Barcaldine

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When you are free camping on sandy soil there is one sound that you don’t want to hear – overnight rain! We awoke to an absolute quagmire which made for a tricky hitchup. My blundstone boots ended up with platform soles! With plastic bags in the footwell of the car we set off and when we spotted a bitumen layby we stopped to clean/change shoes.



Further up the rest area we saw a young woman crouching on the ground at the back of her car. As we approached to see if she as okay we noticed she was barefoot and covered in mud, as was her car. Her accent suggested she was a German backpacker; duvet/doona and bags strewn over the back seat. The rear panel of her car was hanging at a precarious angle, but she assured us she was okay. Seems she had been camping alongside the Warrego River and after all the heavy rain overnight found herself totally bogged, requiring to be pulled out by people who happened to see her predicament.



It was about 100-150km from Charleville that it dawned on me that, in the mayhem of mud that morning, I had left our outside door mat sitting in the slush. Oh well, add it to the shopping list.



At Augathella we turned onto the Landsborough Highway– there were plenty of “Rough Surface” signs and we certainly bounced and bobbed our way along.



It seems the Landsborough Highwayis a recognised fatigue zone so it was interesting to see Trivia Billboards asking questions about the area in an attempt to keep drivers/passengers alert. The first was about the Great Artesian Basin. We got the answer correct but were most surprised to learn that we were travelling through the catchment area for the Lake Eyre Basin – Lake Eyre being in South Australia.



Another billboard that caught our eye promoted the Tambo Tavern and the fact that they have chicken races behind the pub every night at 5pm. Chickens take notice: if you run last you may well be tomorrow’s chicken schniti!



Lunch stop was in a rest area at Tambo and after checking that the road was still open – a few outback roads have been closed because of the heavy rains – we pushed on to Barcaldine, pulling in at the Showgrounds …… on firm ground.



(Pronounced “Bah-cold-en”) Barcaldine is steeped in history and is famous for its Tree of Knowledge, celebrating a fighting spirit with very strong connections to the establishment of the Australian Labour movement. Weather permitting we will check it out tomorrow.



No photos today - the weather was dreadful!

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