Camping at Cooper creek-Windorah-the place of the big fish.

This has been a most idyllic campsite on the banks of the Cooper Creek, renowned for fishing.  Silver perch inhabit the creek which continues to flow as a result of the 2010 Queensland floods. Over the 6 days we camped here the creek went down about 8 inches.

Murray caught 2 fish and 1 turtle-turtles are everywhere and unfortunately they are attracted to the prawn bait. It is most upsetting to catch one-and Murray was able to extract the hook and it swam away, but that was the end of fishing for the day.

It is a pity that you will get greedy fisher people. One day 2 vehicles with grey nomads arrived and I got chatting to them and the men asked where the fishing spots were-I showed them-well after that they came every day and fished all day taking away over 12 fish each, each day – more than they needed. We and 2 other fellow campers caught what we needed for a feed each day.  Interesting, that at any time of the day fish could be caught.

The bird life here was abundant-eagles, cormorants, herons, egrets, pelicans. Each afternoon the cormorants spread their black wings out to the afternoon sun- legend has it that are showing us how big the fish are that they caught. They do make a racket at night though. There are also green parrots, small finches and ferral cats-we saw a huge one with a long thick bushie tail. Turtles also sunbathe on the river banks.

A trip into the township of Windorah to visit the local sights, well not much a population of 60, Windorah boasts a post office, information centre, a library of 2 shelves, a museum, a garage-the owner is blind but can change a tyre in a matter of minutes, a general store and the pub/liquor store. This town is a popular stop for fuel before you start the Birdsville track.

One morning we were woken to the sounds of screaming-over 60 people and 35 4WD’s were on the one lane bridge having their photo taken-they were part of the Desert Duel team-led by Belinda Green-Miss World in the 1960’s. People pay $2800 for a 10 day trip across country. Apart from the road trains-the longest are 3 stock trailers; very little traffic comes over the bridge.

This will probably be the last time we can camp close to the river/creek as the closer we go north the more likely good of ‘spotting’ crocodiles!

Opalling @ 27 58 01 S, 144 37 59E

The population of this settlement is 100, 150 houses, a school with 2 students, a general store, a library, a weekly market – we bought a pumpkin for $2! The Flying doctor comes in every Friday for a clinic. Fuel is delivered each week.

Here we are – trying our luck at opal digging. We are learning the hard way and that is not to wear jandals out to the opal fields. The double gees – very prickly thorns stick to your footwear and ‘wear’ themselves through your jandals. Mine are now ruined.

Not having much luck – honestly we had no idea what we were looking for-nuts, hard stones-yes, well, we did find some stones to bash with the hammer and Murray found some sparkly stones.

Basic equipment is a long handled pick, a spray bottle of water, a sieve and a spade.

Carol and Wally from Clunes showed us how opalling is done. They have been coming here for 8 years!

Carol is also a very accomplished needlework woman as can be seen by her ‘craft bag’.

We are not in the caravan park, consequently the toilets are very basic and we share with the local wildlife.

The other noticeable aspect of this country is the acidic/chemical smell in the air coming from the Gidgee tree. Bright yellow flowers abound. We picked up this smell south of Bourke-small wafts-at first we thought it was the result of the floods, or the cattle. But no, this tree is rife in Central Queensland and the smell is worse after rain. Many asthmatics do not tolerate the smell.

Gulliania Flower

Bourke Library

Superman Writes...

Today Brenda took me to visit this library. Yesterday when we drove past-I couldn’t see any of the lovely displays because it was boarded up with white roller doors. But today, I saw the very hungry caterpillar hanging from the ceiling. There were lots of books to read, for all ages. At the front desk were magazines-heaps and all in very good condition.

Here is a picture of me outside the library.