List of Camps - so far have put the Camper Trailer up almost 40 times (and down again!!) June - Sept

June 5 - Sheba Dam (near Nundle)

June 7 - Narrabri - Mt Kaputa and Sawn Rocks

June 9 - Allawah - farmer's property out of Bingara on the Gwydir River

June 12 - In a Caravan Park Unit for 2 nights while is poured with rain

June 14 -Blackbutt, camped in friend's back yard

June 18 - Bunyah Mountains - coldest yet was -5 deg at night. Bucket list topspot

June 20 - Injune Caravan park for 4 hours!

June 21 - Carnavon Gorge - bucket list topspot

June 23 - Sapphire

June 25 - Longreach Apex Park with over 150 other vans etc!

June 28 - Koorooringa - below Prairie - topspot

July 1 - Porcupine Gorge - Bucket list topspot

July 3 - Nelia (out of Julia Creek) - Farm Stay - a blast!

July 5 - Gregory Downs (wonderful spring-fed river in the desert)

July 9 - LAWN HILL - amazing gorge - Bucket list topspot

July 13 - Mt Isa - camped in friend's backyard!  Great fun

July 18 - Kynuna to see Diamantina waterhole which inspired Waltzing Matilda.  BEGINNING OF OUR DIAMANTINA EXPERIENCE

July 20 - Old Cork Homestead out of Winton - wonderful camping on 12 miles of Diamantina Waterhole

July 22 Gum Hole National Park Camping Area in the Diamantina National Park.

July 25 - to Bedourie and the five star artesian bore spa - wonderfully hot and soothing.

July 28 - Birdsville - watching the constant stream of 4WDs either going to the Simpson Desert or getting off the desert.

July 30 - Maree - great historical town

August 1 - Muloorina - north of Maree on great waterhole, Station

August 3 - Andamooka

August 4 - Roxby Downs

August 5 - Glendambo

August 7 - Mt Ive - wonderful camping and 4WD tracks on a Station

August 10 - Gawler National Parks

August 12 - Ceduna - Big4 Caravan Park Unit

Now onto Cactus Beach (for a surf!), Fowlers Bay (Southern Right whales), then down the coast to Coffin Bay - up the Eyre Penninsula for a week or so, then to Port Wakefield and Adelaide.

August 15 - Elliston - super cell storm - not much fun in a camper trailer, we were very safe behind a sand bank in the caravan park. 

August 17 - Coffin Bay - sad that our favourite bay was shrouded in rain.  We managed a couple of walks.  Getting very trendy.  Stayed in a Unit. 

August 19 - Port Gibbon - great free camping spot on lovely coast.  

August 21 - Port Augusta - a really lovely town these days.  Amazing Arid Desert Gardens with ideas for our own back yard.  Stayed in a Unit due to rain again.

Hancock Lookout - free camping here, no services.  We just stayed for the view.  Amazing scenes down the Spencer Gulf.

Port Wakefield to visit Ian's sister and then to Adelaide to catch up with my sister and her family and our friends.

Port Wakefield to Wyperfeld National Park, Big Desert, Victoria - Lake Albacutya, Albacutya, Victoria.  Camping in lovely Western Beach (no water in the lake for about 22 years).

Sept 7 - Wyperfeld National Park, Big Desert, Victoria to Echuca - stayed in Unit to vote the next day.  

Eucha to Finley Showgrounds - lovely free camp.  Delightful small town.

Finley to Cocoparra National Park, NSW.  Lovely quiet National Park, good camping areas and good walks.  Lots of foxes, goats, pigs, kangaroos.  Bird life really great.  

Cocoparra to Weddin Mountains National Park - just lovely, however the gulley winds each night were really too much for us to sleep much.

Wedding Mts to Condobolin, NSW.  Very well set up free park, next to a man made weir with good toilets and showers.  Rain poured down.

Wet, soggy, campers returned to Mulbring and then to Silverwater!!

END OF TRIP - Absolutely marvellous trip.



 

 

Bulldust, bullshit (and cow shit) vistas which went forever, AND a FIVE STAR SPA!!

