Winton was the farthest north we were planning to go on our winter trip so the next stop was the first on our gradual return home. Opalton looked fascinating and was only just over an hour south so we decided to head there.
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| Brolga |
We had taken the dirt road out of Winton so we could detour to see the Dinosaur Stampede at Lark Quarry and planned to pick up a side road to Opalton from there instead of going all the way back to Winton to pick up the main road. We must have missed the turning however, because we ended up driving for over three hours on the dirt avoiding roos and cows. Darkness fell, which made driving with no real road quite dangerous and we eventually emerged in a small town named Jundah in the pitch dark much to our relief.
I enquired at the pub about availability in their caravan park, $25 powered, $18 unpowered, but was told it was full. It was hard to imagine who would be staying in such a remote little spot but we parked up on a patch of scrub outside the park and figured nobody would notice until the morning.
The next morning we woke to see what Jundah looked like in daylight and departed our cheeky overnight spot ASAP. There was a free camping area by the river, no toilets but the park had some and a shower only a two minute drive away. As we headed there to set up Ian saw a sign for the first ever Jundah Camel Races on 29th June, that was today! That explained why the caravan park was full so we hastily set up camp then drove out to the racecourse and spent a fun day at the races.
The residents of Jundah were very pleased to become part of the camel racing circuit and they put on a great event. It was dog friendly, plenty of food and drink options, there were supposed to be sheep races but I don't know what happened to them because they didn't materialise but it didn't matter because a jolly good time was had by all. It was great to see all the jockeys were young women, the camels could be a bit aggressive on occasion but they were clearly in good hands.
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| Red Winged Parrot |
It was a warm, pleasant evening back at our riverside camp where we watched Red Winged Parrots and Zebra Finches and the night sky was sensational. Winton boasts about having starry skies but has more light pollution than remote little Jundah so here looked even better to us.
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| Zebra Finch |
We had decided to stay a couple more days and woke to another beautiful, sunny day without a cloud in the sky when a police car pulled up. The officers were informing campers about forecast heavy rain overnight which meant everyone must leave the riverbank or risk being unable to if it became boggy. The mud was the really claggy variety, great for preserving dinosaur footprints, as we had discovered in Winton, but not so good if stuck all over the tyres.
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| White Plumed Honeyeater |
Back in town the caravan park was almost empty because the camel racegoers had left, so we moved to our third campsite in Jundah and prepared to batten down the hatches. It was a comfy park with spotless amenities and a great camp kitchen and, as the afternoon wore on and the Brolgas were circling above us, more people arrived who had been asked to leave the surrounding National Parks because of the anticipated weather.
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| Spiny Cheeked Honeyeater |
I was hoping the promised rain would wash off the red dust picked up on our marathon off road trek from Winton which covered both car and caravan but there were only a few drops overnight and the morning was misty which made the red dirt stick even more. We saw one couple washing their car and caravan in the van park, that is such an inconsiderate thing to do, these small towns have very little water, often having to buy it in during dry times, a bit of a dirty van is not going to hurt anyone.
It was cold again, 28°C yesterday and 17°C today but Jundah was a pleasant place with a very wide main street, Post Office, Roadhouse selling breakfast and a pretty park so we enjoyed our stay. After a good clean up of the inside of the car (with a dry cloth) we headed for Windorah. Ian was keen to go there because he got stuck in Windorah 39 years ago after crashing his car in a rally and wanted to see if it had changed. It hadn't.
The caravan parking behind the Western Star Hotel was nice and flat with plenty of room but we decided we would prefer to free camp at Coopers Creek, which was not really a creek at all but a very wide, brown river. The camping spots were fabulous among the trees, it was quite near the road but there was so little traffic it didn't matter.
Life must be tough in these remote places, the one shop in town had no fresh milk and a very limited selection of fresh food. The landscape was harsh, rocky red dirt and flat. The road from Winton to Jundah had very few trees although there were more in Windorah as several rivers run through the area making it a great destination for bird spotting.
There were Brown Treecreepers and White Plumed Honeyeaters constantly around our camp and we discovered Windorah had a 12km Nature Drive and a fabulous free museum with a beautifully preserved slab cottage. It turned out the nature drive was an alternate route back to our camp and it was wonderful, well signposted with information boards by interesting trees and shrubs. We saw Zebra Finches, Mulga Parrots, Spinifex Pigeons, an Australian Kestrel and others we were not quick enough to photograph for indentification purposes. We also spotted a feral cat, apparently they have a real problem with them around Windorah and we did hear a bit of yowling in the night.
The following morning saw us pack up and drive in a straight line for 240km south east to Quilpie. It was much warmer and we found a big free camping area 1km out of town on the Bulloo River. It was a good spot, a few dirt bikes driving around and not many other campers but quite a hotspot for 1080 bait so we had to be extra careful with Harvey.
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| Australian Kestrel |
Quilpie was a decent sized town with two pubs, two small supermarkets and a very nice visitor centre with a cafe and art gallery. The Brick Hotel was an elegant building and sold a very respectable glass of wine, which has been very hit and miss in some of the little outback towns. The little airport was on the site of Amy Johnson's landing spot and everything felt far less remote. There was fresh milk in the shops and plenty of fresh food, from Quilpie onwards the towns would come at regular intervals as the road headed south east.
We were feeling pretty relaxed when suddenly the town began to fill up with muddy caravans and motorhomes, it was the procession of thousands returning from the Birdsville Big Red Bash. We had forgotten about them but now they were forming huge queues at the petrol stations and stripping the supermarkets bare, We left them to it and found delightful Bulloo River Walk where we got to see yet more birds and returned to our van to find it surrounded by Pink Cockatoos.
