“Carisbrooke” Station
Leaving Longreach we decided to travel through Winton and
then a further 88kms to Carisbrooke station (38kms on the Kennedy Development
Road and the rest on dirt). This road
leads to Boulia and is also known as the Min Min Road. Having spoken with Charlie (the father-in-law)
and arranged to go to the station, it turned out to be an ‘iffy’ trip as there
were thunderstorms and some light rain in the area. We asked at the Winton Visitor Information
Centre (V I C) what the dirt road section would be like if it had 5mm of
rain. No worries said the lady. Wrong answer – about half way along the dirt
section we struck a wetter patch, the tyres all filled with the black soil and
we were suddenly going nowhere.
Stuck there for about
30 minutes, but as the sun was shining again and the wind was blowing warm from
the north – the road surface mud eventually hardened enough to get traction and
resume the trip. Apart from this minor
drama the dirt road is generally OK with some sections of corrugation and one
rather bumpy stock grid. My advice is
back off a little for stock grids on dirt roads.
Arrived at the station a little after 4:00pm –we met
Charlie, who has been on the station for 50 years. Charlie is caretaking as his son and daughter-in-law
were currently enjoying a well-earned break from station work. It’s always very interesting and informative
to talk with somebody who understands their country. They now run about 900 head of cattle as the
dingoes (& wild dogs) had such an impact on the 10,000 head of sheep that
used to be on the station, they were forced to switch to cattle. He showed as
down to the shearing shed, which is now used solely for tourism, then left us
to set up the caravan.
(Mazda BT-50 and River Caravan beside the shearing shed)
This property is very well equipped to handle the touring
public. At the camp/accommodation area
there are male & female ablution blocks, accommodation huts for those
traveling without caravans, camp kitchen and barbecues at the shearing shed. If
you want to pitch a tent – that’s also welcome. Visitors during the “season”
have a large fire pit with log seating and quaint hurricane lamps. Water supply is rainwater or good bore water
for showers etc. Don’t be surprised if
the cattle or sheep decide to visit and you can expect nocturnal native
inhabitants to wander by during the evening
Sunday morning we left the caravan about 11:00am and went
exploring – there are a number of defined tourist tracks to enable visitors to
view the “jump ups” as they are called. According to scientists the tops of these
“jump ups” are the original level of the land millions of years ago and the
lower level seen today is the result of water and wind erosion.
(This is the middle of the local “3 sisters”)
Some 51 kms later (and about 3.5 hours) we returned to the caravan
having seen an amazing area of scenery, escarpments, rock formations and all the
colours and hues of the outback (including a variety of kangaroos, emus,
wallaroos, birds and reptiles).
(Camera shy)
Sadly we had to move on, so Monday morning saw us back on
the road into Winton (which is another story)
Safe travels until next time – Regards, B & C Nomads