Day 5 Charleville to Thylungra Rest Stop ( Quilpie - Windorah Road)

 

We left Charleville under beautiful clear blue skies this morning and continued our western travel. The plan is to make our way to Birdsville with a few free camps along the way. First stop today was at Quilpie and as usual the busy place is the Visitor’s Centre. Had a look though their museum but also the Art gallery which featured a lot of local aboriginal artists. Some great pieces. The other thing about Quilpie is the opal mining they do at Yamba. Its very different to Coober Pedy opal and is called boulder opal as it is embedded in very different rock strata. One of the local miners donated a lot to the local catholic church and their altar and pulpit are covered in bits of boulder opal. It’s become quite the tourist attraction.

We stopped and had lunch at the Quilpie Café – had a works burger, didn’t need to eat much for the rest of the day. Should be recommended on Trip advisor.

Left town heading towards Windorah. There is still quite a lot of water lying on the side of the road and as we move onto single lane bitumen it’s making 2 way traffic interesting at times with very soft shoulders .  Managed to find a spot to stop and pick up some firewood then onto our first free camp at Thylungra Rest Area about half way between Quilpie and Windorah. Big space and very well used but only 4 vans parked up for the night. Very peaceful with a great fire.