I hooked up and towed the van from Clermont down the A7 (Gregory Highway) to Emerald, just over 100km to the South. I stayed a couple of nights in the Emerald Tourist Park, a small cabin & van park not far from town, with concrete pads and nice grassy surrounds. Very low key and pretty quiet. The people were friendly but the men's showers only had one cubicle that had any hot water pressure, which was a bit of a disappointment. Quite a large regional town, with two newish shopping centres, one with Woolies and one with Coles. On the outskirts of town was an even larger new shopping centre which I think had one of each again. I am guessing the surrounding Cattle and agricultural areas have been doing OK for a while in between periods of drought.
I spent a couple of nights without doing much of anything apart from some shopping and enjoying a couple of small cafe lunches that were pretty good.
On Tuesday (10 April) I packed up and headed South again. I stopped in Springsure to stretch my legs and have a walk around.
Sandstone Caravan park had been recommended to me, located high on a ridge with wonderful views, but with minimal facilities and no power or water. In the end, I opted for Takarakka Bush Resort, a little closer to the park, looped by Carnarvon Creek and a real shady oasis with great staff and excellent facilities. It was the last week of School Easter Holidays, so it was busy for a day or two, then quiet as families headed home for the new term starting next Monday.
Outside the reception area and shop was a large shaded deck with some wifi reception, where roast dinners were offered as an extra several nights a week. Plenty of food with a bit of fun as a form of Bingo used to determine the order in which tables would front up to have their plates filled.
Carnarvon Creek flowed around the edge of the resort, providing a shallow swimming and wading area for families. Very pretty area.
I spent four nights at the resort, which I enjoyed very much. The National Park is just a few kilometres up the road. On the way is Carnarvon Gorge Wilderness Lodge that has a series of "Safari Style" cottages, a very nice looking licenced restaurant and a "Discovery Centre"
There is camping, with toilets and showers located inside the park, which is open only for School holidays. There is also a small hikers camping area near Big Bend which is about 10km walk up the gorge and if you are so inclined, need to carry everything you want in on your back.
Also just outside the Park Entrance are a few shorter walks and "Rock Pool", a shallow part of the Creek where swimming is allowed. On the right is a picture of Mickey Creek Gorge, which progressively narrows until very little light gets onto the rock and mosses grow. The track into Mickey Creek splits and also leads to Warrumbah Bluff.
The Visitor's Centre is new and has quite a lot of information about the park. Ranger's are often there, but not always as they have a large area to take care of. They have good wifi available and a public phone as there is no Telstra coverage in the Park. (I believe there is poor Optus cover at Takarakka).
Near the Visitor's Centre the walks start with the first (of many) Creek crossings (on nicely arranged boulders).
Thursday 12 April 2018
In the morning I did my washing & then later decided I would have a first go at the "Main Walk" and see how far I got. The walk follows the relatively flat gorge bottom with a number of features then off to each side, with much more serious climbing and steps. The Rangers and Takarakka Staff recommend that you go in as far as you are planning and visit the attractions on the way out. I decided I would go as far as Art Gallery, which is about 5.1/2 km into the gorge.
There was quite a bit of variation to the Main Track, but all very beautiful and tranquil. Even though it was School Holidays, there was no crowding in the Park and plenty of peace and quiet.
A little bit of forest on the left and another of the many creek crossings above.
It was a steep climb up the side of the gorge to the large overhanging cliff that has been used as an Aboriginal "Art Gallery". There are a number of different styles of art work featured.
On the return journey, next stop was Wards Canyon, not far from the creek bed, but a short sharp climb (steps provided) up and around a small waterfall.
The waterfall was pretty and the entrance to the narrow part of the canyon very impressive.
Inside the canyon was a moist micro-climate that allowed King Ferns to grow along with some Tree Ferns. In other places King Ferns are now only seen in the Coastal Rainforest.
Such a wonderful place to sit for a while and contemplate the Universe.
Amphitheatre was the next excursion to the walls of the gorge. Quite an up and down path leading to a narrow crack in the gorge face.
Steel ladders have been installed to allow Visitor access to the crack leading into Amphitheatre.
Inside it opens into a large vault.
Inside the Amphitheatre looking through the entrance "crack" to the outside world.
By this time I was already starting to feel pretty weary, but having made it to three of the attractions, I also wanted to have a look at Moss Garden. That proved to be quite a challenge with a round trip of about 1.1/2km from the main walk and a series of stairways and steep narrow steps and paths, but of course it WAS worth the effort.
