Entry 30 – for 2016 - 17th October
Moving on from Porcupine Gorge we propped for a couple of
hours at Hughenden to attend to all our electronic needs, (uploading blog,
responding to Steve’s birthday messages and attending to several phone calls)
all now a regular part of our ‘Grey Nomad Travels’ whenever we are able to
obtain phone/internet reception travelling the great Australian outback. One of
the important electronic correspondences was an application for a government
issued senior’s discount card now that the 60 years was officially upon us.
It was time to consider a travel plan for our next main
destination, climbing Sydney Harbour Bridge, some 3,000 kilometres south of our
present location. We could have easily spent several months even a year
exploring the many highlights around this region of Queensland. Consequently we
had a reason for returning to this area at a later time to continue our ongoing
enjoyment of viewing and soaking in the fabulous Australian outback.
We decided to deviate a little from a more direct route
towards Sydney and travel through areas unexplored by us still stopping for a
quick look, but without spending the week or two we would normally occupy at
the different locations.
We were now on the move taking a couple of days to get to
the township of Winton, (about 250 kms). We filled several hours walking around
Winton and spent the night a couple of kilometres out of town at a
non-commercialised camping area, the Long Waterhole, where we read through all
the local paraphernalia we had obtained from the local information centre publicizing
the local attractions.
As a bonus, ‘pick me up’ after a long day, Steve’s birthday
damper was still being appreciated with a splashing of golden syrup.
Winton’s main fame is promoted as the Dinosaur capital of
Australia. Leaving Winton, traveling towards Longreach we stopped for an
interval at the Australian Age of Dinosaurs for a couple of hours, where we
participated in a tour of the laboratory with people cleaning recent found
dinosaur bones. It was a painstaking, slow, laborious task.
People pay money to participate in a dig, which are booked
out for 2 years in advance. At the present time they can only allocate a time
period each year of 3 weeks for a dig as it takes over a year to process and
clean the findings in the laboratory.
It was fascinating viewing and just as interesting was the
collection room with some great specimens on display.
We now officially have access to a slightly cheaper rate
with our certified recognition as a senior.
Our next port of call was at Longreach, most famous for its
Stockman’s Hall of Fame and the Qantas Founders Museum which we had previously
viewed. We walked around the township, obtained information available about the
area and after scrutinizing the information found nothing jumped out at us to
spend time at other than some nearby bush locations which were unavailable due
to road closures in place from recent rain.
Moving on from Longreach we noticed the vehicle parking area
at the Qantas Founders Museum to be almost deserted which enticed us in for
‘that photo shoot.’
Our next location we decided on Lara Wetlands a bush camping
ground on a Station Property about 30 kilometres south of Barcaldine.
This location had also been closed for a period of time due
to rain created issues and had just been reopened the day of our arrival. On an
initial inspection of the lake we saw very little bird life but as time progressed
we were seeing more and more birds.
We spent plenty of time engaged in our surrounds, regularly walking
around the lake, paddling the free canoes on the lake, re-energised our bodies
with several therapeutic dips in the hot artesian pool and naturally some
chatting with other happy travellers.
We relaxed sitting in the shade from trees admiring the view
with different species of birds moving around between the outer scrub perimeter
and the lake.
What a great location this turned out to be with a best
description presented by photographs.
Under normal conditions for us Lara Wetlands would probably
entertain a week of our time where we would absorb its environment and setting.
Unfortunately we were on a mission, moving after a couple of nights.
Returning 30 kilometres up the road we propped at Barcaldine
touring the Australian Workers Heritage Centre and a walk along the main
street. A time check showed it was 2 pm with us still at Barcaldine. We decided
to push on, driving about 86 kilometres to Jericho where we stopped for the
night, over the driving but happy we were progressing with our required
kilometre rate.
It seemed the land was quite green from all the recent
draught breaking rains but the paddocks were empty of stock. Other than the
consideration for expenses the stations would incur with the restocking of
their land the grass was of poor quality due to the present greenery, classified
as weeds and it would still be some time for the pasture grasses to recover needed
by the stock.
Jericho with a population of 100 had put some colour into
the township, through colourful murals around town.
Then it was onto Sapphire for a couple of nights camping near
the town common at a free camp location. Sapphire and its surrounding area are
famous for the mining of sapphires.
There were many shanty building set ups with all manner of
sorts of advertising bill boards touting for your business around the district.
We did pay for a bucket of wash which is gravel sized rocks from the armfest
mine to noodle. It was an interesting experience sieving through your allocated
bucket of wash, so much so that we went back for a second session noodling.
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| Quality grading |
Moving on we next stopped in coal mining territory at the
township of Blackwater. We walked into their coal centre and within 15 minutes
we were onto a bus participating in a coal mining tour where we got to view an
open cut coal mine in full operation.
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| 250 tonne loads X current price $75 per tonne |
Our next destination was to be near Rockhampton where we
were hoping to catch up with fellow travellers Brian and Anne who rescued us
from a bogged tow tug and caravan 12 months prior.
We camped at the Cockscomb Veterans Bush Retreat in a
beautiful bush setting where we had sole use of the complex to the 4 of us.
The day of our arrival Anne just happened to be discharged
from hospital from an unplanned hip replacement which resulted with us all
being close together enjoying constant chatter while Anne was resting during
her recuperation. As an added bonus we also enjoyed the feet up time out.
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| Retreat setting |
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| Steve, Brian, Mary & Anne |
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| Camp host Debbie delivering scones & jam to Anne for brunch |
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| Our scones & jam with camp host David & no scraps |
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Our last evening with Anne and Brian we all went to the
theatre to see a bagpipe performance by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards who are
regular participants at the Military Tattoo at Edinburgh, Scotland.
