22/05/18 We’ve had our first awful camp. Bundoora Dam is located 28 kilometres south-west of Middlemount on Connection Road which links Middlemount and Dysart with Tieri and Capella. It is a very popular campsite for travellers. The rookie mistake we made was going there on a weekend, when it’s also popular with the locals. With no spots available along the water’s edge, we settled for what looked to be a quiet camping area a little up the hill. But at around 9:00pm, four carloads of local bogans pulled in and the thumping music got underway until 4:00am. Lots of slow groans passed between them as they stirred at sunrise; hopefully some new social diseases too. Needless to say, we were out of there early, lesson learned – on weekends avoid dams and weirs that are popular with the locals.
240kms further up the road beyond the townships of Middlemount and Nebo, Lake Elphinstone on Sutton Developmental Road more than made up for the previous sleep-interrupted night and we got our happy faces back on. What a great place! With no-one else in sight around us, we camped on the edge of the large naturally-occurring lake, in among river gums and lovely old twisty paperbark trees, with a view of the expanse of water and thousands of waterbirds. The cameras came out and Di commenced clicking away. She spotted a new bird, a Cotton Pygmy-Goose. The black swans, pelicans, and many varieties of ducks kept up a regular chatter all day, even in the dead of night with their “You’re too close!”; “Give me room!”; “Daffy! Where are you?” Close your eyes and it sounded like you’re near a poultry farm; open them and you were greeted with this view.
We stayed for three relaxing days at Lake Elphinstone doing lots of bird watching, reading, sitting in the sun, and stargazing at night.
Di and I pretty much came to the same conclusion that we’d had our fill of dry, flat and dusty country. While I especially like getting away from the populated east coast, the country we’d just been through had been pretty uninteresting and we’d just been driving from A to B to C without stopping and checking out places like we always enjoy doing. There hasn’t been much lately to warrant any of that so we’re going to alter course for greener pastures. After Lake Elphinstone, we’ll be veering towards the coast, to head north with the ocean on our right. Hopefully, the greener pastures won’t be too crowded.
“Sometimes the road less travelled is less travelled for a reason.” – Jerry Seinfeld
Kruising Around Australia 