Day 3

We spent a couple of hours looking around Thargo and found some really interesting conversation at the information centre. Elizabeth and Julie set off to explore by themselves while I listened to Ken's stories of the area. We were to visit the water bore that was first established in the late 1800's by a fellow by the name of Leahy. This bore is still flowing today and supplying water to the town, but the interesting thing is that this water bore also drove a water wheel hooked up to an alternator to provide electricity for the town. Remote Thargomindah had electric street lighting decades before Brisbane the capital city of Queensland. In fact, the water powered the town until it was replaced with a generator in the 1950's. The towns people are now going to reinstate the water wheel and alternator at the bore site to show travellers how it was in those days.

Thargomindah water bore

From whence we came

The road ahead

This is one big piece of flat country out here and the trees are now only found near permanent and semi premanent water. Ridges and plateaus break up the vast flatness occasionally. We detoured off the main road west at Nockatunga Station to visit the Noccundra Hotel built in the late 1800's. This pub has really low door arches, so watch your head, and is filled with memorabilia from days gone by. In the desert heat you are comforted by the instant cool inside the pub and realise that the "Air Conditioning" is due to the thick, stone walls. A short drive down the track brings us to the Wilson River and what a great place for lunch.

Plateau at Bellera gas field	Noccundra Pub	"Air Conditioned" bar
Wilson River	A shady spot for lunch	Sunset at the Dig Tree

Back to the highway and we leave "The Black Stuff" and for the next week we'll be travelling on not much more than dirt tracks in most places. It was a rough trip to the Dig Tree as we are crossing the channel country where the summer floods scour the "road" surface and the constant heavy traffic from the oil & gas fields makes deep bull dust holes in the middle of all the rough stuff. I looked in the rear view mirror at one time and decided not to do that ever again. Most of the time I couldn't see the Jayco for bull dust and when I did catch a glimpse of it, it wasn't travelling parallel to the ground.

As the afternoon was getting late, the Dig Tree camping area beside Cooper Creek was a welcome sight. Then just as we had the camp set up, the heavens glowed for us with the most memorable desert sunset. What a great day it had been.