Leaving the stranded caravan from Part 1, The Doc drove up to Bowra Sanctuary owned the Australian Wildlife Conservancy, which The Doc has visited before, report here. The Doc takes two rest days.
Leaving Bowra on the Mitchell Highway The Doc headed north towards Charleville. Brunch at Wyandra (in the Paroo Shire) at a small roadhouse, having the Bacon & Egg Roll (with extras). The extras made the roll difficult to eat as the bun could not properly contain all the food. I never agreed to extras on bacon and egg rolls after that!
A Victorian couple from came and sat at the same table. We were talking and I mentioned the stranded caravan from two days ago. The couple (I forgot to write their names in my travel diary) had arrived at the mishap shortly after I left. It is a small world. The caravan was recovered to the road side stop about 10 kilometres away with the police providing escort. The recovery vehicle could not carry the caravan so the crew brought out another vehicle the next morning.
Charleville the next stop and the Gulf Roadhouse (it is now a Puma Roadhouse). The Doc visited the Charleville Cosmos Centre and Observatory, after visiting the exhibits he pressed on towards Quilpie. The Doc stopped and slept at the Bulloo River Rest Area that night. The Bulloo River is the only river in the region not part of either the Murray–Darling Basin or the mighty Lake Eyre Basin; instead it flows into several ephemeral lakes.
On towards Quilpie the next morning, the tourist drive known as the Warrego Way. The Doc arrived in Quilpie late afternoon and took a tour around town and stayed the night at the free campground just out of town near the Quilpie sign. The Doc could not find the caravan park in the fading light and the dodgy map he was using. Hint: look for the orange caravan across the railway tracks from the highway.
Someone at the Lookout had set themselves up to star gaze that night, a nice telescope and all the gear.
Channel Country: Quilpie, Eromanga
The Doc is now well and truly in Channel Country. Channel Country is made up of the channels and floodways that feed water into Lake Eyre. It is part of the Lake Eyre Basin/Catchment which covers a huge area of Inland Australia, a mere 1.2 million square kilometres (map here). To put that in perspective, England (not Great Britain) is 130,330 square kilometres, so almost 10 times bigger than England. Thousands upon thousands of channels and floodways, which are mostly dry except in times of flood. It is an amazing part of Australia to view in Google Maps, look here. Remember to zoom in and out. I can spend hours looking at it and working out where to visit next.
The Doc will use Quilpie as his base for three nights. Early the next morning The Doc heads west out of Quilpie towards Eromanga, a quick detour to go and see Baldy Top Lookout just after sunrise. The Doc’s efforts were rewarded with stunning light. Back out top the highway and left hand turn onto the Cooper’s Developmental Road towards Eromanga.
Eromanga is named after the Eromanga Sea, which was a shallow inland sea covering 2/3 of Australia 90 million years ago. Many of the marine dinosaurs come from this period like the Kronosaurus The Doc saw at Richmond when doing the Dinosaur Trail in 2016.
Manga is a popular style of Japanese comic. Apparently, followers like to visit Ero-manga!
A short drive by Australian standards, a bit over 100 km, but there was plenty of roadkill. The Doc came up to a carcass with wedge tail eagles and crows feeding. No matter how long I waited the wedge tail eagles would not return to the carcass. Nor would they allow me to walk close to them (I tried). I came across roadkill again later and I have added those pictures here. This time it was butcher birds, the raptors having flown away again.
Eromanga Natural History Museum
Eromanga also a mining area, predominantly oil and gas with a small oil refinery in the township. A few kilometres outside the township is the Eromanga Natural History Museum, home of the giant dinosaurs in Australia. The museum specialises in three areas:
- the giant dinosaurs like Cooper and George;
- megafauna;
- micro fossils.
It was great to see world-class specimens, tours, onsite accommodation, education programs and extensive research going on in such a remote part of Australia. Close to where specimens were found. The museum now has sufficient funds to build Stage II of the complex which will contain a life-size replica of Cooper, one of the top 10 biggest dinosaurs in the world. They are currently working on George who is probably about 30% bigger again, and I think they are hoping will be top three.
Volunteers can get heavily involved with the Museum, on field trips, lab work and assisting tours. The Doc was very impressed.
The Doc spoke with Steve Young, the volunteer in charge of the photographing the micro fossils, and has been helping out with possible 3D macro sets, at affordable prices. More to come on that I hope.
Back to Quilpie and the Caravan Park overlooking Lake Houdraman. The Doc was going to watch the sunset but the colours were so spectacular he picked up his camera. Lucky he did because the next night the sunset was a shocker, no colour at all. One of the rules of being on the road is, take the shot when you can. It may not come around a second time. Enjoy (Part 3 to come).