At the end of the climb and canyon was a beautiful pool surrounded by mosses, ferns and liverworts.
The mosses and ferns grow out of the sandstone, which drips with a constant supply of water from the rock above. The photo on the right above, shows an impervious layer of shale below the sandstone that forces the water to emerge from the porous sandstone above.
You could see the constant drips of water coming through the moss and falling to the creek bed below.
Another beautiful place to rest for a while and then think about the 3.1/2km still to get back to the Visitors Centre. I did make it, but it was nearly six pm by the time I got back to Takarakka and the walk had taken me nearly 6 hours to do a little over 14km with a number of rest stops and many photographs along the way.
My remaining time at the gorge was spent doing some small walks around the the camp area, some afternoon naps and a nice lunch and coffee at the Wilderness Lodge. Not all bad at all.
On Friday night it rained, so I was pleased that I had already rolled up the awning and hitched up the van to leave in the morning. On Saturday (14 April), I set off back to the Carnarvon Highway and turned right to continue my journey South to Roma.
I had booked into the Roma Gun Club for a couple of nights. It came highly recommended on Wikicamps, was cheap, with water, power and spotless facilities. When I arrived, I discovered that the monthly shotgun clay target club meeting was in full swing. It was very interesting to watch the competition and see how good many of the shooters were. I also discovered another Bushtracker on site, so we were able to have bit of a gossip at the bar after the competition finished.
Roma is another reasonable sized regional town, supporting the surrounding cattle grazing area and oilfield. There is a long history of oil and gas drilling around the area and a new focus on coal seam gas exploitation for the Queensland LNG plant run by Santos and Joint Venturers.
Nice shade from the "Roma Bottle Trees" in the extended "car park" of the Roma Clay Target Shooting Club.
The CBD has many grand old buildings and wide streets.
The CBD has many grand old buildings and wide streets.
Just one street away from the Highway are a number of relics from the town's long history.
The Big Rig has a range of exhibits, information and a number of videos showing about the oilfield and the history around Roma. Good if you know nothing about the industry, but pretty superficial if you have a working knowledge.
The old derrick is an American build from the late 1920s.
The newer rig is from the 1960's along with a number of services.
The Schlumberger wireline truck was imported from France and the "electronic" wireline tool analysis equipment looking pretty dated these days. However not too different to some of the early heli-rig units I saw in mid 1970 in Papua New Guinea in the jungle.
There was also a mobile Halliburton Cement mixing & pumping truck from the same era.
On the edge of town there is a new industrial area with a Street name that amused me.
Yes that is the Halliburton workshop and warehouse in the background. Weatherford and Schlumberger operations centres are located nearby.
A meeting of Bushtrackers in Roma.
On Tuesday I continued South. Stopped in Dirranbandi for a pie and a coffee at the Bakery / Cafe. Unfortunately neither was much good, but it is a very small town. However, in one of the few remaining old shops on the main street I saw this small framed poster in the window.
I thought it was pretty clever, albeit from another time......
I had booked into the Crocodile Caravan Park in Lightning Ridge. It is a Kui Park, which are normally simple parks which are well run. This one was quite quirky, small and unfortunately full of vans and campers with very small sites. It was however very conveniently located in the main street, so I was able to do a good bit of walking around. There was also an excellent cafe with very good coffee located just across the road.
The town was an interesting mix of old and new.
On one side of the road an old house past its prime.
Immediately opposite a huge bowling club which is essentially the Community Social Club
On another corner, a relic miners cottage display.
On the other corner, a new Pharmacy building.
On Thursday I booked the morning tour with Outback Opal Tours and managed to convince myself I had booked with Black Opal Tours, which didn't go down all that well with Peter the Miner initially, but eventually we sorted it out and I apologised for my suspicion that he was trying to "steal" me away from the other Company. The tour was good, but he did like the sound of his own voice a lot. Endless stories and visits to a walk in mine (including shop), an opal & jewelry shop and "Amigo's Castle".
We also did a detour through the Industrial Area to Shincracker Road.
The owners of an industrial site took a leaf out of "Mad Max" and parked a bus across the entrance to make sure nobody could get in whilst they were away.
However I have to admit the bus, driver and nearby aliens were all pretty unusual.
What more can I say about the 666 Special from Lightning Ridge?
Amigo's Castle is another example of quirky Lightning Ridge.
