Canarvon National Park, Qld.

Not long after leaving Lightning Ridge we crossed into Queensland. They call it “The Sunshine State” and they ain’t kidding. The entire sky was a cloudless blue. The horizon was flat all around us, and the countryside was sparse with a few trees no more than two metres high. Bridges or causeways crossed dry river beds. We passed gateway entrances to properties that must be as big as Tasmania, and their 20 kilometre front driveway disappeared into the distance. Towns announce themselves from 10 kilometres away by displaying a water tank atop a high tower.

The Hebel Hotel, the best in town. The only pub in town. The only social outlet in town.

 The first Queensland town we came across was Hebel, consisting of a pub and a general store. The pub looked like a real outback pub but sadly didn’t open until 1pm (it was now 11am). So we popped into the general store for a morning cuppa. A sign on the door read “This business will no longer operate after Xmas, 2017”. Talk about giving plenty of warning. I asked the guy what the story was, while he made our coffees.

“Are you selling the place because business is too slow?” I asked.

“Quite the opposite”, he said. “This place is too busy, we work 16 hour days, 7 days a week. We’re getting too old for this. We’ve had it on the market for 18 months but no-one wants to buy it. Can’t really blame them, there’s not much attraction to living out here. So we’re gonna have to walk away”.

What a dilemma. You’d have passing customers every day, on one of Australia’s major roads running north-south, particularly truckies, but your social life would consist of plodding over the road to the pub. The next major town to the north is St George, 160 kms away. We drove through St George and set up camp in the bush beside the Balonne River a few k’s further north. It was a superb shady spot, totally quiet and tranquil, with only the birds and the flowing river to be heard. The river had swollen its banks after torrential rains had fallen on the east coast and had fallen on the westward side of the Great Dividing Range. Within an hour another five caravans had pulled into our spot with the same intention of staying the night. It was proof that the free-camping Grey Nomad lifestyle was alive and kicking.

 

Bush camping near St Gorge, southern Queensland.

The next day was Roma for lunch, where we made the decision to go for the Carnarvon National Park for the night – 160kms up the highway and another 50kms in. A new campground called “Sandstone” had caught our eye. “For self-contained camping only (no water or power available) but right in the National Park and only $20 per night” said the website as well as the recorded phone message when we rang. However, we could not find the place and it was 6pm and getting dark when we stopped at the wilderness lodge to enquire. It just so happened that the owner of “Sandstone” was in the lodge, a pleasant lady called Olivia, and she came out to greet us, only to very coyly say “Oh, but we’re not open until the 1^st of May, another three weeks away”.

“Um, that’s not what your website says!”

“Oh, yes, we should change that”.

“And your recorded phone message …?”

Ah, yes, we should get that changed too.”

I felt like wishing her a sarcastic “Good luck with the new business, because you’ll need it if that’s how you handle your publicity”, but there was not much she could do for us. Fortunately there was another camp nearby, “Takarakka Bush Resort”. Unfortunately it was at near capacity because of school holidays and Easter week. Fortunately they had a spot for us. Unfortunately it was $38 a night, unpowered. But it was a pleasant stay, which we extended to two nights to enable us to explore the National Park. We met so many people from all over Australia, many were families with little kiddies that made us fondly remember when we would take our little girls camping. The following day we walked into the Carnarvon Gorge, through thick forest dominated by palm trees that almost glowed green in the blazing sun. Above us towered white rocky cliffs that fell into the valley below, with sheer perpendicular faces decorated with veins of different colours. The further we walked, the closer these cliffs came in around us until we were in their shadow and were walking amongst permanently wet forest with moss and ferns. The extensive birdlife topped off a beautiful experience.

Canarvon Gorge National Park.