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| Brisbane to Normanton |
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April 21 - 30 2021 |
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After more than a year with only a couple of weekend trips
we are on the move again. Not so much forced as cautious we decided to
stay home while covid became understood, and have groceries delivered.
Uncertain as to which Australian state borders would be closed next, leaving
people wondering how they could return home.
The house is painted, which took 6 months. The truck is maintained.
Having cancelled last year's trip we booked Garig Gunak Barlu (Cobourg
Peninsula) National Park camping for June this year, which was confirmed mid
March.
Our first night is Bunya Mountains. Just the right distance. With a quick
walk around the shortest circuit. |
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Second night at Dogwood Creek in Barakula State Forest. For
no particular reason apart from it exists, was the right distance for a day,
and we could meet Peter and Margaret there. A short walk to a water hole,
strangely bereft of bird life. |
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The creek a muddy brown billabong with no water flow.
Apparently fish in the creeks. |
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On back roads, a rather tortuous route, to Murphy's Lake.
Fed when Robinson Creek (from the gorge of same name) is in flood. |
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Tragically, the hand held tracker fell out of t-shirt
pocket while tying shoelace. Bah humbug.
No chance of finding it.
But I enjoyed the brolgas. |
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I thought the circuit track went around the lake. But the
lake is bigger than 4km round. Silly me. |
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There's a circuit that loops towards Robinson Creek. A
pleasant stroll. |
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Onward, through the Drummond Range. |
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We are revisiting Lake Galilee. This time approaching from
the south east rather than the north as we did on the way to Cape York
through Clermont. We encounter the "Sculpture Trail". |
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It seems a female sculptor. So a female horse person. |
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The sculptures are situated just the right distance apart
to maintain concentration lest they be missed. All realistic, some we are
past before we realise. |
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The track into Lake Galilee remains unsignposted and little
used. |
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We walk from the lookout towards the lake. Taking care to
avoid disturbing birds (too much). Spent a comfortable night. |
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Across country towards Muttaburra. There's something
about nothing that is fascinating. |
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Continually changing. An avenue. Perhaps gidgee, perhaps
not. |
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We disturb brolgas and bustards along the way. |
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The muttaburrasaurus museum. Cool inside. The
muttaburrasaurus was the first find of fossil dinosaur in the area. Since
then the area around Winton has been the site of other finds.
The original fossils are, of course, held in the Queensland Museum, in
Brisbane. Winton has been a bit smarter and hung on to some for display. |
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Various sculptures through the town, we keep tripping over
them when not expected. |
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A quick visit to the hospital museum. We thought we'd walk
from town. A couple of km. Surprising interest from about 20 people.
The museum is just as it would have looked when operating (pun intended)
as a hospital. |
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We camped at the Muttaburra Broadwater. |
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Next camp was a roadside billabong. We disturbed a very
large cloud of birds as we approached.
Ibis.
Thousands of them. |
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We were about 50m off the road, 107km SE of Julia Creek. No
traffic all day, and none all night. |
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Getting close to the Ibis was a problem. They had moved
from waterside into the grass and were hidden. |
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Getting closer was even harder. |
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And as dusk arrived there was a constant stream of birds,
that looked like Ibis from the silhouette, flying from we know not where to
we know what where but with a definite sense of purpose. We listened
carefully for the sound of geese. But none. And the Ibis didn't look quite
as disciplined as geese would be, flying in "vee" formation.
We heard occasional brolga noises. |
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We haven't seen cockatiels since Mungo National Park in
2010. I often wonder why I write the blog, it can be a tad time consuming
despite having automated image preparation and formatting the pages.
Its nice to help the memory. It took a few hours for the name "cockatiel"
to be recovered, and of course the long discussion about where we last saw
them. |
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As we left our simple campsite we passed small flocks of
bustards. Which promptly flew away. |
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Through Julia Creek, Flinders River Crossing provided our
next campsite. We were a little way away from the river and had to walk,
about 300m.
A bit of extra water in it, flowing well, but not enough to prevent us
crossing the causeway. |
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I once thought rainbow bee-eaters were rare and exciting.
Still exciting, the colours change with the light, but certainly not rare.
We are stopped at the Norman River crossing, about 100km south of Normanton. |
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| Goose Lagoon |
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May 1 - 3 2021 |
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