Drive to Alice. Tambo to Alice

Hello,

Below is an email i sent my friends and decided that it was also a good summary of our drive to Alice.  I will put in photos from our trip onwards from Tambo to Alice.

We have driven the 3000kms to Alice Springs form Brisbane.  The roads were fine and there was no sign of any flooding of any sort except the odd pothole but that is reasonably normal.  There were many road hazard signs and slow down signs for seemingly no reason.  Finally when we did come across a bit of road that was half washed away and had a creek flowing over it, there was no sign.  We hit it harder than we should have but then what do you do when no one tells you there is a creek flowing across a washed out road.  That was in the Northern Territory (NT). 

Everything has been amazingly green.  All the grass is long and green and the trees are greens and it all contrasts very nicely with the red earth and the blue, blue skies. 

We stayed in Tambo, Cloncurry and Tennant Creek on the way.  Tambo was nice, Cloncurry was alright and Tennant creek was a hole.  We had a pub meal both nights in tambo and Cloncurry which were great, and a few cold beers.  In Tennant creek (NT) we started to encounter a lot of natives, particularly on the street, lying on the street, screaming at each other and wandering aimlessly.  All the businesses had metal grates on the windows and the place shut down at sunset.  We were forced to eat at the motel buffet.  $25 for a choice of boiled vegies, shepherds pie, beef curry or lamb casserole.  Definitely filling but not worth $25.  The town was full of miners and workmen who ate heartily. 

We have already seen lots of cool wildlife.

• Kangaroos – only 1 has jumped out in front of us and another was waiting on the edge of the bitumen for its chance, the others have been further off the road.
• Emus, lots
• Bustards, lots (google it.)
• Brolgas – awesome big birds, maybe 10.  really amazing to see such large beautiful birds.  A couple were standing in the middle of the road, we slowed to get a pic but i only got them flying away.
• Zebra finches, lots, everywhere.
• Budgerigars, lots
• Whistling kites
• wedge tail eagles
• Peaceful doves, including the one i found today wedged in the radiator
• Diamond Doves
• swallows, again one we found at a toilet stop wedged in the bullbar
• echidna – squashed
• goannas, running across the road, no real big ones yet
• mallee ringnecks, augathella
• Port lincoln Parrots, everywhere around Alice
• Galahs – tonnes of them
• Multitudes of other birds i can’t recognise yet.

We drove out to Simpsons Gap last night in the West Macdonald Ranges.  Beautiful spot, especially at sunset, will put some pics on the blog. 

Tomorrow we start work, we have Wednesday off (Australia Day) which will be great and then work through straight till next Tuesday.  Then we have 6 days off.  We are gonna drive to Uluru (450kms) then probably stay somewhere in the west macs for another 2 nights, like Ormiston gorge or palm valley in Finke Nat. Park.

One of the many pubs in Barcaldine.  We stopped here for a snack and a break.  Barcaldine looked to be a great little town, well kept, lots of pubs etc.  We might try and stay here on the way back in June.

The tree of knowledge memorial, an amazing eye sore in town. 

Another good looking pub in Barcaldine

A very long straight road, i think this is near Camooweal.

The pathfinder, complemented by a flat green and blue background

Red dirt

I think this is a whistling kite, we saw these everywhere, all along the road.

4 trailer Road Train crossing the bridge at Cloncurry.  This truck is about 54 metres long and carrying mining ore, we think.

The central Hotel in Cloncurry, we had dinner here, Rissoles and Chips – tres bon

The post office Hotel in Cloncurry, a less attractive hotel but still full of cold beer.

The end of the day in Cloncurry

The Leichardt Hotel, full of beer, that’s about it.

Chinaman creek dam, with mount leviathan in the back.  Cloncurry

Corinne looking good at Chinaman creek dam

We found this sign at Chinaman creek dam, Corinne was unimpressed

Panorama of Mary Ann Dam just outside of Tennant Creek, quite a nice spot.

Drive to Alice. Tambo to Alice

Tambo

We stayed the night in Tambo at the Tambo Mill Motel.  Tambo was quite a nice little country town, wide streets, great Bottle trees and lots of old buildings that have been well preserved.  We had dinner in the pub – a great Chicken parmi and a few cold beers. 