Built by hand by a single Italian Man over 20 years on his day off and still not finished. Another interesting story.
There are also a series of four self drive "car door" tours in the mining areas surrounding the town.
So many things to see.
There are a few open cut mines, mostly from previous times, but the majority of claims are 50m x 50m and are underground excavations. New sites allow a caravan to be located on location but older sites are littered with shacks, mining equipment, old vehicles and piles of sandstone and clay dug from the mines. Most of the place looks like an extended "tip".
A typical digging outside town.
"Tequila Sunrise", no less.
Not forgetting "Gemseekers Paradise".
On Friday (20 April) my booking at the Crocodile Caravan ran out, so I moved to the much larger, more modern and spacious Opal Caravan Park on the outskirts of town. It has really nice modern facilities, large caravan sites and a daily entertainment show by a pair of "Bush Poets", Mel & Susie who were very entertaining and perform each afternoon from 4:30pm. Nice to feel spread out again.
On Saturday, I did a bit more driving around the outskirts of town and followed the Yellow Car Door Route to the Chambers of the Black Hand Mine and Gallery. The unusual name actually comes from a feature of a fork in the road, which lead to the nearly 100 year old mine being called the Black Hand. Ron Canlin bought the mine and had little success finding new commercial quantities of opal in the old workings. In 1996 he started a few carvings, which has continued, expanded and is still happening now. It is just amazing.
You can find out more at http://www.chambersoftheblackhand.com.au/ It is a very interesting story and a fantastic visitor attraction.
The surface entrance of the mine & chambers is nice & gaudy to attract visitors.
A long stairway leads down to the first chamber level of the mine, which includes two video areas plus an underground opal & souvenier shop. There has also been a small lift installed to allow less mobile people access to the chamber.
One of the early carvings on the left and an Australiana panel above.
From large cats and Buddha's to painted panels.
An Egyptian cat forms part of a display along with a Mummy (below) and other painted panels.
Miners at work on the left and a fun image of the Dalai Lama on the right above.
An interesting copy of the "Lion of Lucerne" above.
One of the two video cinemas carved into the stone and "protected" by a large serpent, or is it a dragon.
On Saturday, I did a bit more driving around the outskirts of town and followed the Yellow Car Door Route to the Chambers of the Black Hand Mine and Gallery. The unusual name actually comes from a feature of a fork in the road, which lead to the nearly 100 year old mine being called the Black Hand. Ron Canlin bought the mine and had little success finding new commercial quantities of opal in the old workings. In 1996 he started a few carvings, which has continued, expanded and is still happening now. It is just amazing.
You can find out more at http://www.chambersoftheblackhand.com.au/ It is a very interesting story and a fantastic visitor attraction.
The surface entrance of the mine & chambers is nice & gaudy to attract visitors.
A long stairway leads down to the first chamber level of the mine, which includes two video areas plus an underground opal & souvenier shop. There has also been a small lift installed to allow less mobile people access to the chamber.
One of the early carvings on the left and an Australiana panel above.
Amazing carvings of all shapes, sizes and themes fill the many chambers.
From large cats and Buddha's to painted panels.
An Egyptian cat forms part of a display along with a Mummy (below) and other painted panels.
Miners at work on the left and a fun image of the Dalai Lama on the right above.
An interesting copy of the "Lion of Lucerne" above.
One of the two video cinemas carved into the stone and "protected" by a large serpent, or is it a dragon.
The carvings just go on & on. Just an amazing thing to see. Lightning Ridge is just full of surprises, things to see, stuff to do and many characters. I have barely scratched the surface here in five days.
One more interesting feature to finish on. 200 metres from the Opal Caravan Park on the outskirts of town is The Artesian Baths. It is operated by the Council, free of charge, with two hot pools of different temperatures, showers and is open 24 hours a day, well lit, but unsupervised at night. Something that couldn't happen in the City. The water is then reused & in fact, the town drinking water is Artesian, soft and in abundant supply for the needs of the town.
Tomorrow morning (Monday 23 April - Happy Birthday Christine), I move on again. I had been planning to continue South via Dubbo to Orange, Bathurst and then into Northern Victoria. However, time is running out for me and I have to confess I am getting a little tired of being on the road. Next year I will not stay away for as long at one time. New plan is to turn South West at Walgett and then journey through Nyngan, Cobar and Wilcannia to Broken Hill in the far West of New South Wales.
That will be the next chapter........
