Sampling the Queensland Outback

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And so we sampled the great Queensland Outback

Well here we are again so soon after our interim Blog on our very enjoyable time at Blackall and Coolatai.
Our trek from The Town of 1770 to Longreach took us to an overnight stop at Banana. Banana isn’t famous for bananas, just ripping you off for two stubbies for $12.60 and a big yellow cow! When we arrived we were lucky as the only caravanners on site, which was good as there was only one male shower and toilet, but unlucky as by dusk the site was full.
Our next stop - oh sorry, did we mention how far inland Longreach actually is? - was Lake Marraboon, 17km south of Emerald. A great campsite, we spent two nights here next to lovely neighbours Ian and Ros from Sheldon in the Redlands (small world). A visit to Emerald Tourist Info Centre also showed visits that day by couples from Victoria Point and Redland Bay!!! Whilst here we visited Rubyvale and a tour of a Sapphire Mine where we met our new best friend Eric!. We had lunch at the historic (they are all historic) Rubyvale Hotel. One last stop before Longreach was Barcaldine with the famous Tree of Knowledge housed in a $4 million building, take a look at the pics, yes that black timber square on stilts is it! Have to say a little more effort was made on the inside, see other pic. Go back to Blog 3 for details of our stay here.
Longreach looms in the distance or is it a bird? No it’s a plane, a 747 to be precise, the one that was donated by QANTAS to the Founders Museum, which at the time stood on the financial books at around $200 million some (tax dodge) gift!!!! The massive camp site at Longreach squeezed us in like sardines. Oh, and please don’t worry, the native green tree frog is not nearly extinct, they have just all moved out west, in to the latrines at Longreach! Whilst on our 4 day stay here we paid visits to the QANTAS Founders Museum and the Stockman’s Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame was a little disappointing but in a great building. Too much reading! Our best arvo was our ride on the Cobb & Co Stagecoach on an original part of the route, we managed to sit on the back which was great if a little dusty.
Right, go put the kettle on as guess what, we now head back east on the same highway heading to Yeppoon (or Yepon as Steve calls it, first discovered by the Japanese). Our way back had 3 stopovers, all one night each. The first Barcaldine again (see previous Blog), the second being Alpha, the one horse town of murals. We only stayed here because our next door neighbour from Ormiston, Fran, was born there. When Frank rolled into town as a Bank Manager he was quickly seduced and swept off his feet - that’s how things happened then - the rest they say is history, they have just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary, good on ya both. The third stop was the beautiful mining town of Blackwater…..if you’ve ever been you’ll know we were lucky to survive the stay alive.
We are now recuperating in Yeppoon and will update you all on our antics in days to come. Stay happy everyone.

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Comments

[Sue]

Love reading all your news and seeing the piccies. Tree of knowledge looks amazing. Were you safe with the gun Deb?Actually I am aware of your shooting prowess!! S xxx

[D&M]

watcha cobbers
Caught up with your blogs. Keep them coming. Trying to follow the trail by map from across the world. Keep smiling! D x