Day Twentyeight......Charleville

Last day at Charleville and can't say that either of us are all that sorry about that.   Three days in this town are probably two days too many.

Today we went to have a look at the Bilby but when we got there, there was no one to be seen.  Had a quick look around and left dissapointed (sign on gate said exactly nothing).   Decided to drive the 3k to the Information center to pick up a copy of the 'Outback Native Timber Walk Guide' that they advertise goes with a walk along the creek to help identify the 18 arid species on show, only to find the place locked up and deserted - again no notices.

Our observations of Charleville (right or wrong) are of a town that has no soul or pride and has all but given up, it appears dirty and unloved and I suspect that this photo of the Railway Hotel just about sums it up.
Broke, Busted'n'Burnt.

If it wern't for the Bailey Bar we wouldn't have stayed.

Day Twentyseven.......

Bailey Bar Caravan Park - Charleville

Although somewhat higly-pigly in the way they locate the vans, it seem to work and everyone is very friendly.  Have run into a couple, Col and Jocelyn, who we met earlier at Tambo, they have a motor home and also come from Brisbane.  They have a unit in SouthbankApartments and Col is also an x-real estate agent.  They have been four years on the road and we have shared our favourite spots and likes and dislikes with them.

Drove into town today to get some supplies and have a look around.  Big town, sprawling and not as well loved as Tambo.

When we took puppy for her walk we saw (heard first) a large group of Galah's sitting on the power lines, they were squawking and flapping their wings and doing lots of antics like hanging upside down from the wires.

On the way home we also noticed that the park was doing a Lamb on the Spit with apple crumble and billy tea so we booked a couple of seats.  The tea was top shelf and the company great - we had a good time after which went home to fill out the Census Form.

I noticed a couple of motorcycles camped nearby so went over for a chat and to find out where they were heading. 

 I met Tommo and Bevan and their partners who had come from Brisbane (ironically, very close to home).

They said that their goal was for an eight week trip around Australia with emphasis on Western Australia, but their plans had come somewhat unstuck as Tommo had damaged the swingarm on his trailer and they were waiting for a replacement to come from Brisbane.  Bevan did a neat fiberglass repair job on the trailer body while they were waiting for the parts. 

Riding 1800cc Honda GoldWings with trailers, I have to admit to being a little envious but as the temperatures droped to o degrees I was happy to have the comfort that we had.... perhaps a few years ago....

I wish them luck and will follow their trip with interest on their website.

 

Day Twentysix...........

A short drive today, just over 200k, but my goodness, how the terrain has changed.  Getting a little more hilly and definitely more lush as there appears to be a better supply of water here, at least the creeks and rivers have water in them.  For the first time we saw kangaroos and emu on the side of the road as we drove along.

We were driving along somewhere between Tambo and Augathella when I turned to Eileen and said 'There must be a politician who lives around here', she said 'How do you know that?' and I said, 'Easy, this is the best bit of road we have driven on in days'.

Arrived at the 'Bailey Bar Caravan Park' at Charleville at 12.30pm.

Days Twentyfour and Twentyfive.....Tambo

Tambo located on the banks of the Barcoo River was established in 1863.   It is reported to be the oldest town in Central Queensland.

In 1846 Sir Thomas Mitchell, during his fourth expedition,explored this area looking for a great river flowing north-west when he discovered the Barcoo River (which he called The Victoria) near Isisford.

A Biography of this man can be read here http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mitchell-sir-thomas-livingstone-2463





Eileen and I are very impressed with this small town with a population of around 350.   There is quite a bit to see and it is perhaps the cleanest town we have seen in our travels thus far.

Today we took a pleasant two hour stroll along the Coolibah Walk and this afternoon along main street to the lake where the bird life is nothing short of spectacular.  Here are a few photos of the things that we saw along the way.

A Kingfisher looking for breakfast in the Barcoo

A graceful Red River Gum overhangs the Barcoo

Tambo Post Office

Tambo Town Hall

I took these photos off a plaque outside the old Town Hall.  They depict the western escarpment of the Carnarvan National Park and are situated a short distance east of Tambo.  This is one place we would very much like to see but could not fit in this trip.... perhaps next year.

