Thursday night and I have Internet

To all of our loyal followers - yes, I know that I haven't posted anything since Monday but we are in the "Outback" of Queensland and there are still some places that the Optus signal is very weak or non-existent.  In the meantime we have been having some very interesting, touristy days 9and nights).

Monday 21 March 2011

Spent an interesting time in the Miles Historical Village.  The organisation has, over the years, accumulated many of the District’s older buildings and turned them into the quaint little village.   There was also a display on the Great Artesian Basin with local geology and indigenous culture and a shell collection from around the world that is apparently the largest private collection.  The best part was the Lapidary collection – all of these amazing rocks and minerals from around the world!!!  Some were in their natural form and others had been polished.  There were examples of petrified and fossillised trees and rocks that showed leaf fossils – I think we spent more time in that building than the rest of the Village!

I thought that a visit to the Dogwood @ Miles (an upmarket cultural centre) was in order – very nice building and nice displays but unhappy staff although they could have had a dose of Mondayitis!

Fuelled up and kept heading west.  Stopped at Roma but found that we were unable to go with Plan A – a visit to Carnarvon Gorge (directly north of Roma) and then onto Emerald.  Apparently it was very damp at the Gorge and National Sparks had the place closed and the road thru to Emerald was flooded as well.

Plan B – keep heading west!

Unfortunately, a rather strong westerly wind had sprung up (headwinds are not very good for the fuel economy) so we decided to stay at a little place called Mitchell.  Spent some time in the purpose built little spas that are fed directly from the Great Artesian Basin.  One pool was 38degrees and the other one had been cooled down to 24 degrees.  Louise got to wear her brand new size 16 cossies!!!

Tuesday 22 March 2011
Off on an early start and heading for Charleville.  Louise wanted to see a little park on the way that contained some 'Ooline Trees' -  these trees originally grew when the area was a rainforest but have managed to survive in small pockets since the area has become rather arid.  Found the turnoff, and drove in.  There was some hesitation of behalf of the driver (as it was a dirt track and there was 1km of it) but he soldiered on.  About halfway in and having already traversed a couple of large puddles the worst happened - yep, the Turtle sank into the quagmire.  After several attempts at trying to get out of this predicament, it was requested of Louise that perhaps she should "find someone with a four wheel drive and a winch".  Within minutes, Louise used her womanly charms and flagged down a four wheel drive vehicle driven by two very nice young men.  They didn't have a winch but a workmate did.  Whilst Alan made preparations for this person's arrival,  Louise thought it best to go and look at those trees.  By the time Louise began her return walk, three hunky council workers had arrived with a Komatsu Front End Loader, had the Turtle hooked up and she was on her way out of the mud.  They then hooked up Tuf Cat and took her to safety as well.  The gentlemen bid us farewell and went on their way.  Poor old Turtle and Tuf Cat were a sorry sight, but after a washdown in Morven regained some dignity.

In Charleville we visited the Cosmos Centre  (a fairly new establishment) where we enjoyed a 'Daylight Tour' with talks on planets, meteors and stars and then later that evening an absolutely brilliant time watching the stars through telescopes!  The night sky was devoid of any clouds and the tour guides were just wonderful.

Wednesday 23 March 2011

Still in Charleville and we went to the Bureau of Meteorology Station at the airport for a tour.  As it turned out, we were the only visitors there that morning and another interesting time.  After helping to take the daily readings, we watched the weather balloon take off into the clouds.  We were then invited back into the Office where we were able to watch the readings from the balloon come thru on the computer and onto a big screen.  Did you know that all of the weather balloons around the world are released at exactly the same time every day??

After Charleville we again headed north.  As it had been a late start we decided to just do 300 kms for an overnight stay at Blackall.  Not a really big place but a couple of interesting facts.  Jackie Howe Memorial Statue - Jackie was a shearer who lived and died in the area and was famous for a record for shearing sheep in 1892.  There is also a Fossilised Tree Stump that is believed to be over 1,000,000 years old and the first meeting of what was to become the Australian Labour Party was held in Blackall in 1891.

Thursday 24 March 2011
Just a short bunny hop up the road to Longreach via Barcaldine.  Barcaldine was also a hotspot for the start of Unionism in Australia in the 1890's and there are lots of memorials to this.  We reached Longreach early this afternoon and visited the QANTAS Founder's Museum - so full of information.  We didn't go thru the 747 or the 707 but just enjoyed the whole atmosphere.  Off to the Stockman's Hall of Fame tomorrow morning and then another bunny hop to Winton.  By then we would have crossed the Tropic of Capricorn and be officially in the tropics!!

Good night for now and I am hoping to learn how to put some photos into this blog by next time.