Beasties Across the Barkly Tableland

The rolling Mitchell Grass plateau of the Barkly Tableland is 100,00km² in area and stretches from Mt Isa in NW Queensland to Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory and north to about 100km from the Gulf coastline. The character of the region is shaped by the local Aboriginal cultures, mining, the cattle industry and tourism.

The roads are straight and stretch to the horizon with the caravans of grey nomads appearing like covered wagons in the distance. 

Grey nomads were out in force once we hit the Barkly and Stuart Highways 

They emerge out of shimmering mirages and tend to congregate in mutually supportive herds in the ‘free’ camping spots along the highway. Everyone is settled by 3.30pm – 4.00pm as camp stools are drawn into tight circles for ‘happy hour’.

Formal campgrounds are scattered every 200km or so along the highway usually behind a roadhouse or on a cattle station. Powered sites are always at a premium and the rigs of newish x4 wheel drives and shiny vans sprouting TV and UHF  aerials, start to vie for these prized sleeping spots by mid afternoon.

 A grey nomad settled in at Daly Waters

 Like all herd animals their camping behaviours are interesting to observe. There is always a determined search for a patch of grass on which to place the picnic table and a shady patch in which to unfold the aluminium chair from which to watch the late arrivals and to enjoy a cold beer, held in a souvenir stubbie holder of course.

A delivery by a beast

I am proud of my Stars and Stripes beast

We settled into the remote camping site of the Daly Waters pub. So remote in fact, that we share the dusty space with about 150 other campervans, tents, camper-trailers and caravans. Every traveller has pulled in for the night to enjoy the idiosyncratic character of the pub and to enjoy a country western concert and a feed of ‘beef or ‘barra’. Our neighbours are about 1.5 metres away – perhaps there can be too much of a good thing! The evening concert of bush songs, bad bush verse and corny jokes only had a limited life span for us before we abandoned it, it was pretty painful.

Daly Waters pub 

Sustenance for the beasts at Daly Waters

 

A big "happy hour"...with entertainment at Daly Waters pub and campground

That's beef and/or barra after a beastly day travelling

No, kids. We are eating at Daly Waters tonight! Some nice beasts are for sale.

 Spoils of rough nights at Daly Waters

I purchased a good leather belt, tanned traditionally by Wattle bark...and "GAZ" is stamped on it...a most valued outback souvenir

David and Goliath at dawn at Kynuna

The biggest beasties in the world of this highway are the road trains – the lifeblood of the region. They carry stock, fuel, mining equipment, food supplies, minerals,  beer, vehicles and every other imaginable item needed by the locals. They roll down the highway at 100km/hour – all 53 metres of them and carry 2000 litres of diesel when tanked up. The drivers sport thongs, blue singlets and tatts and perform daily miracles of skilled driving to stay on the bitumen and avoid annialahting the grey nomad caravaners who try to overtake them at unsafe speeds.

A beast leaves the campground at Kynuna at dawn

Another long day's haul starting

An explosive beast...we stayed well-clear when passing

We passed this monster rig of mining machinery in the dirt and got a split windscreen for our efforts...a three day delay in Mount Isa as a replacement came from Townsville. What a beast!

A large windmill turning slowly in the breeze or the frame of a solar powered artesian bore pump are a sure indicator of a cattle watering point from a turkey nest dam along the stock route or on a station bordering the highway. The cattle wander in largely unfenced paddocks and are of Santa Gertudis and Brahmin breeds – with other variations unknown to the eye of this city slicker. We occasionally pass the bloated carcass of a beast that has come to grief in the path of a road train.

Windmill and Ghost Gum

A pump used to obtain artesian water from a non free-flowing bore. This water is not an infinite resource and levels have fallen since the Artesian Basin was tapped over a century ago.

A mixed herd of Brahman and Santa Gertrudis (bulls)

The raptors are well fed along the highway from the carcasses of road kill, eg kangaroo, wild pigs, feral cats and foxes. Wedge-tail eagles hold to the meat until the last second before a vehicle flashes past and they soar into the sky and settle on a nearby dead tree branch to eye the road and wait for their next opportunistic dive into the animal sacrifice on the bitumen.

An "ex-beast" pursued by scavenging birds.

Wedgetail Eagle scavenges instead of hunts when road kill is plentiful

Which political beast is this disguised as a termite mound?

