Page 9 of Jim and Kims Travels Travel Blog Posts


Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Longreach June 8th 2022

Longreach is an outback town with a lot to offer. Our caravan park was located near the Stockmans Hall of Fame, and that was our first port of call to visit. We really enjoyed the museum and the Stockmans Show. A visit to the School of the Air was a must, and it was interesting watching the teachers communicate and teach their long distance students on remote stations. A vital service for the outback children to learn. In essence, an early form of Zoom. In the afternoon we visited the Qantas Museum, Longreach being the birthplace of our great Australian airline. We had a highly informative tour guide take us aboard a 747 Jumbo, a 707, a DC3 and a Super Constellation. The next night we enjoyed a River Cruise and Dinner, which was complimented by ... read more
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Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Barcaldine June 4th 2022

Lara Wetlands is a 15,000 acre station stay and is 28 kilometres south of Barcaldine. There are unlimited semi off grid sites located around a central lagoon, along with a hot artesian pool, hot showers and flush toilets. The sunsets are stunning, as is the birdlife on the lagoon. Bikes and kayaks are free, and we took the opportunity to use both. It was here that we met Colin and Lindsey, an older couple from Erina NSW. Lindsey was a patient from the health clinic where Kim worked at in Erina, and we caught up with them at a few of our future caravan park stays. Whilst we were there we enjoyed a Country and Western Concert, and home cooked damper. The cooks even provided a special GF damper for Kim. A very relaxing stay in ... read more
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Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Barcaldine June 2nd 2022

Being the son from a long line of Blacksmiths, it was important for me to stand under the Tree of Knowledge in Barcaldine, the place where the great shearers strike of 1891 took place, all of whom were subsequently jailed for over a decade. It is the birthplace of the Australian Labor Party and the beginning of the workers conditions that we all take for granted today in Australia. Unfortunately, the Tree of Knowledge was poisoned in 2006, however, it has been preserved under a large timber structure. We visited the historic Australian Workers Heritage Centre, which contained many old buildings, vehicles and antique items collected from around the district. It would be remiss of me not to mention Roses n Things Caravan Park where we stayed in Barcaldine. A small eleven site park, it boasts ... read more
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Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Rubyvale May 31st 2022

I mentioned in my last blog post how Emerald was in the midst of the largest sapphire gemfields in the world, hence our next place to visit was nearby Rubyvale. After checking in to the caravan park, we headed out to the Heritage Underground Sapphire Mine for a tour, which was very interesting. We booked a Tag Along Sapphire Fossicking Tour for the next day, and followed an old prospector out to a fossicking area, where we proceeded to dig for sapphires. The process was to dig through the topsoil until you reach the shale level, as this is where the sapphires are found. Then fill the large buckets with the shale and dirt, and carry them to the tumbler, which sorts out the large rocks from material which may contain the sapphires. The material is ... read more
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Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Emerald May 26th 2022

Emerald is a thriving outback town, thanks to its abundant rich soils and flat plains which support a variety of agriculture. The hinterland surrounding Emerald contains the largest sapphire gemfields in the world. In recent decades, coal has become a major contributor to the wealth of the district. After being off grid in Carnarvon Gorge and enjoying long walks, our stay in Emerald was a bit more relaxing, catching up on washing and restocking our groceries. The world's largest Van Gough "Sunflowers" reproduction painting is found in Emerald, measuring 10 metres x 7 metres, standing on a 25 metre easel. We also drove out to Lake Maraboon and Fairbairn Dam, had a picnic and walked around. We yawned a little when we saw a sign for Botanical Gardens, however, we were truly impressed with the extensive ... read more
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Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Carnarvon Gorge May 25th 2022

We were slow to rise the next morning, our muscles being sore from the previous day's marathon hike through Carnarvon Gorge. We had two more side trails to explore in the gorge, but we had little idea of what to expect. We had been told that the Amphitheatre and Moss Garden were special places, however, that is an understatement. Both side trails were a good way into the gorge, and we ended up walking for nearly eleven kilometres over three and a half hours, in the process doing ten river crossings. It was worth every step. To access the Amphitheatre, we had to first climb a series of metal stairs and then walk through a narrow cleft in the high sandstone cliffs, before emerging into a peaceful place surrounded by massive cliffs. We just sat there ... read more
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Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Carnarvon Gorge May 24th 2022

We rose early to commence our hike to the end of where we could reasonably cover Carnarvon Gorge. Fortunately, we brought one hiking pole each, to assist us in balancing as we leapt from rock to rock across the thirty two river crossings on the way to Big Bend. The river levels were elevated due to the recent rains, making negotiating the crossings more difficult. Carnarvon Gorge is essentially one long sandstone canyon, with a number of side tracks branching off it to points of interest. We covered the side tracks towards the end of the hike, to avoid having to repeat the long walk and river crossings the next day. The Cathedral Cave and Art Gallery are full of aboriginal paintings on the sandstone walls, and are a must to visit. Big Bend is literally ... read more
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Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Carnarvon Gorge May 23rd 2022

We settled into our first off grid camp at the magnificent Sandstone Park, set high on a plateau overlooking the cliffs of Carnarvon Gorge. We had been watching YouTube videos of Carnarvon Gorge prior to leaving on our trip, and it looked amazing. Our first foray into Carnarvon Gorge was to take the trail to Mickeys Creek and Warrumbah Gorge, both of which narrowed to just a few metres between high sandstone cliffs. We followed each gorge, zig zagging across the creek until the water became too deep to continue. We then checked out the Rock Pool and after stepping our way across the river on rocks, we walked the Nature Trail. We were fortunate to watch for around twenty minutes the first Platypus that we had ever seen in the wild. After arriving back at ... read more
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Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Roma May 21st 2022

After being assured that the bridge at Surat was not underwater, we headed for our next stop at Roma. The Balonne River was lapping underneath the Surat Bridge as we drove over it. Surat was once a Changing Post for Cobb & Co coaches. We arrived at our first Farm Stay, Ups and Downs, and after setting up, walked around with the Caretakers feeding the farm animals. We sat around the camp fire at night and chatted with other guests. Weather wasn't so great at Roma, with misty rain falling the majority of the time.... read more
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Oceania » Australia » Queensland » St.George May 18th 2022

After rising early for one last soak in the relaxing thermal pools of Moree, we packed up and headed across the Queensland border to St George. Due to the heavy rains in the area and the land being near dead flat, we had to negotiate several flooded sections of the road. One of these was over 30 cm deep, where we just followed the faint centre line of the road. We were unable to pull over as there was water on both sides of the road most of the journey, as we were liable to get the car and caravan bogged in the mud. We went for long walks each day along the Balonne River at St George, which was in flood. On Tuesday we did a Bird Watching tour with a local Twitcher. The evening ... read more
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