Savannah
Way 2013 Trip Diary - Part Six - The Return Home
Mareeba
- Emerald (via Winton and Longreach)
DAY 110
30.9.13 DAY ONE OF THE RETURN TRIP.
Well, I eventually got myself organised, my trusty lieutenant
having had to abandon ship, and got the caravan on after only
three attempts - those reversing cameras really are no good
in shadows for picking up things like towbars and the like -
and the fact that it is offset because that’s the only place
it could be fitted ........ just as well I have a system for
lining up the car with the van with my mirrors, that usually
gets me within a couple of metres if I’m straight LOL. It’s
really not that bad, I promise. I can get pretty close .....
it would be easier if the Reversing Camera was better.
Left the
Rodeo Ground at 10am, and wandered back through Ravenshoe, negotiating
a few steep climbs on the way, peaking at 1146m. And as I travelled,
I was thinking a bit about the highlights, and yep, the Atherton
Tablelands do it for me. If you haven’t done it, it is recommended
as a must do for your bucket list.
I wound
my way back to the Undarra turnoff (Gulf Development Road) and
thus commenced the next part of the trip. This was new territory.
Apart from an Australian Bustard crossing the road, the trip
was pretty uneventful. There were plenty of potential camping
spots, but a bit early in the day, and finally about 3.15, a
spot on the side of the road about 16kms from the Lynd Junction
on the Kennedy Hwy. And what could be better, put the antenna
out and I’ve got signal.
I settled
down and watched the NASCAR race, and set about preparing dinner.
It wasn’t as flash as I’ve been having, but it filled the hole.
I cooked Breast Tenders (not so tender and a bit darkish on
the outside when I’d finished with them), some Vegetable Nuggets
(same deal really) and frozen veges (now you can’t do a lot
to stuff them up in a microwave, can you ......... can you?)
There’s
a fair breeze blowing outside at the moment, and it’s coming
from where I’ve just come from. If that keeps up tomorrow, I
just might hoist the spinnaker and save some gas ..........
but it won’t . It was quite a mild day today, until I got out
of the car ..... thank goodness I spent the money on the air
con before I left home.
Now I wonder
what’s on the DVR to look at tonight, or should I do more editing,
or plan where I’m going tomorrow, barring interesting unplanned
detours and stuff .........
DAY 111
1.10.13 I spent a bit of time doing some more editing, before
pulling out of my camp spot for the night and headed down the
road to The Lynd Roadhouse. It seems like I was lucky getting
signal last night - it was dodgy at best, and I was assured that
I wouldn’t get any more until I reached Charters Towers.
I couldn’t
help noticing that I had a well formed “railway track” running
beside the road, over creeks, and thru cuttings in the hills
- but there was no sign of the actual rails or sleepers. Was
this a railway line that was never finished - surely they hadn’t
picked it all up - they just don’t do that sort of thing from
old railways I’ve seen elsewhere. I found a local at a truck
stop, and he explained to me that a big nickel mine had closed
20 years ago, and they had indeed, taken up all the track ........
amazing.
The Gregory
Development road is gradually being developed from a one lane
road to a two lane road, and it was on one of the single lane
sections that the strangest thing happened. I have a habit of
slowing down almost to a stop and getting right off the road,
so that oncoming traffic can stay on the bitumen and not throw
rocks everywhere. The car coming towards me did much the same,
and we were about 100m apart, when an Australian Bustard calmly
stepped out and crossed the road between us ....... WTF?
Pulled through
a little town called Greenvale - you wouldn’t know it was there,
except it had a roadhouse and a caravan park. The town is entered
through a gateway, and the streets all wind around like our
weirdly planned cities (I’m a straight roads and rectangles
man - boring, I know) and the housing is neat and tidy ....
definitely NOT what you expect in the middle of nowhere.
Finally,
Fletchers Creek loomed up in the absence of suitable Gravel
pits and metal dumps, and I pulled in around 3-ish, found a
spot, and spent the next 3-4 hours editing, before watching
the Senna movie I had recorded earlier.
No signal
at Fletchers Creek, but you are getting this from Charters Towers,
which was only a 43 km drive this morning (2/10/13).
I now need to decide whether I travel west, or continue south.
Will let you know when I speak to you next time I have signal.
DAY 112
2.10.13
I have a washing machine in the van, and somethings gone wrong
- I think the brain has got a bit mixed up, or maybe a coin
has got stuck in the drain pipe .... whatever, when you need
a repair man, you can't get one until you get to Brisbane, or
Bundaberg (that's where it was fixed last time). So I bought
a new one, current state of the art - you know the type, 20
litre container with a screw on top - you fill it almost with
water, add wool rinse, and chuck your clothes in and when you
get to where you are going, you wring out the gear, and hang
it on the line. Well, I left Charters Towers, and after much
haggling with myself, and a couple of arguments later, I set
sail for Hughenden. I didn't check the weather, but it's bound
to be dodgy at this time of the year. Well I reached a freecamp
site at about 1.30, put out the awning, got my hi-tech nylon
rope line out, and hung the washing under the awning. An hour
later, it's gone from wringing wet to dry. Brilliant.
