Riding the National Trail

Sunday, October 10, 2010

ON THE WAY TO THE BURDEKIN DAM

Cattle trough makes a good camp as long as you leave room for the cattle.

All lined up and ready for a day on the trail. (L-R: Con Man, Tikkaboo, Blue and Peril)

Mount Ravenswood Station - cattle yards and dam...good grass for the horses, and good swimming for the riders!

RAVENSWOOD

The historic town of Ravenswood.

The showgrounds provided a good camp wit

h room for the horses. Pity they had had a burn
off the day before!! A bale of hay was welcome thanks to a helpful traveller who was heading
to Townsville for the day.
The camp was shared with 20 kids on a school excursion. They were treated to a pack horse demonstration the next morning.

Right behind Ravenswood is a big gold mine. This is breathing new life into the little town.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

The Adventure Continues

At the beginning of September Coralie met up with Jenny and they ventured out on the trail again. Leaving Mingela around the second, they travelled to Ravenswood, then to Burdekin Dam, Bowen River then on to Isabella Creek. All is going well and I will have a couple of new pics to post soon. Good luck ladies and stay safe :)

The Mingela Hotel provided the perfect venue to begin the second leg of the trek. Everyone in Mingela were friendly and helpful...and the hotel sells the coldest beer and the best food!!

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Beginnings and Ends

After an amazing 500K it is time for a rest. Anni has returned home to her family and we are all very proud of her achievements. Coralie is taking some time out while she awaits the arival of her next travelling companion. In the mean time, Con Man, who was temperarily care for by RDA NQ, will be rejoining the group. And Aussie will take his new found knowledge and experience back to Gympie RDA. They plan to set off again around September 1st. We wish them all luck in the adventures they take, both Coralie on the trail and Anni with whatever direction life takes her. Stay tuned for more updates on trail adventures here soon.

Hi Ho the dairio, a trekking we wil go....

Day 22: Camped near a dam about 20K from Running River

At Kirkland Downs Station they camped by the creek as they often did. There were no fish to be caught but not from lack of trying. The prickles and burrs were everywhere and the horses manes were natted thick the next morning. Boo lost a shoe but was fixed up the next morning at the homestead. They also received some much welcome fresh fruit.

Walter Plains Lake... not sure exactly at what point they passed by here but it is another of those beautify hidden water ways.

They found some very curious cattle...

and even more. They cattle had been mustered that day with horses, which is very rarely done these days

Route changed due to military taking over heaps of the land but they got permission to camp by the dam on Paynes Lagoon and took a day off to prepare for the next 3 big days to Mingela.

Boo was feeling a little lazy and over relaxed. He ended up sleeping most of the day.

The road to Mingela... I'm told if you look close enough you can see a Telstra tower. This spared some excitement as it meant they would soon have phone reception. Wow...

Odd pieces of tar surface meant civilisation was getting closer.

More trekking we will go....

Rhonella station is only used for mustering and maybe not much at all these days but at least there was power and a hot shower.... heaven.

Boo's Eye View as they head towards Camel Creek

Grids and grid bridges can be challenging if there are no gates handy. This one near Camel Creek meant riding down a queer gully, down the fence line and back up again.

Day 18: Aussie packing as they ride through Kangaroo Hills

Day 20 at Zig Zag Station. The day before they road 35K as new mining roads had changed route. A big day but beds and hot showers and a day off followed.