Lawn Hill here we come - days 15 & 16

Day 15 (Friday, 17th April 2015)

After a very quiet night, we awoke to another beautiful day.  We decided to go for a walk to a nearby homestead (more of a hut, most probably used infrequently by stockmen as they traversed the property back in the day). We're told that there was an old lady living there up until perhaps the 80/90's.  The kangaroos have moved in now and the place is in a very delapidated state. It was about a 1km walk and was interesting to have a look around.

We prepared our redclaw (& blueclaw) for the barbie and cooked them up with some butter and garlic - yummo!

We discovered there were also freshwater mussels in the creek so we decided to go for a swim to see if we could find any. We found heaps but Pauline had told us they needed to be soaked for a couple of days to get rid of the muddy taste - as we didn't really have room to keep them we decided to throw them back.  

We had a bit of a fish but not even a bite. We weren't too fazed after our red claw feast though.  Played another round of horseshoe and relaxed.  A really terrific spot.
 

Walking to the old homestead

The old homestead

An old gas fridge

An old generator

The remains of an old chook pen

Our feast of redclaw, preparing to be cooked up

The outlook from our campsite

Having a game of horseshoe

Great bush showers with hot & cold water

Day 16 (Saturday, 18th April 2015)

Another quiet night - except for a feral cat that woke us up trying to steal the rubbish bag out of the bin. Sadly though, we had to pack up today and head home.


It took about 5 hours to get home. We stopped briefly at the White Mountains lookout, and then again in Charters Towers for lunch & catch up with Bretts family.

This has been a fantastic trip.  I think our favourite places would have been Cobbold Gorge, Kingfisher Camp, Lawn Hill & Koorooinya. Highly recommended!

White Mountains lookout

Graffiti etched into the sandstone everywhere

Lawn Hill here we come - days 13 & 14

Day 13 (Wednesday, 15th April 2015)

After a hot and sleepless night, we were keen to get going early. We made our way back to the highway and continued east. We decided to stop at the old Mary Kathleen ghost town which was interesting.  Mary Kathleen was a township established in the early 50's when the Mary Kathleen Uranium mine started operation.  With a population of around 800, Mary Kathleen was home for many families until the early 80's when the mining operation ceased and most of the homes were sold and removed. Mostly all that remains is a few roads and concrete slabs, but you can still see where the town square was and you can see several other relics such as a fish pond and flooring tiles.

Continuing east, we reached Cloncurry where we stopped at the bakery for pies and drinks. We also went to the Cloncurry Info Centre where we had a look through the museum which included a section on Mary Kathleen which was very interesting. We got a few brochures and settled on our next overnight stop, Corella Creek Country Stay.

Corella Creek Country Stay is in Nelia, about 50kms east of Julia Creek. I'm not sure how to describe this place......different, quirky maybe.  When we pulled up we very nearly drove off again but the man spotted us and came over so we decided to give it a go.  There are no signs, you just have to know it is the 2nd building to the left before the railway line. There are only 5 or 6 buildings visable in the area, and you are literally just camping in someones backyard. Someone who has a lot of animals - and I mean a lot. There are chooks, roosters, ducks, geese, turkeys, guinea fowl, goats, sheep, cows, a donkey and Guiedo the rescued red kangaroo joey. All just free ranging around the place. The kids loved playing with the animals and I'm surprised we didn't find a duckling or two kidnapped and brought home with us. As we relaxed in the afternoon, Guiedo made himself at home beside us, as did scruffy the kid. There was a toilet and shower which is accessed from the outside but is part of the resident owners building, but at only $20 a night this was perfectly adequate.

Resigned to the fact that it would probably be another sleepless night with all the animals, we settled in and just enjoyed the experience. We might have got more sleep staying at the Julia Creek caravan park (not a lot of options in this area) but then we wouldn't have experienced this place. Did I mention there is a railway track about 50 metres from our tent....totally expecting a sleepless night.

The old Mary Kathleen town square. You can just make out the fish pond behind the plaque.

Part of the main street

Whats left of some tiling

A pathway to somewhere

Whats left of a building in main street

Anyone need to pee? - Toilets at Cloncurry info centre

Campsite at Corella Creek Country stay

Scruffy the kid

Turkeys, and the entrance to the amenities at the back of the building

Ducklings

Some more of the menagerie

Brodie making friends with a chook

Annieka with Guiedo

Scruffy and Guiedo saying hello to each other

Day 14 (Thursday, 16th April 2015)

Yep...by morning the novelty had worn off.  There were at least 3 trains that rumbled past through the night and the roosters started around 3am.

Continuing east, next stop was Richmond where we briefly stopped at the Kronosaurus Korner museum and decided not to go in. Cost maybe, lack of interest perhaps, or maybe we were just tired and a bit grumpy from our restless night. We drove to the lake at Richmond and had an early lunch.  Next stop was Hughenden where we stopped at the Flinders Discovery Centre. We decided to have a look around the museum which was interesting, and we also found a flyer for Koorooinya Falls nature reserve. I had read about this place on Wikicamps but hadn't been able to find much info online or at other info centres. Deciding on there as our next overnight stop we got advice from the info centre and took the Muttaburra Road south and did the 'scenic' route.  About 20 kms south we took a left turn and cut through the Strathroy cattle property, before turning right onto the road south of Prairie. The turn off to Koorooinya is well marked although not at all what I was expecting.  With a name including the words "nature reserve", I was envisaging something akin to a national park but no - all set up for the one-day-a-year Picnic Day races, Koorooinya is a horse race track.  Pauline and Neville, the caretakers came out to greet us. Pauline gave us a very enthusiastic tour of the place and made us feel very welcome.  Only opened to campers in the last 5 years, this is a great place. We were the only campers there but aside from that, we got a really relaxed feeling about the place and decided to stay two nights. There is a great creek and gorge about 50 metres from the camp grounds.  The creek when full, overflows into the gorge creating a waterfall drop of several metres.  Pity there hasn't been more rain recently or we might have got to see the falls flowing.  There was just enough water in the gorge to have a dip but I think before long it will be all dried up.