So as the sun sets in the west and we lay our heads down to sleep tonight, it is with fond memories of this beautiful town that we know we will revisit sometime soon.

Day Twentythree......

After five nights at the Longreach Discovery Caravan Park (reportedly the largest in Australia), we are very happy to be packing up and moving on.... can not recommend this park and would not stay here again.

A little bitch....  This park has around 400 sites and charges $40 per couple per night most people seem to only stay one or two nights so there is a mass exodus each morning and a continuous daily influx of new vans, trailers, motorhomes, fifth wheelers and cars using the many cabins of various size and style.  Assuming that the park is only half booked (certainly not the case during our stay), the income would be approximately $8,000 a night or just under $3 million a year.  Not sure on staff levels, but only saw 3 ladies at book in and 2 groundsmen so wages do not appear to be an issue.  So whats my bitch you might say?  Here they are....

First.  Appreciating the fact that water is a precious commodity in the outback, perhaps there may be an excuse for the fact that the park is a complete dust bowl.... but is there?  there is nowhere for the vans to discharge the waste run off of the precious water that they do use.... surely there is a case for collecting this water and using it on the grounds and planting some trees and shrubs and a bit of grass.

Second.   Very few sites had a slab or even a level area for an annexe.  Due to people letting their waste water run wherever.   There were bogs all over the place.

Third.   Unlike most of the parks that we have been to, there was no one to show you to your site and make sure that you were parked and the girls in the office did not seem to worry about what sort or size van you had and had little idea as to what would fit where.  Chaos!

Have just discovered that the Managers have a list of work that they wish to do including sealing the roads inside the park but the Owners (Discovery Holiday Parks Pty Ltd) don't want to spend any money. I wonder what their other 3 parks are like.... guess we will never know as we won't be staying at any of them.

Rant over....

In comparison we arrived in Tambo this afternoon at the Tambo Mill Motel and Caravan Park and reception was great with the Owner taking us to our site and making sure that we were settled and had everything we needed.  Here is a photo of our site, we were parked under this magnificent Boab which had this plaque under it.... Touching and nice....

The road in is third world as is much of this seemingly forgotten outback road system and I was reminded of this little sticker that I saw

An example of this totaly inadequate road system, we were stuck behing an old car towing a van between Longreach and Barcaldin and he was flat out at 80kph in a 110k zone.  Now appreciating that he had every right to travel at his pace, the problem was that we did not have the power to be able to pass him with safety so were stuck at his speed for 60k and by the time we pulled into Barcaldin there was a string of 6 vans.  I have two issues with this event

1. I can't believe that in the 100k between towns the Council (read Government) has not supplied one overtaking lane. 

and 2. I feel so sorry for the truck drivers who must take their lives in their own hands on a dail basis as they contend with this rediculuous lack of forsight as they go about their daily job.

I wonder how long us City folk would last before revolting against our Government leaders.... and now they want a High Speed Train to service the shoreline huggers... give me a break, lets get the roads right first.   We simply must eradicate this 'I'm all right jack' attitude that has crept into our Australia.... Perhaps we need another World War - dare I say it.

Must close now, have woken up with a dose of the erks.....

Day Twentytwo........Longreach

 
Today is our last day in Longreach so we took a drive around the local area, in particular we had a look at the school where Dylan did his first placement and the hospital where Noah was born.




These photos are for Dylan.








We will break camp this afternoon and be ready to move on in the morning to our next stop... Tambo.




We went into town and did some shopping, Eileen and I both purchased a nice shady hat and I also got a nice belt.

Day Twentyone.......Ilfracombe

Slow start to the day but decided to drive to Ilfracombe to check out Machinery Walk and have a look at the caravan park there (we had heard good reports) and have decided that if up this way again we would stay there.

Above is a short history of the town and surrounds.

The more we look around the outback, the more we can see just how much both of the world wars have influenced, contributed and moulded the outcome that we see today.

