Week 24

Mataranka to Greenvale (QLD)

 

We stayed overnight at the Mataranka Homestead one last time on our travels south. It was our last time running the air-con all night.

June 12th

Up at Sunrise we continued down the Stuart Hwy and by late afternoon we made it to the turn off and headed east for Queensland.  We stopped at the first rest stop along the road for the night. We were welcomed by the local feral cats scrounging for food. The temperature has dropped dramatically at night. Having to wear our winter PJ's and use blankets

The next day we dropped into the Barkley Homestead for fuel. (This is one busy stop.) There were a lot of people fuelling here.

We counted down the Kms to the border.  

We were stopped on the dotted line.(you know the line on the map between states / territories?) In front of us was the “Welcome to QLD” sign and farewell from NT in the mirrors. The photo below says the rest. After a rego check, a breath test and a giggle we were on our way.

We stopped at Camooweal for fuel and lunch then drove on, headed for Mt. Isa. We came across the WW11 free camp 50k’s east of  Mt Isa.

June 13th

As we drove into Mt Isa, we were amazed by how big the mining sites are. We spotted and had a look at the information centre

Posted the dreaded school work re fuel then headed for our next stop at Fountain Springs for lunch as we where sitting at the table in the van a road train pulled up next to us and scared the .... out of us.

We drove through Cloncurry, and then we stopped at a roadside rest stop for the night, 70k’s east of Julia Creek.

June 15th

We headed to Richmond which is part of the local dinosaur trail. After visiting the Kronosaurus Korner, we went out to the old council quarry where we took the kids fossicking for fossils.

 At first the kids were a little frustrated as they were not finding anything until we found a squid fossil, then they started getting excited and didn’t want to leave.

We drove on to Hughenden, where we found the next part of the Dino trail. There was a Rugby game on and most of the town must have been there. Only the single town cop was around. We used the Laundromat, and then drove on to our next free camp at Prairie at the back of the hotel

It felt a little strange camping in someone’s backyard. We had a walk around and looked at the old memorabilia, the town is known for the ghost ringer, apparently at night you can hear a ghost ringing a bell.... we didn't.

 

June 16th  

Campsie River

Free camped here overnight. It was a lovely spot to stop, as we were there early in the morning we were able to enjoy a day of not driving. The kids did some school work, played footy outside and then enjoyed a fire that was put on by the local fire brigade….. back burning.

Amity enjoyed some time to herself making jewellery. Zach built and started his own camp fire. Jake and Curtis enjoyed the road trains and loco trains (tracks behind the rest stop) going by and tooting their horns, this time it was at day light and not the middle of the night

June 17th

Charter towers, We had a walk around the town ship, then had a picnic lunch at the park.

We drove on to go to a free camp spot on the way to Mount Surprise, Fletcher Creek, this was an extremely busy free camp spot both sides where full. So we moved in to the next Free camp spot but somehow we were distracted and missed it completely. So we continued our drive to Greenvale, Staying at the Van Park. The road further on is a centre only sealed road , but not double lanes all the way, and it heavily used by road trains. It’s a very small world we meet a family that was from Leongatha and they were travelling to meet friends from Cranbourne. We didn’t know them but just ironic meeting people from an area that is close to home.