It's now 4.26pm, and about an hour ago, I didn't like the look
of the sky. I now have a thunderstorm over my head, and it's
starting to rain. I must admit I felt that I was taking a chance
on the weather by heading West again, but it's bloody wet down
south as well. Now I haven't seen rain since we got that 100mm
dumped on us back in June near Karratha. So I'm gonna go outside
and have a look, and remind myself what it looks like.
I feel like I have achieved something, as I have managed to
whittle the NT part of the trip to just under 2 hours. Can probably
still be trimmed, but can now start some serious production.
I went to bed about 11.30 pm, and a message appeared on my phone
- again on the fringe of coverage, and so out with the antenna
this morning and plague my readers with more of my inane dribble.
Have a great day.
DAY 113
3.10.13
Why do people have to park on top of you, and in so doing, innocently
"invade" your space. I am parked up in a camping spot,
and when I got here, others were parked over by a (dry) creek.
Call me a slow learner if you will, but I have only discovered
recently, that if you park East-west, you minimise the amount
of direct sun hitting your caravan, and thus making it easier
to keep cool-ish. And so I found a spot as close to East-West
as I could, behind a building, and with some tree shade, and
a good 60-70 metres away from the others. And so imagine my
surprise when the next morning, when I go outside, and find
plenty of room over yonder, and two caravans parked within 10
metres of me, and neither of them know each other either. Because
I work on the road, I run a genset, and sometimes that runs
into the night, and I am conscious of that, and so now I am
intimidated into shutting down earlier than I want, because
you have to be considerate to your neighbours......... PLEASE,
give me room ........ RESPECT my space. If this place had been
crowded when I got here, I wouldn't have stopped. They don't
know that, but not everybody wants to live in a sardine can
- that's why we are out here.
Rant over
Good morning everybody. Yesterday, I decided to take advantage
of the fact that I have some signal (with an antenna), and used
the day scouring through the net researching where we've filmed
so that I can put a voice commentary to the DVD, and at least
sound as though I know what I am talking about. And that really
was about it. Today, I upsticks, and head towards Hughenden.
I wonder what adventures we will come across today.
DAY 114
4.10.13 Whoo, what am I doing. I set up the
dish for the first time since last weekend, and had a look at
the weather...... Next week, maximums of 40+ ALL week.
I left my
overnight stop and headed towards Hughenden. I enjoy travelling
thru these areas of Queensland, and the day was quite pleasant
outside the car ...... UNTIL I got to Hughenden - then it got
decidedly warmer. I called into the Fossil and Visitor Centre,
had a look at the dinosaur skeleton (casts, as the original
bones would be too heavy to prop up apparently). There are some
amazing fossilised relics there as well. It seems that millions
of years ago, there was ocean between the Gulf and the bight,
and that there was NO ICE IN Antarctica. It evolved over time,
and we had nothing to do with it. So what makes us think that
WE can do anything about reversing the trend (that hasn’t happened
in the past 15 or so years anyway). I always knew it was rubbish.
Tax grab ........ . Anyway, back to the story, nobody really
knows why or how dinosaurs became extinct but it happened over
thousands of years ..........
This area
is Dinosaur country, and between Hughenden, Richmond and Winton,
they are all making their claim to fame ...... I even bought
fuel today from Flintstone Roadhouse .... I don’t think the
fuel was THAT old.
The town
is situated on the Flinders River, which is just a sand base
at the moment. I was told I could get water from along the river,
but the council had just dug up the pipes doing maintenance.
I was assured that I could get water from the other end of the
street near the toilets, but the tap was too far from the road,
and everything was stained with a bore water type colour. I
figured I had enough water for now.
And so out
to Mount Walker. This is the lookout that is close to town.
No caravans allowed, and so I dropped the hotel off at the gate,
and altho the road is sealed, it winds, is narrow, and has a
16% gradient. Yep, definitely leave the van behind. On top of
the hill, there are a number of lookout points, all with a bench
to sit on whilst admiring the view, and all named according
to the area you are looking over. The Sunset Lookout is obviously
named and set up because ............... It is all well done.
The town
is nice and neat, has a Muttaburrasaurus standing guard opposite
the hotel in the main street, and is currently pushing a campaign
to buy local. I noticed that many of the stores staff were wearing
shirts that were designed with the message emblazoned on them,
but with their company name on the pocket. Very nice.
Finally
fuelled up, and out of town heading towards Richmond. There
is a Rest Area 50km out, and that is where I am stopped tonight,
and there is a strong signal here. It is still warm at 10.30
pm, and we are on a grassed plain with a breeze blowing.
Where’s
that fan?