The following photos are for Jason..... Thought they may interest you

Day Twenty......

Another Big Rig arrived today, incredabily these people had purchased their van from the same dealer as the previous one and were camped on the same site.  

This one was 35 foot lond and they had broken a leaf spring on their first trip and were not real happy.

Day Ninteen.....

Yesterday we had set up our site next door to another fifth wheel, we thought that ours was comfortable but this one weighed in at just over 6 tonne (twice our weight) and was pulled by a Chevy Silverado 6.5 litre V8 diesel (economy was 25litres to the 100k).

We had a chat and said farewell as they pulled out today....  Nice couple have spent the last two years on the road.

After we set up yesterday we took Pepper for an evening stroll and saw these two Brolgas having a dance.  They truly are an amazing bird and their antics are interesting to witness.

Today I was going to spend on my own at the Australian Stockmans Hall of Fame as Eileen wanted to clean and cook as well as look after puppy because she knew that I was most interested in this part of our trip....(she is a gem).

I love the history of the bush and find it utterly fascinating reading about the hardships that our pioneers had to persevere.




Twenty years ago I last visited this museum of history and I have to admit to a little dissapointment as to the ongoing work of the trustees of this wonderful place.... very little has changed and there are few, if any, new additions to the complex as well as unfortunately some broken exibits. (talk about resting on ones laurels).

They should take a lesson from one of their own exibits.....

Good, Better, Best

Never let it rest

Till Good is Better
And Better is Best 

The grounds are splendid and the interior is kept at a constant cool temperature in order to preserve many of the artifacts.   I spent a wonderful contemplative five hours lost in wonderment and marvelling at the resiliance of so many of the people who not only survived the hardships of the droughts, the wars and the depression but continued to survive and even in some cases mass vast fortunes

We just can't comprehend and don't understand the meaning of 'Doing it tough'.....

Day Ninteen Part Two...... Interesting Perspective



And here is a photo of the Homestead and surrounds......

All that in the middle of nowhere and the closest neighbour hundreds of miles away.

The story of the Kidman Family is equally interesting....

The red dots on the following map represent the land holdings that the Kidman Empire owned.... Most people today haven't seen as much of Australia as he owned..... Thats incredible....

Day Eighteen.....Barcaldin

O.M.G!!!!!!  Am I glad that we decided to rest at Jericho prior to tackling the 190 odd K to Longreach.

The trip took us around 3 hours with a couple of stops and I have to say it was the worst bit of road we have seen thus far.   Barely wide enough for two cars and as undulating as the Looner Park roller coaster, I forgot to turn on the UHF and consequently was a little caught out by the site of a road train in my side mirror as he was passing us at over 100k an hour....S...T I thought hang on and slow down to let him through.

Quickly turned on to station 40 in time to get the heads up from a tourist coach coming through.... promise to self to invest in a rearview camera to give us a little more warning. 

When we got to Longreach we saw the road train on the side of the road and it was only a little one... about 40 meters long.

We had a short stop at Barcaldin where we parked in front of the Artesian Hotel, the only one not to be burned down during the Shearers uprising in 1891.

Across the road was the Monument to the Tree Of Knowledge, an unusual structure but quite clever in design with varing lengths of wooden beams hanging from the ceiling which when the wind blew clanked together with a rather plesant timber (Ha! ha!)

Inside this Monument is located the Tree of Knowledge under which the beginnings of the Labor Union movement began.  

Not wishing to take away from this important piece of Australian history,I could nevertheless, not stop myself from wondering if there were any parallels to be taken from this vision...  The dead tree is supported by almost invisable guy wires like the strings of a puppet and I invisaged them to be not unlike the Trade Union Power Brokers silently dictating to the Labor Party...  I could almost hear the chimes sighing....

'Goodbye Kevin Rudd, 

farewell Neville Wran,

it's a long long way for Julia Gillard

so she better take care....

 

The fact that water is without doubt the most valuable and important commodity in the outback, it is therefore with interest that I took these photos of one of the first Windmills built to pump this precious liquid up from the depths.