Our Gulf Adventure

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So we are off again, this time to the Gulf with a bunch of people from the MySwag.org Camper trailer forum.

First stop Tarriano Res Narrabri, the river was up this trip from all the rain they have been getting.

Tarriaro Res Narrabri

From here was Taroom and Chain Lagoons.

Taroom was one of the stops for Leichhardt

Chains Lagoon, is about 8k out of Taroom, it's a favourite stop for grey nomads, it actually had water in it this year

From here it was off to Theresa Creek Dam near Clermont via the Fitzroy Develempmental Rd, just a wonderfull scenic drive to Theresa Creek Dam.

Our camp at the dam

From here we were initially going to stay at Fletchers Creek, but after getting there about 1.00pm and it being so hot 38c, we decided to push on to Undarra and spend 2 nights there, where Yogi and Boo Boo the first members of the group were staying Yogi Andrew had a beer waiting for me at Undarra
It was hot, but it was a pretty good spot, Andrew also had dinner cooking when we arrived and invited us to join them, from this point on we were inseprable, doing most thing together for the whole trip.

Had a tour through the tubes

After 2 great night at Undarra, getting to know Andrew and Amanda, it was off to meet the next few members of the group, along the way we went via Einasliegh and Copperfield Gorge and Georgetown, collecting firewood along the way

We arrived at Gilbert River early, not the best place to camp, but we made the best of it, after a while Jcclures(John and Bonnie), bjf (Brett and Janelle), Blackcat (Jo & Gordon) and Janineandandy(Andy and Janine) arrived and set up, we spent the night, before heading off to meet more of the group, Gilbert River wasn't a very good campsite, so no pics from there.

After Gilbert River us and the group headed for Karumba where we were to spend 3 nights at the Sunset van park, here we met Estelle (Chris and John)

At Karumba we did some sightseeing of the town AND the Crab and Croc tour and sunset cruise, Mark and Fiona are great people, I highly recommend this tour if you go to Karumba as well as the Barramundi Discovery tour, we also recommend diner at the pub at Karumba point a 2min walk from the park.

We had a great time at Karumba, Andrew and I also did some fishing, well I should say we fed the fish there

From here we headed for Adels Grove for 3 nights, via Normanton to meet the last members of the group, McGirr (Mark and Sue) Paul and Bern.

We caught up with the rest of the group the Wednesday morning at Normanton, before leaving we bought breakfast at the bakery and had a visit to the Gulflander railway station.

We led the way using the GPS from here, the GPS was showing another track. After travelling for about 10klms we realised that the GPS was not telling the truth. the group made sure this was made into a great joke that continued for the trip.

First stop was the Bourke and Wills camp119 for photos and then onto Leichhardt Falls for lunch.

We then proceeded to Gregory Downs where some of the group fuelled up then crossed the Gregory River before proceeding towards Adels Grove for the next 2 days, we however stopped at the Gregory river for about an hour for a swim.

Adels Grove
Some members camped in the Grove while others camped up top where generators where allowed. We spent 2 days relaxing, canoeing and swimming as the weather was hot with very little breeze, we explored Lawn Hill NP, visited Riversleigh, had dinner at the Bar and Bistro, drank lots of beer, it was a great 3 nights with great people.

End Part One

 

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Part two

Kingfisher Camp was hot and humid, the road to Kingfisher camp was slow and we had 2 water crossings to contend with. Janine and Andy were new to this and were apprehensive crossing the water but after negoitiating the main crossing they were fine.
Janine refused to go across in the car though, didn't matter what we said.

After tackling the dusty roads we arrived at Kingfisher camp or KFC as it is known. Paul noticed his hitch on his camper had come away and was being held on by 2 screws. The original welds were very poor quality.
The new managers of the camp came up on the last day and re welded the hitch and was as good as new for only $100. Thank you goes to Mark the station hand for the time spent doing it. Also thanks goes to John who had 2 grinders with him (as you do) and he had prepared the hitch ready to re-attach.

The camp site was nice and grassy and was a relief from camping in the dirt at Adels Grove. We spread out and again spent 2 days relaxing.

The weather was hot with some spectacular storms appearing to surround us with thunder and lightning we only ever received a small shower that cooled things down a little.

