Another long weekend, another couple of days away from home! This time we forsook the green coastal rainforest environment and headed west into the dry and dusty outback. Around 4.5hrs drive south-west of Cairns is Mt Surprise, and 40kms north of there are the Gemfields. The gemfields are a registered fossicking area, where you can have a scratch around for Topaz. All the land is part of the Mt Surprise Station, but there's a campground near the gemfields so you can stay close without needing to drive right back into Mt Surprise.
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Trev & Kelli were heading out in the new Courier, and were leaving at 6am with friends of their who know the area out there and it's history very well. We elected to sleep in, and headed off by ourselves at around 8AM, and arrived around 12:30. Since everyone else beat us there by a couple of hours and was already set up, we had some help to get our gear unpacked and camp made.
The location was definitely a bit different to what we've had the last few times, and it wasn't long until the heat (42 degrees at midday) and the dust and dirt combined to make Jess pretty miserable and wanting to just pack up and go home! Fortunately the evening and night got quite cool (~8 degrees at 7am), so the peak temps through the day didn't stick around for long.
Since Mt Surprise Station is a working cattle property, we were never far from some cows - they liked the shady paddock behind our camp in the heat of the day!
That afternoon we took a drive down to the creek, which is where all the fossicking action happens:
In the wet season metres of water race down here, dragging Topaz stones with them, and stirring up the sand, rocks and silt. Hence, the best time to go fossicking is as early as possibly after the wet season. Apparent;y two weeks ago there was still a couple of feet of water in this section of creek, so you can see how quickly this country changes. The tip we were given was to search on the lee-side of any large rocks - the rocks disturb the water floow, and the water swirls around behind them, slowing down, and dropping any heavier particles (such as large Topaz stones). We didn't actually do any fossicking, but it was interesting to learn how it all worked.
While there though, we found a couple of bower-bird bowers, complete with decorations...
... along with some colourful locals...
...and some colourful plants!
Crossing the creek on the way back to camp was always fun.
We spoke to some people who live at a homestead called Diggers Rest, just on the other (further out-of-town) side of the creek (which is actually currently for sale, if anyone's looking for a drastic seachange!). In the wet season, so much water goes through the creek that they can't get their lifted Landcruiser through. So, they leave one car on either side of the creek, and use a tinny to get across so they don't get isolated! They even have their own little airstrip further down the road, which proved lucky for one pilot who landed his light plane there Sunday morning. He was very low on fuel, and was frantically looking around for an airstrip. When on final approach, his engine actually gave out, and he had to glide the last 20 seconds down to the ground! Without knowing what had happened, but fearing the worst, they rushed out to the airstrip to find the pilot, having already pushed the plane up to the fuel bowsers, calmy refuling.
The following day we walked from the campsite to the "falls" upstream. What a striking piece of countryside awaited us! Thankfully it wasn't far, as even though it wasn't yet 10am, the temp had already risen from the 12 degrees at 7am, well up into the 30's!
The view from the top of the rocks, out towards the falls, was just breathtaking, especially having come so quickly from dry, flat, dusty cattle country:
The old homestead in the photo above was built up on top of the cliffs many years ago, on a homestead lease. However, the initial occupants then moved on, and the lease eventually went back to the station. It now goes unused, which is a real shame, as you can imagine the view that you must get from up there in the middle of a good wet season, as tons and tons of water crash down through the gully, completely submerging the "island" in the centre of the creek. As you can see, the water itself is crystal clear.
This was taken on the centre island, and if you look closely, you may just be able to make out the last high-water level. On the far left of the photo, just above Trev's head, is a bunch of debris stuck in a tree branch - it's the visible dark smudge above the lower green branches. You can see how steeply the island rises out of the creek, and so you get an idea of just how much water comes thundering down though what is now an exceedingly dry and dusty piece of countryside.
Incidentally, this is the same spot where I found my second snake in two weeks. I made the #1 mistake of walking in the bush, and took a step in amongst the rocky terrain without first looking where my foot would land. Thankfully, the black snake that was currently occupying that space saw me coming, and headed off quick smart. Otherwise, it could have been a costly mistake.
Even though we're only 5hrs drive from Cairns, it would have been a couple of hours before I could have seen anything approaching a doctor or hospital. Diggers Rest - the aforementioned homestead across the creek -is home to a RFDS medical chest, but there's no one with any higher knowledge than an old First Aid certificate to help you use it. The best bet is their airstrip, and either hitching a ride on the station's chopper (more on that in a minute!), or catching a ride on a light plane. Either way, it highlights just how remote areas like this can get when you're used to being able to call an ambulance, and have them at your door, with all their equipment, in 5-10 mins.
Incidentally, I think I was pretty lucky with my choice of snake. I didn't get enough of a look to positively ID him, but if pressed, I'd go with red-bellied black. They can pack a nasty punch, but thankfully are relatively shy and retiring critters, unless actively threatened. Their habits of sunbaking on walking tracks (or warm rocks in the sun) mean they are frequently bought into contact with people who aren't looking where they're going (which I wasn't). I don't mind red-bellied blacks - they're certainly the nicer of some of the options we have up here. I wouldn't actively go looking for them, and if I see one I get a fright and move away as quick as I can, but if you've got to have a run-in with a snake, they're not a bad one to be stuck with.
Closer to the coast you tend to run into more Taipans, which tend to be big, inquisitive, and nervous. None of which are quantities that you want in a snake who's venom is easily capable to killing a grown man (although, thanks to basic medical skills, no one has actually died from a taipan bite for a long time. But that's not taking anything away from the lethality of their venom if left untreated).
Of course, what camping trip would be complete without the trusty old camp ovens?
As usual the girls saw that we ate like royalty, with roast beef and roast veggies on Sunday night, and lemonade damper (with Geoff's sultanas) for afternoon tea Sunday, and then again for morning tea on Monday! Geoff and Ann had a stew on Saturday night, and then whipped up some corned beef in their camp over for Sunday night's tea!
As always, you get treated to a decent sunset whenever you're in the bush!
Monday morning signalled time to start packing up, ready for the big drive back to town. But not before watching the free show that was kindly put on for us. The station was mustering cattle, using both a helicopter, and horse-mounted stockmen. For a couple of hours we listened in on their UHF frequency with one of the trucks, and watched the chopper whirl and bank overhead.
As we were heading back towards Mt Surprise through the station, we came across the stockyards...
...with the helicopter parked out front! No one around, keys in it and everything!
All in all a great weekend. The car is *still* covered in mud and dust, and we've picked up a good sized chip in the windscreen for our troubles. We got home late Monday afternoon, but still had time to unpack everything and put a couple of loads of washing through, and other such mundane chores.
Whilst out there, we saw:
- A big eagle - I'd guess wedgetail simply based on his size - 2m+ wingspan
- Hawks - lots of them - one almost landed on Jess' head!
- Blue Kookuburras - different to the Laughing variety which we get on the coast
- Cheeky little black birds in big gangs
- Honeyeaters
- Galahs - hoards of them with babies
- Rosellas
- A lone Mickey bird
- 2 x emus
- and something else which I've forgotten about!
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| 2009-06-08, Camping at Mt Surprise - Obrian's Creek Gemfields |
