Noccundra

Mar 15, 2018
2 min read

Leaving Innamincka we headed to Noccundra to stay on the Wilson River. The road once you hit the border is sealed with a 14km section about 50km outside Noccundra which is muddy bull dust holes! Both the car and van were put to the test in these. Trent took them relatively slowly but needed some speed given the had been churned up by the road trains. He did well and even the video I took didn’t capture some of his swearing!! Was the prefect trial for both the vehicles and we were pleased with the outcome – we had made it without getting stuck!!

Along the way we passed a couple oil nodders and some oil plants, much smaller than Moomba.

Noccundra is a gazette town of 3 people – a family who have worked the pub for the past 5 1/5 years. Margaret was lovely, giving us a full run down on the hotel. Built in 1882 out of sandstone bought to the site by camel train, it was originally built to keep the workers on the station from what we understand. The pub is small internally with a bar and dining room and the family’s quarters on the end. The Hotel is had a heritage listing placed on the building (1992) by the QLD government.

Margaret and her husband Neil were busy repainting and making some repairs to the building as it had been requested that a beam be removed by the historical society as it was not original. The pub had previously been owned by the Packer Family as they had owned the local Nockatunga Station, now owned by Gena Rinehart.

Whilst having a beer out the front, we got chatting to Gillian and her husband Chris from Thargomindah. Chris kindly gave us some tips on catching fish and shrimp in the Wilson river – yes, we got a shrimp, no we didn’t get a fish! Was lovely to have been able to have a chat to all these guys over a couple of hours as we got to understand the local area and what the local tourism centre was trying to do to promote the area. Lots of exciting times ahead if Gillian and her team can get some of these things off the ground – good luck!