Due the the heat, some of the group under estimated their water intake (beer) and were starting to panic, but thanks to Andrew who had ample supplies and was able to help them out. Andrew then became known as the grog pimp and once we arrived at Bourketown these silly people were able to appease the grog pimp re stocking him with beer. You are a life saver Andrew, there were rumours even the kids were offered to him as security but he declined

We also had a presentation ceromoney, which apparently a MySwag tradition now, for things that people may do wrong on the trip

Kerry recieved a compass for her misstake with a wrong direction choice, I recieved a pump for the flat, Andy pictured, recieved a wooden spoon for his dummy spit at the first water crossing
It's 35 deg at the fire by the way

We had a great time here relaxing and swimming.

We had heard that the road leading out of KFC was wet but there was only a small patch we had to skirt around. Once on the main road the travelling was good and we made Bourketown in 2 hours. Bretts car had a problem with a short which after doing some searching found it to be a bracket had come loose on his second battery. Once at Bourketown we did a quick tour of the sites the artesian bore, the albert river and the salt flats where we all decided to do donuts to show our wifes how skilled us male drivers are. It was a little cooler here and decided to give the wifes a night off from cooking and all buy burgers. As mentioned the beer pimp was re stocked.

The next morning we were advised that there could have been a morning glory forming but the winds were not right and it did not eventuate.

Doomagee stop for fuel, this is where we discovered Bretts short, he spotted smoke coming from under the bonnet, he was very lucky we stopped here.

Bourketown is where the group went their seperate ways, we did however meet up with bjf and blackcat in Longreach a few days later, but this was where the group trip ended.

It was a great trip, with great people and wonderful places we camped at, everyone got on so well together, the people were what made this such a great trip, especially Andrew and Amanda who we clicked with from the first day in Undarra, I do hope we meet again, I am sure we will.

I will finish the rest of this later, we still had another week for us to slowly work our way home, stay tuned.

Baz.

 

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From Burketown we headed for Winton, going via Leighhardt Falls

Sedon Dip

Combo Waterholes

Walkabout Creek Pub

We arrived in Winton about lunch time, had lunch a look around and then out to Long Waterholes for the night.

In the morning we headed out to Lark Quarry for a look at the Dinosaur stampede.

This is a 95million year old Wollomi Pine

From here it was the Age of Dinosaurs just out of Winton

After this it was off to Longreach for 2 nights, we did the Thomson River cruise, had a look at the Stockman hall of fame and the Qantas museum, I wasn't all that impressed with the hall of fame, but the QANTAS Museum was pretty good as was the Thomson River Cruise

From here it was home, via Barcaldine, Nadoo Station, Bourke and Mendooran.
Barcaldine

Bourke

So that was it, we had a great time with great people.

Baz.

 

[teza h]

Looks like a top trip Baz and some nice pics there,I'd love to get up in the gulf country one day. Thanks for the time to share.
cheers Teza.

 

[millsy]

Great trip report. very interesting places you have visited. Great pics.

I want to go back to Longreach now and have a good look through that Quantas musem, now that you have shown me those pics. I passed through Longreach at about 10pm one night. Parked under the nose of the big 747 and took a pic, and then headed off north into the night. Did not realize there was a full musuem there! Just thought there was that old 747. That's what happens when you try to get from Adelaide to Cairns and back in time for Xmas in just 9 days! But saw a lot of interesting countryside on that trip - mostly from the driver's seat!

 

[redback]

Great trip report. very interesting places you have visited. Great pics.

I want to go back to Longreach now and have a good look through that Quantas musem, now that you have shown me those pics. I passed through Longreach at about 10pm one night. Parked under the nose of the big 747 and took a pic, and then headed off north into the night. Did not realize there was a full musuem there! Just thought there was that old 747. That's what happens when you try to get from Adelaide to Cairns and back in time for Xmas in just 9 days! But saw a lot of interesting countryside on that trip - mostly from the driver's seat!

It was fascinating, there is a lot of interactive stuff in there showing the history of aviation and life for the families of the time, the video of the restoration of the the plane above too was brilliant.

Baz.

 

[tweed prado]

looked like you had a great trip well done. only problem is i want to quit my job,pack the 4x4 and hook up the trailer and head north. thanks for sharing your trip.