After a good night at Toompine we headed for the Diamantina National Park with a stop at Quilpie for fuel and coffee then an overnight stop at Coopers Creek just east of Windorah. After fuelling up again at Windorah we set off on the long haul into the national park with the road conditions through the stations an unknown. Travel was pretty good and we made good time.
A feature along the way was the large expanse of the treeless plains with not a sight of vegetation apart from a good cover of Mitchell Grass. We needed to be very aware of the wildlife as there were plenty of Kangaroos and Emus who wanted to test their evasive skills - fortunately we were able to avoid them all even though there were a couple of close calls.
We set up camp in Hunters Gorge at about 3:00PM in a temperature of about 34 degrees - there were some weary bodies around the campfire that night!
The following day we spoke to the Rangers about the Warracoota Circuit Drive, which is a feature of the park, only to find that it was still closed after the recent rain and would not open before our scheduled departure - this was a dissapointment as the drive visits many highlites in the park. Following this we set off for Janets Leap Lookout which looks down into the gorge formed between the Goyder and Hamilton Ranges. The river channels all narrow to flow through this gorge before fanning out again and heading towards Birdsville and ultimately Lake Eyre. The views were spectacular.
Elke, Gary and Ken decided to further explore this area and also visit the Gum Hole Camp while Jenny, Schuey and I took to the Winton Road to find the Mayne Hotel Ruins - and they are barely there. The most significant feature that remains is the man made dam that was filled from the flow in the Mayne River.
Given the dissapointment of the closure of the Warracoota Circuit we made the decision to leave a day early and make time for an unplannet stop stopover in Mount Isa. On the way we had an overnight stop at a small community called Dajarra - this was a night to forget, after a pleasant meal and refreshments in the local Pub we were kept awake all night by some very loud music somewhere in the town.
Tomorrow we start on our journey into the Northern Territory.
