Back into the lonely vastness

29.09. – 31.10.2024

After almost four weeks, we left the Walkamin Caravan Park and with it the Atherton Tablelands. However, we still made a couple of short visits to the surrounding rainforest.

By the way, there is an aboriginal legend surrounding the Babinda Boulders rapids, according to which a spurned young woman drowned herself in them and has been trying to bring her lover back ever since. Perhaps this is why bathing here has already cost the lives of at least 21 people.

On the way, we stopped at ‘The Golden Gumboot’ in Tully. The height of this sculpture is 7.9 metres, representing the total rainfall in the town’s record rainfall year.

After arriving at the Minerva Hills National Park, we enjoyed a short hike and the view over part of the Great Dividing Range, the mountain range that stretches along the entire east coast of Australia.

The following days we travelled to two national parks in the middle of the Queensland outback. The first was Idalia National Park. On the way there, we ‘stumbled’ across ‘The Black Stump’ in the village of Blackall. Everything to the west of this tree stump was simply referred to as ‘behind the black stump’, as this is where the uninhabited interior began. To explain, when surveying the country in the 19th century, tree trunks were often used as stationing points for the surveying equipment, as they were solid and stable.

Next it was time to head to Welford National Park. There wasn’t really anything to hike, but there were a few scenic ‘drives’ through red sand and mulga bushland. Mulga trees are an endemic acacia species that can be found on almost the entire continent.

The route took us further and further south over the next few days. Fortunately, there were one or two small highlights along the way in the form of animals or, as in the village of Eulo, primeval history. For example, we were able to see the bronze statue of a Diprotodon Optatum. This is the largest known marsupial that has ever lived and whose modern-day relatives are the wombat and koala. An almost complete skeleton of this animal was discovered near Eulo, making this realistic depiction and new scientific findings possible.

We had now reached the state of New South Wales and finally had another opportunity for a short mountain climb. From the summit of Mount Gunderbooka, which is around 500 metres high, our gaze was once again lost in the seemingly endless expanse of the Australian continent.

A tyre change (before breakfast 🙁 ) stopped us only briefly as we were on our way to the Mount Grenfell Historic Site. Once there, we enjoyed the easy hike up Mount Grenfell and the rock carvings of the local aborigines.

Contrary to our original plan to head straight for the next national park, we now drove to the town of Broken Hill, as we first had to get a new tyre. Unfortunately, the region was largely out of action due to a major power cut, so we couldn’t set off on our search until the following morning. Fully equipped again (fuel canister filled, supplies topped up and spare tyre intact), we then set off for three nights in Mutawintji National Park.

At the end of this article, a little celebrity from the small town of Peterborough, where we are currently staying. Bob, the railway dog, travelled around southern Australia by train for over 13 years at the end of the 19th century and became part of the folklore of Australian railway history.

See you soon.