In my last blog I mentioned that we were not too impressed with Julia Creek and so continued to a dot on the map called Nelia. Camps7 (the ‘bible’ of where to camp in Australia) referenced Corella Creek Country Farm Stay. It sounded OK but the navigation instructions were a bit vague and so we reverted to entering the Latitude and Longitude into the satnav. It took us off the highway down a track to an intersection of dirt roads. There was nothing to indicate a camp site, or anything else for that matter. Then a face appeared by the car and asked if he could help. “Yes” he said, “this is the place”, pointing to his back yard. ‘Oh well’ we thought, ‘let’s go for it’. We negotiated our way through some trees, dodging a flock of geese and a goat until we found a spot to camp. Eric, we learned his name later, was trying to set up a camping ground. We’re not entirely sure but guess that we must have been very early visitors as very few facilities were fully in place. Still, it did have a shower powered by hot water from the artesian bore and lots of what might be called ‘character’. By the time we were set up, Eric had found an old truck wheel and was busily building a camp fire for us. Then Matt appeared. He was a local drover who had fallen off his horse, cracked some vertebrae and was flown out by the Flying doctor for treatment. Still wearing his body-suit that didn’t seem to interfere with drinking beer, he was very matter of fact about the whole episode, even reporting that his horse was OK. Kim ended up feeding all of us and in return we were presented with some freshly caught and cooked yabbies (local fresh water crayfish). The goat, named Sebastion, considered itself party to the proceedings and simply joined in.
Next morning most of the rest of the town of Nelia turned out to greet us, including this handsome turkey, a variety of chickens, turkeys, guinea fowl and geese. We were told that the town name is pronounced ‘nearly a’ because it’s ‘nearly a town’ (doh!). Actually the population is just five, not including Sebastion.
Next day we came across some drovers moving a mob of cattle. It surely must be rare in these days of mechanisation to witness the use of horses for the work, rather than the more usual quad bikes and helicopters.
The twenty-first century came back with a vengeance as road trains passed us one after another. They’re huge things that cause a great draft of wind as they go by. Most drivers are thoughtful and pull well into the nearside to minimise the disruption. It probably also eases the boredom of driving for hour after hour. On dirt roads, there’s no choice but to pull over and stop when a road train appears. The dust cloud caused by these monsters is simply too great to see through. There’s usually a scramble to close the windows and air vents too because the dust penetrates every tiny gap.
This is one that passed later in the day when we were on a bit of sealed road - four trailers and over 150 feet long.
When smaller vehicles pass, the usual practice is to slow sufficiently to avoid throwing up stones. However, one knucklehead in a ute decided he couldn’t be bothered and we now have a large star in the windscreen. Thanks pal! Repairs will have to wait until we get to Brisbane. We know from experience that new Land Rover windscreens are about as rare as hen’s teeth.
We noticed an increase in the number of termite mounds. Some were quite small, others of more impressive size, up to a couples of metres high in some cases. There are certainly an awful lot of termites in Queensland. We’ve had our house checked a couple of times and needed to eradicate a nest when we first moved in. Termites are also known as ‘white ants’, although they’re not actually ants but a relative of the cockroach. It’s something to do with not having a thorax apparently – hope you’re impressed with all this knowledge, but no questions please. That’s all I know, other than they’re a pest of plague proportions.
The long, tedious drive eventually took us to a place known as Porcupine Gorge. It’s allegedly Australia’s answer to the Grand Canyon, although we declined to ascribe to that view without a very large magnifying glass. It was impressive and the sun broke through the clouds at just the right moment to dispel the mist so that we got to take in the whole view. Here’s one end of it.
We camped nearby, setting off quite early the following morning along the Kennedy Development Road towards Ravenshoe and Atherton. The route took us towards and eventually onto the Great Dividing Range, which we’d last seen at the southern end thousands of kilometres back at the Grampians, in Victoria.. The unsealed road was straight and for the most part fairly uninteresting. We saw only a couple of vehicles all day. We did see quite a lot of emaciated cattle in the dry arid regions, lots of eagles, a few emus, kangaroos and a solitary dingo.
Then quite suddenly the scenery started to look greener. The cattle were fatter and as we passed through the mountains, rivers actually had water in them. After weeks of aridity it came as a bit of shock and we were fascinated by the lush green grass growing at the side of the road.
Then it rained. Not gentle drizzle but a whopping great downpour. Arriving at Ravenshoe we dashed into the tourist office to check on the weather prospects and having seen the local radar image on their computer, hurriedly pushed on to Atherton. We had just sufficient time to set up camp before the storm caught up with us and so after a hasty meal we abandoned the outside and took to the tent.
That’s it for now. In the next blog I’ll tell you about the plus side of rain.
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