I’ve kept this as a separate blog at the start of Queensland because we really skipped up the Stuart Highway from Port Pirie to Three Ways, just north of Tennant Creek and then turned right along the Barkly Highway towards Queensland. And I’d already arrived in Queensland when I published this!

Port Pirie is a great stop to prepare for an extended journey. The CMCA RV Park is right next to Coles and Kmart for any last-minute purchases and/or a meal at the Footy Club if you’re there Thursday or Friday night. Nearby is the caravan Services and repair shop. But the cheapest fuel stop is back out on the main road. Read my full blog on this town under The Mid North above on this web page.

If you have time, another pleasant stop is in the Mt Remarkable National Park, we camped last year at the Baroota camp near the old homestead.

Our first stop after filling fuel at Port Augusta was at Monalena Lagoon Rest Area. It was OK – not much to talk about really. The Ghan Railway line runs alongside so you are between road and rail. More rail trains the night we were there than road trains.

There’s a viewpoint parking area just south of Pimba. Got to stop!!!! We didn’t and were awed by the glimpse we got as we sped by. We stopped at the next camera lookout stop which was north of Pimba but not nearly so impressive. So, do stop at the one on the western side of the road, south of Pimba.

Lake Hart Rest Area is pleasant, looking over the lake and if you need to stretch your legs you can walk down to the lake edge. Would be a reasonable camping spot.

Bon Bon Rest Area was a good overnight stop if it’s on your radar. Close to the road and a drop toilet available.

Coober Pedy – has its own blog on my South Australia page, under The Outback for you to read.

Next, we stopped for fuel at Marla and camped at Agnes Creek Rest Area. The area goes quite far back so you can get away from road noise.

We arrived at Erlunda Roadhouse (this is where you head west again to Yulara and Uluru) at lunch time, ate our sandwich and paid $5 each for a shower. Fuel was expensive here, the most paid so far.

As you head north from here, admire the rocky hilly section and look out for loads of birds of prey.

We drove a bit further on to the Finke River Rest Area. It was a bit noisy by the bridge but a free, easy stop.

IF you have time, turn east after Stuart’s Well Roadhouse to trek into Rainbow Valley. It is fine for 4WD, just a little soft sand a couple of times. Sunsets and sunrises display the colours of the sands and rocks brilliantly.

We didn’t go in this time; we remember it from our last trip when we camped there with the wee popup tent. Then we had an AWD car rather than 4WD.

We went straight through to Alice Springs and you’ll have your own plans for that area. There are so many things to do here and from here. We paid our respects by climbing ANZAC Hill and toured the Telegraph Station by the Todd River. Here, there is water most times of the year and this source was named Alice Springs, hence the name of the town that grew up nearby.

After a rest from driving for a day or two at the Alice Springs Tourist Caravan Park and supermarket, fuel and bottle shop purchases, we continued northward.

There are those brown camera signs but most of them are simple stone markers. Unless you have a particular interest, I wouldn’t bother stopping. However, Ryan’s Well is worth a quick stop and the roadhouse at Aileron has a massive man standing on the hill behind it.

We camped on the roadside at McDouall Stuart Memorial with pretty view westward. There’s a satellite dish looking thing with a red pole next to it. If you place your phone on top, you get a signal (Telstra)! Cool!

Barrow Creek Hotel is right next to the old Telegraph Station – ruins – we didn’t stop but went on north to the Barrow Creek WWII Staging Camp. The brown sign for it is right at the road junction so slow down as you near the mileage indicated in the book if you intend to stop here. We had to do a U-turn to return to it. It’s just an information sign and concrete pads remaining and seems well used for caravanners. I saw Grey Crowned Babblers there!

The UFO centre is closed – don’t stop!

We stopped 2 nights at Devil’s Marbles Hotel and had a good feed, hot showers and filled with fuel and water. There’s a pool here to swim in next to the beer garden and a reasonable camp kitchen. You can get water even if not staying. Bird life was Galahs and Whistling Kites.

