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Published: August 17th 2014
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A Frog in a Pole
Next to the Dump Point at Ilfracombe I noticed a metal pole full of water and this little head peaking out of it at my chest height. It is a Green Tree Frog and he is alive because he ducked back into the water soon after. We left Barcaldine a bit later than we’d planned but it’s only 134 km to Longreach so that wasn’t a problem. There were an amazing number of dead animals along the highway, in all states of decay, mainly kangaroos but also a few emus, a sheep and some wild pigs. Wherever the animals were still reasonably meaty there were heaps of carrion birds and birds of prey, including Little Eagles, Black Kites, Ravens and Crows. They would leave it to the last second to lift off the road and several times Barry had to slow down to give them time to get out of the way. They totally ignored him when he tried honking the horn. Mind you, it must be very frustrating for them to be disturbed every time they take a bite!
We saw a pair of live emus walking beside the road, too, so Barry gave them a wide berth as they can be very unpredictable around roads!
A bit further along, I saw two elderly men who looked rather rugged up, sitting on a large rock having a smoke a great many miles from anywhere. They had been pushing a blue wire basket full of
Now That's a Name Board for a Caravan Park
Opposite the Dump Point in Ilfracombe was this entrance to the caravan park. I'd love to have seen them getting it up there. Notice the loo at the back. belongings with them. I’m pretty sure they were swagmen. They looked perfectly happy enjoying their stop, for the brief glimpse I had. You don’t hear about swaggies on foot much anymore.
We were also passed by the biggest road train we’ve seen so far, going in the other direction. It was a “TOLL” truck with 4 large trailers. It created one hell of a shock wave as it went by! I’m glad we’re not in a single axle caravan - it would make it terribly unstable.
We arrived at Longreach in the early afternoon and made our way to the Free Camp next to the Thomson River. It’s a four day camp and had loads of room, flat sites and some quite reasonable toilets. It sits next to the pumping station for bringing the river water into town, but that was no problem and we never really heard anything. The main difficulty was the wind, which was very strong, blew fine dust into my eyes every time I turned into wind while trying to set up. Barry was OK as he had his glasses on but I couldn’t see after a very short time. I sure hope this
The Amazing Quilt
This is Longreach Arts and Crafts Gallery which is housed in an old Ambulance Station. The quilt celebrates the whole area. wind drops if we’re planning on staying at this dusty site for a few days!
We just had enough time to have a quick look around Longreach before everything shut. We ended up in the Longreach Art and Craft Gallery. It was up a flight of wooden stairs equipped with a Stair Lift – oh good! Except that it was at the top and was stored away beneath a cover. Ah well, just climb up slowly. It was worth the climb. We were welcomed by a wonderful 87 year old volunteer, Barb, who showed us around the memorabilia part of the gallery and talked about one or two of the art items for sale. She was amazing. She told us the history of the building, which had been the ambulance depot for the area. She remembers when the ambulance driver lived with his family above the depot in the rooms they were now using for the gallery. She said he had a kind heart and was very hard working. One of the artefacts on display was his woollen uniform jacket. She said he was never out of uniform when on duty, even on the hottest summer days!
Whenever
A Specially Modified Wheelchair
87 year old Barb explaining that the wheelchair was modified for a lady with withered legs and remembering that she used to barge through anyone in her way. he got a call out he had to drive to the accident site and then bring the patient back to the depot. He then had to fill in a large ledger with all the details of the problem and treatment given before he could take them to a hospital. What a stupid rule! Thankfully that doesn’t happen anymore. I wonder how many people died because of the delay getting them to hospital!
There was also an old fashioned wooden wheelchair with a difference. It had a platform across from the seat to the raised footrest. This was for a local woman who had suffered polio and had withered legs. She used to zoom around the streets in her chair, barging into anyone who got in her way! Glad we don’t have to watch out for that now.
The gallery had some very nice pottery and paintings on display, for sale, but by far the nicest thing was not for sale. It was a lovely colourful quilt with wonderful scenes appliquéd all over it showing things around the town. They had even sewn some of the animals, like the horses drawing an appliqué cart, into the quilt itself, so
Sunset over Thomson River
Alongside the Free Camp area at Longreach was the Thomson River. You could stand on a bridge and watch the lovely sunset reflect in the river and listen to the entertainment on the Showboat nearby. you had to look carefully at the stitching as well as the appliqué. Barb had no hand in the quilt as she is a potter not a quilter but she had a story to tell about it anyway. She had been passing them by (normally potters were not allowed anywhere near in case they got dirt on the fabric) one day and could hear an argument going on. She was hailed by one of the ladies and asked, “Sheep jump any time they’re released from the pen, don’t they?” She agreed and was asked to tell the others as they refused to have any of the group of sheep jumping. Regardless of her support, they wouldn’t do it so the first lady created another group of sheep at the top of the quilt all jumping about. Even country artisans have their artistic differences, it seems. They did a fabulous job with it, despite these.
We have no room for artworks or the spare cash for them either so all I bought was a jar of Tomato Relish, as my last one is nearly empty and home-made always tastes better than shop bought.
After saying thanks and goodbye to
The Dusty Plain of a camp site
This was the view on the other side of the camp site at Longreach. The dust blew off there in bucket loads - mostly into my eyes! Barb, we made our way back to the camp site. It was almost dusk so I went down to the bridge over the Thomson River to watch the sunset over the water. Another lady, Noeline, was there doing the same thing and we got chatting, while watching. It was well worth it, too. The orange glow lit up the whole river and looked wonderful, especially when a duck swam across the middle leaving a golden trail behind him. We then heard some music coming from behind us a saw that there was a showboat cruise coming towards the other bridge, where it stopped while they, too, watched the sunset. The boat then moored and the guests had an evening meal and live entertainment by a country singer on the river bank before heading back to the pick-up point. We could see the fire on the bank and as the music was greatly amplified we could hear every word.
By this time the mozzies were beginning to bite me so I beat a hasty retreat to the van and heated up some left-overs for dinner. The music went on till quite late, so it’s lucky we’re not early to bed people.
We had one other noise during the night – a rooster crowing loudly at 1.30am and 4am. I thought they were only meant to go off at dawn. Someone forgot to set his clock!!
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