It means long hours but I never begrudge any of the time I spend working for the North West Star. For all its faults it’s given me some of the best personal and professional satisfaction of my life.

However I always try to have Sunday afternoons to myself, a bit of “sacrosanct time” to zone out and smell the flowers – if they are in bloom.

I can usually be found on Sunday afternoons tramping around places like Lake Moondarra or Heywood Granite Mine, regardless of the heat, though I will stock myself up with plenty of water, given our extreme conditions in North West Queensland.

On Sunday just gone (February 4) I decided it was time for another visit to Warrigal waterhole and Painted Rock.

It was my third time out that way and rather than drive all the way there I park at the gate on the highway and walk the 3.4km to the waterhole.

Though there are directions on the gate, I missed the waterhole the first time I did the walk in 2016. 

I think I must have walked past it until the path petered out and disappointed I trudged back without seeing it.

The second time, which was around this time last year, I noticed the signpost near the waterhole.

There was no actual sign on the signpost, it was presumably removed by persons unknown long ago, but I figured it must have been important and I took the side track to find first the beautiful old Aboriginal paintings on the rock that gave the place its name and then the cool waterhole itself.

This time round I was keen to do something I didn’t do last year – jump in to the water.

And after a hot 3.4km walk, the dip was refreshing and delightful, despite the fact that the water level was down due to lack of rain.

The waterhole, along with a similar one at Fountain Creek is one of the great joys of our Outback experience, a rare chance to jump in and cool down regardless of the weather – Derek Barry