Eulo bore to Quilpie Road (and back)

After leaving Eulo bore, we had a quick nose around some of the more interesting looking places we could find just off the highway to Eulo, and then drove around 15km north up the Quilpie Road, looking for a spot where Marty had found Chestnut-breasted quail-thrush and White-browed treecreeper over 15 years ago.

We drove slowly along the old highway, now disused and gradually being reclaimed by the forces of nature... It was a hive of bird activity: a pair of Pink (Major Mitchell) cockatoos swung past and yelled hi; multiple parties of Chestnut-rumped thornbills, Splendid fairy-wrens, Striped and Spiny-cheeked HE's. The nectivores were clearly being attracted not only to clumps of flowering mistletoes, but also to a beautiful eucalypt with glossy leaves and half-bare ochrey/coppery-coloured bark, that favoured waterways along with the regular Eucalyptus coolabah - we worked out they were Yapunyah trees, common within their restricted range around Thargomindah.

Up the Quilpie Road, not much was happening for us birdwise right at this time, as we avoided one caravan/trailer combination after another, possibly ducking and weaving to avoid the inclement weather (rain and very cold conditions were forecast to sweep through). Once we got back to Eulo, we realised that a more immediate issue was driving the traffic: the town had run out of diesel, right in the middle of the Cunnamulla Fella festival. We drove back to Cunnamulla to fuel up, as we were aiming to get at least 2 nights in Currawinya National Park, before the rain closed the access roads.Read more