Tag: Barcaldine

Turning West

2nd May 2025

Distance: 388.8 km

Fuel: 39 L

Springsure to Barcaldine

Not much change to my usual routine, up about sunrise and straight to the shower. This is followed by breakfast of cereal or porridge depending on the temperature. It is cool in the morning but not cold.

Just under 400km to travel today so set off at about 8.30. Annoyingly my old sat nav that I use for these trips decided to give up the ghost fortunately I still had my newer model but not pleased! Note: It came good a day later!!

Easy drive to Emerald but when I turned east the road changed to a much narrower strip of bitumen, still two lanes but narrow. Considering this is one of two east west routes it is surprising. However getting closer to Barcaldine it is obvious that major road widening is being carried out and the road was much straighter.

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Enjoyed the Fatigue Trivia:

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Found the caravan park after driving straight past, the sat nav said it was on the right hand side  of the road so that was where I was looking, it was on the left.

After setting up drove into Barcaldine looking for fuel, stopped to see the Tree of Knowledge and call in to the Tourist Information Office to find out if the Aramac to Torrens Creek Road had re-opened after being closed by flooding. It is open so that was good news.

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At the back of the tourism building was a tower which I don’t remember seeing before. I climbed it (naturally the lift was out of order) but the view was less than spectacular however it passed a pleasant enough 15 minutes.

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Found one of those truck refuelling stations that use credit or fuel cards, Diesel was 17c a litre cheaper than at the local servos.

I forgot to call into the local IGA for milk and some snacks, it will have to wait until the morning. I did remember to book a site at the Hughenden caravan park  for tomorrow but I am beginning to suspect that it really isn’t necessary at the moment the caravan parks are not full.

10th May 2018–A Day Trip to Muttaburra

Distance: 318 Km
Fuel: 41 L

A trip to the geographic centre of Queensland (give or take), a little town called Muttaburra where a fossil of a new specie of dinosaur was discovered – the Muttaburrasaurus.

It is one of those places that you have to visit once, unfortunately they had not made the most of their namesake though they are trying to catch up.

The town is about 151km from Barcaldine so it is a fair way to go but this is the only sealed route.

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Muttaburra

When I entered the town it was the archetypal Australian town with kangaroos hopping down the main street (yes, really).

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A fibreglass model of the Muttaburrasaurus is housed in a new ‘Muttaburrasaurus Interpretation Centre’. The interpretation will come in stage 2, at the moment it is just a rather odd building with a fibreglass statue.

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The rest of the town was typical; wide empty streets with everybody at work.

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Aramac Tram Museum

After looking around the centre of Queensland started on the return journey. Passing once again through the town of Aramac I just happened to see  a small sign pointing to Aramac Tram Museum. I did a quick U turn to investigate.

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The Tree of Knowledge

Back in Barcaldine no visit to the town would be complete without seeing the Tree of Knowledge. Unfortunately the tree was poisoned in 2006 and now only the dead trunk remains covered my a massive wooden structure that represents its original canopy.

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It is not that long since I visited Barcaldine so I didn’t bother with its other attractions other than a walk round town however the railway station remains a working station.

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For dinner I decided to have a steak at the place opposite the caravan park. So glad I did it was the best steak I have had for a long time.

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The local water supply must be from the artesian bore because it is warm. I haven’t used the hot tap for a shower since I have been here, the temperature from the cold is perfect.