Another cold night. Went into Longreach to library but couldn't upload photos, got a bit of shopping
and heat beads for BBQ then onto swimming pool for not very hot showers, but feel clean. Back at camp sat in sun for a while then went for a walk collecting firewood, our neighbour Jim (originally from Scotland) took his vehicle out to collect some bigger bits of wood. The heat beads we had bought needed firelighters, oops forgot !!! Got the BBQ going using just wood then coals. Big rump steak for dinner tonight enough for the two of us, cost $5 (£3). Eventually had dinner, the steak was lovely, had enough left over for steak sandwich tomorrow, which we put into a container to cool down. Lit fire and sat chatting to Jim and Julie till 10pm, got back to tent to find the steak had gone from the container with the lid on the floor, we think it was a feral cat as we've seen some on site in the evenings, (hope it bloody chokes).
22nd July Sunday
Not so cold last night, sunny day ahead. Went into Longreach to the Stockmans Hall Of Fame to see the show at 11am, it was very busy. The show is led by Luke who tells jokes
and does tricks with his horses, he told us about how camels
played a part in early Oz exploration and when they were of no further use were set free into the bush,(owners could not bring themselves to kill them as ordered), there are over 1 million living in the bush. He had 3 dogs that rounded up a small herd of bullocks, (bullocks have no bollocks according to Luke), then he yoked up 6 bullocks collected a log and then used the strength of them to pull the log up onto a cart.
Whilst yoking them he quoted a poem from the early 1900s that lasted about 10mins wiyhout any notes. It was a brilliant show, worth going to see. Back at camp Colin had a look at the brakes (not stopping) to find the nearside front pipe had 2 small holes in it, so we will not be leaving tomorrow, more repairs. Spent evening round campfire again with Jim and Julie, after we spoke with Natalie and Liz, another great evening.
23rd July Monday
Up and into Longreach with brake pipe, first stop Autopro, they didn't have enough pipe so we went to an engineering shop 2 blocks away, they had enough pipe but nobody to spare to flare the ends, (they use steel here and not copper) so back to Autopro for them to flare the ends, it has taken us nearly 3hours. Colin fitted the pipe and tightened up wheel bearings on front nearside, so back on the road tomorrow. Another BBQ and campfire before turning in. Not a bad day after all.
24th July Tuesday
Eventually left site (why does everybody want to talk when you leaving ?) first stop swimming pool for hot showers, then food shop and fuel, left town 10.30 heading east to Ilfracombe and Barcaldine. Stopped at Ilfracombe to look at some of the Great Machinery Mile, it covers 1km and is made up of machinery, equipement, farm implements, vehicles and wagons from yesteryear,
quirky. Onto Barcaldine our camp for the night at the showgrounds, a bargain $5 per night for a tent. Had a walk into town to look at The Tree Of Knowledge. In 1891 there was a strike by the shearers, the unions wanted to stipulate who could work in the shearing sheds and to work according to union rules. The Tree Of Knowledge became a symbol of that period,
also the Labour party was born. In 2006 the Tree was poisoned, the council received funding from many sources to preserve the Tree and built an architecturally designed memorial, which opened in 2009.
Reading the Heritage Trail signs along the street, it seems a lot of the buildings burnt down and were rebuilt only to burnt down again some years later. The original are characterful and charming. Whilst having dinner there was a rugby training session going on with what looked like under 10s followed by teenagers who were put through their paces.
25th July Wednesday
Warmest night in quite a while. Stopping another night. Woken up to hearhorses galloping past, later saw 2 riders excersing their horses. Sat in the sunshine eating breakfast, just what we needed. Had a walk into town for laundry and treated ourselves to a coffee at the bakery, we were going to upload photos but battery was flat on computer. Strolled back to camp site and relaxed in the sunshine for rest of day. Not feeling so tired now. Rugby training again tonight, the little lads are practising tackling, had a walk round campsite, not much happening but it's lovely and warm.
26th July Thursday
Cloudy start, forecast 25degs, away by 9.15 heading to Blackhall. Either side of road is very green, but also a lot of dead Roo's at side of road. Road surface is not good, back to potholes and corrugations on the bitumen. Stopped at Blackhall and saw the big ram
in Ram Pk, the park
is being set up as a living history of the district, the Ram signifies the importance of the sheep industry for the area. We saw statue of of Jacky Howe
the legendary shearer, he is Australias most famous shearer who shore a record 321 sheep in 7hrs 40mins in 1892. Walked to the memorial park and saw the statue of Leiutenant Turner,
a local man who won the Victoria Cross and Military Cross in WW1. We have noticed all the towns we travel through are very proud of the achievements of their local people. We carried on along the HWay and stopped for lunch just north of Tambo, we were going to stop but decided to drive onto Morven, we made good time despite the many roadworks (the roads were very badly damaged due to the floods over the last couple of years). We arrived at 4pm. Camping at the Rec Ground is $5 per night with power, unbelievable. When sun went down it got very cold very quickly. Colin rang Laurie after dinner to find out how Marion is after her knee operation. She was in a bit of pain last night, they have bandaged her from ankle to thigh and at the time of calling she was trying to get in the bath, keeping the bandage dry, it made us chuckle.
27th July Friday
FRIDAY FACT - The name Australia comes from the Latin Terra Australis Incognito which means the Unknown Southern Land.
Craig's birthday. Very cold night, frost on roof of LRover. Warm weather gear has come out again. Had a walk into Marven which was founded in the 1860's and named after a town in Scotland, it was a stop over point for Cobb and Co. Coaches and Bullocky teams. We visited the Historical Museum, (Colin got a concession from $2 down to $1, every bit helps), it is a small museum but manages to cram in a lot of bygone era bits of bric a brac, old machinery, and Aboriginal artefacts. In a separate building is a miniture display of wooden buildings
as they would have been in the original pioneering days, amazing attention to detail. Outside is a hut made entirely of Kerosene tins
from the 1930s, at that time during the depression it was the only accomodation available. It is a fascinating town. Backat site the sun is out but the wind has got up, several people have lit fires and after dinner we joined one of them, the old boy got out his guitar and sang songs and recited some of his poetry
and told us of his times as a stockmans cook during the 1950s, it was a great evening and gave us a bit more insite into the hard lives of those days before mechanised transport. Into a cold bed with our hats and gloves on.
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