The Mine Town Meander: Sapphire, Tieri, Blackwater and Baralaba

Campground 1: Sapphire Campground
Facilities: Toilets, Bins, Non-potable water, Borewater tap across from campground.
Good stuff: Free camp with good clean toilets.
Not so good stuff: A lot of uneven areas often with caravans on the level ground. Close to the road but it isn’t too noisy.
Price: Free

Campground 2: Munell Campground, Blackdown Tablelands NP
Facilties: Toilets, Fire-pits, seating around fire pits.
Good stuff: Lovely setting with Mimosas out in flower, good sized sites, clean toilets.
Not so good stuff: have to book online or call prior to turning up (like many NP now) but there is a phone at the Park Info bay.
Cost: $5.75 per adult per night

This was the home straight and a step back down memory lane. Throughout our time in Australia we have worked out in the mines in the Capricorn region and have made some friends along the way so it was about time that we went back to visit them.

From Longreach we headed to Sapphire to try fossicking for not too surprisingly, Sapphires. The only thing was that we didn’t have a sieve, a bucket or really any equipment that would be useful when fossicking.

Step one: get a sieve; the sieve we bought was probably the most expensive plastic sieve we have ever seen.

Step two a bucket; meh we shall just use the washing up basin.

Step three: shovel; well at least we have one of those.

Step four: purchase a fossicking licence; done online!

In hindsight it pays to come prepared… Now all “equipped”, we headed out to find the fossicking sites, our only issue was firstly finding the leases and then where to look. After finding a spot that had been dug out before, which is the best option when you are a beginner, we cleared some new ground. It just didn’t look right from the diagrams we had seen so our patience rapidly disappeared and within 5 minutes we gave up. Instead we went to Rubyvale, checked out the Gem Gallery and bought a bag of pre-sorted wash. Job done with minimum effort!

Next stop was Bundoora Dam near Tieri where we got out the table and went through the wash to find some sapphires. After a while it became a bit tedious until we found the first sapphire and next thing loads of the shinies were glistening out at us. By the end we had found around 45 sapphires and zircons. As happy as we were, it was definitely the right decision not fossicking ourselves and we would take a tour next time.

Heading into Tieri to meet up with Kyle’s old work colleague’s and then on to Blackwater to catch up one of our friend’s was the happiest we have ever been in those respective mine towns, thank you for the company!

Post reminiscing we headed to Blackdown Tablelands NP. The steep drive into the NP was stunning and the amazing views at the lookout points were a surprise. The walks in the NP had the wonderful feel of a wild flower garden as we walked through the old cattle property.

The campground had a pleasant subtle smell of Mimosa...

...with two walks leaving from the campground where you get to see the quinine plant. G and T anyone?

The final cave art that we got to see on the trip, not quite as impressive as Kakadu.

Throughout our trip we have seen loads of these trees that have "blood" sap oozing out.

The beautiful Rainbow Falls at the end of a lovely walk.

Our final stop was a little place called Baralaba to catch up with some more work colleagues.  We were lucky enough to be taken on a mine tour of the area that we worked on during exploration with our old supervisor. It was impressive to see the difference from green fields to a site that was now being dug out. Spending the time at our friends’ house was the perfect way to end the trip, amazing people, great chats sat around their campfire whilst we watched the occasional bush rat and possum moving around their property. We both already had fond memories of Baralaba and they have become even fonder after our last visit.

Longreach

Campground: Longreach Tourist Park
Facilities: Toilets, Shower, Camp Kitchen, Bins, Laundry, Powered sites, Restaurant, Shop.
Good stuff: Lots of showers, big designated sites, excellent location being close to town and local attractions, well equipped camp kitchen.
Not so good stuff: Lack of organised parking around the unpowered sites, weird locks on toilets and shower doors that caught a few people out (fortunately not us).
Price: $28 per night for two adults, unpowered site.

Coming into Longreach was very memorable. After the Simpson Desert Margaret had turned into a bit of a wildlife killer. From smaller birds that fly into your windscreen to the larger wedgetail eagle (one of the largest Australian birds) that unfortunately learnt its lesson when it flew off too late whilst it enjoyed its food. Then next was the biggie… the kangaroo. It is not uncommon for roo encounters but Kyle had been fortunate enough to have avoided the experience for the last 5 years until that drive into Longreach when a kangaroo decided to jump in front of the car. The brakes were on but the kangaroo was no match for Margaret, no damage to the car but the roo wasn’t as lucky. Hopefully that will be the last roo car encounter for both of us.

The two main attractions to visit in Longreach are the Australian Stockmans’ Hall of Fame and the Qantas Founders Museum.  We only visited the latter because we wanted to spend a full day at the museum. Our favourite part was the tour of three jets: Boeing 747, 707 and DC3. The tour takes an hour and a half it was well worth the time and the money spent on it. Considering neither of us are particular plane fanatics we were fully engrossed for every minute. The tour guide was excellent and the enthusiasm for Australian innovation in the plane sector was commendable and is often overlooked or just not known.

Just hoped into the Boeing 747 jet engine for a quick photo opportunity.

After Boeing 747 it was time to check out what a Boeing 707 can look like decked out...

...and if you thought that was excessive then check out this toilet seat!

The final plane we saw was a DC3 complete with patched up bullet holes .

Longreach was one of those places where we were pleasantly surprised, quite a big town, friendly people and a good campsite. There was one qualm, Boston Buns… As a treat we bought a Boston Bun from the Merino Bakery, what they didn’t know is do not give Kyle a Boston Bun with icing AND sprinkles. After walking out of the shop he had a mini rage spell for half an hour and then calmed down as long as the subject wasn’t raised again. 

