by Owen - Sunday 02/Dec/2001
I'm trying to focus on writing the diary but the television is distracting me! More on that later.
We awoke early. Spurry had indeed slept out in the open and managed to survive without being ravaged by mosquitoes. My '2-person' tent is only really practical for two 'very close' people. this will inform our future camping trips 2 tents!
Around the camp this morning were Weebills (which as the sun rose were chased away by the ubiquitous Noisy Miners) and Little Lorikeets which fed in a flowering gum long enough for a decent observation.
For diversity's sake we had 'packet' miso soup (as opposed to last night's paste miso), then we packed up camp and set out to find the Mt Moffatt campsite via whatever route we could devise.
We'd been advised by Craig Eddie (an old school-friend we'd run into at the Roma QPWS office - he's now a research ranger) that we'd be fine on the tracks in this park if we had low-range 4WD, which we don't - but we were feeling game, so decided to head for the "Top Shelter Shed".
We passed more intruiging sandstone structures along the way, and were drawn to the Marlong Plain. We had to circumvent a locked gate in order to follow the track onto the plain itself, where we then had to negotiate a treacherous gully. Whilst Spurry investigated the crossing, I chased after what proved to be a Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo, which in turn led me to a party of Singing Bushlarks. Gully dealt with, we safaried on over the plain, the feeling completed by the sight of gently grazing, prehistoric-looking emus.
The trail eventually led to a historic stockyard complete with a herd of cattle, which scampered off at our arrival. I guess they just gravitate to these places - shame to see them trampling through the park though.
Shortly after our return to the main track we passed through the '4WD Only' gate and it was on! The road rapidly deteriorated from here into a kind of series of deep gullies and large rocks. Well, perhaps I'm exaggerating, but it was a steep, rocky, uneven and immensely enjoyable 4WD track.
As we approached the Top Shelter Shed (after a pot of green tea at the 'Rotary Shelter Shed' half-way up) we encountered the 'near vertical' ascent Craig Eddie had warned us of. Needless to say, Spurry and the Forester hauled us up without complaint.
The views from up here were vast, and the breezes fresh. We stood on the edge of the great dividing range, looking north-east. And then we got back in the car.
The 'Mahogany Forest,' though also fire-damaged, was a good example of wet schlerophyll open canopy, high-rainfall forest. There was much more life here in general, plant- and bird-wise. There were also dozens of feral horses, with long, matted tails and manes. They were impressive looking animals, but one couldn't help wishing they just weren't there.
As we headed back down we realised that we might be cutting it fine fuel-wise, so just to be safe we scrapped our plans for the Mt Moffatt ascent (a similar trek to the one just undertaken) and headed back to last night's camp site by the rock pool. We were greeted by half a dozen emus, gently prodding around the site - very rewarding to have close-up views of these bizarre creatures going about their business.
I took a cooling dip in the rock-pool while Spurry slept off the morning's driving effort. We were planning to tour the Tombs, a semi-preserved Aboriginal cultural site and burial grounds (bodies were ceremonially wrapped in bark and laid to rest in caves in the side of the rock - all the skeletons had been removed by 1902. Some artwork remains on the walls.) but our plans were thwarted by a rapidly-approaching storm-front. With the nature of the roads in this place, we didn't want to risk having to deal with any rainfall, and the thunder was sounding pretty serious. So we quickly reached the decision to hot-foot it out of there. We stayed just ahead of the rain except for about a minute, during which we were hit by just a handful of seriously heavy drops.
We chose a different route back to Injune - though longer, it apparently had more bitumen, so we thought it'd be wiser. As it turned out, the unsealed parts of the last stretch of road were more treacherous than any sand - recently wet black soil. Huge puddles across the road and deep, sticky mud in between. It was kind of slidey and kind of dangerous, but mostly fun. The Forester was well and truly soiled, and I might have been heard booing when we got back to tarmac. (This 4WD thing is infectious)
A ground-level view of a Wedge-tailed Eagle was a nice rounding-off to the day's driving adventure.
So here we are, in Roma, in room 13 of the Mandalay Motel. A sign out the front proclaims Slim Dusty slept here Again!
Whether I will sleep here 'again' remains unsure. But I certainly will sleep here tonight, and probably within the next five minutes. Goodnight.