A cool termite beast in the Top End of Australia

Two wheeled beasties certainly demonstrated courage and a sense of adventure, usually ridden by bronzed Viking looking young men – it is a long way between cold drinks on the Stuart Highway. The best pedal power machine was a creation of ingenuity, capturing solar power to assist his legs. (<facebook.com/solar shift>)

A solar bike at Katherine

A combined solar power cell array and shade source

Spreading the word about our necessary alternative energy futures

The campground at Katherine Gorge (Nitmiluk NP) is a sanctuary of cool shaded sites, swimming pool and lots of birds – sheer bliss. So much for the remote outback and the hope of getting away from one’s fellow human beings. Yet another myth is exploded – we are just another beastie taking to the road.

WILDLIFE BEASTIES OF NITMILUK NATIONAL PARK 

(KATHERINE GORGE)

 Rainbow Bee-eater

Blue-winged Kookaburra

Northern Rainbow Lorikeet (red collar) in Darwin Woolybut

A wallaby in campground at Nitmiluk National Par

 Hairy and prickly spinifex beast...many seen

A homage to the drivers of the beasts in an outback roadhouse

And fond greetings from Gary and Bronlyn now at Kununurra, the gateway to the Kimberley

Walking with Dinosaurs...in Australia

WALKING WITH DINOSAURS…IN AUSTRALIA!

Who would have thought that the film to be released later this year, COULD, have been based in ancient Australia? We were convinced that this would be possible after the experience below…Blog 3 in a series tracking Bronlyn and Gary’s three months in a campervan to Western Australia

Walking with Dinosaurs…1 minute trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P_7w2JB2NU

Winton is now waltzing to a different tune with the opening of the Australian Age of Dinosaurs (AASOD) museum site on top of a scenic “jump-up” just 23 km out of town.  We were attracted back to Winton with stories of a new museum to learn about Australia’s 100 million years or so Reptilian megafauna,  after following the Dinosaur Trail in this region six years ago.

Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum...with guard

These dinosaur fossils masqueraded as rocks jutting out of the Mitchell Grass for decades until a local grazier, Dave Elliot, suspected that they had a dramatic story to tell. Local people and enthusiastic tourists have provided the work force to create a stampede of citizen scientists willing to spend some spare time searching for and extracting the bones from the tough siltstone. This rock had once been the mud that encased the nicknamed Banjo, Clancy and Matilda in the mud of a retreating  inland sea. Black soil must often be removed to reveal these giant carnivores and herbivores.

Finding fossils in siltstone beneath black soil overburden...citizen scientists at work (AAOD pic)

 Here, on this isolated jump-up, Dave and Judy Elliot’s vision is being realised to enrich the other dinosaur experiences in Winton, Hughenden, Richmond, Boulia and Mount Isa. The Lark Quarry Dinosaur stampede site, unique in the world, also out of Winton has earned its place in Australia’s Natural Heritage Register, and no doubt, this new facility will open up new frontiers of Dinosaur research and discoveries.

View over Dinosaur Central from the Jump-up site 

of Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum site

We were introduced to the AAOD at its recently opened “holo-type room” where a guide walked us through displays of real bones and dinosaur reconstructions, all augmented by audio-visual presentations of their 3-D nature and mobility simulations.

Reconstructed carnivorous dinosaur

Dinosaur Bones released from rocky prison

We then moved onto the separate “Dinosaur Laboratory” where our guide, Steve, enthusiastically pointed out the dozens of massive, unstudied bones enshrouded in plastered hessian after first being wrapped in alfoil and wet newspaper in the field. 

Protected bone collections still shrouded in mystery

An opened bone "capsule" ready for removal from encasing rock

“Three weeks digging creates five years of materials and work for the volunteers” he said. 

Steve can't help admiring jigsawing skills of volunteers who reassembled the shattered vertebrae of this dinosaur

We met a couple of keen volunteers in the lab who showed us how a dental drill look-alike was used to chip back the white stone from the brown-stained silica fossil. One such instrument is capable of removing a grain at a time.

This volunteer is on second trip from Tasmania...she loves the work.

Volunteers pay for the privilege of being the front-line workers. Training is free and mutual praise flows freely, some even lending their name to more exotic finds until studied by the scientists. “We do all the real work”, said Steve. ” We dig them out and clean them up, then the ‘doctors’ (PHD scientists) scratch their heads for a while and publish their conclusions”. Steve may well be biased, but generous donations and government support has created the biggest Dinosaur Palaentology facility in the Southern Hemisphere.

 

At least this patient doesn't complain when the drill starts buzzing.

