The journey to Boulia

A mesa (Spanish and Portuguese for table) is the American English term for tableland, an elevated area of land with a flat top and sides that are usually steep cliffs. It takes its name from its characteristic table-top shape.



Situated between Boulia and Winton in central Queensland. The landscape viewed from the Lookout is composed of flat-topped hills or mesas. These formations are said to be unique in Australia and South America is the only other place, in the world, where they are found.



The mesas are the remains of plateau country that resisted erosion from an inland sea 90 – 100 million years ago. The area is known as the Lilleyvale (sometimes spelt Lilyvale) Hills.

There had been rain that morning. The road is single lane bitumen so when meeting oncoming traffic one, or both, vehicles needed to move off. Look at our car tyre!


and our rig


Needless to say, first opportunity at Boulia, the outfit had a wash!

As mentioned earlier, it had been raining. There were puddles on the road and frequently kangaroos, that had been drinking from the puddles, hopped away as we approached.
Nearing Boulia two emus were on the side of the road. One made an early escape across the road. The other made a late decision to follow the first emu. Alas it ran into us on the driver's side. Brandt watching in his rear vision mirror said it bounced off, rolled over several times. There was a cloud of feathers. Then it picked itself up and ran to join its mate. Leaving us with a small dent in the driver's door and the determination to slow more when we see emus close to the road. We have since been told they can do more damage to a vehicle than a kangaroo.