Total Isolation = Total Bliss

What a beautiful place!

And so isolated, we were the only ones there. Wow. I forgot how amazing the outback is.

This is a dam that was built to service a gold mine that has been closed for the last 10 years. One of the good things about all the mine work in North Queensland (apart from the healthy economy) is the infrastructure they provide. There's a lot of environmental restrictions now (thank god, you only have to see the destruction in other countries that don't have these limits to understand why they're in place) so the environmental footprint is relatively minimal, or as much as it can be from mining, and we get these amazing dams and roads to places that would normally be inaccessible, even by 4WD. My little 22 year old Mazda 323 would make it up here! I want to take a vehicle with plenty of extra room in it next time, there was all this amazing pink granite & quartz up there. All I could see was a sea of granite bench tops & the most beautiful garden edging imaginable. It'd probably cost me more to cart it home that to buy it in town but I don’t care, the effort makes it more valuable.

The location is only known to people who have been in the area for work & the local cattle station owners. It's been a known fishing spot for the locals for a long time, so much so that someone has built a hut there with just a roof & 2 sides, looking down to the river, absolute bliss. Anyone can use it, as long as it is left in the same condition that it is found. The station owners have even provided a compost toilet along the track, although I reckon that this has something to do with people not burying their poos properly & "bits" getting washed down the creek, which goes past the station house. Yes, up here when you go outback you have to take a shovel & toilet paper. Once you get used to squatting (I've been camping all my life, it doesn't bother me) you have a great "loo with a view".

Anyway, the fishing was excellent, although most of them got away. We kept getting excited & forgot to net the fish before they got away. Clever little buggers. Lots of bites, but there must be lots of food in there, they didn't bother to chase the bait much, just had a taste & moved on. We also took up the crab pots & got lots of yummy redclaw freshwater crayfish. Soaked them in port & honey & cooked them in the cast iron pot over the coals. That was just soooo hard to take! We even brought a heap home & my cousin (Cuz) said that it was a small catch, next time we'll do better. Between the rocks and the crays, I don't know if I can take it!!!

Next time we might take a boat that works. I towed a 14 foot tinnie all the way up there, loaded with grog & fishing gear & as soon as it hit the water it gave us nothing but trouble. I've has lots of experience with these guys and their boats so I never got in it. It DID start, got to the middle of the dam and then stopped. All we could hear was Ugly Gutz yelling "Whore, slut, bitch" etc, trying to row with an oar from a tiny blow up dingy with a cigar hanging out of his mouth. I've never been so proud, go my brother. Hopefully it's not in the genes. He spent the next couple of days mucking around with it and they did actually get it going & got to the other side of the dam (they started rowing first & then tried to start it. And it worked! It's a miracle!!) & put the crab pots in the spot Cuz said was the best, except we actually caught more out of the pots we threw into the creek near the hut. Fish don't stay in one spot, funny that.

We want to go back to this place, but we need to stay for longer, we only just started to get into the groove & then we had to come back. And wasn't that an adventure, the car got a leak in one of the fuel hoses & kept loosing power. Trouble was, it was dark by the time we left, so we couldn't do much without light, and we really were in the middle of nowhere, no phone reception, no houses, nothing. Not even a tarred road, we were still on the dirt. We were starting to think we'd have to camp on the side of the road & wait for a roadtrain to come through & ring the RACQ (our roadside emergency service in Qld) to come & get us. But the old dear just made it over the ranges, after we took the boat off & put it on Cuz's car. I'm not sure why we didn't do that first, pride maybe? She'll be right attitude more like it, typical Aussies. Anyway, the 4 hour trip home turned into 7 ½ hours. Never mind, it's all part of the adventure! The little kids thought it was fun for a while, we kept having to pulling over & the kids got to get out & poke the dead animals on the side of the road with a stick. All children seem to want to do that. Horrible creatures really.

I don't care, I'm going back again. But next time, I take the 22 year old Mazda!