Hotel Corones built 1924-1929 occupying the whole block and still has the original beautiful interiorOut in the Mulga west of Charleville
Cooladdi
All that remains of Cooladdi, a once prosperous town of 270 when it was a major rail settlementAn isolated Bottle Tree at Cooladdi
Cheepie
Cheepie is another “ghost town” formed when the railway first came through in 1914At last, live kangaroos beside the roadWhat would have caused this windmill to collapse?
Quilpie
Lunch under the shade of the gum trees lining Lake Houdraman, about 10 km east of QuilpieEmu making a run for itEvery house in Quilpie has two water tanks One to cool the 75°C sulphurous artesian bore water, the other for rain waterThe old Quilpie Hotel, now the Heritage Inn, but known as “The Brick”was built in 1926 I used to stay here 50 years ago: it was one of three Quilpie pubs (the others burnt down in the 1990s) We planned on camping behind the pub but it is closed indefinitely because they can’t get staffThe joke was you could get kicked out of one pub for being drunk and you’d be sober by the time you crossed the road to the other pubOpal altar in St Finbarr’s Church, QuilpieQuilpie is the “End of the Line” The Western Railway line reached Quilpie in 1917 and the last passenger train left in 1994Baldy Top, a few kilometres west of Quilpie, at sunsetWe took a stroll along Quilpie’s Bulloo River Walk in the morning
Wednesday 28 October: Quilpie to Eromanga 200 km
It’s only 106 km from Quilpie to Eromanga on the Cooper Development Road but we decided to go the longer route via the Thylungra and Kyabra Waterholes. A good choice, there’s a constantly changing landscape, waterholes and even a few sand dunes.
Thousands of dead Boree Trees cover the Grey Range as a result of the 1937 locust plagueSilver-leaf Boree shimmering in the sunlightGiber – a desert surface covered with closely packed rock fragmentsKyabra Waterhole, like an inland sea in a desertBrolgas at the WaterholeDriving across flat plains, green after recent rain when …… suddenly a red sand dune appears
Eromanga
Eromanga is famous for being the furthest town from the ocean in AustraliaIt’s also the end of the known world – last phone service!The Royal Hotel, mud-and-brick structure built in 1885, was once a Cobb&Co Staging PostThe Royal doesn’t have a cook right now so a woman comes from a station to make the pub food This is a “half steak” with vegetables, including mashed potatoes and chips
Thursday 29 October: Eromanga to Noccundra 180 km
Bellalie Waterhole, no camping permitted but a great stop for smokoCave Hill would be a good place to campLeave only footprintsThese cows just didn’t want to get off the roadWe pulled over to let a Road Train pass – wildflowers beside the road in bloom after the rain
Noccundra
Noccundra Hotel, originally a Cobb&Co stop, is second oldest pub in Queensland It was rebuilt in 1882 of sandstone transported 250 km by Camel Train from NSWThe doors were made low so the stockmen couldn’t ride their horses into the bar, or so the story goes We are having a beer in the Noccundra Pub when a helicopter lands on the road outside. The pilot gets out, leaving it running, comes into the pub and grabs a slab of XXXX then gets back into the helicopter and takes off. Only in outback Australia!Camping on the Noccundra Waterhole on the Wilson River, 500 meters from the pubPelicans on the Waterhole
Friday 30 October: Noccundra to Thargomindah 140 km
I used to fly the crews out here when they were prospecting for oil; looks like they struck richJust in case you thought it was all pretty waterholes out hereWhite cows on red groundAnother mesa rises from the desert floor
Thargomindah
Thargomindah was the third in the world (after Paris & London) to have electric lighting (but not today) Powered by artesian bore water at 84 degrees celsius from 800 metres downExposed roots of a tree in the Bulloo River ThargomindahLeahy House built 1885 from locally made mud brick was continuously lived in until 1995 Thargo thunderbox out the backThargo Post Office also built from local mud bricks in 1870Thargo lockup from 1899 to 1960
Saturday 31 November: Thargomindah to Eulo 140 km
Lake Bindegolly National Park is about 40 km east of Thargomindah. A string of salt and freshwater lakes in a desert landscape attract thousands of waterbirds. There’s a 9.2 km walking track listed as 3 hours but for us it was 11.3 km in 2 hours 20 minutes including a diversion to the bird watching site. Conditions were perfect – cool and clear; there is no shade. Link to Wikiloc track here.
Start of the Lake Bindegolly circuit trackTracks in the sandThere were lots of kangaroos this morning but very wary of usPelicans, Black Swans and Ducks together on a blue salt water lake in a desertThe track across a salt pan – at times, the lakes are completely dry; at other times flooded Luckily it had rained a week beforeAt first glance it is barren but there are dozen of wildflowers in bloomAn abandoned sheep station and shearing shed
Eulo
Eulo artesian mud springs are centuries old but the springs are no longer activeBee keepers even bring their bees from south to feed on the local Yapunyah trees The trees did not flower last year because of the drought so we could not get any Yapunyah honeyWhy would Eulo (pop 95) have an air raid shelter? During World War Two Eulo was an important radio relay stationPam bought a beautiful local opal necklace from the Eulo Queen Opal Center in the old Post Office No, not this – its a rare and expensive Yowah NutWe really did camp by a Billabong under the shade of a Coolibah Tree a few km out of town It was one of the best places we stayed and we had it all to ourselves with only the birds for companyThis colony of Pelicans sat here all day and did nothing: next morning they were goneSpoonbill shares the tree with Pelicans at Eulo BillabongSome of the smaller birds at the Billabong
