so we tried a track off to the right which was overgrown but passable although we ended up back near where we started … yep, one of “those” shortcuts … lol.




We made our way out past the property house and back on the road where we backtracked most of the way back to Alpha before heading west but we were thwarted once again by a closed road and had to drive out to the highway.


Spotted an Echidna but it quickly dug in.


while stopped i noticed a near miss with a stake had left it piercing the side biters.


We drove north to Jericho and turned onto the Jericho-Dunrobin road and then left onto the Jericho Aramac road where we started searching for the 146th parallel … when we stopped there on the side of the road a local pulled up and abused us for being there ??? must have had a knockback last night I think… lol.


We then headed due north through the bush towards the 23rd parallel but the bush got too thick to drive about 400 metres out so we walked the rest of the way in.


We were first to visit that convergence … not too many left in Australia that have not been visited and this one was only 2.44 Kms from the road.

[Big Red]

We continued on the same road and picked up the third leg of the Lake Dunn Sculpture Trail stopping to get pics of the sculptures.
Motorbike Musterer.


Thirsty Cockatoos.


Deer.


Possum in Gumtree.


Frog and Dragonflies.


Mustering Dog on a Rock.


We spotted a weathered escarpment and found an overgrow track following it so went in for a look.

[Big Red]

We stopped before a large dam and climbed around for a look at the caves then headed back towards the road and found a campsite in a V below two cliff faces.

We climbed up and found several great caves to explore then returned to camp to relax around the campfire.




Rockodile


Dingo

[Big Red]

Wednesday 14th July:
After a couple of coffees and some more cave pics we hit the road again on the Lake Dunn Sculpture Trail stopping for pics.

[Big Red]

Returned Soldier.




We found more caves.








Spotted a huge snake skin.


and another one




then it was back on the road again.