Spectacular Border Ranges National Park

September 21^st

We woke up this morning to clear skies. Kyogle is the gateway to the National Parks in the area and today we planned to drive through the World Heritage listed Border Ranges National Park. Had a bit of an adventure getting there. We took the turn off to the main track into the park and after having driven for about 20mins we came across a traffic jam. A truck had come off the road and slide down the hill (driver ok) and there were all sorts of vehicles there trying to recover the truck and blocking the track. Most cars were turning around but the drive around to the other entry to the National Park was quite a distance and would take some time. Stephen went and spoke to the recovery team and got approval to go ‘off road’ to get around the blockage.  Pleased about that.

The drive was just spectacular. It wound its way through subtropical rainforest and then climbed up to the top of the escarpment for magnificent views of the crater and valley below. Incredible vegetation and scenery. A really ancient place. After the arid places we have spent a lot of this trip, this place was like an oasis of magical flora and fauna. We stopped for a few walks in amongst it all and took loads of photos which speak for themselves below. 

Goondiwindi - Condamine Gorge River Track - Kyogle

September 20^th

This morning I ran from Queensland all the way to NSW and back again!! Only 10km given we are right on the border. There is a beautiful walking path all along the Macintyre River and it was most pleasant running. Some great trees and birdlife (Goondiwindi derives from an Aboriginal word meaning “the resting place of birds”) and a lovely old bridge.

Leaving Goondiwindi, we continued heading east as the scenery changed yet again to be even more lush and lovely. We passed through the town of Warwick and end up in a café at Killarney eating cake. I managed to fall over here in the middle of the footpath for no good apparent reason. Grazed my leg and hand. All that travel in remote areas and walking in gorges etc and I manage to have a spill back in civilisation on a flat path – go figure!

We had heard that from Killarney we could do a really pretty drive on the Condamine Gorge River Track that takes in 14 river crossings – sounded like our type of thing. Had to stop at the beginning to give the Sherwoods a call to tell Will about the river crossings – always a favourite of his.

This drive was really beautiful and scenic with high cliffs on either side, magnificent trees and crystal clear crossings of the river. The track was pretty busy with lots of cars going both ways so there was a bit of stopping and manoeuvring to try to pass people. We stopped a few times along the way. It was a bit cold to swim however. The trip took hardly any time at all and before we knew it we were at the other end at a bit of a loss. 

We then looped back around towards Killarney again and stopped in at Queen Mary Falls in the Main Range National Park – very busy area with lots of tourists but we managed a nice walk down to some of the look outs and then stopped a bit further down the road at another equally lovely but less crowded spot for lunch.

From the falls we passed through the township of Legume (cool town name) and meandered our way through the ranges to end up in Kyogle. By the time we arrived it was raining, wet and cold. Found some accommodation and just hung out in our room for a while. When we felt hungry we drove into town for dinner but found just about everything shut – even the pubs! Our choices for dinner were the local Chinese and we didn't feel like Chinese two nights in a row, or the local take away which was very interesting in its selection of meals. We made do and had an early night as there really wasn't much else to get up to. 

Thargomindah to Goondiwindi

September 19^th

No real reason to hang around in Thago this morning so we headed off after breakfast on our eastern journey along the Adventure Way. The first item of interest was the town of Eulo (pop.50), affectionately known as the Lizard Shire. Eulo hosts the World Lizard Racing Championships on their Paroo Track annually. It was also once an opal mining centre and there are lots of mud springs and baths but we didn't wallow in any.

The scenery got greener, the trees larger, the wildlife more prolific and the river actually had water in it as we drove east. Next stop was Cunnamulla which very aptly has the Aboriginal meaning "long stretch of water". We had great coffee and cake here but the real claim to fame is the Cunnamulla Fella! The Cunnamulla Fella is an icon bush character or an Aussie larrikin and was made famous by the song "The Cunnamulla Fella" written by Stan Coster when he was ‘ringing’ in the Cunnamulla area in the 1950’s.

The song was sung and popularised by Slim Dusty https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuf0khtslUA  and more recently Lee Kernaghan recorded the song with a great video clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUmtV21lkvs  Even the Screaming Jets have a version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjYMoB-6OW0

We were disappointed to have missed the Cunnamulla Fella festival by six weeks and so had to be content with visiting the Cunnamulla Fella statue in the town centre.

From Cunnamulla, we continued east and ended up on the border of Queensland and NSW staying the evening at Goondiwindi – lovely town right on the river and birthplace of the famous racehorse Gunsynd – the Goondiwindi Grey. Gunsynd was a champion Australian thoroughbred who won 29 races and $280,455 in prize money in the 70’s. He was popular with the racing crowds due to his grey coat and tremendous will to win.

Enjoyed wandering around Goondiwindi but did not enjoy the 1 ½ hour wait for our Chinese dinner that evening!!

Walkers Crossing to Innamincka and the Adventure Way to Thargomindah

September 18^th

Lovely morning yet again. Enjoy breaky at our Walkers Crossing campsite then on the road again heading towards Innamincka. The road was pretty good and we moved fairly quickly into the flood plain country of the northern overflow of the Cooper Creek. Our drive took us around the outskirts of the Malkumba-Coongie Lakes National Park however, it was still pretty dirty and dusty where we were.

We arrived in Innamincka before we knew it and had a bit of a wander around town. This tiny settlement is built around a hotel and trading post on Cooper Creek. It is the traditional home of the Yandrumandha, Dieri and Yarrawarrka Aborigines. The first European explorer to visit the area was Charles Sturt, who discovered the Cooper in 1846 while vainly searching for an inland sea. It was also the final destination of the ill-fated Burke and Wills expedition. In 1860 all but one of Burke and Wills' party perished near the creek. There is a commemorative monument in Innamincka to Burke and Wills which was erected in 1944. Innamincka was proclaimed a township in 1890.

It didn't take long to see the ‘sights’ of the town which included a visit to and a drink in the pub, where we could have played mini golf if we were that way inclined, and an ice-cream from the Trading Post.

It was really hot and lots of flies so the appeal to stay wasn't great. We could have driven 100km to the Coongie Lakes and stayed there overnight but we decided to press on to hopefully get to something a bit greener and cooler. Besides, the call of the “Adventure Way” seemed appealing.

The Adventure Way is a road that heads absolute east in a straight line starting in Innamincka. It retraces the tracks of the Cobb & Co and takes you from outback plains and gibber country, through some of Queensland’s richest grain and cotton producing areas all the way to the coast. It is interesting that you start in South Australia go straight but end up in Queensland.

It was really fascinating that not long after leaving Innamincka, the flat, dry desert like areas started to give way to more mulga bushes and eventually we started to see greenery and larger bushes. Having said that, our stop for the evening was at Thargomindah (pop. 240) which is an Aboriginal word meaning "Cloud of Dust”. The town is on the banks of the Bulloo River but no water to be seen while we were there.

An interesting fact about Thargomindah is that it produced Australia's first electric street lights in 1893. First in the world to have hydroelectric street lighting was London, followed by Paris. Just a day later, 'Thargo' illuminated its isolation with power generated by water pressure from the Great Artesian Basin and continued to do so until 1951.

We stayed the night in a lovely cabin in the Oasis Motel where we also got a great meal in their dining room (had a drink in the pub across the road first – interesting experience).