Dinosaurs, Ruins and Relaxation

JOURNAL EXCERPT

FRIDAY, 26^th  April:  Old Cork Waterhole

Emotions were a little high yesterday so I chose to wait until today to write up Thursday’s adventure.  Today (Friday) we are just relaxing around camp beside a permanent

waterhole below the Old Cork Homestead ruins. More about Old Cork following the activities of yesterday (Thursday – ANZAC Day). After the very hot and dusty day travelling yesterday we are happily relaxing beside the river – reading, creatively writing (another three verses to finish my poem Outback Reflections), fishing, and stitching (yep – I managed some cross-stitching away from the dust!), and someone has even had a Poppa nap – now who could that be? 

A lovely soft breeze has kept the temperature down a little today, but the flies are just as bad here as everywhere we have been.  It was full moon last night and was as bright as day around the campsite.  Heard dingoes during the night.

Bough Shed Camp, Bladensburg NP to Lark Quarry and Old Cork Waterhole:  (Thursday’s adventure)

Once again we were awake at first light to hear the sound of birds and watch another magnificent sunrise over the park.  I was lucky enough to see a small Night Jar Owlet just on dawn (on my way to the Thunderbox, so no camera again!).

The onerous task of taking up camp was very dusty and very tiring for me but this is a partnership adventure and I will not be defeated despite a suspected broken bone in my foot! Yep – I had myself a little balance problem last night and took a nasty fall in the tent – the foot and small toe are badly swollen and I did say a few unprintable words at the time.  However, build a bridge and get over it – these good tight walking boots are very good support.  All camp gear was finally loaded into The Truck and we headed for Lark Quarry Dinosaur Conservation Park about 160 kms south.  This would be our first stop on our way to our next camping spot at Old Cork Waterhole.

Lark Quarry is a very interesting area.  Even the landscape looks pre-historic with amazing red rock mesas and strange ironstone ridges.  A camera cannot really depict the sheer beauty found in this area but we have tried to capture the differing landscapes and I am sure everyone will enjoy the photos when I can eventually get them uploaded to our blog.

Authorities have constructed an ecologically sustainable complex to protect over 3,300 fossilised footprints that have been uncovered in this area.  We spent a fascinating hour with a tour guide who gave an excellent account of the history of these unusual footprints that have been uncovered by palaeontologists from the Queensland Museum. There is a wonderful walk to a lookout behind the complex but in 39 degree heat, with a very uncomfortable foot, the track was a little too treacherous for me to walk.

On the route to Lark Quarry we just had to stop and take a photo sitting under the sign to Cotswold Hills Station.  Named after the Cotswolds in the UK, this country is absolutely nothing like the wonderful lush area of its namesake.  This was the start of the mesa country and the road runs along the top of the Tully Range for about 70kms. In this region we saw beautiful white trunked Ghost Gums and bright red-orange barked Bloodwoods.

We were enthralled with the ever changing scenery. We delighted at the spectacular views over the escarpment and Williams Valley seen from the top of a mesa plateau. When we descended into the valley we drove along ironstone ridges glistening like silver on one side of the road and glowing bright red on the opposite side. The scene changed dramatically once again as we drove through a mesa valley and out onto a Mitchell grass plain.

Jump-ups near Old Cork

The landscape here is intriguing with ‘jump-ups’ (steep escarpments rising from flat plains), mesa formations that reminded the OGO of Monument Valley in the US, red sand-hills, ironstone ridges where nothing grows, flat paddocks covered in Mitchell grass which is the mainstay of beef production in this region, Mulga forests considered to be the most important fodder tree in Australia, flat clay-pans, dry creek beds and river tributaries, and the mighty Diamantina River channels which, in the wet season, drain into the Lake Eyre Basin.

Mini Monument Valley

It is on the banks of one of the permanent waterholes of the Diamantina that we are camped for two nights. On the hill behind us are the ruins of the old sandstone homestead. Our campsite is surrounded by magnificent white river gums and we are, once again, the only campers here.

Old Cork ruins at sunrise

Old Cork Homestead:  One of the original properties of Western Queensland the property was first settled in the 1860s and the Homestead built between 1880 and 1885 from local sandstone and timber brought in from the Toowoomba region. It was the local mail distribution point before the establishment of Winton. Families of farm workers lived at the Old Homestead up until 1980 when it was abandoned.  Little is known about the history of Old Cork as station books and records often disappeared when the property changed hands.

BLADENSBURG NP:

Good things:   Magnificent sunrises; plenty of red-claw; river gums; loads of wildlife; Scrammy Drive highlights

Not such good things:  FLIES!  DUST!  Wind when packing up camp;  falling over

Most memorable things:  ANZAC sunrise;  Night Jar Owlet

WINTON:

Good things:  Waltzing Matilda Centre (worth a visit); North Gregory Hotel (glass etchings indoors); free showers in Hollow Log park; Arno’s Wall; OzzieNana’s shop

Not such good things:  Long Waterhole ; early closing times;  rude woman at C&F reception; no fabric shop

Most memorable thing: playing junk yard percussion at Musical Fence

END OF JOURNAL EXCERPT

At Old Cork I was once again inspired to put pen to paper and I added another three verses to my poem, Outback Reflections (I apologise to the OGO for waking him at 4am when I was inspired to write these verses!).

OUTBACK REFLECTIONS (verses 5 to 7)

Camped by a river or camped in the bush

Nothing compares to the beautiful hush
That settles upon this vast harsh land

Where few have chosen to make a stand.

Sunsets we’ve seen in many a place

But none as striking as in this vast space

Sunrise brings beauty all of its own

I now see why some have called this home.

Moonlit nights and sundrenched days

Ironstone ridges that gleam in the haze

Mesa plateaux, and clay pan plains

Scenes of the Outback where it seldom rains.