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Published: August 15th 2014
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How about this for a Loo
This marvellous Mural was just one of the 27 around the town of Alpha. It shows a pioneer woman doing her washing in the creek and lots of the wildlife around her. It is displayed on the toilet wall of the Showgrounds, hidden away from most people's view. We left Sapphire today and returned to the Capricorn Highway heading towards Jericho, except for the slight detour just before the Highway called Anakie, which we decided to have a quick look at before leaving the area. The town will host a Gemfest from the 7
th to the 10
thof August, next weekend, so we were curious about it. We won’t be staying around for another week.
Anakie is another small town with a school, police station and a few streets of houses. There is also a sports field and public hall where the festival will be held. While we were looking we saw three men delivering a large generator to the field. They were trying to get it off a tip tray truck but it was being reluctant. They bounced the tray a few times, mechanically, but it still didn’t seem to move. After many attempts it finally started sliding slowly down the tray towards the end. The truck driver extended the end even further and gently deposited its back end onto the ground and then slid the tray out from the front. It looks as if the preparations for the Festival are already underway.
We walked on towards
A Public Water Point
This was a bore where miners could get supposed drinking water from, for $5 per 1,000 litres, This miner said he was going to do the trip 5 times to fill his tanks on his mine site. It has to be boiled, though, as it is too high in chlorine and will make you sick. the railway line and saw an old station showing signs at the back that said “Antiques and Collectables”. We went over to see what was there and were greeted by a tiny, kinder-sized, toilet with a black lid, sitting proudly on the corner of the garden by the entrance. Barry said he now what was meant by a public toilet – you can’t get much more public than that! There were a few collectables scattered about the platform and grounds, including a rusting mechanical typewriter but there was no sign of a shop. The old station was flanked by a small but new platform and waiting area, which is still in use by our trusty “Spirit of the Outback” train. Although the town is quite small, I would imagine that people from Sapphire and Rubyvale would travel down to it if they wanted to go to Brisbane or Longreach, as they are not on a rail line.
We crossed the railway lines and walked to the outer edge of town, where the bitumen just stopped and the road became red dirt, right next to the police station and school. We’d now seen everything in Anakie so we hit the
The Big Ruby Caravan Park, Anakie
You could buy sapphire wash and fossick in the contents for your own sapphire find at this caravan park. Rubies are actually red sapphires! road again, towards Alpha and then Jericho.
Along the way, we passed some more odd road signs. The first said it was 124kms to the next fuel – maybe we should have filled up in Sapphire, despite the high price of $1.71. What was odd was that the information was after you left the town, when it was a bit late to do anything about it. The road was very straight and flat again, most of the way, and so we saw some more “Driver Fatigue Crash Zone for 50 kms” warnings accompanied by a silhouette of two cars in a head on pile up. Another sign showed, “Rest or RIP” and then we saw a Rest Stop sign just beyond it. We expected it to say the Rest Stop was 2 or 5 kms ahead but it said 38km ahead! People were obviously not expected to fall asleep too fast or they should plan their fatigue well ahead!
As we travelled along the Highway we could see the Drummond Ranges in front of us and eventually we reached and had to cross them. They are 535 metres above the area and were a slow pull up for
Just Bounce it a Bit More
These men were trying to get a huge generator off the tip tray truck by bouncing it. It took a few goes and a helping hand to get it set up ready for next week's GemFest at Anakie the ute and van but we made it without overheating too much. Once over the Range the landscape became very flat again with open, rather barren, bush and a few trees. The trees then reappeared and so did hundreds of small termite mounds. They were crowded quite close together. Barry wondered if they were part of the same colony – kind of like satellite cities rather than sky scrapers.
Just about 40 kms before Alpha, a fuel warning buzzer sounded in the ute. We’ve never heard this before. Barry was convinced that we would be able to reach the town without running out of diesel. I wasn’t so sure as we were still going up and down a few hills. We kept motoring on and the next distance marker said we still had 20kms left to go. Barry finally decided to pull over and put the contents of one of the 20 litre cans we were carrying into the tank, to my great relief. A few people slowed slightly when they saw us beside the road but they didn’t stop when we gave no sign of needing help.
As we entered Alpha, we saw the first petrol station
Anakie Railway Station with its Public Loo
If you look in the lower left corner you can see a child's toilet with a black seat. The old part of the building is a collectables market, outside and in, the loo being one of the items for sale, Now that;s a REALLY public loo. and pulled up to get the tank and the can refilled at $1.58 a litre. Barry later worked out that we had had only 4 litres left in the fuel tank. We’d better not worry whether fuel is cheap or dear in the future – we buy it where we can get it, regardless of the cost.
Right next to the petrol station was one of the twenty seven murals that the town is well known for, showing a river in a rocky region with lots of native birds, including Brolgas and Emus, grazing there. I wanted to see some more of the murals so we pulled out of the fuel stop and found a place to park, have lunch and then set off to explore. It seems that the murals began when two local artists decided to brighten up the town after it had suffered a devastating flood in 1990 and the community had put a lot of effort into cleaning it up. They painted one, which was so well received that other businesses asked for one. Since then many local artists have donated their time and efforts to producing the murals, asking only for the paints to
The Capricorn Highway Just Goes on Forever
The road was so straight and flat that we could see about 20 km ahead. be provided.
Another mural was on the wall of the butcher’s and showed some Brahmin bulls standing under trees near a billabong. Snow’s Bakery had a snowy scene next to a farm house with the farmer’s wife standing in the doorway looking out at it and a small rich brown one showing a woman buying a loaf of bread from a bakery cart. The largest is a tribute to the railways in the region painted on the Railway Goods Shed and showing men laying track and a steam train. One of my favourites was next, on the toilet block in Shakespeare Street, showing how the street looked before it had bitumen and featuring a young child splashing in a big puddle and a bunch of goats wandering along the road amongst horses and carts and an early motor car. The Cultural Group Workshop featured some of the arts and crafts that are done there, including pottery. There were several others showing rural scenes with both native and farm animals in them and my very favourite one of a woman washing clothes in a wash tub beside the creek bordered by lovely eucalypts and with Rainbow Lorikeets in the trees
You Should Have Filled Up at Sapphire
Barry was reluctant to fill the ute as the fuel prices were very steep in Sapphire. Only trouble was it was the last petrol for another 170 kms, so we ran out and had to top up with one of the spare cans. to be found at the showgrounds on the amenities block. It is the most colourful one and is very well painted. The reverse side of the building depicts a swag man making himself some breakfast next to a billabong. That was the last one we saw as we didn’t have time for any more. They were lovely, despite some of them beginning to fade. It will be a shame if they’re lost due to lack of repair.
We finished the last leg of our journey at Jericho Showgrounds, where we are planning to stay for a couple of nights, at $15 a night. There are trees all around and lots of the usual birds, plus some Yellow-Breasted Miners (almost identical to the Noisy Miner but with a lighter breast and different voice). We’ll investigate the town tomorrow.
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