 Strong links with University of Queensland ensure that a partnership between volunteers and academics yields far-reaching results.

 Science is the winner, as is the region’s local economy.

Want to know more? Here are a few web sites that will be of use.

Until the next instalment...Gary and Bronlyn Schoer

Australian Age of Dinosaurs:  http://australianageofdinosaurs.com/

Australia’s Dinosaur Trail:  http://www.australiasdinosaurtrail.com/winton

Lark Quarry Dinosaur Stampede Site:  http://www.dinosaurtrackways.com.au/

Kronosaurus Korner, Richmond: http://www.kronosauruskorner.com.au/

Hughenden Dinosaur Centre: http://www.sunzine.net/outback/hughenden/dinosaur-centre.html

Riversleigh Fossils, Australian Museum; http://australianmuseum.net.au/Riversleigh

Riversleigh Fossil Centre at Mt Isa: http://www.outbackatisa.com.au/Attractions/Riversleigh-Fossil-Centre.aspx

BROLGAS, BUSTARDS AND STATION LIFE ALONG A WESTERN QLD STOCK ROUTE

BROLGAS, BUSTARDS AND STATION LIFE ALONG

A WESTERN QLD STOCK ROUTE

July 2013

Life on the land

Kevin brought his family and 3000 stud merino ewes and 80 stud merino rams from Swan Hill to ‘Woolabra’  37 km north of Charleville, in 1981. The 67 species of trees on the property were indicators of a variety of land types and he saw potential for introducing some irrigation. By 1988 he had bought two extra properties and increased sheep numbers to 35,000.

Ewe and two partial dorpers…the beginning of a meat only /no wool flock.

A joy of their property is the large flocks of bustards and brolgas – attracted by the water, but more importantly, the safety of the electric fence protected paddocks.

 Electric fence powered by solar energy

They breed safely within the fences and hence their numbers have flourished over the past 15 years. Birdo’s love them and many visit ‘Woolabra’ to seek them out.

Three Brolgas of dozens on property

Most visitors see the Brolgas dance…a part of courtship ritual

 Wildlife and livestock can coexist. We saw more Bustards here than in our last 50 years of Australian travels.

The life of the pastoralist in semi-arid Australia is one of needing big dollars and the capacity (and nerve) to manage high risk. In the 1990 flood they lost 15,000 sheep including 800 stud rams and in 1991 the wool cheque dropped from $750,000 to $120,000 (never to recover). In 1995, after yet another flood, he needed to shoot 8000 sheep and their value had dropped to $1.50/head. A flood in 1997 cost them $100,000 in fencing repairs.

 Some of the most recent flood detritus on a property fence

With the bank giving notice of foreclosure in 3 weeks the family had to come up with a viable plan that required no further capital borrowings. The resolution was the installation of a pivot irrigation system and cultivation of an Indian legume called guar beans.

One of four Pivot Irrigation units on property, the largest covering a diameter of 1.5km. Water flow can be infinitely adjusted to conserve water…more released on perimeter than in the centre …all controlled by computer.

Unfortunately the local kangaroos loved it and ate it out as soon as it started maturing. The second crop attempt was lucerne – very successful + wheat, but the sheep were at the mercy of wild dogs and pigs – they killed up to 170 lambs in one night. So the solution was to electrify the fences of the sheep paddocks – all 27km of them. It stops the dogs but they are badly damaged in floods.

Lucerne…a nitrogen replenishing crop, sheep fodder and prime hay crop…when enough water to grow to 40 cm or so. At the moment the water has dried up, but Lucerne can last through to first summer rains in November, if they come! 

So today … good lucerne crops and hay production from irrigated paddocks; sheep production has swung totally to dorpers for quality meat production (they don’t have to be shorn). The property provides about 130 fat lambs per month to local saleyard and butchers. The trick is to reach 50kg weight before tooth emergence, otherwise ba-lambs become hogget at a lower price, but still (allegedly) sold as lamb in butchers mostly, if you ever wondered why you can’t buy hogget anymore!

Brahmin cattle are purchased in the NT and brought over to be fattened and then transported 700km to the closest sale yards.

Some fine Brahman cattle

HOWEVER, the last 15 months have been a disastrous drought with 47deg+ and dams dropping 1/2m in height each day.  There has been no 2012/13 summer rain to replenish supplies and for the first time in 15 years their key irrigation dam is dry. Electricity costs have increased by $50,000 in the same period - Who would want to be a farmer!?

