August 7th 2022
Amanda is determined to have an early start for our trip to Charleville tomorrow and so we set the alarm for 6.30am, I don’t tell her that the drive is any easy one only 454 kilometres. She has misread the itinerary, thinking we have another 600 Kilometre ahead of us. As a result we are up early and on our way by 8.00am first stop Cunnamulla. By 9.30am we have crossed the Queensland border.
The landscape has changed little from yesterday, but the goats must be New South Welshman as the numbers dwindle when we cross the border. We see our first Kangaroos, again thankfully behind property fences but Emus become the predominant wild life with many grazing in paddocks on both sides of the road. The abundance of rain is very evident creating pools and swampy conditions along the roadside sometimes stretching into the countryside as far as we can see, in some areas there is evidence that water has covered the road but is now clear. At the Bourke visitors centre we found that quite a few roads out of town could not be travelled on until cleared of water and debris. The result is a landscape that becomes greener all the way to the border. Once across the border we drive through drier topography that lacks the colour of the previous days travel. the weather today is sunny but somewhat cooler. Continuing on though the green once again comes through and vast plains open up with cattle and sheep on both sides of the road. There are some big stations out here running cattle and sheep as well as Emu’s by the numbers we see.
In good time we arrive in Cunnamulla, famous for Sheep and Water. Cunnamulla sits in the midst of the Great Artesian Basin that sustained Aboriginals for thousands of years and became key to opening up this area for sheep wool production. Early European explorers identified this great resource and soon drilled new wells that brought forth springs of water to support the sheep and cattle industry outback Australia became famous for in the early days of the 20th century. Approximately 22 percent, an area of over 1.7 million square kilometres beneath the arid and semi-arid parts of central eastern Australia encompassing parts of Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and the Northern Territory sit above this vast resource. The water takes almost two million years to travel from its starting point at the Great Dividing Range to where it surfaces in the deserts of central Australia. The water was so plentiful that in 1898 a small town nearby called Thargomindah became only the third town in the world after Paris and London to produce hydro-electric power for street lighting. Early days saw the resource plundered but a much more measured approach is being taken in these times, until at least we fully understand how the system works and replenishment occurs.
Cunnamulla is a neat and tidy outback town with plenty of charm, its a Sunday so not much is open but we have a good look around and learn something of the district.
In the centre of town outside the Shire building is a bronze statue of the Cunnamulla Fella, a fictional figure featured in a song by the now passed famous Australian Country and Western singer Slim Dusty.
The centre of town features a gazebo and a rose garden. The rose pictured had the most magnificent perfume.
A pristine white fountain obviously well maintained takes pride of place in Cunnamulla’s town centre in memory of the Great War of 1914-18 a reminder of the sacrifice young men from the districts of Warrego and Paroo made in that conflict. A feature of the Great War showed how the innate bushcraft of the Queensland outback stockmen became put to valuable use with the Light Horse Brigade that served in desert warfare at that time.
Once again we head off to complete the days journey to Charleville, I have now broken the news to Amanda that we haven’t that far to travel today, so we make a pact to continue with the early mornings. We stop off at a roadside rest stop for our picnic lunch at a place called Wyandra about 100 kilometres south of Charleville. The landscape has once again changed to more of a low forest with the silvery blue/green foliages trees again a dominant feature, we pass through areas that can sustain the larger red river gums a testament to the amount of water locked away in the subsoil. A flock of about 50 Galah’s rise into the sky in front of us, a soft grey cloud that turns pink as their underbellies become visible when they wheel in unison away from us into the blue.
We finally arrive at Charleville, fill up with fuel, I am starting to find it hard to buy Premium Unleaded 95 Octane so have to fill up with Ultra Unleaded 98 Octane, the car might love it but our wallet isn’t at $2.26 a litre. We then go onto our accommodation, the room is compact (a nice word for tiny) but has everything we need for a one night stay, at least there is no singing toilet. The Restaurant at the Motel is closed being Sunday, and we are directed to the local RSL Club. The Returned Soldiers Clubs are the mainstay of social life in small country towns, they offer gambling, mostly KENO, Slot Machines and Horse Racing as well as a Restaurant (Bistro) and bar. We settle for a basket of seafood pub style, nothing fancy but enough to sustain us for another twenty four hours.
Tomorrow we will take a look around Charleville before making our way east to Miles. The night sky here is spectacular so much so that there is a Cosmos centre that offers stargazing experience as well as a Solar telescope enabling close up viewing of the sun and solar flares. To be Continued……..