We headed off early – heading to Quilpie (209 klms) and then further along the road towards Windorah – our turnoff to Welford is 50 klms east of Windorah. It is much more pleasant driving west early morning and not having to contend with the sun directly in your eyes, you have a better chance of spotting and avoiding the kangaroos. There were plenty of dead kangaroos on the road with the crows, whistling kites and wedge tailed eagles making the most of the opportunity. When we were about half way to Quilpie, we spotted on the side of the road making its way to a dead kangaroo was a cat – a cream ginger, identical to Maui. There was a station quite close, so maybe someone’s pet because it did have have the standard feral cat uniform, i.e. brown tabby.
Quilpie
Left – Brolga Street, Quilpie
Main Street showing the post office
We reached Quilpie late morning, refuelled, posted a letter and postcard to my Mum and bought a treat from the bakery for morning tea. It will be a while before the next bakery.
Refuelling at the 24 hour card operated fuelling outlet
Heading out of town, we discovered a picnic shelter at the Opal fossicking area, so had our cuppa there.
We’re rich ! …….. We found opal !
Actually these were on the ground where I was making a cup of tea.
Back on the road, another few kilometres and there strolling out to a dead kangaroo was a very large tabby cat. This one was wearing the feral cat uniform. It was very casual and laid on the ground until we passed. This is the first time I have ever seen a feral cat in the middle of the day feeding on road kill.
Heat Mirage on the highway
We stopped at a rest area just near Thylungra (permanent water) for lunch. This holding was taken up by Patrick (Patsy) Durack) He only held it for a short time before heading off to the Kimberley’s to his fortune.
Our live tracking map program also has a lot of historical data on the map and you can see the routes of the explorers marked so know when you are in the area that they passed by.
Our turn off – heading north to Welford, off the tar and onto the dirt, but good road.
We were surprised after a few kilometres to have the pleasure of a new tar road for about 20 klms.
It looks like the Jundah – Quilpie Road is getting an upgrade.
Welford was taken up by Richard Welford who was killed around 3 years after taking up the holding. The Button family had it for 77 years before NP purchased it. We have been here before but had forgotten, ahh so many parks so little time :) The park has had some major upgrades recently. Parks this large and remote are driving parks where you do mapped drives. There are two drives – The Desert Drive and the Mulga Drive, which we plan to do tomorrow. The Barcoo River is on the boundary of the park. We are camped on the river at the Boomerang Camp Ground.
The river has fish and we hoped for some yabbies but had no luck.
The daytime temperature has been high twenties with ten overnight falling to around 7 and half degrees at sunrise. We only need to rug up early in the morning or late if a cool breeze comes up.
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