Hervey Bay and a night at Inskip Point

After our adventure at Kroombit Tops National Park, we were looking forward to returning to the coast.  Sea breezes by the sand was what it was all about, however we found out that there was plenty to see on our way to Hervey Bay.

After morning tea at Mount Perry we continued on towards the coast on this road less travelled.

Not far our of Mount Perry we turned off on the unimaginatively named Tunnel Road.  We soon found ourselves on the old railway embankments heading towards the Boolboonda Tunnel - the longest unsupported man made tunnel in the southern hemisphere.  I was nervous that we wouldn't fit through the tunnel, being a rather broad car, with plenty on the roof.  I was worried that if we couldn't fit, I might not be able to turn around with the trailer on.  I needn't have worried - a huge F250 ute with a tinny on top had just come through - meaning we would have plenty of room

And we did.

Boolboonda Tunnel Entrance

As we drove through the tunnel, we paused to look at the Bent Wing Bats that make this place their home.  The hand hewn rock was full of crevices and nooks of all shapes and sizes - perfect place to make your home - except for all the tourists driving through!

Kroombit Tops and Beautiful Betsy

After being told that Kroombit Tops had received 750mm of rain over the past three days, I must admit to feeling that we would not be able to visit the tableland on this trip.  That said, it did seem like an unbelievable figure - after all it is more than our annual average rainfall at home, and there was no evidence of widespread flooding.

Our camp hosts suggested we drop in on the National Parks base nearby and ask them directly.  We did, and were told that a crew had been up in the park the previous day, and all tracks were definitely open!  There was no mention of biblical downpours, and I believe that our information source may have made a error involving the placement of a decimal point.

So we went.

If you haven't heard of Kroombit Tops, we hadn't either until we were talking with a couple from Gladstone a two of weeks earlier.  Of similar geological formation to Blackdown Tableland, it too was opened up for logging from the 1960's until 1995. Its cool tableland provides the northernmost range for many southern dwelling plants and animals, as well as the southernmost range for many northern dwelling plants and animals.  It really is a unique place to visit, and we were looking forward to heading up there ourselves.

Getting there was half the fun.  We wound north from Cania Gorge, on a dirt road that at times resembled a farm track.  There were numerous creek crossings, farm gates and cattle as we traversed this isolated part of the country. 

The drive in had plenty of gates

Agnes Waters, Deepwater National Park and Cania Gorge

We thoroughly enjoyed our four nights at Agnes Waters.  It was supposed to be a quiet rest time savouring the cool of the coast.  After the weekend passed, we had the campsite in Deepwater National Park to ourselves and things were becoming really peaceful.  

Of course the beach was glorious, but we decided to spend a couple of mornings in town visiting the library and getting our tyre repaired.  

In-between catching up on school at the library, we manged to try out a few new moves down at the beach.  We have lugged these boards since home, but they hadn't been used for a long time.  After taking about a hundred photos on the GoPro camera, I settled on these couple as the best shots of a couple of glorious days in the sun and the surf.

 

Surfs up!

Our dash to the coast...

We left Carnarvon Gorge with a couple of options open to us.  The first entailed heading west to the mountains above the gorge, around 300km, or the alternative was to head towards the coast.  The votes were cast, and with the temperatures due to soar into the 40s in the central districts, the outcome was a foregone conclusion.  The coast it was.

We diverted past Lake Nuga Nuga.  We had considered camping here, so were curious to see what was here.  This is the largest natural lake in Queensland yet the lake was full of dead timber which puzzled us.  That said, it was a haven of birdlife and it would have been stunning at sunset or sunrise.  Unfortunately we were enjoying our morning tea and the temperature was well above 30 degrees, so we retreated to the comfort of Rocky's airconditioning and continued up the Arcadia Valley.

Lake Nuga Nuga

Lake Nuga Nuga and Mount Warrinilla

We continued driving east and seriously considered camping near the Krombit Tops National Park.  Unfortunately the tracks in the park are not trailer friendly (very steep and windy), so we continued east through towns such as Banana and Biloela.

Carnarvon Gorge - Or There and Back Again

We arrived late in the afternoon at Carnarvon Gorge, and checked in to the nearby private Takarakka Campground.  We found ourselves nestled in a beautiful bush campground with local wallabies, bettongs and kangaroos to keep us amused.  That said, a particular small furry animal captured Jo's heart - a delightful platypus who lived in the creek near the camp kitchen.  Each evening and morning he came out and foraged up and down the creek, enthralling the handful of campers who were willing to wander down and stand still for a few moments.