The Devil’s Marbles are fabulous! You can camp there but recommendation is to get there before 4pm, it fills up. Also, a fee and a park pass required – though no-one was there checking the day we were there.

There are a couple of walks to complete to take in the geology and read a little of the connection the indigenous locals and inform where you can and shouldn’t take photographs.

Final town for us along the Stuart Highway was Tennant Creek. We filled with fuel and hoped to use the public dump point but that had closed.

We then drove on to just north of town to wander the Telegraph Station with lots of history to read on the information signs.

 You can get a key from the visitor centre if you want to inside but it was interesting enough wandering through the complex and reading the signs.

And then we turned right onto the Barkly Hwy at Three Ways – supposedly expensive fuel.

First stop along the Barky was at 41 Mile Bore Rest Area, a large expanse at the back with zebra finches galore bouncing around made for a relaxing, quiet night.

We pulled into the Barkly Homestead to have a picnic lunch. This is an impressive roadhouse with a pleasant bar and restaurant area and a caravan park at the rear. If we travel this route again, we’d stop for a night.

Our final free camping night before crossing into Queensland was at the Soudan Bore and we were slightly surprised to be the only campers there that night. Everywhere else vans had pulled in before us and more vans and roof top tent travellers after us.

Our first stop on leaving Julia Creek was the famous Burke and Wills Roadhouse. A family run business helping to support the cattle station.

We camped behind the roadhouse and had a drink at the bar, taking the all-important souvenir photos.

We considered the road we had just traversed. Largely single track with wide dirt shoulders to allow passing and overtaking. Every now and again there would be a short stretch of two lanes to further allow for overtaking. We didn’t meet much traffic thankfully and when we did were grateful most of these meets chanced on the two lane stretches.

From the roadhouse onwards, the road was better and wider.

A brief stop at Normanton for fuel and we continued up to Karumba. As we approached, we took in the roadside hazards: cows sitting or strolling along the verge, Wedge Tailed Eagles playing chicken with us as we sped towards their claimed roadkill (and we lost, veering across the road to avoid these huge birds) and Brolgas, dancing in the tall grass near water courses.

Karumba is made up of two areas. The town area to the south and Sunset Point to the north east.

In town there’s a good bakery, a reasonably stocked, small supermarket, a butcher and pharmacy. Most businesses close between 1 and 2pm. And if you want to access the library, it is open in the mornings.

On the far side of town is the Les Wilson Barramundi Discovery Centre which is very informative on everything Barramundi. We spent quite some time in there and enjoyed the old documentary on the original fisherman, Les, who started the Barramundi fishing enterprise in 1950s.

We booked a half day fishing trip with Mick’s Fishing Adventures. It was a slightly nervous trek across the beach sands at Sunset Point to get to the boat in the pre-dawn darkness. Were crocodiles lurking nearby? We had been warned!

Fortunately, the only moving thing my eyes spotted on the beach was a black necked stork.

Too cold for Barramundi fishing, Mackerel was the prey for the day. Of six fisher people on board only nine legal sized fish were caught and we managed to land three of those!

We would have had a fourth catch if only a Tiger Shark had not decided to snap up my hooked fish with a leap in the air than made all onboard gasp!

Tasty meal of home cooked fish and chips that night!

If you haven’t caught your own, the Sunset Tavern offers meals or Ash’s sells takeaways. Their fresh cooked prawns are delicious! Whichever you choose, or take your own snacks, do stay to watch the sun set at this pretty location.

There are several caravan parks in Karumba. We selected the Points Fuels Service Station and Caravan Park station for its unpowered option at $27 a night. If you are fortunate, you can get a water view over wetland ponds and watch the Brolgas dance, the Rajdah Shelducks ducking and the Pied Stilts stepping around.

For more bird watching, take the boardwalk into the mangrove and dry bushland area close to shore.

Back down to Normanton where we did lots of reading at the tourist information/library/heritage centre contained in the historic Burns Phillips Building. We wandered the street taking in the Purple Pub, the beautiful shire buildings and met Krys the Croc, a fibre glass replica of the largest crocodile shot in the area before conservation ideas materialiased.

