Queensland flooding

After five years of extreme drought, Queensland is now in a different position: 1.000.000 sqKm (three quarters of the country) is flooded. And it is not over yet. Although we are not threatened ourselves, we are definitly affected by it: We are trapped in Windorah. The little map that I made, might explain. In order to leave Windorah we have to go east via Quilpie to Charleville, and then South. North is no option because the situation in the Longreach-area is blocked by the Coopers Creek. That same Coopers Creek is going to block us to leave Windorah to the West later this week. Leaving Windorah to the West is no option because that is where the world ends: The Simpson Desert (50+ degrees, no bitumen roads, next place for water and diesel in Birdsville, 400km west). So our hope is that the situation in  and around Charleville improves quickly (Charleville is totally flooded now, we cannot pass the Paroo and Warrego rivers at 3 and 4 yet), before the Cooper blocks us from leaving Windorah at the end of the week at 1). We just wait and see. We will not have any problem in town here, we just cannot leave.

Under the shade of...

.....under the shade of a coolibah tree. Most people, and all Australians,
know the song Walzing Matilda. The unofficial Australian hymne. "Once a
jolly swagman camped at the billabong, under the shade of a coolibah tree".
We had a naturedrive yesterday around Windorah and there she was: the
coolibah tree. Beautiful nature, creeks, river and we had a nice picnic out
there. Later, the flooded Cooper Creek prevented us from driving on, so we
had to turn around and come back. In the evening we had dinner in the hotel:
rumpsteak aussie size. Bloody hell. Today we are going to have a drive to
the red sanddunes and Andy is propably going to take me out fishing. Will be
fun !

Tanbar Station

Thursdaymorning we left Quilpy (Quilpy is where the railway ends) and we
arrived safely in Windorah in the afternoon. An impressive drive through the
Queensland outback. Fridaymorning we left the caravan behind at the hotel in
Windorah and headed for Tanbar Station. 60 km out of Windorah the bitumen
ends too, and from there its dirt-road to Tanbar. The Cooper Creek was just
passable with the 4WD in the morning. THATS a nice experience for this
bloody Dutchie. Tanbar is impressive: 90.000 sqKm (Km2), 1.5 times the size
of Holland. Producing 500,000 heads of cattle last year (voor de
nederlanders: 500.000 koeien die per roadtrain zijn afgevoerd voor de
slacht). Tanbar is owned by ONE lady who owns 7 more stations. She bought
this one for 50 Million Aussie dollars. BIG business. In the afternoon we
returned to Windorah. We will stay here some days, using the hotels wireless
internetconnection, because our mobile one does not work here.

Charleville

A day in Charleville. While the owl was watching me from the tree just above
us, we prepared for the trip to Quilpy and Windorah. The information that we
got is, that the roads out there are free. A lot of water is coming down
from the north into the Cooper- and Bulloo river. But at the moment: no
flooding of the roads towards Windorah. So tomorrowmorning we will head
towards Quilpy, stay the night over there, and check again weather the roads
are clear. We set ourselves up with enhough supplies to fight the flies,
mozzies (mosquitos) an especially the sandflies. Charleville is an outback
town beiing one of the eight RFDS (Royal Flying Doctors Service) bases in
Queensland. It also has a nice old hotel: Hotel Corones. Hotel Corones was
built by Harry (Poppa) Corones, the first Greek who got a licence to run a
hotel in Australia.

Chinchilla - Amby

We stayed at the Chinchilla-weir (dutch: meer) at a beautiful bush-camp area. Free electricity again, but shocking toilets. The diehards can sit down and watch the spiders crawl all over. Not me !! But the camp area compensates everything. A beautiful lake, rainy weather on friday, but a nice sunny day on saturday. Also nice fellow-campers who joined for a happy hour on saturdayevening.

Our caravanwheel problem is solved by the local tyre-repair service. Mike from "Beaurepairs" in Chinchilla ordered the thingy on fridayafternoon, saturdaymorning it arrived from the Coromal-dealer at the Goldcoast. Thats Service ! Thanks Mike. The wheelproblem being solved, we decided to travel on sundaymorning. From Chinchilla, via Roma to Amby. In Amby we pulled over at the first Outback pub that we passed: The Amby Hotel. They serve a cold beer, and "the bloody best, cheapest, in town, burgers, that is" Camping ist free again, just pay $ 5,- for electricity (aircon in the caravan full speed; 30 degrees outside). Hot showers/bath are included in the service. And they are CLEAN. We will have a nice dinner here tonight, a drink, and we will travel to Charleville tomorrow.

Finally on our way.

Thursdaymorning, 2 January 2008, everything packed, the house clean, we are
on our way out west. We headed towards Eidsvold and from there to
Mundubbera. When we left we discovered that the wheelnuts on the caravan
have a non-standard size. We dont have a fitting key for them. So whenever
we get a flat tyre, we won't be able to get the wheels off. TROUBLE !! We
stopped at every garage/hardwarestore/tyrerepair on our way to get the right
key. No success. So we had to call the Coromal dealer and he will send one
to the Chinchilla post office. We will wait there till monday to pick it up.
In the meantime we pulled over after a quiet drive in Mundubbera, at a
restarea called "The black stump". A restarea is just what it says: a
parkingarea next to the road where you can park your caravan and rest. There
is one major difference to the dutch "parkeerplaatsen" : this one has a free
gas bbq; 230V powerconnection; toilet, water and a magnificent view over the
countryside.
We will stay here overnight and travel on tomorrow in the direction of
Chinchilla.