Embark - Queensland Rail

The Channel Country
...ssh, the secret is out
This year we decided we might go for an adventure. We had been out to
Longreach about three years ago and loved the big skies and far horizons of
the area. Friends had told us about the southern part of the outback so we
decided to go see for ourselves.
Thank goodness we hadn’t been pushed for
time as Charleville has an amazing number
of things to do. We went to the Cosmos
Observatory and saw the craters on the
Moon, the rings of Saturn, a star cluster
with over 100,000 stars, double stars that
orbit each other and more … we were awed
by the beauty of the sky and the amazing
telescopes.
We also enjoyed astronomy by day, actually
held a shooting star in our hands, learnt how
to predict the weather – I had no idea how
much is involved, there’s a weather balloon,
ground temperatures, ice layers in the
atmosphere- just so much to know!
When we visited the Bilby Centre I had to
admit this is the place I lost my heart. The
bilbies are much smaller than I expected,
no wonder they have trouble fending off the
feral cats! The ‘bilby people’ do a great job
to save these little critters.
You know, I used to think the outback was
miles and miles and miles of all the same.
So we went to Charleville Botanic Park to
discover a host of different plants, trees and
buses. Suddenly I realised that the landscape
is ever changing and I should keep my eyes
open when we are travelling around.
We left Charleville determined to follow
the Natural Sciences Loop and had no idea
what to expect. We drove out of Charleville
and onto the great little town of Quilpie,
got down and dirty (literally) at the opal
fossicking field, it was great, seeing this
amazing colour shining through the rock.
Upset the wallet holder just a little when I
went shopping in the Opal Shops. The prices
are so much better than the cities and you
also get to talk to people who actually mine
the opals. Took time to look into the little
Catholic Church, St. Finbarr’s where the altar,
baptism font and lecture are completely
covered with opals – you have to see it to
believe it!
Just outside of town we visited Baldy Top,
the locals call these hills ‘jump ups’, the walk
was not too difficult, just take water but the
reward is a 360° panorama that goes straight
to the horizon about a million miles away.
Well not quite, but certainly the landscape
stretched for ever, simply breathtaking!
Travelling further west we visited the small
town of Eromanga, and the little Living
History Centre, from dinosaurs to pioneers;
it’s a story worthy of a movie.
We headed to Yowah to look for opal
nuggets – the word was intriguing enough,
as we thought nuggets came in only gold or
chicken! But no! Amazing opals in this iron
stone rock but cut the rock open and there’s
the opal, unbelievable.
Photos courtesy of Tourism Queensland