A beautiful clear blue sky again this morning and Helen took advantage and did a load of washing at the park laundry. We had been interested to visit here as the ACC Southern Nomads held a muster here last year and the reports had been glowing. We found the reports well justified. After laundry and then morning tea, we took a town walk, along the banks of the Bulloo River. A wide muddy slow moving river with great picnic spots but the country is very dry, the comparison quite stark. Carrying on with our walk, we were surprised to find that the river was now, just a couple of disconnected pools and were reminded that’s mostly what outback rivers are in dry times.
After reaching the spot where, long ago, Cobb & Co coaches crossed the river, we returned through the main street to the caravan park. This took us past Leahy House, a restored original mud brick cottage, once owned by Sir Sydney Kidman. The cottage is open 24 hrs, 7 days a week, you just open the front door and enter. Apparently no problems with vandalism in Thargomindah. Back at the park, it was lunch and get the washing in.
After lunch, we made a visit to the Information Centre. This old building was originally the local hospital. Now it’s a combination information centre and museum, the museum part is all about the hospital but outside, a display of old machinery. This building, also mud brick will be closed soon as museum and information move into brand new premises in the main street. Town council is already planning renovations and future use ideas. The hospital was closed in 1976 and the town is now serviced twice weekly by the Flying Doctor service.
I think the highlight of the visit, was a visit to the old Hydro Power Plant, closed down now as the town is now “on the grid”. The story goes that Thargomindah was the third town in the world to have electric street lights, after Paris and London! The Power Plant was driven by Artesian Basin water which reaches the surface at high pressure and high temperature. The water was connected to a generator and even had a system where the pressure could be regulated according to power demand!
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| High Pressure at 85º |
The bore is still uncapped and the flow of water now services the cattle at a nearby station. Plans are being made to cap the bore as part of a national scheme to cap bores which are all very wasteful and lose much of the flow just to evaporation.
Day 14—Monday, 8th July
The plan today, is to drive to Quilpie and this will include a thirty kilometre section of gravel. The first thirty kay though is beautiful almost brand new, wide tarmac. Lots of roads in the state are being rebuilt after big wets. Enjoyed it while it lasted.
Once the gravel was behind us, the sealed road varied between single lane with stretches of double lane width, with lots of floodways and cattle grids.
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| Good Gravel to Toompine |
About halfway between Thargomindah and Quilpie is a Pub with no town at Toompine. We just had to visit and ended up with home made pie and chips with the beer. Ginger beer for Helen. While enjoying our lunch, another tradie type guy arrived and ordered same. That was the lunch hour rush. There are powered caravan sites alongside the Pub, free! I guess the catch is the expectation that you dine at the Pub. Unconfirmed.
Arriving at Quilpie, we headed just out of town to Lake Houdraman and set up at the lakesde. The Lake was quite well attended by about a dozen or so campers. Here, we particularly missed the use of the inverter and we soon ran out of power on the laptop, which probably needs a new battery. Helen’s iPad held it’s charge and the phones too. No problem.
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| Camped at Lake Houdraman |
Day 15—Tuesday, 9th July
After breakfast we made the seven kilometer drive into own and fueled up. Still no LPG in these parts. A quiet little town and a visit to the Info Centre was rewarded with a walk through it’s history thanks to a very well put together display in the attached museum. A visit to St Finbarrs church to view the boulder opal alter.
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| St Finbarrs at Quilpie |
Along the way towards Windorah, at a rest area stop for a sandwich and cuppa, we bumped into a Kennedy neighbour, from Jeetho, Mick Connelly. Had a chat and wondered at how small a world we live in??
We’re heading for a campsite at the Cooper Creek crossing about twelve kilometers before Windorah, arriving a bit late but easily found a spot with plenty of separation. As we took a walk along the creek, we saw nice Yellow Belly being reeled in by other campers. Guess who didn’t bring the rods?
As our gadget batteries were either dead or nearly so, we decided to give the new Honda gennie a go and get everything charged up. Too easy and while on things new, got the Baby Q out and plugged into the gas bayonet. The snags were great, so the night of firsts was declared a success.
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