Day 8 - Barcaldine

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Firstly I would like to share with you my experience of outback entertainment that I was exposed to last night ... It is a long standing tradition at Nardoo Station to have a sing song round the very large camp fire ... it is something that you can’t get out of, I promise you !

Now first the pleasant experience, Jeff the brother of the station owners is a beaut singer / songwriter of outback yarns made into song ... one particular song about his late Father certainly got the tear ducts going ... Then the unpleasant experience ... A couple from my home state of WA ( namely Esperance) arrived with large sign writing on their 4WD .. “Country Singing Duet” ... I feel that they must have stolen someone else’s vehicle !! To say that they were dreadful is an understatement !!

They set up a large pair of speakers and a laptop playing Karaoke tunes .. which resembled elevator music ... Then worse to come they joined in with the most distorted microphones. Then to add fuel to the fire the Lady sang completely off key, and struggling to read the words on the screen .. He insisted on whistling out of tune, until I thought the whole camp gathering would up with their chairs and retire back to the safety of the caravans.

I lasted through Tina Turner, ABBA, and my favourite Aussie Icon “ True Blue” but called it a day and snuck off when they launched into The Wall by Pink Floyd ..... The band would file a law suit I am sure if they heard this rendition.

Today again I awoke to frost this time not only on my tent ... but also on my swag and I felt on my beard !! ... the pre-dawn temp at the station was minus 2 degrees ... Once the sun rose I remembered how good it feels to get the early morning sun on my back to drive away the cold ... a hot cup of tea warmed me inside, and soon I was up to knocking down camp.

Clear bright skies followed me all of today, going North East through Outback Queensland, passing through remote town, first visited by Major Mitchell back in 1846 .. interesting most towns are based around Artesian Wells.

Charleville is a town I will revisit when I am not on a dash to Airlie Beach !! with beaut old building and a real feel of an outback Queensland town, although today I only had time to stop for a quick tomato sandwich. Following the Landsborough Highway ( locally known as The Matilda Highway) weaves north through Augathella, Blackall, and finally to my camp tonight 2 kms east of Barcaldine, ( GPS S23.33.09 E145.18.26) named after the ancestral home of the Campbell’s of Glennuchy in Scotland.

Famed as the site of the first ever meeting of The Australian Labor Party, during the 1891 Shearers Strike

Founded in November 1886, the town boasts many restored buildings, and for the first time since October last year I have crossed the Tropic of Capricorn .. which should mean that I am once again back into Tropical Weather !!.

The forecast for tonight is sub zero temps, so again it will be a good test for my swag and tent .. wish me luck !! Less than 800 kms till I reach my first destination ... Airlie Beach and back to the company of my dear friends Jas and Jo .....

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