Kevin and his sons see problems as challenges and are determined to use their collective skills and assets to problem solve their way through. Their business is always focused on the medium to long term – and to meet their financial obligations, to conserve their land and water resource and to consolidate their family’s future with a third generation in the wings. They have managed to keep the wolfish banks from the door and certainly welcome the more “understanding” attitude of the current Queensland Government, a theme repeated by every Grazier we spoke to in Queensland.

Gone Droving...

Along the stock route following the Matilda Highway we have come across at least 5 big mobs of cattle of 2000+ head each in the last two days.

 One of the mobs of cattle we ran into

The loss of the live cattle trade to Indonesia, lack of good summer rain up north and the purchase of 14,000 head from Brunette Downs (NT) to be moved to Hay in southern NSW has meant that 000’s of head are on the move. The boss drover said it would take about 18 months to reach Hay – they have to keep moving in the one direction at least 10km per day. If they are on the track due to poor feed conditions they sometimes end up going in a big circle!

Boss Drover

Aboriginal people still do a lot of stock work in Western Queensland.

A team member at a Drover’s camp and her horse

A modern day Drover’s camp

 The cattle dog is very much the drover’s friend…can do the stock control work of a few drovers on horseback.

 A very modern grazing enterprise, Strathmore

Just north of Longreach Maria welcomed us to ‘Strathmore’ Station

Strathmore homestead, an oasis of green and Bouganvilleas

 Purchased by her father in 1945 with a vision to provide a good life for his family and to help each child (subsequently 7), to eventually purchase their own property. In the intervening 68 years this has been achieved. The home station is a model of clever water management and a well thought out conservation approach to land management. Top quality Santa Gertrudis cattle are grazed with merino sheep.

 Some healthy Santa Gertrudis cattle. The cattle are electronically tagged for a national data base to enable individual identification right through to the butcher shop. The alphabetic letter on opposite ear indicates birth year and birth order.

The owners feel that cyclic swings in sheep meat and wool prices still even out in the long run and will remain with both sheep and cattle for the foreseeable future. The biggest challenge for them is to manage production costs in an era of static prices for their meat and wool, shortages of skilled labour (mining has increased demands for the same workers), and ever rising costs for transport and power -  the closest abattoir is 700+km away.

Strathmore is on the Thompson River and is made of three land types – Gidgee ridge country – no quality grass herbage but the gidgee is a legume (and wattle) and can be used as drought feed;

Gidgee ridges are usually stony due to erosion of topsoil where grasses can’t grow due to competition withn Gidgee for resources.

Secondly, the river channel country which is expected to flood from Oct-May but protein in the pasture grasses is raised by this and the toxic nardoo grass is not too dense;

and, thirdly  the open downs of Mitchell grass.

The latter is very carefully stocked so as to not overgraze the self cracking self-mulching fertile black soils. The Mitchell grass tussock can last for 20-30 years if grazed conservatively. One cow and calf are grazed at a density of 1.5 acres and 1 sheep every 3-4 acres.

Cattle in a remoter part of Strathmore

The cattle husbandry was particularly interesting and managed carefully from computerized records. The stud stock are raised to produce quality bulls (for sale) the other 50% of the herd are for commercial beef production. In January cows are grouped into 30’s and placed with a bull for 9 weeks. If the cow isn’t impregnated she is off to the abattoir and if none are impregnated – the bull is off for the ‘chop’. As calves are weaned they are trained to be quiet whilst being handled and when they are at about 550-600kg just under two years of age they are sent to market. The breeding cows and bulls are kept until 9-10 years and then sold.

The road is straight and the cumulus clouds have even flat ‘bottoms’ on a background of clear blue sky.

A fish eye lens view of typical Western Queensland landscapes

Grey nomads are thick on the ground, all escaping cold weather further south and living the dream of unfettered freedom.

Grey Nomads "The Schoers" and friends at "campground", Wynuna pub, somewhere in outback Queensland

Towns like Charleville, Longreach and Winton vie for the tourist dollar by promoting the history and culture of the ‘Outback’, the Waltzing Matilda story, the QANTAS history and of real interest to us, the extensive dinosaur paleontology deposits. But that’s the next blog…stay posted!

Life is good.

From “The Wallaby Track” and a nice morning tea with Maria, the modern face of Outback station life,  at Strathmore

Gary and Bronlyn Schoer, Sydney, Australia

Three months around Australia by campervan...