DAY 115
5.10.13 It was an early start to get to
Richmond. It is Saturday, and it's a long weekend. I had been
told about the lake as you enter town, but I was surprised to
find a lake covered in small boats, and it was only just after
9am. A fellow traveller had told me yesterday that he was going
to Richmond for a fishing competition. It seems that the man
made lake has been well stocked with Red Claw yabbies, Barramundi,
Sooty Grunter, sleepy cod, archer fish, forktail catfish, gulf
grunter, and a number of other species.
I took some video, and then headed down to the Kronosaurus Korner.
Richmond is one of the major centres for dinosaur discovery
in Australia. I found out later, that one of the most complete
dinosaur remains had been found on Marathon Station - just near
where I had spent last night at the Marathon Rest Area. This
Building is not only the Information Centre, it is also a well
presented museum of dinosaur bones (or representations of same)
and other fossil materials. It also has a fossil processing
laboratory, which features a glass windo so that visitors can
watch the technicians at work.
I spent a bit more time having a look around, and then set sail
for Julia Creek. I had heard a number of things about the place,
and having missed it (along with this entire stretch of highway)
in 2010, I decided that it was worth a look. There is an RV
friendly freecamp area provided on the edge of town around a
spring fed lake. This attracts birds and animals to feed and
swim. However today, there was a kangaroo lying beside the lake
on the edge of the road, apparently soaking up the sun. However,
as I moved slowly past it, it struggled to get up and move,
and it was very obvious that it was badly injured. there were
another three campers nearby, and nobody seemed too concerned.
So I dropped the van, and headed back into town to see if I
could find someone to attend to the situation. It was Saturday
on a long weekend, and the information centre closes on weekends
from October until next season, and the police station was the
only option - and they were shut, but there was a phone number,
and the policeman responded that he would go out and have a
look. Unfortunately, he had no option but to do the obvious.
It was upsetting. I couldn't understand that no-one else seemed
concerned..
There was nothing much else to keep my interest, and so I again
jumped in my car (now there's a song title), and once again
headed out of town. I found a truck stop/rest area that I had
to myself, and settled down for the night. It is extremely hot
out here, and it was 39 in the van when I stopped. Thank goodness
for air con and a generator.
DAY 116
6.10.13 I was on the road before
8am. I decided to get moving while it was relatively cool. I
had a 66km trip into Cloncurry. The turnoff to Winton was 14
kms before Cloncurry, but I decided that I would prefer to have
a full tank of juice, and so the detour was necessary.
I passed
a loaded vehicle which had run off the road and collided with
a tree, and it occurred to me that there could be someone in
the vehicle - we usually just drive by, don't we. I turned the
van around and went back, and thankfully, it was empty. There
was plenty of claret around, but I got the feeling that the
driver was probably ok.
And so,
I turned the rig around again, and headed on into town.
My first objective after leaving Cloncurry, was to get to McKinlay.
This town had parts of Crocodile Dundee filmed in it, and the
Walkabout Creek Hotel is the centre piece of the town. I also
just found out that the Buffalo from the movie (which I have
been looking for all this trip) is actually stuffed and located
in the Adelaide River Pub - and we stayed there for three nights.....
there are downsides to being a non-drinker.
Then on
to Kynuna. The Blue Heeler hotel is the towns only surving pub,
and it was here that the Swagman and Trooper were said to have
their last drinks, before the alleged jumbuck nicking accusations.
Banjo Patterson is also reported to have drunk at the pub. A
few miles out of town, is the Combo Waterhole, which is again
believed to be the billabong referred to in the song "Waltzing
Matilda". And so you can't just drive past and ignore these
things, can you?
I bloody
should have .......... Firstly, it is 8 kms in off the road
and is part of the Diamantina River channel system. This means
that you park up and have a 2.6km return walk to the billabong.
That's no problem .... usually ...... it was 2pm in the afternoon,
and it was around 36 degrees ........ and it felt a damn sight
hotter than that when I got back. And was it worth it?
Let me say this, if you are in the area, do it, but NOT in October.
And definitely in the cool of the day. It somehow seems tho,
that everytime I get to where I wouldn't mind having a look,
it's the middle of the day.
The waterhole had water in it, although not much, and I did
startle some kangaroos who were having a drink.
And so I
came out of the reserve at about 3 pm, and decided that I would
stop at the next rest stop, which was 50km up the road. Queensland
is currently doing a lot of roadwork in Western Qld, and the
roads are a vast improvement over the old single lane highways.
Now I don't know whether it IS because of the soil they are
working on top off, but if I want a roller coaster road, I will
go to a fun fair. Basically, despite all the road work going
on, Queenslands roads out here are not good.
The legal
speed limit on these roads is 110 kph, and I am not joking when
I say I saw a number of cars leaping around over the humps and
bumps in the road. Nine times World Rally Champ Sebastien Loeb
would have been proud of their efforts. I have been sitting
on about 70 kph, I'm not in a hurry, and I've been getting a
fair workout just hanging onto the wheel. When I opened the
caravan door, the DVR was on the floor, half the stuff in the
caravan was thrown about the cabin, and a container of beetroot
had upended itself in the fridge .......... and I was driving
CAREFULLY and SLOWLY. Queensland, your roads are S.....