We were treated to a beautiful sunset both from outside the pub and also our motel. 

We set off the next day at around 630am for Cloncurry.

Tambo Shire hall

The post office.

The Court house and library

The Barcoo River, a good famous outback Qld river

You gotta keep your guns in your holster until you get past this sign.

A large bottle tree in town.  There are a lot of Bottle trees in western Qld.  They are cool trees that come from Western Australia originally (i think).

We had dinner here, a nice Parmi.

Looking west from the Carrangarra Hotel, Tambo.

Sunset from the Tambo Mill Hotel.

Tambo

Drive to Alice–Brisbane to Tambo

Yesterday we left Brisbane on our trip to Alice Springs.  The drive goes up through Queensland, across to the Northern Territory, then down to Alice.  The drive is about 3000kms and goes through some great outback country. 

On our first day we planned to drive to either Augathella or Tambo.  That was about 700-850 kms.  We got to Augathella around 2:30pm and found it to be quite a quiet place, very little happening so we continued on to Tambo for the night.  On the way there we drove through places like Toowoomba, Dalby, Miles, Chinchilla, Roma, Mitchel, Morven etc.

We stopped for lunch in Mitchel, just past Roma and named after an Explorer.  We had a nice pie and coke at the local bakery.  Quite a nice little town, already getting hot and dry as we drove further out west.

As we drove near Morven there was some heavy weather about and we saw some great clouds and lightning off in the distance.  We have been really impressed with most of the country towns we have driven through so far.  They are all clean and pretty and do not look run down and like ghost towns.

We got into Tambo around 4-5pm, had a shower and then walked around town.  there were a few old historic buildings and we also walked down to the Barcoo river for a look.  All the rivers are flowing at the moment because of all the rain.  The other big change is how green everything has been.  It is actually greener out here than it is closer in to Brisbane and looks fantastic.

Heavy weather – outskirts of Morven

Morven

Mallee Ringneck in Augathella on the Warrego River

A beautiful pair of Mallee Ringnecks

The Warrego River in Augathella.  The sun was so hot here it felt like my feet were burning.  We have been driving along the Warrego highway since Brisbane.

Apostle Bird pair with two young. 

Pale headed rosella above and below

Butterfly.  There are so so many butterflies out west at the moment.  We have since hundreds of them crossing the road and we have our fair share of them wedged in the front of the car and the radiator.

Drive to Alice–Brisbane to Tambo

Cane Toads in Queensland

Hello

It is our last day in Queensland today.  Tomorrow we set off on our 3000 kilometre journey to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.  It is now really hot sunny and humid and quite unpleasant unless you are in air conditioning or a pool.  The flood waters are receding but there is still a lot of clean-up to go. 

Last night at Corinne’s parent house we went Toad hunting.  Its a very Australian thing to do, but then, they are mostly in only in Queensland, northern New South Wales and the Northern Territory. 

The Cane toad (Bufo Marinus) is an introduced feral, pest species that causes huge problems wherever it is.  The toad is poisonous in every way as are the tadpoles.  It is also a prolific breeder and spreads quickly.  Anything that tries to eat the toad or the tadpoles generally dies.  So all those native animals out there that fancy a meal of tasty toad end up dying or very sick.  The toads are also very poisonous to cats and dogs and as a vet you end up seeing lots of sad seizuring and dying animals that have been curious about the toads.

The toads were introduced to Australia in around 1935 to combat the cane beetle in the sugar cane regions in northern Queensland.  Unfortunately the toad did not like the beetle that much but liked everything else.  Also there was little thought put into the introduction.  These days people put a lot more thought is put into any introductions whether it is a bacteria, virus, plant or animal. 

So we went out with our torches, i had my new 3 million candle power torch which virtually cooks the toads with its brightness.  We caught about thirty toads and saw some frogs too which was great.  The toads and frogs are easy to distinguish as the toads are much bigger and have a tough, leathery, dry skin.  We caught this many in about 10 minutes, they are now resting peacefully in the freezer (in a lot of bags and Tupperware).

