You wouldn't read about it....

As we drive along we often see crows, eagles etc feasting on the road kill. They fly away for us to pass by then are back to continue feasting. Some leave it quite late to make their departure.



A sight we saw just West of Camooweal was a guy with a couple of camels towing what used to be a car. Evidently he has taken out the motor to make it lighter for the camels.


Not long after passing the camels Brandt suddenly pulled to the side of the road and stopped. As he stopped I smelt engine heat. Then I saw steam coming from under the bonnet. The water pump had "packed a sad"
For some reason the Satphone wouldn't connect to the free phone numbers we had so a passing traveller took Brandt back to Avon Downs police station to make the appropriate phone calls. At first they were going to send someone from Tennant Creek (at a surcharge of $2000+ as our policy only covers a distance of 200km). Then as we were not far from the Queensland border they decided to see if we could be serviced from Queensland. We were 84 km from Camooweal and there was an agent there.


At one stage I walked around the vehicle to go take some photos. To stand on a burr is not pleasant. The hard spike penetrates my "croc" sole.



So late Saturday afternoon we were loaded up and taken back to Camooweal.






The above photo is of the view in the rear vision mirror.

RACQ is paying our Caravan Park fees, and we will probably be here for about a week.

Boulia to Mt Isa

Brandt asked me to take these photos to show how hard it must be for the farmers in this part of the country. Yes this is "pasture"








an interesting pile of rocks


and the road. Notice how both of us have gone off the road to pass each other!

The journey to Boulia

A mesa (Spanish and Portuguese for table) is the American English term for tableland, an elevated area of land with a flat top and sides that are usually steep cliffs. It takes its name from its characteristic table-top shape.



Situated between Boulia and Winton in central Queensland. The landscape viewed from the Lookout is composed of flat-topped hills or mesas. These formations are said to be unique in Australia and South America is the only other place, in the world, where they are found.



The mesas are the remains of plateau country that resisted erosion from an inland sea 90 – 100 million years ago. The area is known as the Lilleyvale (sometimes spelt Lilyvale) Hills.

There had been rain that morning. The road is single lane bitumen so when meeting oncoming traffic one, or both, vehicles needed to move off. Look at our car tyre!


and our rig


Needless to say, first opportunity at Boulia, the outfit had a wash!

As mentioned earlier, it had been raining. There were puddles on the road and frequently kangaroos, that had been drinking from the puddles, hopped away as we approached.
Nearing Boulia two emus were on the side of the road. One made an early escape across the road. The other made a late decision to follow the first emu. Alas it ran into us on the driver's side. Brandt watching in his rear vision mirror said it bounced off, rolled over several times. There was a cloud of feathers. Then it picked itself up and ran to join its mate. Leaving us with a small dent in the driver's door and the determination to slow more when we see emus close to the road. We have since been told they can do more damage to a vehicle than a kangaroo.

The Waltzing Matilda Centre

At Winton we called in to the BCA church as they have work that needs to be done. However after leaving a message on their answer phone and calling again regularly, we were unable to make contact. Also were unable to locate anyone at the church so went to our chosen camp spot on the outskirts of Winton


Unhitched from the van and went back into Winton to take a look through the Waltzing Matilda Centre


the story of Banjo Patterson


who was a talented man who qualified, and worked for a while, as a lawyer, liked writing, and was also a great stockman. I have decided that a waltzing Matilda is a stockman who moves about .

This display showing a bike leaning against a fence represents the way two swagmen would work together to travel the outback. The bike is laden with their swags etc and they took it in turns to walk or ride. The one who left it there is walking up ahead and the next rider will arrive soon to begin his bike ride. Therefore they each rode and walked half the distance.


And of course the display of a typical camp



At the end of going through this centre. Both agreed that we are museumed out. We were seeing so many things over and over (and to make matters worse, we could remember using alot of the museum pieces).
So the decision has been made......no more museums!

Longreach attractions

On the Monday we took in tours of the QANTAS founders museum (choosing to NOT pay the extra $$$$$$ for a guided tour of jets and to walk out on the wing of the 747. The museum itself was interesting enough. There was a video showing the retracing of the car journey to Darwin which caused the travellers to decide that an air service was required for the folk of the outback. They made the journey in this model T


Earlier models of aircraft were flying overhead continuously


Out the back was the original Qantas hangar in which were a few models of men at work building aircraft


And of course (in a fenced off area) the 747



In the afternoon we went 50m down the road to the Stockmans Hall of Fame


Here, again, we saw re-creations of how the settlers lived


I was particularly interested in the Flying Doctor displays. I had not realized that the Australian $20 note is very relevant to the RFDS.


Even though the flying doctor came regularly to Halls Creek, I had never seen inside the plane. Here I was able to see what it looks like today (probably far more sophisticated than it was in 1975)


I suppose a report on this establishment wouldn't be complete without mentioning the saddle that was a prize in Mt Isa Rotary World Championship Rodeo 1973



And so we returned to our camp a little out of town

Ilfracombe

We chose to retrace our path 27 km back to Ilfracombe. On our way through yesterday we noticed all the relic vehicles lined up on the side of the road.

Not long out of Longreach we came across a cattle drover with a huge herd.



At Ilfracombe we did the machinery mile -
Tractors,


graders


fire engine (don't know why it isn't red)


kerosene tractor


trucks of yesteryear


it just went on and on


We also saw collections - rifles


bottles (a small collection in the machinery mile)


and a larger collection at a site across the road








(kind of puts a different slant on hoarding!)

To Longreach

After saying goodbye to our latest new friends, drove about 5 hours to a free camp 17 km northwest of Charleville on the banks of the Ward River





Here, fellow campers were baking scones in their camp oven (note the well presented table setting)


Not to be out done, Brandt prepared a batch of date scones and was shown how to bake them in the camp oven


It was really an idyllic setting


But we could not linger. Next stop was another free camp just north of Blackall.

Bourke

Bourke is not very far from Cobar, so the plan was to set up at the Kidman Park, have a cup of tea and head back into Bourke to so some sight seeing and head off again next morning. Trouble was, we got talking to some fellow campers who arrived just after us. So we stayed two nights.

Our sight seeing day took us out to Brewarrina to see Aboriginal fish traps.
"this elaborate network of rock weirs and pools, built to catch fish as they swam upstream, stretches for around half a kilometer along the Darling Riverbed just below the weir. The fisheries are still luring fish today as they did 40,000 years ago and the area is still a significant place for Aboriginal people.
Local indigenous people maintain the fisheries and rebuild them, depending on the natural flows of the river.... ....despite serious degradation, the fisheries are still used today by the local community to catch and feed fish"

I took many photos. Here are what I consider my best shots











And a photo I got off the Internet





Beside the weir is a fish ladder so that fish can swim upstream, at least that's what Brandt told me.



Then we headed back to Bourke and went to the sight of the first loch built on Australian rivers and the only one built on the Darling.






Then out to the Bourke cemetery to locate Fred Hollows' grave