Day 317 – Julia Creek, NW Qld (27 July)

Another 250kms today heading west.  Landscape is becoming very barren, dry and sparse and it is definitely getting warmer! Stopped at Richmond which has a fossil centre containing 200 exhibits found around Richmond.  The collection includes Richmond Piliosaur the best preserved dinosaur skeleton in Australia.  There is a lifesize 12.2 metre replica of the Kronosaurus Queenslandicus found near Richmond in the 1930s.  Fossicking for fossils can be done nearby and guides can be found at the info centre.  We stopped for night in Julia Creek with a population of 500 in town.  Here we paid $1.70/litre for petrol think that is the highest we have paid so far!  This is actually an interesting town and they have a fantastic information centre which houses some really good information on the history and current day living in Julia Creek.  The information centre is housed in houses that used to house the rail workers in the early 1900s.  They have interpretative displays with many videos – could easily have spent half a day in the centre.  We found out that the big event in town is the Dirt and Dust festival which includes one of ?Australia’s major triathlon events, a horse race (the richest horse race in the NW) and novelty races like the bog snorkelling race (snorkelling in a mud bath).  This region also sits atop the Great Artesian Basin (GAB).  22% Australia (covering NT, QLD, SA and NSW with the majority being in Qld) sits on the GAB and provides a lifeline for communities and mining industries in these areas.  Government, mining, pastoral and communities are working together to manage this precious resource and in some cases have improved capture of the water by upto 95%!  Where we have hot water systems to heat our water here they have cooling systems to cool the water as when it is pumped it can be upto 50 degrees – that is hot.   There is a an endangered rodent looking marsupial about the size of a mouse called the Julia Creek Dunnart which is only found in this region.  It is nocturnal and lives on live insects.  The dunnarts shelter in the cracks on the dry soil beds during the day and come out at night to forage for food.  They give birth to up to eight babies twice a year if environmental conditions are favourable.  Like kangaroos they can hold off reproducing if conditions aren’t right.  The biggest threats to the dunnart are feral cats and dogs and the introduced Prickly Acacia tree and Mimosa’s which stop cracks forming in the dry earth which the dunnarts rely on for shelter and protection from predators.  Because they block out the sun the trees prevent grass growth again reducing shelter for the dunnart.  The prickly acacia was introduced from India to give shade to cattle.  Qld Parks and Wildlife Service and the local council and landholders are working together to control predators and the spread of the acacia trees. Julia Creek is also known for the Proa Redclaw which look like yabbies and can be caught in the creek or can cheat and go to a Redclaw farm.  Later in the afternoon we went for a nature work along the Julia Creek which runs at the back of the caravan park.  It was a lovely walk to see the colours of the outback as the sun is setting.  There is absolutely nothing quite as speccie as the colours in the outback – pictures don’t do it justice.  There were quite a few kangaroos around and Coco was going crazy as she wanted to chase them – in fact she got a good telling off when she didn’t listen to us and did chase a kangaroo.  There are no vets out here and it is a long drive to the nearest one plus who knows what damage she could do to the roo –although she would come off much worse we believe. One of the first nights for a while where we could sit outside and it is still warm – just love it.