Cane Toads in Queensland

Brisbane Post Floods

Hello

The floods are subsiding both in Brisbane and the rest of Queensland.  We did not have nay flood problems besides a loss of electricity and it was hard to find food and fuel for a few days.  Nothing like what happened to others with loss of life, property and muddy destruction. 

Thousands of people in Brisbane and QLD have been helping out to start the cleanup.  We helped cleanup at our Friends house in St Lucia.  The whole flat was wrecked and we helped clean all the mud off and throw stuff out etc.  It was a muddy dirty business but felt good to be helping someone.  We had lots of people helping both known and unknown.  People turned up with baked food and drinks and the army boys were there helping to clean up all the rubbish with their heavy trucks and muscles.

Now we are planning our drive out to Alice Springs.  The roads are all opening up, we can drive out west now which has been closed for weeks.  We are going to try and leave for Alice on Wednesday and make it there by Saturday.  This gives us 4 reasonable days to do the 3000kms.  It should be a great drive and we should see some interesting QLD and NT country towns.

We have been buying a lot of stuff, being back in Australia and also stuff for the car, 4wding etc.  We want to be able to have a good chance of getting out of trouble by ourselves if we need to.

I don’t have any photos of the cleanup or the floods, there are plenty on the web though.  I will put in a few picks of the car, its very nice and should be a good car for the NT and our property.

Brisbane Post Floods

Back in Australia

Hello

We are back in Australia, got back last wednesday night.  We have had a great time since, picked up our car and been organising to drive to Alice Springs for Work next week.

The more important story though is the floods.

Yesterday and last night, along with the rest of Queensland under water, Brisbane and South East QLD have started flooding. 

Toowoomba in particular has been destroyed by a flash flood that has made the main street look like an apocalyptic playground.

This is Toowoomba above.  Toowoomba is not the kind of place that floods very often.  Down the range at Withcott, which is the closest town to our farm, they have been hammered too.  There is the small Gatton creek which runs past the town, but now the whole place has been washed away. 

Sydney Morning Herald Report

The Australian

News.com.au

QLD Flood Donations

We went out to Withcott last friday and they had had a bit of rain but were alright.  The road out to our farm had a few issues, we had to drive through a couple of creeks over the road.  Now is think those roads will be gone and our farm cut off.  That is not that bad really compared to what has happened to so many other people.  Our house is on top of a hill so it will just be a bit soggy.  I don’t think the tennants will be able to leave the property though so i hope they have some spare food. 

The floods are amazing and horrible and i hope everyone at least reads about the terrible things that are happening everywhere and maybe make a donation if they can to help the thousands of people all over the state that have had their lives severely destroyed or interrupted.

Back in Australia

Christmas Eve Preparations

So after our afternoon of sledding, we had to get back to the Cottage in Winster to prepare for the on going Gorge that would be Christmas.  Shanny had a variety of gourmet meals cooking or prepariating (a new word)at any one time.  She was cooking and stripping a goose, mixing stuffing, boiling leaks, and on and on.  Shanny loves cooking and was in her element.  The rest of the girls flitted about the kitchen like clucking chickens whilst shanny controlled them from the position of Rooster. 

Don, Myles and I stood or sat back and admired the women’s skills and recited prose, sang and consumed beverages. 

We dined that night on a slow cooked lamb shoulder Casulet with Gluten free sausages.  The meal was of course a delight and left us all in the mood for some good drink and dance.

We did not have too big a night as the next day was going to be a far larger feast of every proportion and dimension. 

Chickens, scratching about in the litter, Shanny on the right, coordinating the scratching.  Though this comment may sound derogatory, the women did a magnificent job and produced huge amounts of tasty food and drink.

Dan and Em, staring at Sophie. 

Myles, always in the spotlight, smelling his wine, full of blueberries, tannins, lavender and probably plums too.

Shanny, with another bottle of Champagne, ready to be bolted down by the Women, especially Elaine and Mary.

Elaine in the foreground, probably stealing more champagne, but then i think she bought it so i suppose that’s not stealing.

Corinne, nothing makes her happier than a clean glass.

Shanny and Corinne, what a good looking pair of Sheilas.

Myles and Corinne, cutting up the dance floor, probably to Dirty Bit (BEP’s).  Note Myles’ eyewear.

Christmas Eve Preparations