Day 30 - Arcadia Valley to Carnarvon Gorge 7320km

Day 30 Arcadia Valley Escape to Carnarvon Gorge 7320kms

Turned left out of the Sunnyholt driveway and headed up to a lookout on a bluff overlooking Arcadia Valley.  An amazing view which can’t be reproduced by camera - the escarpment fell away to the tree topped Valley below and reached out to gorges and mysterious tabletop mountains of all sizes in the distance.

The drive to Carnarvon Gorge took us past fields of Brahman cattle grazing by the roadside and ended up at the Gorge information Centre.  There are lots of different palms in the gorge and we were lucky enough to see the coral flowered batwing tree and some indigenous paintings of hand shadows in a large overhang cave.

Takaraka campsite gave us a platypus in the stream behind the tents.  It’s a busy campsite with small plots.  We caught up on laundry and took it easy.

Day 29 - Arcadia Valley

Day 29 Arcadia Valley Escape 7210km

The full moon was huge last night, the sky cloudless and there was no incentive to go to bed early as the campfire was so cozy.  Needless to say we had a slow morning.

Our adventure today initially took us to Munroes Lookout .. I picked it straight away ..
Two hills, uniform in size, that looked exactly like ... well, Marilyn Munroes busoms 😆

Some one on this farm has a great sense of humour!

Great view from the top all around.  Next visit we’ll be more adventurous and follow Leichardts footsteps- a 12 km circuit walk around the property’s escarpment boundary.

One great big Australian Bustad flew up and gave us quite a shock and we saw
2 of the largest heron or storks we have ever seen. They were more than two foot tall and in the Wetlands.

The cattle yards here are unusual in that they are round and Rowan later explained it was much easier to get cows & bulls into a rounded yard.

Part of the fun staying here was coming across unexpected humour in the clever naming of the places and in the materials used for the buildings... like a water tank which was the toilet and the shower up at the “Outpost” holiday accommodation.  The view from there was incredible with the whole valley laid out before us.  Will definately stay there next time.

Popped in for a quick hello at Rowan and Maddys house and stayed for a cuppa and chat before we were invited to help move cows to another paddock.  It was a great sight to see so many lovely Ladies marching past in an orderly fashion when Rowan called them.  Driving there and back was fun too in an “all terrain vehicle”

The evening was spent around our campfire under the stars again - it’s going to be hard to leave tomorrow.

Day 28 - Arcadia Valley 7210 km

Day 28 Arcadia Valley Escape 7210km

The turnoff yesterday said “ Arcadia Valley Road” & “ Lake “Nuga Nuga” .. well last night we enjoyed birdwatching around our own private lake and it was amazing 👌

You never know what’s beyond the tree lined roads - you see lots of barrels, some painted different colours and most bearing the name of the property.  At Arcadia Valley Escape on “Sunnyholt” Station we were lucky enough to experience some of the magic.

The property lies within a wide, fertile valley bordered with rugged escarpments.  Each evening as the sun went down, the light changed and painted the meadows on the slopes below the cliffs a myriad of colours.  Mesmerising!

Our rural and quirky site showcased the genius of its creator.  Farm accessories had been put to good use.  A large gate latch held the loo rolls down, an oil drum supported the toilet seat and giant cable reels became tables just to name a few!

Quirky because of the rustic “Thunderbox” and bush cinema at our camp 😊
Rowan & Maddie, the Station owners have also created one of the best fire pits we have seen on this trip.  Surrounding boulders are big enough to keep little children away but big enough for adult bums!

After a leisurely start we took a walk to the old homestead and peeped in the shearer’s cottage (both available for holiday stays).  Loved the Shearer’s cottage!  Cute as a button and cozy 😍

Walking back to our camp we saw the Large Turtle we saw in the morning.  She was putting the finishing touches to covering her eggs and looked exhausted.

Rowan & young Hunter came to visit on their Polaris 4WD with 2 dogs and we watched the turtle together before she walked across the track making her way back to the lake for a well earned rest.

The rest of the afternoon we set to collecting wood for the nights campfire, relaxing, reading and then a walk to the boathouse to watch the sunset.

Day 27 - Emerald to Arcadia Valley 7210km

Day 27 Emerald to Arcadia Valley 7110km

Emerald left us with a great impression:  we had a night and morning of much needed torrential rain and the tent gave us a good night sleep with no leaks! Brilliant!

The road out passed a huge paddock with wall to wall cotton bales waiting to be shipped out and another busting at the seams with commercially grown sunflowers. So that’s what goes on here! And fossicking for gemstones.

There were many flocks of birds above us heading out to the dams, lakes and newly filled creeks.  The land sure does need the rain.