Well yesterday was a:
>
> 5 car day (only one in the morning)
> Amazing jumpups (mesas or ranges)
> Diamantina Channels (some with waterholes)
> Wedge tailed eagles
> brolgas
> 12 Emus
> Quite a few large red kangaroos
>
>
> Bulldust like we have never seen
>
> Cattle everywhere, as we were also driving through cattle stations:  every cow in QLD wanted a trip out of here-  am sure they had their hooves up wanting to hitchhike - they came to the road and followed us as much as they could!!  Brahmins really are nice cattle :)
>
> We have not had a boring road so far until yesterday and had about 100 K of it - nothing to see anywhere - right to the horizon.
>
> I said to Ian, look out there - bet our camp will be like that?
>
> Well, hands up who knows where BEDOURIE is?  :)
> Population of 120 - great town, lovely camping park by the council for $5 each per night, with toilets, showers, free washing machines AND
>
> A FREE FIVE STAR SPA - very nice hot water from the Artesian bore - we are off to swim again soon.  Lovely swimming pool.  Wonder if we can stay a month :)
>
> WE left Mt Isa - travelling south to McKinlay (Paul Hogan and Croc Dundee Hotel) then camping at the Blue Heeler Hotel at Kynunan, then down the Diamantina - first glympse of it was at Waltzing Matilda Water Hole - very well signposted - interesting pictograms.
>
> Old Cork Homestead out of Winton was our next stay on the Diamantina (not flowing, but 12 kms long.)  Great camping, good night fires.
>
> AT the Diamantina National Park we stayed at Gum Hole Campground - lovely .
>
> WE stayed for three nights and then travelled to Bedourie - am amazed that nearly every little town in outback QLD has a lovely info centre with internet and a library.  Great.

Mt Isa, Kynuna, Old Cork Homestead (via Winton), Diamantina (Channel Country)

Great to meet up with Trish and Owen - phew how amazingly busy you are!  Fun to get into work for a day or two.

Camping in Trish and Owen's backyard in Mt Isa - wonderful facilities - great fun.

Bourke and Mac - aka Scooby Doo

Mt Isa water supply, very pretty picnic area.

Brolgas - very friendly

Paul Hogan filmed here for Crocodile Dundee. 

Parked next to the Hema Maps Men on Safari, at Crocodile Dundee Pub.

Banjo Patterson could have been part of this family picnic, on the Diamantina Combo Waterhole which was the inspiration for Waltzing Matilda.

Signage for the Combo Waterhole (Waltzing Matilda)

Beginning of the Diamantina River System

Combo Waterhole - where the Swaggy died with the stolen lamb.(Waltzing Matilda)

Our first glimpse of the mighty Diamantina.  Only waterholes this year with the lack of rain this season.

For Nerrine (well not spelt correctly is it!)

Camping on the Diamantina - Old Cork Homestead - great camp here.

Between Winton and Old Cork Homestead camping area.

Love this photo, Ian looking through the Old Cork Homestead to a working windmill.

Old Cork Homestead.  Amazing that they were building such structures way out here before 1900.

Painted Desert - well it may as well be - every colour you can think of in the sand and rock.

These jumpups were everywhere.

From Old Cork right down to Ceduna in SA we found so many wonderful flowers.  It had rained quite heavily the two weeks before we travelled and it made a spectacular display.

Ian's Photos of Lawn Hill

Ian took these great photos, hope you enjoy them.

Amazing walks around Lawn Hill

Robyn and friends enjoying the sunset - got back just on dark.

Fresh Water Crocodile sunny himself on a log - we wanted to see one before we left.

Look at that colour!  Great swimming, we swam every afternoon.

Big Varmit Pig wandering around.

BUCKET LIST - Lawn Hill

If you are adding to your Bucket List for places to travel in Australia

Add these three:
Carnarvon Gorge
Porcupine Gorge
Lawn Hill Gorge

All the words we applied to Carnarvon apply to Lawn Hill - so hard to imagine, when you are bumping along the gravel roads (not too bad) and this OASIS is out here.

Such a great place to bring the kids for a camping holiday.  (All the grey haired kids love it too).

These photos taken on my little camera - didn't want to take the good camera on the canoe, but could have done that.  Will upload Ian's photos on next post.

Corella Farm Stay ( drive from Hughendon, almost to Julia Creek)

Decided that we didn't want to compete with the hundreds on the river at Julia Creek (near Highway and the Road Trains all night, so popped into Corella Farm Stay for two nights.

Here we competed with every farm animal imaginable and trains all night!!  Pretty good though, we had lots of fun.

Animals at Corella Farm
Sebastian the Goat (who ate some of our camp 7 book - only a corner or two and our moroccan seasoning - a real character, not the usual pesky billy goat.)
Geese
Turkeys
Peacocks and hens
Chooks
Ducks
guinea Fowl
Cows and Calves
Donkey and Horses - next door.

Nice hot showers from an artesian bore - no cold needed.

Eric the owner lit a campfire for the two or three campers each night.

Two Japanese girls - WOOFERS -  Willing Workers on Organic Farms were staying for a month and working on the Organic egg production.  They were nurses!!  What a change for them from very sterile nursing wards.

Porcupine National Park and the Betton

Just loved this great National Park - the little Bettons were really gorgous - I think they may also be known as kangaroo rats - they have a little bark and will bark at you if you touch them!!  Glad they are assertive :)

Betton - Kangaroo Rat, very cute and quite tame

How would you like to camp on these volcanic Rocks?  We didn't, they are on a lookout on the drive to Porcupine Gorge

Swimming hole here but very cold