Day 438 | Elizabeth Creek, Wrotham Park Station: a fine body of water

84 km | zzOz total: 13,136 km

N 560.

That’s Normanton, 560 km away with the usual: no roadhouses or shops along the way, even the cattle station homesteads are set well back from the road, like 15 km.

I’ve been sussing out the water situation, there’s 86 km between the two Walsh River crossings and 134 km from the Lynd to the Mitchell River. I’m somewhat reassured by my first crossing of the Walsh, back before Dimbulah, it was a reasonable size and, best of all, was flowing.

Today recrossing it there was plenty of flow at the causeway but it sure must rip through there in the Wet Season, the paperbarks have been well hammered.

Most of the creeks have some pools at the crossing, even well into the dry, Elizabeth Creek where I’m stationed tonight has a pool 500 m long, the water is a beer colour although without the fizz, perhaps more like a weak cup of tea, and like tea rather tannic in flavour.

It’s cattle country so there has to be water left for them, the method here appears to be big muddy pools dug into the clay with a remnant from the Wet, the cattle tend to pug around the edges and do what cattle do in an outstanding way, leave their calling cards. They seem adequately spaced, well more than adequately, like one or 2 a kilometre.

The water in the pools on examination is murky and green, soul destroying to filter that, instead I load up on the flowing variety, just a hint of vegetational funkiness, been there, done that often enough on my trails.

10 litres will be enough to get through the day, and even the night if I fail to make the next river, the road now flat enough for it not to be much of a burden.