Campfires No2 - Western Queensland

Well we said our goodbyes to the rest of the guys that had joined us for Easter and we have now started our trip north. The first week with just Tricia and myself and as you can see as I am writing she hasn't killed me yet. 

To our East the weather event had started impacting travel so we took the advantage and started driving north hoping we would miss most of the rains and well for the most part we did, except for a few heavy falls along the way and a couple of creek crossings.

Our first stop this week was in Toompine.  This town which I am sure was a busy in its day now consists of a of a pub.  Nothing else just a pub.  The owners, a young family, bought the dilapidated pub back in 2019 and have been restoring it since.

They encourage Caravanner's to stay by providing power and water and all they ask in return is for a donation to the RFDS.  Of course no pub stay would be complete without a couple of cold beers and a Chicken Schnity.

From Toompine we continued to Quilpie where we decided to do a couple of nights on a Cattle Station called the Lakes which is 4km outside town allowing us a base camp so we could look around the area.

We set up camp and watched the sun set.  Nothing quite like a country Sunset.

 

Mmmmmm Campfire Nacho's

I think we have started our trip at the right time as it is very quiet on the roads and we have had most places to ourselves. Well with the exception of one. More about that later.

The next day we headed out to Eromanga about 100 km due west of Quilpie where the Natural History Museum is located.  The town itself was very old and run down however the museum was very modern.

It is not until your standing next to the life size thigh bone of an Australotitan Cooperensis that you can picture just how small we are in the scheme of things.

Well upon getting back into Quilpie we learnt that all roads around Charleville were closed so we decided to continue north via Windorah which kept us out of the flood path.

10 km out of Windorah is Coopers creek where we stayed for the night.  Beautiful spot but so many flies.. Made it hard to enjoy the fishing.  Did however throw the Yabby pot in again and were lucky enough to get another feed for dinner.

The next morning we took our time packing up and then continued north.  We read on Wikicamps of a scenic lookout just outside Jundah.  This place was amazing and yes well for the entire day it was just Tricia, myself and this amazing view.  We sat with a couple of glasses of wine as the sun went down and the flames of the fire took over.  Feeling a little tired it was time for bed.  

Just as we turned off the lights Tricia saw headlights coming up the track, thinking to myself well there goes our privacy I ignored the lights.  

Well the car kept coming and given all the space around us I presumed they would stop soon, but no the car proceeded up next to us and parked right beside us.  He then moved forward and we thought great, but no all he did was turn around and did the same thing.  Now I am talking he was about two feet away from my bed.  Feeling a little uneasy about this I decided to don a towel and go and see if I could help him...  Tricia said my words were something like 'What ya doing mate!'  Anyway under the touch light that I obviously have shining in his face is what is clearly and Asian backpacker. I tried to ask what the was doing but his English was not the greatest.  

 I am sure driving as a foreigner in the middle of the outback alone would be a little scary but then to be confronted by a half naked middle aged man in his towel with a torch in your eyes I would have thought would have been like a horror movie. Well I must have given him a little scare as he did move his car about three feet to the left. 

It did make us both feel uneasy for the night but in the morning he was still there and only showed his head as we were pulling out and on our way to Longreach.

Old mate and his new position

Longreach was only a couple of hours up the road and we are here for the next couple of days before we start heading North East toward Townsville where we will be for ANZAC Day.  

Well until the next one, stay safe and we hope you are all enjoying our campfires.

Matt & Tricia