Morning brought me a big surprise, and luckily I checked my billy before filling it with water, as somehow a centipede had trapped itself.
Darryl was away on a walk and took some excellent bird photos.
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| (Darryl's photo) |
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| (Darryl's photo) |
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| (Darryl's photo) |
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| (Dell's photo) |
A young ranger turned up for a chat while we were packing up. Luckily we were able to take a through-road out, and first stop was Desert Waterhole.
Again...same, same, so we hurried on. The Red sand dune was actually more impressive than the one at Windorah, and we were amazed by the tracks of something that had burrowed through, and an amazing fungi.
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| (Dell's photo) |
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| When the small valve at the top was opened you could still smell gas |
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| John's the 'King of the Castle'! (Dell's photo) |
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| (Dell's photo) |
Just before the edge of the park we found a spot for morning tea at an old well and yards.
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| Original old-style fencing |
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| (Dell's photo) |
Jundah was a tidy little town, with nice toilets (and a hot shower which we didn't partake of) at the sports ground.
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| (Dell's photo) |
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| (Dell's photo) |
North on the road was one of the strangest sites of the trip, a native well. This was a 40cm hole in the ground, with water.
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| (Darryl's photo) |
Swanvale Jump Up was a fantastic spot for lunch affording sweeping views.
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| (Dell's photo) |
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| (Dell's photo) |
As none of us expected to be passing this way again, we took the detour into Stonehenge, just to see it.
It consisted pretty much of a couple of streets, so we continued through lots of very flat sheep country, looking curiously devoid of sheep (although it was very green due to recent rain, it probably had been destocked due to the drought).
13km off the highway was the turn to Lochern National Park on the Thomson River.
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| (Dell's photo) |
There were only a few campsites along the muddy waterhole, but we had our choice as no-one else was brave enough to battle the flies.
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| John's Stretcher Tent (John's photo) |
They were the worst here of all, in fact so bad they were biting at Darryl's sores and hurting. A swim in the waterhole (the muddy bottom was no-where near as squelchy as at Welford), didn't even bring much relief from them.
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| (John's photo) |
I spied a nesting galah, and Darryl got some fantastic shots.
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| (Darryl's photo) |
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| (Darryl's photo) |
I cooked a damper to eat once the flies had gone to bed, and we enjoyed the full moon rising.
Desert country and sand dunes we passed through looked hungry but picturesque. At Lohern National Park I saw very few animal tracks while out on walks and it was the only place I had to wear long sleeved shirt and trouses to stop the flies ripping at my wounds.
ReplyDeleteAt Welford National Park we could hear at least four dingoes on the other side of the river howling early in the morning.
ReplyDelete