26 CAMOOWEAL,BOULIA,LILLYVALE HILLS, WINTON QUEENSLAND

[Music] [Music] this road was bad 10 years ago and it has not improved we're still in the Northern Territory and that's probably why this road is so bad because we're a long way from Darwin in fact we're 1105 kilometers from Darwin and that's probably why this road is so bad it's actually no man's land we think [Music] it's as flat as a billboard where 43 K's before we reach the border of Queensland so it's nearly Cheerio Northern Territory as Robert says it's like the hay Plains you can see vehicles four kilometers ahead these little white bubbles just all move across the countryside so slowly there's a few trees and I think it's a creek or is it a flood way just to fly away and a creek of course there are five k's off the border of Queensland and Northern Territory and not a scary of shade the worst piece of road and two very wild wide vehicles and this is the Border and it's welcome to Queensland and there you have it the border of the Northern Territory and Queensland camel wheel is 13 and bound eyes are 202. we're coming in to camera wheel now crossing the Georgina River it must be some River when the water flows and 310 people live here and this is the main street of camo wheel bumpy road here Robert remembers pulling up here last time we were here he has his hand on the Hitching Rail outside the museum at camo wheel this would have to be one of the oldest buildings in the town and quite historic [Music] we're about 50k out of Mount Isa and since we left the border the Prairie country has gone and it's sort of tall trees down to short trees read us changing to Sandy Canada it's Sunday today but we have a lot of trucks coming towards us all hitting for Darwin from that last cutting we're a rather major road came in there's a lot of mud on this side of the road rest stops here for trucks and cars are very frequent more so than the very long stretches in the Northern Territory these Road cuttings the Earth is very red there's a lot of ant hills on the side of the road just here [Music] on this road we have to be on the lookout for cattle Kangaroos and pigs big black pigs we are 40 K's out from Mount Isa and it looks as if we have to wander our way through these ranges which will be no hardship and since we have left camera wheel it's to be noted that all water from here flows South to Lake air [Music] this is a lot nicer than those straight straight roads that we've been experiencing for days well this is a lovely change [Music] as we drive into Mount Isa we can see the lines at the edge of town at work yesterday we left the Barclay Homestead Roadhouse and just spent the day in the car driving over fairly ordinary country into Queensland and mount Isa another map and we arrived here just as their Rodeo was ending from Mount Isa the railway line just goes straight across here to Townsville we're going to spend a while in Mount Isa and then head down to boulia here and learn about the Min Min lights and then head out here on the development road to Winton we're at the mount Isa look out in the center of town and we're looking now at the mount Isa mine very dominating feature in the skyline there's more Minds when you look out to the South and there are at least nine minerals that they mine for here in Mount Isa looking towards the hospital and there was an underground Hospital built here in World War II which is now open for the tourists to look through they were very worried about the invasion from the north it's a big Cosmopolitan center now and you can easily get lost if you're a newcomer like us because there's lots of gutters for when it rains and Creeks running through the town and so the streets go around the creeks that's looking towards Townsville and the railway line was built especially to carry the minerals from here to Townsville by rail back in the 20s and over there is the house on the hill and that's all it is a house on the hill a privately owned privately built but near there is a cross where all faiths meet for special occasions and they say the cross watches over the people in the mines working deep underground and in the middle of the town is the hard times mine a bit like Bendigo it's now a tourist attraction only [Music] we came in from the north West last night from camera wheel one day too late to be part of the mount Isa Rodeo they said it was a marvelous event and always is and that's the race course down there much is always spoken about the mount Isa rodeo and the place has been booked out and still is and we were lucky to get two nights at a caravan Park here this would be one big event if they needed 600 cattle to run the kananara rodeo and I think it's 6.4 cattle per person and from Nara they bring them in from one station but here they'd have to bring them all in from different stations and there's the local lady at camanara was telling me you don't get an even blend when you bring them in from different stations but that's how it would have to work here what a power of organization and what a big clean up day as that is what's happening down there now and one lady here said no no dust all very clean good [Music] this is Mount Isa mines lit up at night [Music] we've spent night 77 and 76 at Mount Isa a rest day wash day and a look around today we're heading off down the birdsville track it's sealed road to boulia and then sealed road back into winter we're only a few k's out of Mount Isa on my left road to boulia these are the ranges on the south of Mount Isa it's a very pretty drive this morning we've only come a few k's foreign [Music] never never country now [Music] you have 280k to go to bullia this is a bit different to anything that we've traveled on since we've left home [Music] no fences no nothing getting to be very red soil here [Music] look at the redness of this soil there's lots of floodways on this road [Music] well it looks as if we're coming down onto a plateau there's many white ships like US Sailing this ocean [Music] it's very flat and open here the countryside has changed again [Music] we've