Spectacular Minerva Hills National Park on our right as we drove into Springsure. Plummeting cliffs and steep gorges.  Seems like a great place to revisit.

Rolleston was bustling with caravans and trucks fuelling up and one or two watering holes were doing a trade in lunches.  After diesel we kept on driving.
The rain turned to drizzle just after the Carnarvon Gorge turnoff and the clouds have lifted enough to see the distant gorge walls.  The rain has made natures colours pop and it’s all looking very fertile.

Exciting drive into Arcadia - went a bit sideways in 4WD mode a couple of times in the waterlogged clay.  Hope good ole Red Dog gets us there! (Yep!)
Great campsite with our private outback movie screen, fire pit, “Thunderbox” complete with fairy lights and Huntsman on the toilet roll ... couldn’t be happier!

No sooner had we set up in a pristine clearing than a herd of cows came charging through and curious big faces came snuffling and shuffling round our tent.  Now the grassy dell looks like it’s been ploughed - so much for worrying about a few tyre tracks 😂

No-ones here so its perfect 👌 Rowan & Maddy are not open for camping, just the homestead accommodation so we have the bird watching lake and kayaks to ourselves.  Camp oven roast again 😋

Day 26 - Lara Wetlands to Emerald 6821km

Day 26 Barcaldine to Emerald 6821 kms

The 6.30am alarm was set so we could watch the sunrise from the hot pool - a great way to start the day. We shared the space with a couple of The “Lake Eyre Rangers” - their last day of weed control in the creeks at the Station.  They had also set cameras to catch the activities of wild dogs roaming this area. They are commissioned by a lot of the Cattle Stations.

The tour of the old homestead gave us an insight into the intrigue and socially unacceptable marriage of the wealthy landowners daughter Agnes to one of the stockmen.  He had the unfortunate name of Kenny Pumpa 😬.  A true love match which lasted the years although the husband was never allowed back into the family home.

Restoring the property has been the dream of the current owner Jo who lost her husband in a helicopter accident 4 years ago.  She started the tourism side with camping around the lake and has done a great job of cataloguing the paraphernalia of 100 years of items left to rot by their original owners.

A traditional morning tea was served on the balcony and then information about the bore from the “Great Artisian Basin” ... and we are again on the road heading towards Emerald ...

En route .. the most life we saw was in a town called “ Jericho”.  A horse neighing at us from the front yard of an old weatherboard with paint peeling off it was a highlight.

A long, straight boring road up to the Emerald region of low hills, dark soil and cotton plantations.  Greeted by rain, campsite booked and the cotton is sitting in big, round yellow bales waiting for collection.

Rain, a friendly campsite and a communal open fire is on the cards for this evening.

Day 25 - Lara Wetlands

Day 25

Day 24 Lara Station Wetlands, Barcaldine and back to the Wetlands

Thankfully we were woken up early by children or we would have missed a lovely outback sunrise and the calls of so many birds.  Some people were even in the hot pool at this hour - have to say it crossed my mind .. there’s always tomorrow!

Barcaldine today gave us the birth of the Australian Labour Party history and a very clever memorial to the “Wisdom Tree” ... above which hangs the biggest wind chime made of suspended rectangular stakes the size of medium tree trunks. The whole structure surrounds the tree from above and gentle tones resonate on the breeze.

Bought a couple of Aussie hats in a Saddlery, went to an art gallery and then checked out the 4 historic Hotels (pubs) with the balconies overhanging the pavement.

Have to say Barcaldine is a very friendly and appealing country town - next on the agenda are more dips in that glorious artesian hot spring and the anticipation of a roast dinner cooked on our open fire next to the lake.

And probably a moonlight swim 😎

All this with some gutsy little ponies neighing in the background - it’s a cattle station alright!

Day 24 - Bladensburg NP to Lara Station 6385km

Day 24 Bladensburg NP to Lara Station Wetlands 6385kms

Many Green Budgies provided morning entertainment frolicking in one of the local gum trees.  We saw a white faced heron too & plenty of pink & grey Galahs.

Driving in, the park looked really barren, but the campsite was next to a creek flanked by river gums.  Lovely; also breezy which was nice.  A man told us that recent rain had filled the creek which brought a huge variety of birds to the area.  We could have stayed longer here as there was an old homestead and an interesting gorge to visit. Next time.

This visit we left for Longreach and spent a couple of hours in the Stockmans hall of fame.  Pastoral history;  very well set out and interesting, especially as we had visited a lot of the places.

We still had time to drive to Lara Station Wetlands, a cattle property with hot mineral pools filling a spa pool and providing a very special habitat for birds.

Barcaldine en-route was pretty quiet and closed for Sunday but worth a visit tomorrow.  Looking forward to a camp fire and lots of birds.