Do visit the train station. It’s a large, wooden structure and shaded shed area where you can view the Gulflander engine and carriages and other large rail memorabilia.

We got our permit for the river side free camp for a night and the next night paid $10 per person a night at Leichardt Lagoon. Very picturesque and calming. From the camp ground you can walk to the Glenore Weir on the Normanton River.

Both spots are good for bird watching. My new finds from Karumba, Normanton and Leichardt Lagoon were:

1.    Blue Faced Honeyeater

2.    Great Bowerbird

3.    Leaden Flycatcher

4.    Lemon Bellied Fly Catcher

5.    Magpie Goose

6.    Nankeen Night Heron, adult

7.    Paperbark Flycatcher

8.    Pheasant Coucal

9.    Pied Heron

10. Radjah Shelduck

11. Red Headed Honeyeater

12. Rufous Throated Honeyeater

13. Sarus Crane

14. Spangled Drongo

15. White Bellied Cuckoo Shrike

16. White Gaped Honeyeater

17. Yellow Honeyeater

18. Yellow Oriole

Further east along the Barkly Highway after a long flat drive, you arrive at the very friendly and well organised town of Julia Creek.

I had some days teaching booked and my other half agreed to be camp host at the free RV Park (scroll down) by the creek. He had fun chatting to all those who came to register, as permits are required. He not only shared destination tips but gathered them from fellow travellers. This is strictly self-contained vehicles only due to the nature of the ground and the proximity to the water.

The visitor information centre is full of information and history but the real draw card has to be the Julia Creek Dunnart which you can view being fed twice a day. He’s cute but vicious, at least to insects!

For birdlife, there’s a fair bit just beside the creek at the free camp but if you follow the trail further along the creek you may see more. I saw the black necked stork again and various smaller birds for the first time. See my ‘new to me’ list below.

The Caravan Park hosts the famous Bush Dinners on Monday nights through the dry season. Local community groups prepare a two-course meal and the first 100 paying guests can enjoy hearty food, good company and golden sunsets. Money raised is managed by the shire but ploughed straight back into the community groups and projects.

Julia Creek lies atop the Australian Great Artesian Basin, ana amazing source of fresh water which is now being better managed and preserved than when open channels and ever flowing wells flowed.

Lucky for some, you can book a luxury, sunset soak in a hot artesian bath at the caravan park and take your own drinks and nibbles to celebrate. We chose the free hot showers at the roadhouse. Perhaps at some other hot springs we’ll chose to soak but we were busy checking in guests right up til sunset, except for Monday nights that is!

If it’s a cooler dip you appreciate, take a plunge at the swimming pool for only $2!! The water was 17

At night, drive past the water tower which is lit up at night in bright colours. This tank is used as a cooling tower so residents can have cool water in their taps.

Local businesses offer a wide range of goods. The hardware store was recommended to us from Mt Isa Bunnings who didn’t have what we were looking for and though we can’t remember now what it was, we did indeed get it at Julia Creek. And we had our gas bottle filled there. I found a longed for magnifying glass at the newsagent, we refueled at the roadhouse, topped up groceries (taking turns to purchase at both supermarkets) and spent well at the butcher’s shop.

On our penultimate evening, the shire employee who enrolled us in the camp host position came to the creek side and enjoyed a sundowner drink with us. We chatted a good while before the cool night air descended and she made moves to leave.

We thanked her for the warm welcome everyone in the town had given us.

New to Me Birds at Julia Creek

Chestnut Breasted Mannikin

Pictorella Mannikins

Plum Headed Finch

Rufous Songlark

The trip from Mt Isa to Cloncurrry is scenic with rolling hills, rocks escarpments and outcrops and twisting bends on the road slowly unveiling the countryside.

Stop at the Battle Mountain Memorial to read the poetry and admire the spirit of the Kalkadoon warriors who fought the European arrivals only to lose their lands. This point also welcomes you to Mitakoodi country and acknowledges their loss too. I found it very moving.

