BOURKE – CUNNAMULLA – THARGOMINDAH

BOURKE (CONT’D)

Before leaving Bourke, we took a drive out to Mount Oxley, named by Charles Sturt in 1828 after the explorer who didn’t quite make it that far.  From the top there are 360 degree views of the surrounding plains.  Sturt thought the area was “unlikely to become the haunt of civilized man”.  I wonder whether he got that right, or not.



Back of Bourke Exhibition Centre





Next morning (Tuesday, 22^nd May) we took the Mitchell Highway north towards Queensland.  We stopped for coffee at a place near the border called Barringun, which consists of an old pub and two trees.  I sent an SMS to Christine in San Francisco and got a reply back in about 30 seconds.  Amazing!   From the middle of nowhere to halfway round the world and back in a few seconds, or, more accurately, even further than that - out to space and back.

CUNNAMULLA

The Warrego River is still well up its banks:

 For a small town they’ve done a very good job with their museum and Information Centre.  An excellent DVD explained the formation and operation of the Great Artesian Basin.  There is much concern that water is being taken out faster than the system can replace it, so a program is underway of capping bores and sending water through pipes rather than open ditches.  And of course, don’t mention coal seam gas drilling to people who are dependent upon the GAB (as they call it) for their water!

THARGOMINDAH

A couple of hundred kilometres west of Cunnamulla, through Eulo on the Paroo, last of the ‘free flowing’ rivers in Queensland, is the town of Thargomindah, last town on this road before the South Australian border about 290k away.  Thargomindah – known locally as Thargo – was the third place in the world, after London and Paris, to have electric street lighting.  An enterprising local used water pressure from the bore to drive a turbine to generate electricity, thus also staking a claim to be the first town in Australia to make use of hydro electric power.  A problem was that all the water was needed to generate electricity, so when the lights came on, the water went off. 

Water has been gushing out of this bore since 1893 and it will continue to flow for at least another couple of years until they conquer all the problems associated with delivering water at a usable temperature from the new bore;  it comes out of the ground at 84 degrees centigrade.  The water tastes alright if you hold your nose while you drink.  It’s extraordinary to realise how recent is the concept that resources are finite.

 

It might be a cliché, but it really is big sky country out here.  The plains seem endless and the sky vast.

There is a very pleasant walk beside the currently flowing Bulloo River, lined with river gums.  The bush is in bloom -  eucalypts and acacias – and again, birds are in great profusion and variety, a greater variety here, including pelicans, than we’ve seen before.



Bulloo River at Thargomindah





Old Cobb& Co crossing of Bulloo River



Unfortunately, Currawinya National Park is closed for a few days for "baiting and shooting" of feral pigs.  We were heartened to hear that many station owners let the goats breed up, then they muster and sell them.  They hit upon this strategy during the drought when their properties were devoid of any other stock.

Tomorrow we’re off to the Dig Tree and Innamincka.  I’ve booked a motel room (last one available) for the next two nights as it’s decided to rain out here and a cold front is coming through.  We’re leaving the caravan behind as there’s some unmade, corrugated road on the SA side of the border.

Most sites and cabins at this park are occupied.  Cunnamulla caravan park was chock-a-block. Innamincka is booked out.  I checked the weather and roads on the internet this morning.  A woman two caravans up also checked the weather on her iPad and the fellow camped behind us was tapping away on his iPad this afternoon.  Plus, we’re all carrying smart phones.  I wonder where the outback is?