It's alright,
I have regained my composure. It was 40 degrees inside the caravan,
so I got the genny and a/c going first before repairing the
damage. And I finally found out after 5 years where the people
who had wired up my system had got it wrong ....... and I fixed
that as well.
Tomorrow,
Winton ........ and cooler temps ...... 39 instead of 40 ...............
DAY 117
7.10.13 Gee, I hope the weather forecast is right in one
way, and hope they got it wrong in another. I mean they have
forecast Sunny and 40 degrees for the next week up here, I hope
they got the sunny bit right. The 40 degrees, I don’t mind if
it’s 10 degrees cooler ......... You see, I pulled into Winton
this morning, and am determined to spend a few days just sitting,
waiting for the bank balance to catch up, if you get what I
mean. Now there is a free camp area just out of town called
the Long Waterhole, and anybody who has been here will be familiar
with it .... except that there is not much water. Now that is
not a problem, but where I am camped, which is close to trees
but really not very shady, is in the middle of what would be
a river if it flooded, and bloody boggy if it got wet. Reminds
me of My sons experiences at Cave Hill in WA. The video is on
YouTube, and I’ll relink it a bit later for those of you want
a bit of a giggle - disastrous situations can have that effect
in review. Tomorrow, i will go for a drive without the van,
and see if I can find a more “comfortable” spot.
I woke up
at my overnight stop, and had to wait for the NASCAR race I
was recording, to end, so that I could pack up the dish and
get moving. The drive into Winton was pleasant enough, passed
a strange little set of hills called the Ayreshire Hills, even
stranger saw a couple of sheep on the road - it’s cattle country
up here - and drove into town about 11.15. From my visit here
in 2010, I thought that there was fresh water at the dump point,
and I was right. So I filled up the van, and headed out here
to the “waterhole”.
There were
a heap of cattle gathered at the available water, and a half
a dozen emus were having a stroll around the area as well. I
had the place to myself - there was a 4wd towing a camper who
had a quick look and turned and left - so I drove around until
I found this spot. Did I say last night that it was to be cooler
here today - 39 instead of 40 - well, officially, it reached
38.7, but I put my thermometer out under the awning at one point
and registered 44. The a/c struggled to keep the van temp down
to 32, so I shut up shop, and settled back and watched my NASCAR
race.
Tonight
it should be about 23 ......
DAY 118
8.10.13 Winton. There is a change to the conditions to camping
at the rear of the North Gregory Hotel - it now costs $10 per
night (to cover incidentals), no power, no water, no generators.
I figure that it's not going to rain for a few days, so I might
stay put in my riverbed ........
Also, there
are two dump points. there is one on the corner of the Jundah
Rd and Landsborough Hwy. Take no notice of your Hema Navigator,
it's on the other side of the road in the big truck parking
area. The other is at the other end of town by the Recreation
Ground.
The camper
trailer was back last night, and three vans who were obviously
travelling together were camped up the top this morning. They
weren't too worried about the lack of shade up there, and the
fact that they have all gone this morning indicates that they
were just travelling through.
Cooler day
today, only 37.6. I opened up a few windows and stayed with
the fan until about 2.30pm, and then I succumbed to the air
con. What a softy. I won’t mention that I had a nanna nap for
an hour during the day as well.
The rest
of the day was spent researching the net for information about
where I’ve been to put the commentary together. I’ve got to
at least SOUND as though I know what I am talking about ....LOL.
Well, I
have to decide before Friday whether I’m sticking around for
a few more days, or hitting the road. Bathurst this weekend,
and I want to be set up to just sit and watch ........ decisions,
decisions........
DAY 119
9.10.13 What a day it has been, maybe I should have stayed
in bed. I have to say, that my Inawise Tyre Pressure Monitoring
System works, and was put to the test again today ....... but
I am getting ahead of myself.
I woke up feeling that I really didnt want to sit around, and
felt that today, I should move on. But before that, there were
one or two chores to do.So I headed into town filled up the
car. and noted that there was a really stiff headwind coming
from the direction of Longreach. That wasn't promising.
And so I decided to call around and have another look at the
Heritage Truck and Machinery Museum. It has grown some since
I was here last, and now, I feel as though there is too much
shoved in this big shelter that they have. But it is an impressive
display, and I am sure would give the National Transport Museum
in Alice a shake - I'd love to check that out for myself - not
this trip though I don't think.
I travelled through Bladensburg National Park in 2010, but it
being late in the day, we didn't go to the homestead, and so
that was my next port of call. The road out there is dirt and
in great nick, so imagine the shock when something went bang
under the car, and I wondered what I had run over - I didn't
see any rocks on the road - you know the sort - next thing,
the TPMS started beeping in earnest at me, and so I pulled over
before I did any damage to the tyre in question. It was the
rear wheel, the one with the slow leak in Katherine, but this
was no slow leak. It went down like a led zeppelin, and there
was a nice cut in the tread thru which the air was escaping.