We pulled in to see Corella Dam and wished we had extra days to spend here as the birdlife was amazing – once again! You may free camp here and explore further.

Alternatively, or as well, head in to the ghost townsite of Mary Kathleen which was home to thousands when the mine by the same name was supplying uranium. All that remains are the concrete pads. It’s a wide area. The popular photo of the uranium mine pit now filled with brilliant blue water is a further trek off the road but don’t swim in it!!

Named by Burke of Burke and Wills explorers fame, after the home place of an Irish friend, Cloncurry townsite lies on the Cloncurry River and is the regional centre of Cloncurry Shire.

It was mining that put the place firmly on the map.

Today you can discover some of the Aboriginal, explorer, pastoralist and mining history at the excellent Cloncurry Unearthed Visitor Centre. We spent ages in here at the indoor museum and wandering the outdoor vehicles, machine sand fossils.

You even get to experience the mining remains at Kuridala from the ground and from the air all in the comfort of a chair in this air-conditioned museum by donning on the VR headgear.

The Royal Flying Doctors also started here when Dr John Flynn founded it in 1928. The Museum is reputedly very good but we’d been to the Alice Springs RFDS Centre in the past so skipped this.

The best thing we discovered just outside of town was Chinaman Dam. Built in 1994 to service the town water supply, it’s a relaxing and tranquil spot to BBQ or simply have a cup of tea by the shore in the shade. Look across the water and admire the geology of Black Mountain, spot the birdlife and listen to the crickets sing.

The free Coppermine Creek Freedom Camp on the edge of town gets busy, so pull in early to get a decent spot.

On the gentle hill above the camp sits the Chinese Cemetery. A couple of grave markings with Chinese script denote only a handful of graves but many were buried here. An information board lists those interred.

A short walk from the camp takes you to the weir on the river and the QANTAS memorial. A breakdown on the dry river bed in 1919 resulted in the concept of this now iconic air service.

You can walk further along the path and up the hill to the Cloncurry Lookout and Water Tank. The views are expansive and the tank painted brilliantly with the Cloncurry Parrot, a girl holding a paper plane representing the birth of the RFDS, a boy of the Mitakoodi community looking out over his lands and their totem, the Eagle-Hawk.

A fine town indeed!

Mt Isa is a major, mining city in the outback with all the amenities you need.

It is built on Kalkadoon country, the traditional owners who fiercely tried to protect their land from the invading Europeans. Battle Mountain is named after a significant combat where a large number of Kalkadoon warriors were killed by settlers and police forces. Weakened, resistance declined and they were dispossessed of their lands. You can read more about this proud tribe, their land and history here.

In 1923, John Campbell Miles discovered rocks that contained 78% lead. Staking a claim with friends, he started the Mt Isa Mines company that is still functioning today.

Since that start, copper, silver and zinc have also been mined in both underground and open cut mines. The infrastructure dominates the town skyline, best seen from the Lookout Watertank.

The tourist information centre, Outback at Isa, has so much to offer:  a botanical garden, the Hard Times Mine, the Rodeo Hall of Fame, the Regional Art Gallery, the amazing Riversleigh Fossil Discovery Centre, a café and an interesting mining, gems and minerals display. Buy tickets here too for the Underground Hospital nearby.

There are art installations dotted around town reflecting Mt Isa life and the lovely Tharrapatha Way walk trail along the Leichhardt River.

A must do is a day out at Lake Moondarra just a 16km out of town. The Leichhardt River has been dammed here to provide water for the town. The resulting lake is a large expanse and a playground for fishermen seeking barramundi and other fish and a twitchers delight.

Take a picnic to sit by the lake or a enjoy a BBQ with the Peacocks at Peacock Park. Children can frolic in the shallow water or at the shady play park below the dam wall.

We spent two Sundays admiring the views and spotting birds. See my list below of 44 species, including 11 new to me!

