To find a vehicle test use the pull-down lists below.
On location, hunting for dinosaurs! While waiting for a massive Sauropod to wander across the barren...
Destinations > Diamond In The Rough
Diamond In The Rough
Often there can be no rain in the area with the water travelling down from hundreds of kilometres upstream. During the height of these floods the concrete causeways across the channels of Farrars Creek would be totally impassable for weeks on end.
You finally reach the turn-off to Diamantina 175km west of Windorah. A sign pointing to a track heading off in a northerly direction says Davenport Station 140km, Diamantina Lakes (park headquarters) 172km. The country in this area is dry and harsh and within 10km you are passing over a grid into Palparara Station. Keep speed to a minimum through here as the track often suddenly dips down into dry gullies that could easily damage the underside of your vehicle if you were driving too fast.
Spotting wildlife in much of this harsh, bleak rock-strewn landscape was very difficult when I went through, even though it was late afternoon when most things should be out and about. Apart from four red kangaroos-two mothers and their young and a small mob of about five emus, the only other signs of life were a few circling kites way off in the distance.
About 60km or so before you reach park headquarters there is a change for the better in the country as you track crosses over Davenport, Fifteen-Mile and Brackabra Creeks that run off the Diamantina River. The lushest area however is a bit further to the north around Edkins Creek, approximately 5km south of the national park boundary. This region can look spectacularly green and lush if there has been recent rains, since the channels of water spread out breathing life into the normally arid landscape. These creek crossings and their surroundings are black soil country, which means they would be totally impassable until the sun dried the ground out.
read on below advertisement
Diamantina National Park
It's 32km from the park boundary to the Diamantina ranger headquarters. Covering 507,000ha, the park is one the largest in Queensland and provides a home for a host of rare and endangered species including the bilby, kowari (a small carnivorous marsupial) and peregrine falcon.
A former grazing property, Diamantina was gazetted a national park in 1992 to protect some of the unique ecosystems that are found in the arid lands of outback Queensland. The Diamantina River, which cuts through the middle of the park, lies in the heart of the channel country, so called because of the numerous channels that run off the river and spread out across the plains after flooding before the water finally drains into Lake Eyre in central Australia.
While the country around the channels of the Diamantina River can look fairly lush after flooding, the rest of the park is quite arid with gibber plains, weathered sandstone ranges, claypans, sand dunes and Mitchell grass plains. From Ranger headquarters it's a 10km drive along the Bouila-Springvale road to the turn-off to Hunters Gorge then a further 4km along a rough bush track to the camping area at Mundewerra Waterhole.
next page »
You finally reach the turn-off to Diamantina 175km west of Windorah. A sign pointing to a track heading off in a northerly direction says Davenport Station 140km, Diamantina Lakes (park headquarters) 172km. The country in this area is dry and harsh and within 10km you are passing over a grid into Palparara Station. Keep speed to a minimum through here as the track often suddenly dips down into dry gullies that could easily damage the underside of your vehicle if you were driving too fast.
Spotting wildlife in much of this harsh, bleak rock-strewn landscape was very difficult when I went through, even though it was late afternoon when most things should be out and about. Apart from four red kangaroos-two mothers and their young and a small mob of about five emus, the only other signs of life were a few circling kites way off in the distance.
About 60km or so before you reach park headquarters there is a change for the better in the country as you track crosses over Davenport, Fifteen-Mile and Brackabra Creeks that run off the Diamantina River. The lushest area however is a bit further to the north around Edkins Creek, approximately 5km south of the national park boundary. This region can look spectacularly green and lush if there has been recent rains, since the channels of water spread out breathing life into the normally arid landscape. These creek crossings and their surroundings are black soil country, which means they would be totally impassable until the sun dried the ground out.
read on below advertisement
Diamantina National Park
It's 32km from the park boundary to the Diamantina ranger headquarters. Covering 507,000ha, the park is one the largest in Queensland and provides a home for a host of rare and endangered species including the bilby, kowari (a small carnivorous marsupial) and peregrine falcon.
A former grazing property, Diamantina was gazetted a national park in 1992 to protect some of the unique ecosystems that are found in the arid lands of outback Queensland. The Diamantina River, which cuts through the middle of the park, lies in the heart of the channel country, so called because of the numerous channels that run off the river and spread out across the plains after flooding before the water finally drains into Lake Eyre in central Australia.
While the country around the channels of the Diamantina River can look fairly lush after flooding, the rest of the park is quite arid with gibber plains, weathered sandstone ranges, claypans, sand dunes and Mitchell grass plains. From Ranger headquarters it's a 10km drive along the Bouila-Springvale road to the turn-off to Hunters Gorge then a further 4km along a rough bush track to the camping area at Mundewerra Waterhole.
next page »