QLD Dinosaur Country: Winton, Richmond, Hughenden and Muttaburra

Campground 1: Pelican Caravan Park
Facilities: Toilet, Shower, Laundry, Camp Kitchen, Bins, Powered sites, Fuel.
Good stuff: located in Winton.
Not so good stuff: the water smelt like rotten eggs, amenities were rather dated and in need of repair as well as few (if any) unpowered sites. The sites are rather cramped and we happened to be put next to the family from hell! (Although that was not the camp owners fault.)
Price: $30 for 2 adults, powered site.

Campground 2: Richmond Caravan Park
Facilities: Toilet, Shower, Laundry, Camp kitchen, Powered sites, Bins.
Good stuff: lovely campground hosts, grass for unpowered sites, amazing amenities block (some of the best showers we have seen) and lovely view of the lake.
Not so good stuff: if you have a caravan it might be good to book beforehand during the holiday season.
Price: $18 for 2 adults, unpowered site.

It was now time to head back in time to dinosaur country located around the Winton area after our visit to Alice Springs. 

From Alice we headed along the Plenty highway cutting across NT to head into QLD and yes it was flat...

...after a quick stop in Boulia the landscape became a bit more interesting.

Now for the dinosaurs! You may have been bored in the past by looking at numerous bivalves (like mussel shells) but it was hard to turn your eyes away and contain your excitement from the amazing dino experience that you get out here. You think we may be biased being geologists? For Kyle maybe (he loves dinosaurs) but Liz not so much… Liz avoided palaeontology as much as possible whilst studying and her views changed in Winton from “fossils are boring” to child-like glee seeing all the marvellous discoveries in Outback Queensland. 

Our first part of the trail started in Winton…

Unfortunately we didn’t get chance to go to the Waltzing Matilda Centre because it burnt down a few weeks before we arrived. That meant the dinosaur exhibits would have to suffice and boy they did!

Australian Age of the Dinosaurs Museum

The Australian Age of the Dinosaurs is located east of Winton on Jump-Up Road and here is the backstory. A local farmer, David Elliot, found a massive bone on his property whilst mustering cattle and contacted Queensland Museum. This bone was a femur bone from a Cretaceous Sauropod dinosaur and from this discovery and more later, which include a Theropod: Australovenator wintonensis (nicknamed Banjo) and a Sauropod: Diamantinasaurus matildae (nicknamed Matilda), the Age of the Dinosaurs Museum has become the world-class exhibit that it is today. When you head to the Australian Age of the Dinosaurs you get a tour in two parts: the Preparation Laboratory and their fossil collection.

As you might gather the Preparation Laboratory takes you around their working fossil preparation shed...

...and the Collection displays the collection of bones extracted including an animation of the interpretation for both Banjo and Matilda. 

It would be hard for people not to appreciate the efforts of volunteers and those working at the museum to uncover one of the most infectious geological ages and creatures that have roamed the Earth. 

Lark Quarry

Theropod footprint (the big three toed one)...

Our next stage was probably the one we were looking forward to most: Lark Quarry.  This was a bit more of a drive being 110km South of Winton, on a mix of tarmac and dirt road. Why were we so happy to be here? This was where we got to see the only known example in the WORLD of a dinosaur stampede and quite frankly was one of the most impressive things we have seen to date. The tour guide Dr Stephen Porpat, seamlessly and enthusiastically took you back to 95 million years ago explaining and justifying the current interpretation of the site.

... and for the bigger scale there are over 3300 individual footprints on the exposed rock surface. Pretty cool!

Part two of our trail was in Richmond…

Richmond’s caravan park here was like a 5 star hotel luxury in comparison to Winton due to the $6 million water purification plant and recent renovation of the caravan park. If you camp in the third unpowered campsite you can have stunning views of Lake Fred Tritton. Richmond is a lovely little town and the Moonrock bakery in the information centre/Kronosaurus Korner was a winner.

Kronosaurus Korner

This was the real highlight of Richmond and allowed us to see some truly amazing prehistoric sea life discoveries from around the Richmond area. We tried our hand at fossicking for fossils at the two sites north of Richmond but unfortunately no major discoveries were made this time, just a shark tooth (we think) but we WILL be back.

Kronosaurus Korner you are met by this beast...

...and here is the star of the show the Pliosaur skeleton that almost 100% complete...

...in the mix is also a dinosaur displayed in the museum that is similar to an Ankylosaurus but without the clubbed tail.

Then we both had to get photographed with our favourite types of dinosaur...

...considering the location it is amazing what the curators have done to put Australian dinosaur country on the map at all the sites we visited.

Not to mention your own chance to help them work out what is beneath the surface at the two fossicking sites north of Richmond and are well worth a go!

The final two stops on the dinosaur trail were in Hughenden and Muttaburra….

Flinders Discovery Centre in Hughenden.

One of the highlights was the life-size replica of the Muttaburrasaurus skeleton but there is so much more...

Muttaburra

...and here is the home of the Muttaburrasaurus! The attention to detail is excellent munching on vegetation in its native environment courtesy of the cycads.

For $55 with the Australian Dinosaur Extended Pass you get to see some World class exhibits and it is well worth the money. People don’t often realise how hard it is to get funding for this kind of research, to keep places running and to unlock more information for this science to progress. All the places we visited were not for profit organisations, solely relying on the public to keep these amazing sites open.