There are all sorts of humpies scattered around the place. Many have spring bed frames for people to lay their swags, some are just frames for people to hang tarps etc. Pauline was explaining that the same family groups often come and stay, with one frame known as where the 'batchelors' stay. There are great showers & toilets, an open air bush style with lots of corregated iron, but with modern comforts such as gas hot water, lights and flushing toilets. 

Our bad luck so far with red claw ended as we caught about 20 within only a few hours of having the pots in. We caught more overnight and a few more later in the morning, resulting in about 40 all up. We could have caught a lot more but there was no need because we had a feast enough and stuffed ourselves silly.

Pauline and Neville came over to our camp for 'happy hour' at 5pm when we played a game of 'horseshoe'. Neville won (we told him we suspected he had magnets in his horseshoes lol).  Then the kids had a game of tennis while Brett and I went up the track call box and took some sunset photos.

A lookout on route to Koorooinya

Inside the Flinders Discovery Centre, Hughenden

Kronosaurus Korner, Richmond

Our campsite at Koorooinya

Going to put in the red claw pots

Towerhill Creek

Looking down into the gorge with the camp grounds just visable in the back ground

Further down the gorge where we swam

Looking down the straight from the call box

Okay I have to give credit where credit is due - Brett took this great photo

Camp grounds with various humpies used when the races are on

A game of tennis

Garlic fried red claw anyone? Yum!

Lawn Hill here we come - days 10, 11 & 12

Day 10 (Sunday, 12th April 2015)

Leaving Lawn Hill, we headed east toward Gregory Downs. We needed fuel and feared running out if we took the road to the south as the next fuel stop wasn't until Mount Isa. Got our fuel then headed south again.

We'd heard there was good camping along the Gregory River so we turned off to explore. Sadly, we found a beautiful river but the campsite was ruined by the amount of rubbish and broken glass left behind by idiots. We didn't stop for long.  Continuing south, this was possibly the roughest section of road we had encountered so far and it was very slow going. Finally we reached the Barkley Highway with its wonderful smooth bitumen (we were fairly sick of corregations by this time). 

On our approach to Mount Isa, Brett pulled into the George Fisher mine camp to show us as much as he could from the road (this is where he stays when he's working). We arrived in Mount Isa, got some more supplies before settling into the Discovery Argylla caravan park.

Day 11 (Monday, 13th April 2015)

We decided to pack up and treat ourselves a night in a motel so after driving past a few, we settled on the Burke & Wills Motel and checked in. It was central, had a family room available and best of all - free wifi (for the kids). I got to catch up with my old friend Michele and then we just relaxed for awhile. We'd booked the 'Hard Times' mine tour for 1pm so headed there after lunch. This is a tour of a purpose built underground mine, set up to show people what it's like in an underground mind and some of the types of machinery used, past & present. Donning a hard hat, torch, lovely orange overalls and gumboots, we were taken 17metres down a mine shaft, and walked through tunnels set up to be similar to an actual working mine. In some cases you actually got the opportunity to operate some of the machinery, such as a bore drill (supported and set up to be safe). It ended with bikkies & tea in the 'crib room' before going back above ground. It was very interesting and well worth the time. Shouted ourselves dinner at 'The Isa' hotel were we had some good food before heading back to the motel and another early night.

overlooking Mount Isa with its landmark smoke stacks

The lookout with Mt Isa below

Day 12 (Tuesday, 14th April 2015)

Up early, we decided to have a maccas brekky and go do some grocery shopping before checking out. Made it back to the motel with about 10 minutes to spare so had a bit of a panic to ensure we checked out on time. Went to my friend Micheles to fill our water tanks and pack away all the groceries (they had just been shoved on the back seat in our rush to get back to the motel), had another cup of tea and said our farewells.

Heading east, and only about 25kms out of Mt Isa, we turned off the highway and toward the East Leichhardt dam (also known as Lake Mary Kathleen).  There were a few other campers but as it is such a large area and there are so many different tracks down to follow, we found a peaceful spot all to ourselves. Sadly there was lots of rubbish around and I spent a while picking up around our site. We burned what we could and put the rest in our garbage sack (sits on the back of the camper for easy carrying).

Turning off the Barkley highway just before the bridge over the Leichhardt River, you come to a closed gate.  Entering a cattle property, you continue on for another 7 or 8 kms over fairly rough road (a 4x4 or at least high clearance vehicle required) before coming to a junction where you can either go straight ahead or turn right. We followed both and found many different tracks through to the dam running off each. We finally settled on a spot that was further north from the other campers and required a very steep hill climb to get there.  The best bit - camping at East Leichhardt dam is free!

We tried fishing and put some red claw pots in but didn't have any luck. It was still quite hot during the day, and unfortunately I think because we were camped in a bit of a valley, it was a hot night too.