Wednesday 18th May
We packed up the van and drove to the BLACKALL Wool Scour. On the way we passed the BLACKALL Sale Yards which held a few Brahman Cattle. We called in and had a look, before continuing on to the Scour.
The Scour was built in 1908 and operated until 1978. It is all still operational, but no longer used. We had a very interesting tour through the entire plant, and learnt heaps about the process wool went through from the sheep’s back to the final product. Alongside the Scour is an Artesian Bore whose water they used in the scour, both for their steam power as well as for washing the wool.
We then headed for ILFRACOMBE, on the way to LONGREACH, to visit their Machinery Display which is spread out along the side of the main road for about a kilometre. On the way, because the scenery was pretty boring, we decided to count the road kill to help relieve the monotony. Over 200 km we counted 190 dead kangaroos. We only counted the fresher looking ones, ones we thought we probably no longer than a fortnight old. So that works out at just under one dead kangaroo per kilometre per fortnight, or, 26 per km, per year. Multiply that by the thousands of kilometres of main roads around Aussie, and the figures soon add up. Again, surprisingly we only saw one dead Emu.
We stopped at ILFRACOMBE for lunch and a look at the Machinery Display. A fascinating collection including a 1948 Fergie Tractor, which I think is the model Dad had on the farm, and on which I learnt to drive. A bit of a trip down memory lane for me.
We got to LONGREACH at about 4.00pm. We knew we were getting close because we could see the tail of the Boeing 747 they have at the QANTAS Museum, sticking up above the horizon ahead of us.
This very quickly caused Cameron to turn off his DVD Player and catch some of the scenery.
Because we were so late getting to town, getting a campsite was a bit of a struggle. One Camp ground finally squeezed us in between a clothesline and the roadway. We only intended to stay there one night, so it was OK.
After tea I worked on the blog site while Christel and Cameron played Euchre. Guess who cleaned up his mother in only about his fifth game.
Thursday 19th May
First thing this morning we moved to a free camp site beside the Thompson River about 4km north of town. We had shot out last night to check it out, and found about 50 vans there with almost all the spaces taken up. We decided if we got there at the right time in the morning we should be able to get a good site. This proved to be correct and we were soon set up.
Then it was back in to town, first of all to try and find an electrician to fix the caravan water heater and also to buy a battery for our computer. We had no luck on either front. Then it was off to the QANTAS Museum.
The museum is based at the LONGREACH Airport. Part of the museum is indoors, and then outdoors they have a DC 3,
and of course the Boeing 747.
Alongside the 747 is a 707. The size comparison is amazing.
We had been told by other travellers to make sure we did the wing walk on the 747, but found out there was a restriction of no children under 12 years of age, so that put a stop to that. The price was pretty bloody ridiculous anyhow. Instead we opted for the conducted tour around and through the plane, which was excellent. Inside Cameron and Christel got to sit in the Pilot and Co- Pilot seats, which was pretty awesome.
We then spent a couple of hours going through the rest of the museum which gave an excellent display of the history of QANTAS.
Back at camp we decided to throw the yabbie net in the river, but when we pulled it out of the car found it had been rubbing on something and worn some holes in the net. No fishing today.
Friday 20th May.
This morning we headed off to see the Stockman’s Hall Of Fame, which is probably a bigger tourist attraction for LONGREACH than even the QANTAS Museum. They had advertised a live show which we booked in for. It was great entertainment with horses performing and demonstrating their work skills, a ‘Talking Camel’, which had us all in hysterics, a sheep dog doing his thing with half a dozen sheep, and then the best part of all, 8 bullocks were bought in, harnessed up, and then taken to a log which they then pulled to a cart, and then up onto the cart.
A brilliant demonstration of just how valuable these animals were to the early settlers.
After that we went into the museum and spent two or three hours looking at the various exhibits of the stockmen’s lives, and the lives of the early outback settlers.
LONGREACH is built right on the Tropic Of Capricorn, and beside the Water Tower in town is a signpost indicating where the Tropic of Capricorn lies. We paid a visit and got some photos posing beside it.
Back at camp we set about repairing the yabbie net, and then took it down to the river and threw it in. Just beside where we threw it in we could see what appeared to be part of another net sticking out of the water. It had obviously been there a long time, and after a bit of effort, dragged it out. It turned out to be very similar to ours, but had quite a few holes and other damage. We decided it could be fixed, and after about an hour’s repairs we now have two yabbie nets. Unfortunately the yabbies weren’t biting, and we only caught one big one which we threw back.
Saturday 21st May
This morning we travelled from LONGREACH to WINTON, a distance of only 180 or so km. We had decided to stop at WINTON for a couple of nights as we wanted to see their Waltzing Matilda Centre, and to also go on their Dinosaur Footprints Trail.
The road from LONGREACH to WINTON was again long flat straights through mostly open grassland. Nothing to see or do except sit back and watch the country side slide by. Most of the straights were between 10 and 30 km long so as you can imagine there wasn’t much to do but sit back and wait for the next corner to arrive.
We got to WINTON at about 12.30 and checked in to our motor camp. Then after lunch we visited the Waltzing Matilda Centre, which is basically a museum dedicated to the origin and subsequent use of the song Waltzing Matilda.
Sounds boring I know, but the song is a very big part of Australian History, and they had done a great job of telling the story. Of course there were the usual early settlers’ displays as well. I would say after visiting the Qantas Museum, The Stockman’s Hall of Fame, and now the Waltzing Matilda Centre, we will have very little left to learn about the Australian Outback.
After the Waltzing Matilda Centre, we visited a Truck Museum which had about 30 trucks of various ages on display
and then dropped into one of the local pubs for a beer before going back to camp for tea. Tomorrow we will head out to the Dinosaur Tracks, which are fossilised Dinosaur footprints found about 110 km southwest of Winton.
No comments:
Post a Comment