Boulia - Jervois Station

Friday 1 June  Boulia – Tobermory

We left Boulia and headed west. We were so lucky to have reached Boulia as the road back to Winton was closed due to heavy rainfalls. Apparently the only road open was the Donahue Highway west. As we travelled west, we passed over vast plains of Mitchell grass. There were a few jump-ups that offered views. We thought we might camp at the Georgina River, as the write up sounded quite nice. WRONG!!! It left a lot to be desired so we continued west to Tobermory Station. Stopped at the border for a photo shoot! Tobermory has only been open to the public again in the past few weeks and I would recommend it to any one travelling this road. They had lovely grass camping grounds and the people were very helpful.

Saturday 2 June Tobermory – Jervois Station

Yesterday we let the tyres of Jo’s car down as we were on gravel roads with lots of corrugations. When we were packed up and about to leave, the tyre on the back driver’s side looked flat. The other problem we had was that the brakes on the trailer were grabbing. When Jo went to fill up (2250 c per litre), she asked Scott, the manager to look at the tyre for her. He thought we had let too much pressure out of the tyres and suggested we put them at 35. He also adjusted the brakes. While all this was happening, Pat & I were chatting with a lady who owned the station. They own several. Six degrees of separation – she was born in Quilple!!!

The drive west on the Plenty was over some pretty rough corrugations in some sections but in others it was a really good road for a dirt highway. Before we reach Jervois Station, we stopped to look at a huge anthill. It was about 4.5m high and reputed to be the biggest in Australia. We were hoping to stay at the Baton Hill aboriginal community and take the tour to Goyder’s Pillars, as we had heard so much about them but were disappointed to find that tourists are no longer allowed onto the station where the pillars are. It was one of the things that we really wanted to do but no luck. We ended up staying at Jervois Station for the night. Campsite was red dirt and during the night we had a couple of showers of rain so the dust turned into mud! Getting the hang of cooking in the camp oven. Allan saw up the timber and gets the fire going, I do the cooking and Jo and Pat clean up.