TRIP to CANNING STOCK ROUTE DAYS 51-54 Capricorn Highway

TRIP to CANNING STOCK ROUTE DAYS 51-54

1 - 4 August 2012

STAGE 4 West to East Days 7-10

CAPRICORN HIGHWAY

We decided to go along the Capricon Highway to get from west to east. Except for the section Winto to Barcaldine we had not travelled on this road before. This route is also art of the ‚Dig the Tropic‘ route advertised by Queensland Tourism. A train line ran parralel to the road most of the way.

Between Winton and Longreach is the Coper catchment area. We passed the Georgina catchment area whilst travelling along the Plenty. This is truly channel country. I would love to see if after rains but of course the roads would then be closed.

What struck me most travelling along the road between Winton and Longreach was the amount of roadkill. It was shocking. Consequently we saw lot of eagles and kites as they had a ready source of food.

The road to Barcaldine was not as good – somewhat bouncy due to patchwork of repairs that had been done. A new road was under construction besides the current road.

We stopped a Barcaldine for a break. Then past some small little towns like Jericho where there was not a local in sight. Before long we were in the central part of the state. The fragrance of the flowering wattles reached us in the car. We stopped at Drummond Range Lookout and continued to Willows Gemfields for the night.

Next day we explored Rubyvale, Sapphire, Anakie. We tried our hand at fossicking. Not my cup of tea.

We finished the day at Emerald. Lovely pruod town. Public Art is promoted by their Information Centre. The large sunflower picture dominates the park.

We spent an interesting night camped outside the Botanic Gardens with many other travellers. The caravan parks were full so this area was chockers. It is a desgnated free camping area for 20 hour stays. Some were in caravans, others in motorhomes and others in tents. We parked under the rail line. Only two trains went passed so that was okay. However it was Friday night, so many late night revellers passed by. A function at the park started at 7:00am with streams of people coming in. Busy place.

In the morning we walked through the gardens. It was a nice, peaceful place.

From Blackwater the electric train line dominated the landscape. Also there were quite a few coal trains going up and down the track and were they long.

We stopped to visit the International Coal Centre. That was somewhat disappointing as many displays were not operational and the tours had been stopped.

At Blackwater we made the decision to go to Cania Gorge as recommended to us by friends. So we turned off the highway and started to head south.