Boulia Caravan Park, beside the Burke River, filled to near capacity last night when the participants in the 2CV RAID Australia rally pulled in for the night. At a guess there must have been around 30 vehicles taking part in the RAID, with most carrying two participants. Along with other travellers, it was quite a turnout for a non-school holidays / non-camel cup evening.
After an unexpected exchange of words last night from a late-returning neighbour who complained loudly about insufficient room available for him to depart early in the morning, Chris remained polite (just) and defused the situation by unhitching the Prado from the Tvan. By doing so it gave the complainant more room to manoeuvre this morning; he was up and gone by 6.30am and we never heard anything more from him.
The Citroen vehicles in the RAID started leaving at 7.15am and trickled out from then until just prior to our departure at 9.15am. It wasn’t a long drive for us today so there was little need for us to hurry. On leaving Boulia, it was a short drive along the Kennedy Development Road before we turned off to follow station tracks in a south-easterly direction towards the Diamantina National Park.
It is an understatement to say that this is flat country. We commented that it felt like we were forever driving ever-so-slightly uphill – but being so flat it could possibly be the curvature of the earth playing visual tricks (or maybe we are hallucinating as the day warms up). There were periods when there was nothing to break the 360 degree view – not a hill, tree, bush, cattle – just nothing. In other places, lines of trees followed now-dry creek beds that may still offer some underground moisture for the trees to cling to life with until the next rainfall. The flat plains were criss-crossed by channels that drain towards Lake Eyre (when there is rain about).
Lots of central bearded dragons, about 30cm in length, were out sunning themselves beside the track we were following. All would be startled by our presence, and while every attempt was made to avoid them as they darted onto the track, some were unlucky and didn’t make the other side. Chris also swerved to avoid two snakes that were basking in the warmth of the sun. Both were around 1.5 metres long, and efforts to avoid running over them appeared to be successful. At one stage, about 50 metres ahead a dingo trotted across the track with one eye on us and the other on where it was headed. No doubt it would have experienced farmers who may have taken a few shots at it.
We entered the Diamantina National Park to the east of Springvale Station. The track we had followed since just outside Boulia deteriorated to a single lane track, with only two distinct wheel ruts to follow through otherwise untouched desert country. Hunters Gorge campground was roughly 32 kms from the western entry point to the park. The gorge has been carved by the Diamantina River (on the occasions it actually flows). In all but the worst drought years, there is a relatively permanent presence of water in the gorge. In a good year the water of the Diamantina flows by Birdsville on its way to Lake Eyre.
Our arrival at the campground was just after 12.30pm and, following a quick circuit, we selected a site – with the Tvan’s back to the wind, some shade, and a commanding view over the waters of the Diamantina River where hundreds of pelicans and darters were intent on catching food in the muddy waters. Whistling kites circled overhead, looking for an opportunity to swoop on unsuspecting prey that may have come to the surface of the river.
The heat of the day typically peaks between 2 and 4 pm, then gradually cools as the sun gets lower in the sky before eventually setting. The coolest hours of the night are typically from 5.30 to 6.30am – just before the sun rises. The temperature drops to around 17C overnight before peaking, as it did today, at 36C. We set ourselves up in the shade of the Tvan and a large tree with cool drinks and watched the pelicans hunt en masse by gathering in great numbers upstream, then paddling downstream in formation before diving for a feed when a school of fish were cornered. This technique was applied about once every 45 minutes and continued throughout the day until dusk.
As the day began to cool we made a quick dash up a nearby high rocky outcrop to get more of an aerial perspective on the gorge. We disturbed a kangaroo and a number of settled cockatoos as we made our way to a higher vantage point. The sun was setting on a scene that was in stark contrast to the country we travelled through to get here. We returned to camp as the sun dipped below the horizon; this was the signal for the persistent bush flies to settle for the night which allowed us to enjoy dinner without unwanted guests. A red glow settled over the horizon to the west as the first of the evening stars began to illuminate the night sky. An hour later the Milky Way was stretching across the sky, with seemingly millions and millions of stars shining brightly.
