January 29, 2020 – Spruleswood travells

Jericho central west queensland

Jericho is at a three ways, east to Biloela, west to Barcaldine south to Blackall not a big place population about 115, Jericho is one of Western Queensland’s old towns that is gradually shrinking not a lot to see has a pub, Main Street the smallest drive in theatre and a well used camp ground.

Shady camp by the river
Australia’s smallest drive in Jericho

During the tourist season the camp ground gets busy and at times I imagine that a riverside campsite would be hard to get but we fitted in ok and even though it was dry the weather was good nice and cool with plenty of friendly people, there was nothing to catch in the river but was good for a few days of paddling aril did watching the wildlife

we stayed here about a week, filled in time kayaking, bushwalking and visited the cemetery and discovered that Jericho has been here for a while and with some characters it would seem

Must have been real crook
Jericho history
Shady camp by the river

After Jericho we moved on to Barcaldine for morning tea and then to longreach to top up the groceries.

Barkaldine

Next town Winton but fuel stop and straight through to our destination Old cork station

Kroombit tops national park

We were looking for a place to visit in central Queensland that would be cool have a place to put the kayaks in for a paddle, not crowded and quiet, so we asked mr google and he found us Kroombit tops national park the web site showed all the things we were looking for so off we went.

There are three roads leading in to this NP one from Calliope one from Monto and the one from Biloela, I would suggest that if you have a small van or trailer you steer clear of the latter, we went for a drive on this track and it was rough there is a sign that bans trailers on it and with good reason, mind you there are no smooth roads in this NP, this photo does not do the road justice you are either looking down on the bonnet, or up at the sky

The camping area was great short grass we only had a few neighbours and none of them close but the creek was dry not a drop of water in it.

campsite 🏕

There is plenty to see and do here tracks to explore, lookouts, plenty of photo opportunities, the old bomber wreckage the wildlife.

One of the things we miss in the north is cold weather both Jacky and I are always looking for the opportunity to visit somewhere that’s we can sit around a campfire on a cold night, and at Kroombit tops we certainly got that one morning we woke up to find our gear and car covered in ice.

Ice on car

we stayed at Kroombit NP for about a week before heading down to civilisation at Biloela, and then on to Jericho.

The August triP (Notch point)

As with most trips we had a basic plan some plans change but nothing like this, the original plan was to head south for a bit then go over to Tambo and then to a camp at Carnarvon national park, then many on to somewhere out west, but first on to Notch point, a friend in Mackay suggested this camp, we have passed the turnoff many times but never ventured in.

The turn off is at Ilbilbi about 45k south of Mackay then another 20k further in to a Gare and it’s all dirt from there, there are confusing tracks but most lead to the point and those that don’t are signed private. It’s a good plan to check tide times as there are two spots that can have water over them so until you see how they are it’s best for the first time go at low tide if possible, the track is not bad we saw some quite large vans there

No crocks here apparently
Notch point
New fishing reel
The night camp

All in all a great spot fishing was good plenty of firewood no mosquitoes or sand flies, but summer may change that no noisy campers plenty to do and a bit to see in the area, we stayed here for a week and decided to move on to Stanage bay

STANAGE BAY

After leaving Notch point we head to Stanage bay a friend used to rave about this place so I had high expectations the thing is no one mentioned the road in rough! I used to think the road to WIpa was crook but the road in here is to say the least not good. to be fair the army also use this road and they had just completed a big exercise but everyone we spoke to said how rough this road is, it about 75k long mostly dirt corrugated and some short steep crossings.

Stanage bay is beautiful

Once you arrive at Stanage you find that it is made up of three distinct little villages, the first is just residential and borders on the military training ground the next is residential also and then there is the town area that really only consists of a pub with attached shop camp ground with shower and basic toilet a few houses a boat ramp and that’s it.

when we were there the dept of transport were upgrading the boar ramp and facilities which we’re pretty basic. We had a look at some spots in this park but were not impressed so we asked around and found out there is a bush camping area that is not on the camping sites so back to the residential area in the middle and on to the little esplanade down a dirt track and there was a great almost deserted beach camping area , happy days

Now unless you have a boat there is not a lot to do here except find a fishing spot or a pub and relax, we managed to do both he wind was very strong so we had to find a track to the creek for a fish our hopes were up as Stanage bay is recited to be a great fishing spot and has so we were told the biggest and best mud crabs in Queensland, we found the creek beautiful spot but no fish in fact we could not find anyone who had caught anything the whole time we were there.

We did manage a couple of trips to the Crab pot bar, just for research, and we found it pretty good value, cold beer good selection of wine for Jacky we did not eat there but the food looked and the menu was stacked with seafood options and looked good , as I wrote there is not much to do so we spent our week here walking the beach and taking photos.