It was a tad cool last night, certainly scraped ice off the
outside of the tent this morning. Up and out and showered and off to see if
anything looked good at sunrise. Down to the Maranoa River again, some trees
looked OK and some mist on the river…but a bit disappointing.
Back to pack up and get underway before 9.30. A quick cruise
around the town of Mitchell, great old Pubs with verandahs, bottle trees in the
wide main streets, drove past the artesian spa – in with the swimming pool
behind some amazing stained glass. One of the bottle trees had been yarn
bombed.
Headed out the road towards Augathella about 9.40 – the road
was good, through heavily wooded areas, to open cropping areas, to grass
plains, and then bottle trees, with the odd huge windmill. There are lot of
station properties around, all with reasonably fancy signs indicating the
property name.
Through Augathella for fuel, then a quick bite for lunch at
a very nice roadside stop. A good place to camp, with the cleanest long drop
toilet I have ever seen.
On through Blackall, where we went to the Primary School to be sure that we are now officially 'beyond the black stump.' Despite the real 'Black Stump' being burnt some time ago, a petrified brown stump has been placed in Blackall for tourists to visit.
Next stop – Barcaldine – or Bar-colden, to those in the
know.
We checked out the now dead - Tree of Knowledge, the birthplace of the Labour party and fueled up again.
Rang ahead to Longreach to secure the second last powered site and headed off along the Matilda (Landsborough) Highway with the 'kangaroo warning' from the lady at the Petrol station, ringing in our ears. I was driving and it was 107km, so about an hour. I wish I had a dollar for every roo we saw, either dead or alive, the place was littered with them, thankfully none came our way, (we had had two closer calls yesterday)
Our Caravan Park is pretty higgedly pickedly, but our 'site' suits us perfectly with car and T Van and tent, (must take a pic tomorrow)
Steak and veg for tea tonight, sitting up in the heated comfort of the back of the T Van. Tomorrow will be a busy day, trying to fit in as many of the Longreach attractions as possible- Stockman's Hall of Fame, Qantas Founders Museum and the paddleboat cruise on the Thomson River? I think.
Not sure how much we can do in one day, or maybe a day and half, maybe 2...will wait and see.
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