There was nothing for it, change the wheel. The breeze was keeping
a bit of lid on the temperature, altho that tends to bite about
2pm.
That done, I drove into the homestead, the wallabies parting
like a crowd on the side of the track at a European World Rally
Championship race. Dinkum, there were dozens of them, and they
just stood in or by the road watching as I drove towards or
past them. Apart from the homestead and it's surrounding outbuildings,
there is also a shearing shed about 1.6kms from the house. That
surprised me, as I thought that this was really cattle country.
It seems that the last shearing took place in the early Nineties.
And so back to town to the tyre place. More bad news. There
was a nasty cut right through the tyre, and it had nothing to
do with the old slow leak. No s/hand tyres of this size - it's
partner still had some life left in it, and so a new Bridgestone
was fitted.........
I told you I should have stayed in bed ....... I was getting
hungry, and decided to try out the local bakery. And so went
in salivating for a pastie ....... and they didn't have any.
I chose something else and then it got worse .... I decided
that I would have an Apple Danish as well ..... Sorry, only
Apricot Danish ............
That did it, I went to the local Spar Store, grabbed a few necessities,
and headed back to the waterhole to pick up the van. By now
it was 12.30, and I had to fight my way through the emus to
get to the "hotel". There were about a dozen running
around like headless ..... i was going to say chooks .... but
these chooks had been on steroids. I have already had an emu
run into me out of nowhere, and so I wasn't taking any chances
with these blokes, and I was only doing a couple of kph.
Finally, rigged up, back into town, topped up with water, the
breeze had dropped, and now sitting in a rest area 116 kms SE
of Winton.
It's good to be back on the road again.
DAY 120
10.10.13 Russell Coight, am I racking up a heap of stories
for you to use in your outback adventures...........
Today, I
got locked in my van ..... well, I went into the van, the door
swung shut behind me, and somehow it jammed, and it took some
gentle persuasion to get it open ...... screwdriver, vicious
kicking .... but I escaped. Then the bloody thing locked me
out ........ I figured out that something had gone astray with
the bottom lock thingo, and so grabbed a screwdriver, removed
it, and all is cool ...... for now.
Then the
“screamer” wouldn’t work for some reason, to find the satellite.
It relies on a small current from the Set Top Box to power it,
and for some reason, it just wasn’t happening. I shook the screwdriver
at it, and it suddenly co-operated.
I had a
pleasant trip into Longreach, and found a spot at the Riverview
Freecamp area about 4kms out of town, dropped the van and headed
into town for a look around. I like Longreach - we stayed here
for a few days in 2010. I spies a Bakers .... aha, that pastie
was looking good ...... until I got inside - no sorry, no pasties
......... I ended up trying a Chili Kangaroo Pie. It wasn’t
the same, but it filled the hole. A bit later doing a bog lap,
I spied ANOTHER baker. I’ll try that one later.
And so,
I’m all set up. TV works, Foxtel organised, Bathurst - here
we come. I can stay for 4 days here at the Riverview camp site,
and that’s perfect. Bathurst Fri, Sat and Sunday, and NASCAR
Sunday as well. Move out on Monday .......... excellent. And
I’ve got signal that works - phone AND internet.
DAY 121
11.10.13 It occurred to me that It had been about 8 weeks
since I had had a blood test for my medication, and so that
was something that needed to be done. It meant driving into
town. Anyone who has stayed here at the Riverview Rest Area
in Longreach will be aware of the size of the cleared area.
So I was mildly surprised when I hopped in the car and waited
while an Emu calmly walked across in front of me.
A couple
of hours later, I was doing a few bog laps having a look at
back streets and a general look at housing as you do, and found
two emus walking across a front yard. It appears that they are
not scarce around here.
I was also
curious to see that most houses had evaporative air conditioners
on their roofs, and so I naturally wondered if the summer season
here was low humidity. However the girl who took my blood sample,
assured me that it gets incredibly humid here, and that the
air conditioners really are of little use in those conditions.
Refrigerated is the answer, but I suspect expensive to run,
and the evaporative would be great during the dry months.
I also went
to the other bakery I mentioned last post, and YES, they had
pasties...... It was ok, but I have had better ...... altogether
now - Ohhhhh ....... maybe I am just too picky.
Then back
home to watch the goings on at Bathurst. It’s interesting that
after many years, the apprentice guys from TAFE stopped doing
the rebuilding of wrecked cars a few years ago. There have been
two major prangs so far, and the teams are working overtime
to get the cars back on the track. In the past, the TAFE guys
were very much involved, and would have given them valuable
“on the job” training.
It’s on
again tomorrow. But if you have been to Bathurst, or are travelling
through, and you haven’t taken a drive around Mount Panorama,
it really is something you should do. The elevation is amazing
- not apparent on TV - there are restaurants, great gardens,
a playground, and magnificent views, and it is a public road.
