Back Country Queensland

From Hughenden we headed to the Prairie Hotel in tiny Prairie. Sadly it was closed for the day, but Gen got a pic of the horse on the roof, and poked her camera through an open window for a sticky beak.

Next, we took a delightful road via the dry weir and lower waterhole of Kooroorinya National Park where the firebreathing grump manageress of the campground seemed reluctant to let us stay because a bush racemeeting was taking place a few days later.

Off early next morning, we hit the beaut red dust road for 100s of kms to Muttaburra, a bush village with a quirky art trail of scrap and barbed wire sculptures so cleverly created.

The art trail theme expanded at Aramac, another lovely outback town with white bull statues dotted around. 

The star attraction is a fun, 5-hour art trail loop drive exhibiting over 40, true Aussie style, scrap metal sculptures full of humour.

One stopping point on the way is the stone Healing Circle. It is an ancient sacred healing site connected to six others in the world: the others are located in Japan, Tibet, Madagascar, Peru, Turkey and the USA. When you step into the centre, the eye of God, you are connected to the energies of all seven circles. The circle is used for prayer, meditation and healing of the mind, body and soul.

From the circle site, a short walk to the top of the hill takes you on a path fit for goats, complete with scrambling over rocks. The view from the top over the surrounding savannah is well worth the effort.

Even though the first 57km of the circuit is a bitumen ribbon road, you still have to watch out for road trains. Make sure you jump out of their way!

Halfway in the loop, we camped beside the water at Lake Dunn, brimming with water from the recent rains which had ended an 8-year drought and attracted lots of birdlife.

In the evening, we witnessed a fabulous sunset from the jetty.

Somewhere along the road looping back to Aramac is the Horsetrailer's Gorge. It was once used as a camping spot by drovers. The sides of the gorge form a natural barrier that kept their horses from wandering at night. The scenery is straight out of a Western film. It also brought some unexpected challenges and fun bushbashing.

While driving through the savannah, we stopped to watch dancing brolgas.

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Prairie, Kooroorinya, Muttaburra, Aramac, Sculpture Trail, Lake Dunn, Queensland,