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 Topic: The Outback, Final Report. (Pt 11)
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13/3/2020 at 11:30pm
Location: Melbourne Australia
Outfit: Windsor Rapid Off Road Van + tents
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Hi all,
The final report at last.
From the banks of Cooper’s Creek near Windorah, I now drove towards Quilpie along the Diamantina Developmental Road. About 90 ks before I got there I turned right at Thylungra where I drove through to Kyabra and then on to Eromanga. On the Kyabra Creek there was a waterhole that still held quite a bit of water.
There were a number of old campfires around it so obviously it is a popular spot to stay, one that I put on my list to come back to one day. In better seasons this would be a lovely spot to kayak or fish if that’s your thing.
As I approached Eromanga there were a number of colourful sand dunes just off the road.
It was then heads down and bum up as the day was getting on and I still had a few ks to travel to where I wanted to camp that night, on the banks of the Wilson River at Noccundra.
This was a spot that I had penciled in many years ago, the last time I was here in 2016 the whole area was in flood and I couldn’t get close to it but this time all was sweet.
With a bit of cloud about I was hopeful for a nice sunset and it didn’t disappoint, the colour only lasted a matter of minutes but hey, I wasn’t complaining.
No sunrise to speak of but just before I left camp the sun broke through.
I was now heading for Tibooburra, the drought was again the dominant feature, the occasional dead and dying tree were all that stood above the bare and barren ground.
Further on at one of the dry creek crossings there was some greenery although just past that the country quickly returned to it’s parched state.
Over the border into NSW things did change, the colour of the road was different!
On the outskirts of Tibooburra they had a wonderful way to remind you of the early pioneers that opened up the land.
First the explorers.
Then the pastoralists/graziers and their families.
Then Cobb & Co and the like, connecting them with the growing towns to the south.
I like Tibooburra, it was once on the very edge of civilisation, it still has that feel to it today.
All of those pics were taken in the main street, they even had a mural of sorts!!
I had been there on numerous occasions but had never been to their cemetery, many interesting headstones depicting premature and often tragic deaths.
I continued further south where I was to take the road to White Cliffs, near that intersection I stumbled on a unique tree. It’s called the Tool Tree due to its foliage closely resembling metal hand tools!!!!
Considered extremely rare I feel its future is guaranteed as it seemed to have propagated with a young plant growing close by!! I had previously seen a similar tree near the turn off to Milparinka a few years earlier, sadly it must have succumbed to the drought!!!!
Only a few ks along the White Cliffs road I veered even further left taking a track towards Yancannia. I hadn’t previously been on this one so thought now was the time.
I came across patches of vegetation, some places even had flowering shrubs.
Although predominately the country was like what I had experienced over the last few days on my drive home.
Later on as I was driving along I spied what looked like a grave a short distance off the road, I quickly dropped a youie, the country in the immediate vicinity was absolutely parched
There was a metal box affixed to the railing around the grave, inside it was a laminated death certificate and details of this chaps death. He was Thomas Lee a 27 year old guy who must have been having a hard time of it as he committed suicide by shooting himself! This is today a fairly remote and isolated part of the country imagine how remote it was in 1887, 133 years ago!
A couple of hundred metres from the grave was a dam so I strolled over to take a squiz it was maybe 50 x 50 metres with a slope to some water at the bottom. It was a scene that emotionally effected me, there were at least 5 dead sheep in various stages of decay that had become stuck in the mud beside the water, there were 2 that were still alive but unable to pull themselves out. They just looked at me with this death stare, even if I could somehow get a strap around them and somehow winch them out they were going to die anyway as there was not a blade of grass anywhere. A short distance from the sheep was a reasonable sized Roo, more bone than I had ever seen on a living animal. He wasn’t stuck and although he would have normally bounded away from a human that close, he didn’t have the energy to hop up the slope of the dam and away to safety.
The scene before me totally encapsulated what a drought does to stock and wildlife, if ever a photographer wanted the one picture that said it all, here it was. I couldn’t do it, there was noway I could lift my camera to capture the suffering that was before me.
It was even hard for me to turn away and stroll back to my car, letting nature take it’s course. I felt I was turning a blind eye to those animals suffering who appeared to look at me with hope but there was nothing I could do, so bloody sad.
I drove into Wilcania for some juice (fuel) and stayed long enough to take a pic of this pool of stagnant water that is supposed to be Australia’s second longest river, the Darling.
Time was getting on, about 20 ks south of there I turned left onto the Barrier Higway. The next 70 ks have been forever etched into my memory similar to what I witnessed at that dam. Maybe every 10 metres maybe less there were dead animals that littered the sides of the road, sheep, goats, roos the smell of death and decay was far stronger than I had ever experienced before. There were emaciated animals still living beside the road and partly on it not moving an inch as I made my way along it, too weakened by the drought to get out of the way.
Semi trailers that frequent that stretch of road would have had no alternative but to mow down what was in their way, it was like a war zone, just horrible.
Thankfully the not often travelled road/track I was to take south appeared and I turned right onto it. Still harsh drought effected country but without the visible deaths and suffering.
The threatening skies had me a little concerned, the land beside the track was very soft and I was worried that if I drove on to it to camp and it bucketed down I may get stuck, choosing a site that night took a bit of doing.
The scene near my camp and the sunset that night.
All the sky did that night was threaten so all was honky dory and the next morning I was on my way again, after half an hour of driving I saw a very unusual site for that part of the country, a “Rainbow”
I hit the bitumen just north of Ivanhoe as it would be from there to home, I had planned no more dirt, gravel or dust (just as well) I was now on the final leg of my trip.
Ahead of me they must have had some rain as I now drove on wet roads.
Looking back to where I had just come from and then looking south to where I was going.
And then this.
And then another spectacular rainbow.
The irony of driving through and into these conditions with what I had witnessed in the previous days was not lost on me. Even if that rain was falling in the harshest effected areas, I don’t think the animals would be able to live long enough to benefit from the rains. Dying in a drought getting drenched while it was happening was too cruel to be kind. The poem “My Country” says it all,
I love a sunburnt country ————-of droughts and flooding rains!!!
The further I drove south, the more ominous the skies looked.
North of Hay I stopped at The One Tree Hotel where earlier in the year we had photographed it under clear blue skies, how different it looked now!
I then drove straight through to Moama on the mighty Murray, pulling into the beach area which looks across to Echuca for a much needed break. And how beautiful did Victoria look, a sort of welcome back Col, we knew you’d miss us!!
And then a pic looking down the river towards Echuca’s Wharf area, that hand rail leads you down a path to the beach, which you would see if the river wasn’t in flood!!!!
Being only about 300ks from home, as I was missing Jen and all our family, I thought stuff it. So maybe after a 15 minute break I hopped back in the car and the next time I got out of it, I was home.
I had left Broome on the previous Sunday, it was nw morning on the following Saturday when I stood beside the Murray. When I got home it was a little over 6.5 days driving to do the trip, 5,600 ks so many memories, sites seen and experiences had.
Wouldn’t be dead for quids.
Hope you enjoyed.
Col.
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The worst day above ground, is a whole lot better than the best one under it. Live life to the fullest while you can.
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via mobile 29/3/2020 at 11:13am
