We drove a short distance to Cloncurry and
set up camp in the drizzle. Next morning, the kids played with the ugliest dog in the world and we chatted to its friendly owner – a well-travelled woman who was heading
up to one of the isolated stations to act as a live-in tutor for the kids who
were doing school of the air. As most dog owners (and indeed parents) seem to
be, she appeared quite convinced that her weird, toothy dog was very charming
and kindly allowed Zara to drag it around the caravan park on a lead. The kids
even accompanied them up and down the street so that the dog could poo before
they hit the road. Exciting.
We drove on east, stopping for lunch at
Julia Creek – home of an extinct and then re-discovered (near Julia Creek) Bettong.
When we reached Hughenden the rain was bucketing down and so yet again we were
forced into a hotel room. Actually we were lucky to get anything because every
other traveller had the same idea and the hotels and cabins were all booked out. The
hotel we stayed at was half-flooded and we had to jump over a massive channel
of water just to get into our room. We had no cooking facilities in our room
and so debated having peanut butter sandwiches until we realised we had no
bread, and so headed to the local Chinese restaurant. The food wasn’t too bad,
and the décor reminded me of dining in China, which added a bit to the
authenticity. Next day, we
realised that the whole town is stuck in another era – including coffee shops
with carpet and lace at the windows (serving instant coffee and home-made
cakes) and clothing shops with fashions from yesteryear. It was kind of a nice
place.
We drove north, up the Kennedy Development
Road. We had been warned about the condition of the road, especially after rain
and so drove cautiously to Porcupine Gorge where we stopped for lunch and a
walk down into the gorge. It was yet another amazing place – volcanic looking
with big holes in the rocks and some weird formations. Not for the first time
we wished we knew a bit more about geology. We decided that next time we do a
trip like this, we’ll learn more about rocks and minerals before we leave. The
rocks and stuff always look really interesting and we get the feeling that
geologists would be drooling with excitement about some of these places. But
the geological secrets remain locked to us and we end up using descriptors such
as ‘holey rocks’ and ‘shiny stuff’… We did however find a hole in the rock that
looked like a giant footprint, so we are pretty confident that some sort of yeti-type
creature roamed this gorge thousands of years ago…
On we drove in a north-easterly direction
and eventually arrived at the Undarra Experience – a private enterprise set up
next to the Undarra National Park which provides an ‘authentic bush experience’
for the hordes but more importantly offers access to the park’s lava tubes –
cool.
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