6500 km journey to longreach, the gulf & birdsville races

[RB]

I received positive feedback for the report I wrote in 2012 A few flights & a 5,000km Outback Adventure from Adelaide to Darwin and the enjoyment I got out of reading JohnM’s recent report Australia's longest shortcut has led me to putting together a bit of an abbreviated report. I understand some people will be going to Longreach next year so I am happy to try and answer any questions that may arise.

We are generally independent travellers but with no intention of bashing our own vehicle around, an organised bus trip presented us with an opportunity to see a few things that were important to us-it was also 3 yrs since our previous bus trip so the vagaries of this form of travel had faded somewhat!

We travelled with Road Runner, a Wyong NSW based provider and we were part of a group of 29 plus driver and 3 support staff in a 48 seater bus. The 17 night trip offered an option of all tents or the alternative of cabins for 11 of the nights (our selection)-places such as Birdsville have very little in the way of cabins at peak times and The Dig Tree is basically a rough campsite with 2 longdrops and a small sink with a trickle of water. I have camped in Western NSW before while on freshwater fishing trips and Mrs RB has camped while taking horses around show circuits so were realistic in our expectations

Obviously with the distances covered in the time, most days were a long haul but there was plenty to see and plenty of experiences to share with fellow passengers.
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Photos Below- Sunset at Barcaldine, For sale in Longreach, Qantas at Longreach, some of the many termite mounds and sunset at Karumba

 

[RB]

Map showing rough path of trip

 

[RB]

Day 1 Wyong-Moree
Via Singleton, Quirindi, Gunnedah, Narrabri and then a stay in cabins at the Gwyder Caravan Park. We caught glimpses of mining, broadacre farming and small townships. The day saw a few wild lightning storms and we were glad to enjoy the hot pools of the park and a hearty bbq before sleeping through a few more storms.

Photos below- 1/Canola crop 2/ Part of main street of Moree 3/ This is an area of huge silos 4/ One of the thermal pools 5/ Another bigger pool-all are different temps

 

[RB]

Day 2- Moree to Mitchell
Still bitumen roads with morning tea at Mungindi. There are cotton, peanuts, grazing and broadacre grain farms in this area that rely on irrigation. There are droving stock and we enjoy a beer at Nindigully pub. We lunch at St George on the Balonne River-another of the impressively maintained and presented country towns we were to encounter. We visited the Unique Egg- a very impressive display of over 150 hand carved emu eggs that are illuminated and displayed after the delicate process of carving patterns or portraits-a collection spanning over 60 years. We crossed into Qld, encountered a massive storm near Dunkeld and then had a suspension breakdown as we turned into the main street of Mitchell. The Major Mitchell Caravan Park on the Maranoa River is well equipped and busy.

Photos below-1/ Nindigully Pub 2/ small part of irrigation system in place 3/ Balonne River at St George 4/ Photo from pub at Mitchell showing 2012 flood level in main street 5/ Some stock in the long paddock

 

[RB]

More Day 2 photos

Photos below-1/ inland fishing at its best near Nindigully pub 2/ Mounted cod with illuminated emu egg 3/ & 4/ More of the emu eggs-we have a carved egg at home but these are all illuminated and have intriciate detail

 

[RB]

Day 3 Mitchell to Longreach
Our departure is delayed until 10.30am. Fortunately for us the local council contracts out its mechanic workforce who source bolts from Roma. While killing time we note the 2012 floods had destroyed the murals that were under the bridge but the streetscape and the art and photography exhibition in the library revealed a proud town. A shopkeeper related how Santos (a controversial subject) was supplying some training for new business enterprises. We are seeing sand green golf courses with barely a blade of grass on them. Lunch is at Augathella beside a dry riverbed but the town has some memorable signage. Near Tambo we encountered drovers with a mob of 1,400 cattle. Blackall was only a quick stop to see a statue of Jackie Howe the famous shearer and also see one of Aust’s black stumps. A brilliant sunset was happening at Barcaldine as we visited the Tree of Knowledge (now modernised) and birthplace of the Labor Party. After dark we finally settled into comfortable cabins at the Longreach Tourist Park-is actually an easy walk to Qantas Founders Museum and the Stockmans Hall of Fame. We saw plenty of roadkill on the road this day

All photos in this post are of Mitchell

 

[RB]

More Day 3 Photos-
1/ Dry sand green golf course 2/,3/, & 4/ all from Augathella-obviously a town trying hard 5/ Paart of the 1,400 head herd

 

[RB]

Day 3 Photos

1/ Tree of knowledge 2/ Not sure about the ladders at all the hotels in Barcaldine-suggested these may be the fire exxcape 3/ Different view of Tree of Knowledge 4/ Black Stump 5/ Jackie Howe shearer

 

[RB]

Day 4 Longreach
Good to do less travelling! After breakfast we walked the immediate neighbourhood and noted a small plane for sale. A good tour of the City of Bunbury was followed by an all too short tour of the museum! Next was the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame where everyone should have been able to find something of interest.
We walked into town and looked around town prior to our late afternoon visit to the Thompson River- a short but interesting cruise of the waterhole by Kinnon & Co followed by an excellent camp oven dinner, theatre animation of the areas history and a show around a blazing campfire with around 90 others.

