Big Red Run - Day 9 - Quilpie to Currawinya to Eulo - Or the day we nearly lost it all!

As our plans altered so drastically the day before, we thought we would try to head south on roads less travelled, with the aim of camping at Currawinya National Park near Hungerford. We got away just after 9am, after stocking up on a few supplies at Quilpe.

It was the last time we don't check a weather forecast when we have the opportunity to. And as it turned out, after an unfortunate series of events, we were lucky to have a camper to sleep in by the days end... 

We set off confidently enough from Quilpie, and made good time to Eulo, where we stopped for lunch at some mound springs.

The mound springs wern't exactly what we expected, and the chap at the Eulo Visitors Centre didn't seem eager to explain more (but he did kindly point out where we could find out about the Eulo Queen with a vague wave of his hand towards a collection of newspaper clippings on the wall).  Enough time spent here we thought, so we headed south towards Currawinya NP, north of Hungerford.

Our lack of observation of the changing weather began to haunt us as we turned off the black top.  The road ahead was red, and a sign ominously said "Boggy When Wet"... A short time later the wipers came on as a few spots hit the windscreen.  The Meteorologist of the family went a litte quiet as she confessed that she hadn't checked the weather for a couple off days...  Ah, what could possibly go wrong!

We pushed on, the road in pretty good nick, but it soon became apparent the further south we went the wetter it was. Still we figured we would be stopping soon.  And we could reasses our route to Bourke the following day.

We made it to Currawinya NP, and found an old man emu with four chicks near the ruins of the Caiwarro Homestead.

Emus near Caiwarro Ruins

Caiwarro Stock Yards

The ruins were interesting to poke around in, but there wasn't any interpretive signs to explain anything about the Station or the people who lived and worked here.  We registered and paid our camp fees - which was some awkward value like $21.80.  How Qld Parkes came up with the figure is beyond me.

We made our way to the beautiful Corni Paroo waterhole and found a spot to set up camp. We resisted opening the camper as it was drizzling now, and I was starting to feel nervous about our ability to get out of here the following day.  And it was here our plans nearly all went up in smoke...

Corni Paroo Waterhole

It was apparent that my fix to the canopy's electrics the day before was part of a bigger problem. The camper wasn't charging its big batteries now.
 

Looking for an obvious problem.

Our camper has two 100 amp hour batteries, accessible by opening the back door, without opening up the camper.  There is also a big 1000 watt inverter under our bed, also accesible from the rear door.  Whilst inspecting for an obvious break or loose connection, I turned on the 1000 watt inverter. To my horror, it moved and erupted into flame!

The boys learnt a new word... And a nanosecond later I asked Jo if she could possibly drop everything she was doing and remove the fire extinguisher from its stowage, and bring it to me, the man jumping up and down at the back of the camper... Perhaps said an a few less words.

Thankfully the flames stopped when I turned the switch back off, and we opened the camper fully in the next 30 seconds.  A minute later, the inverter was disconnected and outside in the now heavy drizzle.

Phew.

The inside of the inverter - all black at the top right!

 

Now the next problem became apparent. I was two inches taller.

It seemed the steady drizzle had made the clay surface around the camp very very sticky.  Whilst initially amusing, it quickly became frustrating, and then alarming.  If other clay stuck to our boots so effectively, the surely it would stick to our tyres just as well, quickly immobilising us.  Hmm. Decision time.

We had a close to 250km of dirt road ahead in order to get to Bourke.  It was only 70km back to Eulo and the black top.  The drizzle head made everything wetter than we had realised.  The prospect of sitting it out here was not appealing in any way shape or form... So after our record quick setup, we packed up almost as quickly and made tracks back to Eulo.

 

 

And a good thing too.  The road was slippery, and boggy, particularly in a section where some  road works were being carried out.  It was a relief to pull into the free camping area on the Paroo River near Eulo and set up for the night.

A bit further upstream on the Paroo River...

As I drifted off to sleep I added another couple of lessons learnt to our list.  When checking out electrical faults, keep a fire extinguisher handy. And always check the weather when you have reception... Particularly when your wife is a meteorologist!