Blackwater to Injune

17 July

We thought the rain had stopped but it rained all night after a beautiful fine day. Because of the rain we decided to bypass Carnarvon Gorge, leaving it for a later and hopefully drier later trip. We decided to travel south to Injune, a small town between Emerald and Roma, the attraction being a camping spot where we could have a fire.

On the way we travelled through a quiet little village called Comet. The explorer Ludwig Leichhardt named the Comet River when he passed through the area in 1845. He also left a DIG blaze on a tree. The degraded remains of the tree and a replica are in a well caged structure in the village.

The replica Leichhardt tree

Passing briefly through the large bustling town of Emerald we headed south through Springsure, another small town with a pride in its heritage. In the local park is an old cottage and outbuilding previously on properties. These buildings were made completely hand prepared bush timber, with the interiors being cut with a broad axe. The park also contained a large windmill with a wheel diameter of 24 feet or   approximately 7.2 metres. It was built in Rockhampton by the same company that built the first Qantas hangar at Longreach.


Historic buildings and windmill at Springsure

This echidna moved so fast acros the road, this was the best photo I could get

On reaching Injune we discovered that there had been considerable changes in its Caravan Park. I believe it is now owned by Santos, the company operating a large natural gas project nearby. It now contains several blocks of cabins, or dongas, for its FIFO workers who work for 21 days straight and then fly home for a week. It has a camp kitchen almost totally exposed to the weather and a large generator which goes 24 hours a day. Needless to say, we only stayed one night – it poured all night anyway.

When a picture tells only part of the story - views in front of the camper

The views behind us were a different story altogether. Rows of dongas and a slippery, muddy slope, which became even more treacherous when the Winnebago next to us mistakenly thought he could drive out easily. 

Mud, mud glorious mud, and rows of dongas

Exposed to the weather camp kitchen

The 24/7 generator and a spare

The picture below epitomises much of what we have seen in so many places - beautiful scenery, prime agricultural land and the despoilation and exploitation of the country by mining interests.