Below are some of many Qantas photos from that day

 

[RB]

Some more photos of Longreach

1/More Qantas 2/ Colours of Longreach 3/ Stockman's Hall of Fame 4/ Corellas 5/ Part of the nights entertainment

 

[RB]

Around Longreach

1/ Our caravan park 2/ Distance from the park to Qantas founders 3/ local pub 4/ Kinnon & Co have a huge presence in town-an interesting read of their history

 

[RB]

Last of Longreach photos
1/ Thompson River 2/,3/ & 4/-the Tourist Park-there are many different designs of the onsite cabins. The tent area was comfortable with a good undercover area and close access to toilets, showers and washing facilities

 

[RB]

Day 5 Longreach to Cloncurry
[FONT=&amp]Back on the road. A travel day broken up by a great visit to the Australian Age of Dinosaurs, The Blue Heeler Pub at Kynuna and the Walkabout Creek Hotel at McKinlay. At the tour of the Age of Dinosaurs it was revealed they are having problems keeping up with the discoveries that are being made at the 1,800ha site. There are masses of termite mounds this day and the soil is extremely dry and powdery.
We had been scheduled to see the Waltzing Matilda Centre in Winton but a fire had destroyed parts of that-seemed to be little progress in the recovery as we passed although some people had heard that some of the destroyed articles had been replicated just prior to the fire. We stayed at the Oasis Caravan Park-good cabin and seemed to have good facilities in the park

Photos Below 1/to 4/ samples seen at Age of Dinosaurs 5/ District view from Age of Dinosaurs









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[RB]

More photos from Day 5
Photo 1/ Different angle from Age of Dinosaurs 2/ Great lunch spot 3/ Not sure who we are following around 4/ & 5/ a couple of stops during the day

 

[RB]

Day 6 Cloncurry to Normanton
Before leaving Cloncurry we visited John Flynn Place-good short movies, information boards and plenty of souvenirs that attracted our fellow travellers. The planned visit to the Afghan Cemetery did not materialise. We had a stop at the Burke and Wills Roadhouse-prices were dearer. More barramundi boats were appearing and the up-til-now excellent road surface began to deteriorate. On arrival at Normanton we had a short, rough ride on the 78 yr old RM 60 rail motor and a view of the station museum and the local owl inhabitants.
The Normanton Tourist Park had a variety of cabins and a pool but we ended up staying in a comfortable room at the Albion Hotel because of a shortage of cabins. Here we chatted to locals as Manly copped a hiding off the Roosters in the NRL-certainly league fanatics in Western Qld.

Photos below 1/ one of the great displays at John Flynn Place 2/ Seen at Burke & Wills Roadhouse 3/ & 4/ The RM60 5/ View at Normanton railway station

 

[RB]

More from Normanton

1/ & 2/ Local birdlife 3/ Albion-very comfortable stay & friendly hosts & drinkers 4/ bit late for a sunset shot 5/ The famous Purple Pub all lit up at night

 

[amaroo]

Excellent report. Thinking about driving out to Longreach / Winton next year ... will give the kids a better appreciation on just how big this country is.

 

[RB]

Excellent report. Thinking about driving out to Longreach / Winton next year ... will give the kids a better appreciation on just how big this country is.

Yep. We had a great time but it is a long haul. We really enjoyed the Qld country towns-all trying very hard to get visitors to call in

 

[RB]

Day 7 Karumba
We crossed the Norman River and travelled through the wetlands to Karumba. This was a more relaxed (less miles) travel day. A very interesting visit to the Barramundi Discovery Centre was followed by a relaxed extended lunch at the Sunset Tavern. The Karumba airstrip like most others we encounter appears to see very little traffic.
The full moon and great sunset was the perfect backdrop for our 2 hr Ferryman cruise on the river-generous food and drink catering with the prawns a highlight. No crocodiles but a good view of jabirus and brolgas. Our bus driver did well getting back to Normanton without hitting any of the 100’s of small roos of various species. A night photo of the purple pub all lit up at Normanton, a beer at the Albion, then a pretty early night.

Photos below-not in particular order
1/ Barra Discovery Centre 2/ Karuma airport 3/ At the Sunset Tavern 4/ Not sure we belonged here 5/ Been left a while

 

[RB]

More from Day 7
A great cruise with Ferrmen-no crocs sighted but a good time. Apparently about 5 min from bottom of sun on horizon until it is all gone