As you cruise around at 60kph, you do wonder how they AVERAGE
over 160 kph on race day. I have posted a link to a video I
took a couple of years ago elsewhere. It is also the site of
The Australian Motor Racing Museum.
OK, I have
NASCAR Qualifying to watch. Catch you tomorrow.
DAY122
12.10.13 I decided tonight, after watching most of the Bathurst
happenings, that I would like Fish and Chips for tea, And so,
I hopped in the car, and drove the 4kms into town, and proceeded
to do bog laps, looking for a fish and chip shop. Longreach
has a population of around 3000 people, and I figured that there
just might be shop selling the type of fast food that I was
craving. There are pubs, the RSL Club, apparently one of the
roadhouses “might” have chips, but essentially, the only fast
food place that services the town, is the local Eagle Boys Pizza
joint. There is a Chinese next door, but that wasn’t what I
was looking for.
On talking
to the owner, it appears that there have been 3 new food places
start up in the past 6 months, but it will be interesting to
see who is still there in 6 months time. Because I come from
somewhere with fairly “normal” climate patterns, it is easy
to forget that these places are seasonal. Once the wet sets
in, no tourists, business “dies” until March-April the next
year. It seems there have been 4 floods in the past 6 years
here, but while the the water runs the riverbanks, it doesn’t
reach the town, and in many cases, the flood waters may have
been caused by weather activity some hundred or so kms away,
and not a skerrick near the town.
Drought
is a major problem over here at the moment. A local farmer says
that this last 15 months is the worst build up to a drought
that he can remember.
Today went
according to plan, with me locking myself away and watching
the Bathurst telecast. Tomorrow is more of the same. And then
Monday, I expect that I will be on the road again. In the meantime,
I am pushing for a good result from Ford, and because of my
DJR leanings, I am hoping that Stevie J does well in the Erebus
AMG E63 Mercedes. Well done Ford, for committing yourself to
another season of support.
DAY 123
13.10.13 Well, as you are well aware if you are a regular
reader of this rubbish, today was the day that I had put to
one side to watch Bathurst.
There were
one or two distractions tho - firstly, we have been having a
lot of wind gusts - one up to 50 knots, and the temp reached
39.9C. It could have reached 40 degrees.
And then
it occurred to me that the fridge didn’t appear to be cooling
the food as it should be. Now there is a cooling fan installed
behind the fridge, and this is controlled by a thermostat,........
I think. I heard it running the other day, and I have no idea
whether it has been working today, but I decided to stick a
thermometer inside the fridge..... 16 degrees. But the freezer
seems to be working ok. And so I defrosted the fridge and tried
again. On Gas - 16 degrees - on 240v - 26 degrees. The car fridge
was brought into the van, frozen food in the freezer, and normal
stuff in the car fridge. These 3 way fridges seem to struggle
in hot temps, whilst the old Engel (a compressor fridge) is
brilliant. We’ll see how we get on when we get to cooler weather.
It doesn’t seem that long ago that we had problems with some
stuff freezing in the fridge part ..... something ain’t right.
Bathurst
finished, I went outside to save the awning, and the sky looks
ordinary. A quick look at the local weather radar, and there
is a chance of a thunderstorm, and plenty of dust blowing around
tonight........ lovely.
Tomorrow,
I hit the road again, heading towards Barcaldine, and then,
who knows?
DAY 124
14.10.13 Did I mention dust last night? It was a stinker
of a night early on, and the breeze was giving us a working
out. So I put up the awning - didn't want to lose that again,
but with a Genny, you can't run that all night, and so that
meant sleeping with the windows open. It meant a cooler nights
sleep, it also meant raiding the council yard for a front end
loader to shift the dust that accumulated in the van overnight
....... welllll ......
But it was windy, and the van rocked and rolled for much of
the night, and there sure was a heap of dirt in the caravan
this morning. But the thunderstorm didn't eventuate. But now,
with the car fridge, I needed a double cigarette adaptor, so
that I could run the fan AND the fridge on 12v overnight. Called
into our friendly electronics store, and he was closed for the
next few days on personal business - he didn't sound too good
when I was in there on Saturday....... why didn't I get the
adapter then? - I didn't need it then. It was yesterday (Sunday)
when I discovered the fridge problems .......
The other problem I had, was that the step kept blowing away
... I found it under the caravan on one occasion, and about
3 metres from the van on the OTHER side of the van on another.
And yet surprisingly, despite the awning threatening to break
it's moorings, and the caravan feeling like it was going to
take off at any minute, the satellite dish didn't move.... I
couldn't believe it.
This morning was as I mentioned before, cleanup time, before
hooking up and moving out. Barcaldine was the first point of
interest - we missed that in 2010. This town is credited (?)
with the birth of the Labor Party I believe. It was the centre
where in 1891, the great Shearers Strike took place, where the
union and non union shearers conducted one of Australia's earliest
and most important industrial disputes.
