From: Cooper Creek
To: Ayrshire Hills bush camp off the Old Lansborough “Highway” (dirt road), an hour south of Kynuna, central QLD
Distance: 560km
Time: 7.30am – 4pm = 8.5 hrs
Highlights:
Leaving Cooper Creek in the dawn light we headed north again on a single lane road (tarmac) and playing
1. Spot the road train coming
2. Spot the suicidal roo
3. Hold your breath until the next bend (about 130km so we lost that one!)
We arrived at the birthplace of Qantas, Longreach, and resupplied with the de rigour huge Queensland bread rolls and a few other essentials for the road trip still to come. A series of podcasts and before we know it we are eagerly trying to find our camp for the night. WikiCamps again delivers – we turned off at some low lying hills along the Old Lansborough Highway (the first hills we have seen for days) and follow a dirt track around their base. I manage to drive a bit too close to a washout and the road collapses, the car dropping about half a metre into it! Low range is enagaged and reverse gear backs us out safely…phew…
We then pull up to our camp for the night facing the setting sun. A quick clamber up the low hill behind us and the view opens up. The sandy plain is covered in footprints from camels, kangaroos and goats, plus shows us evidence of snakes and lizards which had passed by during the day.
It’s wine o’clock and what a sunset. It has to be a spag bol with a delicious red from our wine cabinet after a show like that!
The evening continued with a fabulous moon and starlit night – the lack of light pollution allows us to try out some more star photography…and yes, we can still wear shorts at 10pm!
Wow, even the roads are not safe!
Great shot of the stars (Catherine included)…
Now, who is writing these stories? Is it always the same person, I suspect it’s you, Mark. Am I right?
We take it in turn – one day each 🙂 Photography mostly by me unless I am in it (and Mark isn’t!)…
Great travelogue. You see the beauty in that vast landscape. No trappings of civilisation to mar the picture.
Pity about the roadtrains and the harm they do to the wildlife.
Roos are really suicidal just dazzled and mesmerized by lights until it’s too late.
They do harm to all life, and I dread to think how those poor cattle feel… I am guessing they do not have water in their trucks 🙁