Category: Qld & Cape York

Morning coffee on way further north we stopped and saw this beautiful bird (Alexandrine) as a bonus.

Departed Emerald for Mackay after finally getting the 12v fridge issue resolved (and the rain stopped). What was going to be an overnighter ended up being 8 day stay. A longer journey than usual travelling 430 kms with little sign of recent flooding.

Unbelievable, 2 days without rain so we traveled south 25kms for the morning. The Fairbairn Dam is an earth-filled embankment dam across the Nogoa River, located southwest of Emerald in Central Queensland, Australia. Constructed in 1972 for the primary purpose of irrigation, the impoundment created by the dam serves as one of the major potable water supplies for the region and assists with some flood mitigation. The lake, despite heavy rain falling in it’s catchment, is now only at 21% capacity.

Rubyvale, is approximately 61 kms west of Emerald. Sapphires are mined extensively in the area. The mine tour was interesting.

At the rear of the Emerald Visitor Centre is the world’s largest Van Gogh Sunflower painting. The painting celebrates the Central Highland’s past as a major sunflower producer.

Our travel options are very limited, so we will stay put in Emerald.

Only planned to stay one night but with forecast heavy rain and possible flooding we will stay in Emerald until the weather improves.

Third time lucky, our 2 earlier attempts were aborted due to health issues. This time the weather was not in our favour with heavy rain forecast for at least 2 of the 4 days we had planned for the gorge adventure. Making the most of our time we arrived as early as possible and started the “big walk” at midday. God’s creativity was on full display… constant variety of bird calls; many palm trees; long grass; creek crossings & yes, I (not Jennifer) lost my balance and had to “jump” into the creek… fortunately remaining upright but ending up with very wet shoes and socks!); major points of interest were the Moss Gardens and the Amphitheatre during the 15km grade 3 walk. The video does not do justice to the natural beauty but you do get to see me lose my balance walking across the creek!

Overnight stop at Possum Park, Injune Racecourse on the way to Carnarvon Gorge. Power & water for $20 ($10 if not needed), pretty good when caravan parks charge much more. Really only needed power due to the ongoing fridge problem and lack of solar production due to overcast/dull weather.

Ivan, Possum Park caretaker feeding the birds. He was also pretty handy with leather goods craft. Jennifer bought a leather belt and purse and had an old, but much loved belt shortened!

Planned overnighter, but following cancellation of a farm stay due to muddy road conditions, we decided to stay another night to explore the local sights… but not much to do in Chinchilla though, particularly when it’s raining.