From Wikipedia - "The dispute was primarily between unionised
and non-unionised wool workers. It resulted in the formation
of large camps of striking workers, and minor instances of sabotage
and violence on both sides. The strike was poorly timed, and
when the union workers ran out of food, they were forced to
come to terms. The outcome is credited as being one of the factors
for the formation of the Australian Labor Party and the rise
to power of a pro-Labor Party faction in the Australian Socialist
League"
Also of importance in the town, is the "Tree Of Knowledge".
The site of the 150-year-old, 10-metre Ghost Gum located in
the centre of Barcaldine is a symbol of an important time in
Australia's political development. It was used as the meeting
place for shearers during their unsuccessful strike of 1891.
The Tree of Knowledge was included in the National Heritage
List on 26 January 2006. In April 2006 it was poisoned and did
not recover. It was felled on 29 July 2007 but the site remains
and a replica of the tree stands in it's place.
I decided to duck out to Lloyd Jones Weir, with the thought
I might camp there overnight. Unfortunately, the lack of rain
has not helped the area, and although there is water in the
creek, it is low and very dirty. The water doesn't quite make
it to the weir wall. There was another camper there, but I had
lunch and decided to move on.
About 45kms East of Barcaldine is a rest stop at a place called
Alice - it's basically a railway siding and has a memorial to
Danny Hannay - I have no idea who or why ......... anyhow, that's
where I am tonight. Tomorrow, I continue towards Emerald, and
I think I know where I am going after that ....... but then
again .......
DAY 125
15.10.13 Danny Hannay was an engineer with Queensland Railways
for 48 years, and had been responsible for the maintenance of
most of the Railway Bridges in Qld. The memorial I spoke of
last night was placed down by the bridge that crosses the Alice
Creek, and has been named the Danny Hannay bridge in his honour.
He was a Barcaldine son.
Just thought I'd mention that, cos there is nothing that I could
find on the net, and I was ignorant last night .......... OK
OK, that's enuff of the ignorant jokes ......
Today was
another lovely day in central west of Qld. After having a look
at the above mentioned bridge, I headed towardsthe next town
on the map - a place called Jericho. Quaint little joint, some
very interesting very old and abandoned houses and buildings.
The Masonic Hall is made entirely of Corrugated Iron, but the
front is painted to look like bricks. Anyone who has seen the
house in Cue which is similar will know what I am talking about.
There is a small block, a screen against the fence (roadside),
a gate in the middle, and a number of poles with speakers attached
to them - a Drive-in Theatre - the smallest one in the southern
hemisphere I believe.
From the Barcaldine Council Website -
"It was built by Council and was opened on 26th July 1969
by H.G. Behan. The theatre holds 36 cars plus walk-ins and is
perhaps the world's smallest, drive-in theatre. The Theatre
still operates today and movies are held once a month by the
Jericho State School."
Then on
to Alpha ...... again, a small town, WITH a bakery It seems
that floods hit the town every few years, the last big one was
in 2010, when I think ALL of Queensland was under water, and
the waters ran a metre deep through the town. The river had
peaked at 3.08 metres. The record was back in 1990, when it
peaked at 10.26 metres. Incidentally, Jericho also flooded at
the same time...... and still they live on the banks of rivers,
creeks, call them what you will.
It was interesting
talking to one mature aged resident, who said that she had been
lobbying for a freecamp spot in the town, but had been told
that it couldn't be done. It was interesting to learn that one
counciller was the local caravan park owner. It seems to me
that all over the country, people get onto council to follow
their own agenda, NOT for the community benefit.
Aha, what's
this I see - hills, and I was in the Drummond Range. I love
hilly undulating country, and this stretch of road didn't disappoint.
I stopped at the lookout, where the air was pungent with the
smell of smoke from fires that had been burning for a couple
of weeks.
Bogantungan
- an unfortunate name in some respects, but a town with a history.
There are only three houses in the townsite, and a railway station
that functions as a museum these days. It is listed as a campsite
in Camps 5. It is hard to imagine that this place once had a
population of some thousands with 30 hotels ...... back in the
days when the railway was being built from Rockhampton. But
it is noted maily these days as the site of one of Queenslands
worst rail disasters. On 26 February 1960, The Midlander passenger
train, heading east to Rockhampton, passed over the flooded
Medway Creek, just west of the town. The bridge collapsed when
the train was partly over, with a number of carriages dropping
into the water. A total of 4 passengers and 3 crew were killed,
with 43 injured.
And so tonight,
I am parked up about 50 kms short of Emerald. It has been an
interesting day ..... and a car has just pulled up in my metal
dump........
It's another
day tomorrow.
DAY 126
16.10.10 The car that pulled in last night cruised slowly
past the van, and I guess checked that I wasn't some crazy.
They pulled up just in front of my car, and I guess went to
sleep. They were there when I went to bed, and were gone this
morning. I guess some people do need the comfort of knowing
others are around when you stop in a lonely area on the side
of the road.
And so,
I took my time this morning, before hitting the road about 9.30,
and just a few kms down the road was the little town of Anakie.
