To Noccundra

Tuesday 10^th May

We were away from CUNNAMULLA by about 9.30 am.  The road from CUNNAMULLA to EULO, about 66 km, was basically the same as what we had travelled the last couple of days.  After EULO it narrowed down to a single lane of seal running down the middle of the road with wide metal verges. 

We realised that if we met any oncoming traffic, we would be best to pull over and stop.  We only had to do this three times between EULO and NOCCUNDRA, a distance of about 290 km.  That’ll give you an idea of how little traffic we saw. One of these times was for a Road Train. Meeting them can be a danger, because if they have to move over onto the metal verge, they can shower you with rocks as they roar past.  Luckily, we were so far off the road he didn’t have to get onto the gravel, so there was no problem.

Most of the way we were driving through very scrubby waste land. We saw heaps of Emu’s close to the road, and on one occasion had a firsthand view of just how stupid these birds can be. 

We had just entered a straight of about 5 km long and saw a truck entering it from the other end.  As we drew closer to each other, I saw an Emu close to our side of the road.  He was quietly picking at grass or whatever, and seemed completely unconcerned about the vehicles approaching from either side.  It was obvious the truck was going to pass him first, and just as the truck got to him, the stupid bloody Emu decided it would be an ideal time to run across the road.  We were about 200 m from him at this stage, and it looked for certain that he would become another road kill, but somehow he made it across.  I’ll bet he was minus a few tail feathers though.

We also saw our first two wild pigs today, both close beside the road.  The further west we travelled the drier the land got and the scrub started to give way to bare land and rough grass.  We got to THARGOMINDAH at about 12.00 and fuelled up before heading on to NOCCUNDRA, about 145 km away. It was from THARGOMINDRA that we had originally planned to go down through the BULLOO STATION to CAMERON CORNER but the floods had well and truly put paid to this.  The lady at the THARGOMINDAH Petrol Station told us that they didn’t expect that track to be open for about another 12 to 15 months. While we were getting petrol, Christel also grabbed a 2L bottle of milk out of the fridge.  When the lady rang it up on the till we saw it had cost us $10.00.  That’s a rough NZ equivalent of $13.50. Ouch.  

Soon after leaving THARGOMINDAH we started getting into hilly rocky country, and stopped on one rise with a great view of the surrounding countryside to have lunch. We could see for miles in every direction, and tried taking pictures to capture the scene, but they didn’t do it justice. It was quite eerie stopped on the side of the road with the only sound being the wind whistling through the grass and few scrubby trees.  One car went past while we were stopped, the only thing to disturb the peace. 

Between THARGOMINDAH and NOCCUNDRA we literally had the road to ourselves.  By looking at the map we could see we were going through one of the least populated areas we had travelled through so far, with only one cattle station for the entire 120 km. The landscape gradually got more and more desolate, and we could see why no one lived out there. 

Even the stupid Emus apparently had enough brains to keep away from it, as we suddenly stopped seeing them. We were absolutely fascinated by the stark harshness of the place.  This was more like the Australia we had come to see.

We pulled up outside the NOCCUNDRA Pub at about 3.30 pm, and wandered in for a beer or two.   NOCCUNDRA is shown in the statistics as having a population of 4.  It comprises of two main buildings, the pub and a hall.  Clustered around the pub are the usual outbuildings, comprising a shed with fuel pumps, and a couple of other sheds, one housing their generator.  An airstrip ran along the back of the pub and the hall, with a small Cessna parked out of the wind beside the hall.

The pub is built out of sandstone and looks every bit as old as it is.  Again, great back country pub atmosphere.  We knew there was a free camping area beside the NOCCUNDRA waterhole and checked with the publican about using it.  No problems just drive down and find yourself a posse.  There are showers and toilets beside the pub for campers to use, for the price of a donation to the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

 We also asked about storing the caravan while we went out to CAMERON CORNER.  The publican told us it would be quite safe down at the waterhole, as only travellers like ourselves ever came near the place.  We are too far away for the bad guys to bother us, he said.

We were soon set up beside the waterhole. Very similar to the NINDIGULLY camp, but not as picturesque, and quite a bit further away from the pub.  Never mind, I think we will be able to survive.  We had no sooner set up camp and other campers came over to make themselves known, and to let us know there were yabbies as big as crayfish in the waterhole, and they were catching them by the bucket full. 

Unfortunately we weren’t able to chuck our net in because we had to pack the car ready for our trip to CAMERON CORNER.  Never mind we would try our luck when we got back. The rest of the afternoon was spent packing ready for CAMERON CORNER.  Two other lots of campers were also heading that way tomorrow, one towing a van, and the other in a house bus.  We began to wander if we should be taking our van down as well, but decided to stick with our original plan of taking the tent.

The bird life around the waterhole was amazing, with Pelicans, Herons, Cranes, several varieties  of ducks, Bitterns, several kinds of hawks,  and numerous other unknown species all making their home there.  The Cranes and Herons looked especially graceful gliding across the water, and we spent some time just on dusk quietly watching them saw backwards and forwards.  Lying in bed that night we heard a Barking Owl doing his thing.  Instead of hooting like a normal owl, this guy goes woof woof, and sounds just like a small dog barking.