Back Roads North Part 1

Straight up, this hasn’t been my best week. Along the way, there were “incidents and accidents, hints and allegations” that I’ll get to in due course. Suffice to say, I’ve been somewhat bruised by a mixture of misfortune and reckless optimism. However, it all started so well.

All systems go as I pulled out of Barcaldine. Soon I was back on the flat road and endless plains, welcoming back an old friend I hadn’t seen in over a year. That ‘freedom of the road’ feeling washed over me. I headed for Aramac, a small town with a big tourist attraction to reel you in. The Lake Dunn Sculpture Trail is the creation of Milynda Rogers, a local sculptress. The story began in 2013 when Rogers placed her first sculpture, a bottle tree made of steel drums, by the roadside because she had nowhere else to put it. Other sculptures then grew organically, transforming the route into a large outdoor exhibition of animals and outback life, made from recycled materials. The trail is a 60klm loop out to Lake Dunn and back to Aramac.

I didn’t do the whole loop, but I have it on good authority that Lake Dunn is a perfect overnighter. Had a quick look around town before heading off. The hotel caught my eye and I bet the menu is popular with the locals(lol).

So far, so good. However my luck would run out in just over an hour. The road to Muttaburra was perhaps the first clue. Not that navigating a single lane of tar in the face of the occasional oncoming cattle train was a new experience. I was more focussed on the now legendary Muttaburrasaurus, another highlight of the ‘Dinosaur Trail’.

Now I’d done some planning and there were a couple of options for a place to stay the night, The Pump Hole and The Broadwater both looked good. If only I’d chosen the Pump Hole. Now, I’ve crossed many cattle grids and from a distance this seemed regulation. Unfortunately, ‘they’ had put indicators on the inside of the grid space to let you know, there was a grid. Why, I have no idea. Never seen that before. Slowed down to a respectable speed, but in the split second that sign past my LH rear vision mirror, I thought, “That’s bloody close!’ and as it turned out, too close for the van, A clatter followed a second later. I knew before I pulled over it wasn’t going to be a good look, and it wasn’t. It was though I’d collected a roo that had bounced down the side of the van.

Now from a distance, it was barely noticeable. However on closer inspection it was a trail of cuts and abrasions from front to back. So I stood there in the silence, however I was not alone. Now, I’m not sure cows can express haughty derision, but it sure looked like it from where I was standing.

Luckily the van door still opened and no structural ‘bones’ were broken. Thank God for that roll of gaff tape and a couple of stretchies. There was nothing left to do but keep going, my destination was only 2klm away – how ironic. Another hour on the phone to the NRMA who again, are the claim gods of the insurance industry. Not the cheapest, but as they say, ‘Quality is remembered long after price is forgotten’. It only took a cooling swim the Landsborough Channel to take the heat out the situation and a G&T to soften the blow.

I woke up at 1am the next morning. Full moon, ‘eventful’ day, take you pick. It was a starry night and a surprising amount of moonlight. I wondered for a second and then walked back to grab my camera. Now photography by moonlight was never something that had even crossed my mind, but being wide awake, what’s to lose.

I just used auto focus with flash off. What do you think? No doubt it’s a specialist field and this was just an experiment with an over the counter SLR. Maybe a more sophisticated editing program would produce something extra, but for novelty value, happy enough.

Up the next morning with a renewed sense of purpose. The sun was shining in a blue, blue outback sky. Surely the worst had passed………HA!!!