Category Archives: Queensland

Termite mounds in the outback

Termite mounds are quite common in the outback, but not ubiquitous. You can drive for 100 km with them everywhere and then another 100 with none. At one of the rest areas, I saw how they formed.

The termite mound starts on a piece of grass
The termite mound starts on a piece of grass

At this place I saw them form on blades of grass. They also form on boulders, street signs and metal posts. Oddly, they never seem to form on dead wood.

From the simple beginnings, they seem to grow organically.

SmallTermiteMounds

Farewell to Queensland

We said farewell to Queensland last week and crossed the border into Northern Territory near Camoonweal. This town is famous for its location and had the highest diesel prices we had seen to date.

LeavingQueensland2

Just over the border we pulled into a rest stop for the evening. So did everyone else!

Free camping NT style is done at a rest area. There is lots of company!
Free camping NT style is done at a rest area. There is lots of company!

Mount Isa

Mount Isa is an astonishing place. It is deep in the arid outback. Despite the signs warning that you are close, there are no other indications until you see the mine stacks. As you come over a ridge you see the town, but it is dwarfed by the mine of the far side of the Leichhardt River.

Leichhardt river with a view to the mine
Leichhardt river with a view to the mine

The Leichhardt River itself was mostly dry. Dog and I had many pleasant walks along it. But despite our efforts, we could get no closer to it.

There was some water in the river
There was some water in the river

There are many interesting things to do in Mt Isa, but we all had run out of steam by then, so mostly did housework and arrange some repairs. In the end, the ubiquitous dust (and lead {Pb} warnings) drove us on.

Freecamping outside of Winton

After viewing the dinosaurs, we free camped to the north of the town of Winton. It was a very barren area with climbable jump ups. Interestingly, it had rained recently as there were rivulet marks in the dust, and the smaller rocks were aligned along them.

A jump up to climb near Winton
A jump up to climb near Winton
Yes, that is me!
Yes, that is me!
View back to the rest area
View back to the rest area

Winton – A place I shall return to

After leaving Longreach, we drove towards Mt Isa, which took us through Winton. I had seen on a tourist brochure that Winton was the dinosaur capital of Australia, and being into prehistoric reptiles myself, I thought I might visit.

FossilsOfWinton1

Winton is proud to host three unique species of dinosaur – a raptor called Banjo (shown above) and two sauropods called Matilda and Elliot. However, the labratory at Winton (on a jump-up off the highway) has a ten year backlog of excavated bone waiting to be cleaned up. All the digging and cleaning is done by trained volunteers. The digging is done for only three weeks of the year – that is enough to refill the backlog. The guide said that the bones were everywhere.

The cleaning was being done in the lab as we toured. There were eight cleaners sitting with large magnifying glasses and using what looked like dentist drills to remove the rock from the fossils. The guide said they were closer to jackhammers.

I chatted to one of the volunteers who was a bit older than me and was proudly describing a fossil he and an 81 year old colleague and found earlier. (It was the size a large eski.)

A ten year backlog of fossils to clean up
A ten year backlog of fossils to clean up

A volunteer needs a few hours training and ten days support to be fully trained. Thereafter they can return as often as they wish. This is what I want to do. I shall return!

Before the dinosaurs there was a shallow sea at Winton
Before the dinosaurs there was a shallow sea at Winton

Interestingly, underneath the dinosaur fossils are a bed of marine fossils – there was an inland sea at Winton. From these beds, there were beautiful fossils of crabs, crayfish, mussels and the ubiquitous nautilius.