Advertisement
It's nice to be finally back on the road after the considerable difficulties of the last 6 weeks. I'm not going to dwell on the problems but suffice to say we now have a new camper trailer and a new engine in the 80 series. So fingers crossed our problems are now behind us? We'd like to thank Jen's parents, Leon and Sandra for giving us a home for a number of weeks and feeding us way to well! Also we were assisted by some amazing people in Woolgoolga, what an incredibly friendly little town, thank you all so much.
Well we hit the road again on Tuesday May 1 from Toowoomba bound for Mitchell, unfortunately we were hampered by numerous road works along the Warrego Highway which dropped our average speed to around 60km/h for the trip. As a result we overnighted at the show grounds at Wollumbilla, our first set up went ok though we identified the need for a few organizational changes and try as we might we could not get the TV to work! So no "The Voice" for us!
Wednesday we travelled the remaining 100ks or so to Mitchell and the free camp site
at Neil Turner Weir a couple of kms out of town. We set up with ominous clouds all around us but thankfully we only experienced a light shower. The aim at Mitchell was to visit their famous hot springs, unfortunately we found out on arrival that they are closed for refurbishment and so were unable to avail ourselves of the therapeutic mineral springs. As a result of this disappointment we only stayed a night and headed the next day for Blackall, this day we travelled with massive thunder cells all around us, we managed right up until the last hour of travel to avoid them, then down it came in torrents, massive puddles engulfed the road and slowed our speed considerably until it passed, it was a awesome display of the power of nature. We pulled in that night to the camp site at the rear of the Barcoo Hotel amidst the puddles and treated ourselves to burgers and chips before settling in for the night.
Early the next day and before leaving town we learnt about the legendary 'black stump' (see photo) then headed off under clear blue skies towards Longreach. As there were no free camp sites
near to town we were forced to stay in a van park which was nice but expensive, however it was within walking distance of the Qantas Founders Museum which was our destination the next day. We booked in for the VIP tour but unfortunately could not do the wing walk on the 747 because it also was closed as the ground under the nose wheel had subsided in recent heavy rains and also Will was too young. However we did the walk through tour of the 707 and our guide regailed us with information and anecdotes about the aircraft and Qantas in general. The museum was highly informative and interesting and exceptionally well done; a credit to the people of Longreach. You can't help but admire the courage, tenacity and vision of the original founders, maybe Qantas has lost a little of that original spirit and ethos and perhaps they would do well to revisit their roots and recapture it again.
After two nights in Longreach and some more organizational changes we find our set up and pack down times reducing, the kids are getting more involved in that side of things as well which lightens the load for
all. Next stop was Winton but on the way we made the detour to Captain Starlight's lookout about 50kms north of Longreach. This was a wonderful adventure in the middle of nowhere, we saw numerous emus and kangaroos on the flat and lush green plains, evidence of the ample rain that has fallen these last couple of years. Out of the flat plains rises a solitary knoll where history says that lookouts watched for the following police as Starlight and his men tried to make off with a 1000 head of stolen cattle. It was a beautiful place and the 360 degree views were amazing. We had to leave our camper trailer about 500 m short of the lookout as there was a boggy section of track to cross and we decided it was better to try without the trailer as we are still a bit nervous on the 4wd capabilities, especially as there was a not a soul around us. All in all it was a beautiful and remote place and captured the remoteness of the region and was nice to stand there and imagine what would have transpired over a century ago. The story of Starlight is well worth the read.
Next stop Winton and a journey into ages past, where dinosaurs walked these plains, but more on that next blog!
Steve, Jen, Zan and Will.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.135s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 11; qc: 50; dbt: 0.0734s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Tim
non-member comment
Far away places.
I love the stories of past exploits by brave and adventurous people. Many of whom suffered many privations in the Ausie outback and many died, not having been recorded in history. I would like to visit these places myself but I dont like the long road miles to get there. I am not a traveller. A traveller I am told enjoys the journey as much as the destination. A light plane is my preferred vehicle.