There are a couple of caravan parks at Mt Isa. No camping at the Lake! We stayed at Mt Isa Caravan Park which is run by a friendly couple and is only a short stroll into town. Usual amenities plus a swimming pool.

Having picked up some teaching here, we treated ourselves to a slap-up meal at The Buffs Club.

Locals highly recommended the club and we were impressed. A fancy sports bar, a café, a pokies room and a restaurant. Bonus was the free shuttle bus that would pick you up if wanted and drop you home.

You can read my food blog on the meal we had here.

Lake Moondarra’s Birds

1.    Apostle Bird

2.    Australasian Darter

3.    Australasian Grebe

4.    Australasian Swamphen

5.    Australian Crow/Raven – unure

6.    Australian Pelican

7. Bar Shouldered Dove

8.    Black Faced Woodswallow

9.    Black Kites

10. Budgerigar

11. Comb Crested Jacana

12. Crested Pigeon

13. Double Barred Finch

14. Dusky Moorhen

15. Eastern Cattle Egret

16. Eurasian Coot

17. Fairy Wren – unidentified subspecies

18. Galah

19. Glossy Ibis

20. Green Pygmy Goose

21. Grey Fronted Honeyeater

22. Indian Peafowl

23. Jacky Winter

24. Kingfisher – unidentified subspecies

25. Little Black Cormorant

26. Long Tailed Finch

27. Magpie

28. Magpie Lark

29. Masked Lapwing

30. Noisy Miner Bird

31. Pacific Black Duck

32. Peaceful Dove

33. Pictorella Mannikin

34. Pied Cormorant

35. Rainbow Bee-eater

36. Wandering Whistling Duck

37. Whistling Kite

38. White Breasted Woodswallow

39. White Plumed Honeyeater

40. Willy Wagtail

41. Zebra Finch

And at Mt Isa town

42. Black Fronted Dotterel

43. White Faced Heron

44. Rock Dove

Camooweal

As you enter Queensland from The Northern territories, Camooweal provides a friendly welcome. The town sits beside the Georgina River. Established in 18xx, it was superseded by Mount Isa’s mining boom and has remained an outpost. Now it is considered a suburb of the City of Mount Isa whose CBD is 188kms away along the longest main street in the world!

This is Aboriginal People’s and Drovers Country. A museum on the eastern edge of town tells the drovers’ history.

There’s not much more to this wee town: a roadhouse and a pub (both with caravan parks), a school, a Post Office and small supermarket and the jockey club where the Camp Draft is held.

However, the Camooweal Billabongs are fantastic! Found it in our Camp Australia 11 Book.

These large lagoons on the Georgiana River allow the birdlife to abound. See my list below of birds I spotted in just the couple of days we could stay.

You can free camp on the western river bank. There are many sites to choose from but they fill up fast. We had luck snagging a site with sun for solar and shade or sun to sit in, depending on the temperature and breeze, and a clear view across water to the opposite bank.

Showers can be got at either the roadhouse or the caravan park for a small fee. There is a dump point and potable water available in town too.

Birds: my new ones in red!

1. Australasian Darter

2. Australian Pelican

3. Black Faced Cuckoo Shrike

4. Black Kite

5. Black Necked Stork (Jabiru at least new on camera!)

6. Black Swan

7. Brolga

8. Brown Quail

9. Budgerigar

10. Cockatiel

11. Corella

12. Crested Pigeon

13. Diamond Dove

14. Eurasian Coot

15. Galah

16. Great Egret

17. Great Cormorant

18. Hard Headed Duck

19. Jacky Winter

20. Kingfisher (unsure as only silhouette spotted at dusk)

21. Little Pied Cormorant

22. Magpie

23. Magpie Lark

24. Masked Woodswallow

25. Pacific Duck

26. Peaceful Dove

27. Pied Cormorant

28. Raven

29. Royal Spoonbill

30. Whistling Kite

31. White Breasted Woodswallow

32. White Faced Heron

33. White Plumed Honeyeaters

34. White Winged Triller

35. Willy Wagtail

36. Zebra Finch