It's a a couple of kms in off the main road on the railway line.
There is a big area on the corner of the highway which is set
up as a rest area, but one doesn't know these things when stopping
for the night. Our friends in the car would have seen it, I
am sure, but decided to stop near my rig......... I assume,
and one mustn't assume.
Anakie -
is a cute little town, has a pub, caravan park, school, and
you have to stop at the railway crossing to look for trains
....... except that you have to edge onto the track to see,
because of the bougainvillea blocking your view down the line
........ the mind boggles. The road to Sapphire heads north
from the turnoff on the highway, and the area is known as "The
Gemfields", and fossicking areas are available to the public
to go looking for Sapphires ....
Only another
44 kms, and I reached Emerald. I dropped the van at the Botanical
Gardens park, and went shopping and refilled my gas cylinder.
Then out with the awning, my state of the art nylon rope line
was strung up, and my washing from my high tech washing machine
(tub with screw on lid) was hung dripping wet on the line. A
couple of hours later, dry as a bone. Brilliant.
Time for
a haircut today and hopefully they'll let me stay another night.
You can stay here for a total of 20 hours over a 4 week period.
That means one night in a month I guess. We'll see if we get
moved on ......
DAY 127
17.10.13 If you have watched the Blues Brothers Movie (and
who hasn't), you will recall the scene where Jake and Elwood
are sitting in the small bedsit with the trains going past every
15-20 secs. Well, that's what it sounds like sitting here in
the caravan beside the bridge at the Botanical Gardens Rest
Area in Emerald, except that it is trucks, and not trains. The
train track is also along side of us, but only one train that
I've seen so far.
I had my
hair cut this morning, and I have to admit that I do look half
presentable again - if you don't look below the neck that is.
And I wondered whether I would be asked to move on, but I figured
that I had made an appointment to see the doctor, to get an
authorisation to have another blood test following up from last
weeks little hiccup, and if I have to have that done tomorrow
morning, then I have to stay here tonight ...... Don't I?
Meanwhile,
I have been making myself busy doing more editing. It's not
a small job, and is time consuming while you wait for the computer
to do it's stuff. You see, I have a Macbook Pro, and I have
it split so that it runs Mac OR Windows. And altho I have Final
Cut Pro (Professional Video Editing Program), I've never really
taken the time to learn it. And so I keep updating my Windows
program that I have been using for years. The problem is, that
altho I am putting ALL of my stuff on external drives, and just
using the internal drive for programs, everytime Windows updates,
it takes another chunk of my hard drive, and I'm running out
of space .......... Stay with me here you PC people.
So I went
to Google, and asked if I could delete old windows updates,
and the short answer was no, HOWEVER, Microsoft have JUST released
an update to it's cleanup tool, that allows you to clean out
your system files safely. I ran it, and gained 5.6GB of hard
drive. You need about 10% of your drive free for processing,
and so now I have over 12 gb free.
See, you
DO learn something new every day. Oh, you want to know how to
do it? ....... Not telling ........ LOL.
Go to Start
- All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Disk Cleanup.
It will calculate how much stuff you can potentially clean out,
and there should be a window on the bottom left called "clean
up system files". And that's the one you use. Before you
do this, (and if it's not there) Update your windows files.
If you have any doubts, get someone who understands these things
to help you.....
Now how
the heck did I get there. Oh yes, I am currently editing three
DVDs, all part of the Savannah Way set that may not be ready
until next year ...... but wow, when I look back at what we
have packed in, it's hard to believe that we have done all that
...... and a whole lot more that there just wasn't room for.
And of course it is ongoing, as I work my way ever so slowly
home, filling up my hard drives with more video files.
And hey,
another train just went past - that's two ...........
DAY 128 18.10.13 I was in a bit of a quandary this morning.
I had to go and get my blood test taken, and then I was supposed
to leave Emerald. However, a look at the radar showed some inclement
weather down the road, not only that, but there was a warning
about strong winds and large hail. I decided to stay put, and
monitor the BOM site, and things weren’t improving.
And it’s
been rather overcast here today as well. Maybe the season is
finally starting to turn. There’s bushfires in the area that
I’m heading to, it’s drought out to the West, and some areas
are still experiencing flooding .......
As with
a lot of you, I look after my mum’s affairs, and it annoys me
when an institution changes a perfectly good working website,
and provides a website that you can occasionally log into, and
then when you finally DO get to where you want to go, the link
doesn’t work, and the site logs you out, and you have to start
all over again, but now, it WON’T let you back in ............
And the note on the front of the website tells you that they
have fixed most of the problems and are working as quickly as
they can thru the remainder ..... and the notice is a week old
....... Arrgggg ......... Ha, THAT cleared my throat.
2.37 pm,
and the radar is not looking good. The storms look like they
are coming, although we don’t get mentioned in the warnings.
Be nice if it stays that way.
7.58pm and
all is looking good again. Tomorrow, back on the road again,
and heading towards Roma, and more adventures to talk about.
Emerald
- Sydney