been watching the dust of this road train coming to this intersection now for some time there's actually two trucks [Music] we've seen no one for a long time and all of a sudden this little bit of traffic think the aridness of this country is because of years of drought but we're not sure certainly very barren about every 5K they widen the road to allow passing and they say over taking opportunity ahead we're coming in to jump up country [Music] we're certainly traveling through a variety of country it's very moonscape out here and we've met someone else coming towards us wow it's 30 degrees outside we're about 20K from dejara [Music] oh [Music] we still have 160 to go to amulya [Music] this is our first truck yeah we are just driving into dejara it's a totally indigenous town and everything looks very neat and orderly this is the road house at dejara and there's two trucks Curly's tracks we've seen them right along all the highways and they're just checking their loads kettle on we think of course and we have stopped for lunch likewise so have others [Music] we're just taking a drive around the Jara [Music] well there is not much around janara can we use the word leak particularly around here we've just stopped to take this picture the first time we've seen cattle since we've left Mount Isa uh tracking cattle out at the moment but we've also seen two empty trucks these trucks traveling pairs [Music] [Music] we're coming down into another flat area although it's being flat all the way but this will be flatter [Music] we have stopped for a moment and this is the type of country that we're traveling through [Music] how would you like that to be your mailbox [Music] [Music] this is amazing we're about 10 K's out of boulia and this is what we're traveling through [Music] and this is looking at Robert's side foreign [Music] [Music] yesterday we left Mount Isa and traveled down here to bullia and it's a very Outback Road and we met road trains and we had to get off but the quality of the strip of road was quite good and on the whole we felt that we were out back and uh way way from civilization we have a strong wind at bullia this morning and it's quite chilly this is looking down the main street of bulia and where all those cars apart is where you go in and learn about the MIM Min lights it's spooky it's quite a well-kipped town but the Outlook of these houses is over here and here is Australia Post in boulia all the town stores present themselves well and they are presenting the story of the Min Min lights well yeah certainly tries to present itself well the pink building on the left is the hotel and this is where we learned about the Min Min lights and these are the directions to leave this town even the town High tank presents the story of the town as does the lower water tank and now we're going for a wander through their Stone Cottage many fossils have been found in this area and they're being well preserved in this shed at ulia foreign of some sort of fish [Music] and you can see the teeth [Music] and this is the size they think they were dolphin like marine reptiles and you can see on the pink part of the map is the Simpson desert and then boulia is up the top here it is all very interesting and all of that is the lake air basin [Music] and this is a good example of how the weatherboard houses were built to go in reverse to down south this is Howard's Cottage and uh we think they're built this way because you only need one lining the outside and the inside all in one and this is an example of an early medical ward in a hospital in this area wow we remember the dental chair where they pedal the like a bicycle for a drill and these buildings inside still had weatherboards [Music] no more fuel for another 340k 360 360s this is the Burke river at dulia but it's a pretty bad sight they've been in drought for 10 years the towns people get their water from underground now on the Kennedy Highway this is the tail end of the boulia golf course not a blade of grass nothing one could only describe the area as desolate [Music] I think we think that this is probably just the start of seeing very severe drought conditions suffered by these people the lady at the Stone Cottage told us that they're shifting any cattle from here to greener pastures up north that's why we have been seeing the cattle trains the lady also told us that where it looks very Barren the cattle turn the Rocks over and eat the Moss underneath the Rocks there are so many of these white chicks sailing these roads we are just a few caves out of wood 350 to wintermen we're on the Kennedy Highway [Music] and here's another white ship it's a very strong wind out there Robert's driving with an extremely strong crosswind [Music] this is just going on for miles and miles and miles [Music] sadly the most exciting thing to photograph out here going across a cattle grid they give many opportunities to pass here and notarists are taking advantage of that this would have to be the bleakest part of our trip we are due to pull over for lunch but not a tree in sight they tell us there's a shady spot for lunch in five kilometers we're approaching the historic Hamilton Hotel Site might be a Shady Tree [Music] we're driving now through jump up country [Music] laughs [Music] foreign [Music] the only other place to see jump ups like this is in Mexico [Music] so it's Australia and Mexico very unique [Music] thank you [Music] [Music] foreign foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] we're back on the open road again but it looks a little bit more ground coverage here we are driving over the bed of an inland sea when the dinosaurs roamed this Earth and the flat tops of the jump ups over there were the Crusty bits that were sticking out above the sea [Music]

Channel: Travel with GJ and Pa

Views: 2,502

Keywords: CAMOOWEAL, BOULIA, LILLYVALE HILLS, WINTON, QUEENSLAND DINASOURS, MIN MIN LIGHTS, TRAVEL, OZ OUTBACK, GREY NOMADS, ROAD TRIP, BIG LAP

Id: Xx37RYIibdo

Length: 30min 30sec (1830 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 11 2023