A typical photo of a shy platypus

The following morning we had planned on doing the big trek into Carnarvon Gorge, but everyone was a bit weary, so we decided to book in an extra night and walk a couple of the shorter tracks that are nearby.  We figured we would save ourselves for the big hike the next day.  

Unexpected Treasure - Blackdown Tableland

We departed Sapphire bright and early with the hope we would find somewhere cooler to stay the next night.  We thought that Fairbairn Dam near Emerald would be the perfect place to cool off and spend a night or two.

After a quick shop at Emerald, we made our way to the dam.  We found the camping area - and decided to have a bit of morning tea before we checked in.  As we sat sweltering in the shade, we realised that this was not the place we were looking for.  The water was well down, meaning any swimming or fishing would be without shade, and the caravan park was exactly that, a regular caravan park, set well back from the waters edge.  It was decision time.  

Rocky at Fairbairn Dam

A family conference was held and based on all the information we had at hand, the unanimous call was to head somewhere cooler - and that meant the coast (or so we thought).  We wrapped up our morning tea smartly, and jumped back in the car ready for another 350 kilometres on the road.

The Queensland Gemfields nearly gain four residents!

We left Longreach early in the morning and started heading east.  We were basically following the Tropic of Capricorn towards the coast, but there are some interesting things to see on the way.

We stopped at Barcarldine at the famous 'Tree of Knowledge'.  Under the branches of this tree in the 1890's, shearers gathered to protest the poor pay and conditions offered pastoralists.  There were many shearers camps in this area from the Great Shearers Strikes, however it is believed that it was here that the genesis for what was to become the Australian Labor Party was formed.

Move forward a hundred years and it is rumoured that in 2006 someone poisoned the tree - and the resultant sculpture around the dead tree trunk (opened in 2008) is stunning.  Regardless of your political pursuasion, this is an interesting place.

Tree of Knowledge at Barcarldine

We continued on our way east and made our way to a small community called Sapphire.  In the heart of the Queensland Gemfields, this area is famous for its sapphires funnily enough.  To be honest we weren't sure what you could fossick here, as down the road is Rubyvale and Emerald is about 50km further east. 

Longreach - the heart of the Outback

We pulled into Longreach Tourist Park rather exhausted after the previous two days of travelling.  Not only had we driven nearly 900km, but we had also visited all of the main attractions on the Dinosaur Trail from Hughenden to Richmond and Winton.  So why had we driven like madmen?  It was all to do with another part of Australia's history, but this time much more modern than our hundred million year old dinosaur friends.  We were moving forward into the 19th century at a gallop.

Friends had recommended to us a ride on a Cobb & Co Coach - and we had found out that the last run of the season was on Friday - hence our haste to get here.  We had booked on the last coach of the season - and considered ourselves extremely fortunate to gain a seat.  The coaches are run by Kinnon and Co, a family run business that diversified into tourism after a drought in around 2006 nearly sent them to the wall.  Richard Kinnon has expanded the business into so much more than a Coach Ride.  Part history lesson, part adrenaline ride, we signed up for the full deal.

The Cobb and Co coaching empire at its peak had a network of runs across the eastern part of Australia, from Normanton in the gulf to Victoria.  With some 60 000 horses travelling some 45 000km per week, it was an incredible network, that was started by a young man (he was 19) who came to the Goldfields to make his fortune and realised that digging for gold was a pretty hit and miss way to achieve it.  He did recognise however that there was a desperate need for transportation.  His business model is now called franchising, and it made young Mr Cobb extremely rich, however he lost all his money gambling on river boats in the United States - and the business slowly folded in the early 20th century due in no small part to another enterprise that started just down the road - as we shall come to later.

The boys check out our fine steeds for the morning's ride.

Australia's own amazing Dinosaur Trail

We left Charters Towers behind us and started heading west.  We knew we were heading the right direction as the roads were straight, and the soil dry and dusty.  We were planning to spend the next week or so touring Australia's very own Dinosaur Trail, encompassing the towns of Hughenden, Richmond and Winton.  Little did we know we would be journeying back in time to different landscapes, from ancient sea beds, to rainforests and muddy shorelines, and we would be meeting some of the creatures that ruled these environments.

We had been denied our Australian Arms lunch with Mash Potato (Kangaroo and Emu) at the Prairie Hotel Parachilna as it was closed when we passed through the Flinders Ranges, so we couldn't pass the Prairie Hotel Prairie without passing in.  We had a good poke around the old memorabilia in the pub, and the publican (not a backpacker!) on hearing we were off on the Dinosaur Trail, showed the boys some fossils and coprolite (dinosaur poo) from his own collection.  We enjoyed our paddle pops in the 42 degree heat, and continued on.

Prairie Hotel - Prairie!

Long straight to Hughenden