We've hit some really gorgeous weather. Shorts and T-shirt weather...nice.
We got up early enough and hit the road. Found out some people at the camping spot in Barcaldine had been there for over 4 months. They looked set in.
We went into to town to check it all out and get some supplies. Lots of really old pubs and Barcaldine is also the home of 'The Tree of Knowledge'. Apparently where the trade union movement began and the also the labour party in the 1890's during the Great Shearer's Strike. Shot some pics and then took off to our next campsite.
We wanted to get to Longreach by tonight. It's a long drive ... everything's a long drive :)
\'The Tree of Knowledge - Barcaldine'
Afternoon
What a difference this next campsite was.
With all this open space around us heading to Longreach we then seemed to have been coralled into a paddock like cows to camp the night. It was getting late for us so we didn't really have too many choices of where to camp, so we thought this place in Longreach would do. Hundred's of caravans and campers squashed into a carpark....It was only the day before we had been talking about only sleeping in beautiful open and isolated spots.....and here we were stuck in another 'Concentration camp'. Oh well what can you do.
4th August 2010
At 4am in the morning, after a night of non stop generators humming in the background, we had had enough and drove off in the dark to find a quieter camping spot. Heading out there were all kinds of animals we would never have seen in the day. There were heaps of horses on the road - not sure if they were wild or not. Stew looked up on the map and there was another camp spot about 15 minutes away. It took us about 40 minutes to get there in the dark, because there were kangaroos all over the place jumping in front of the van. We had to drive very slowly. I didn't want to kill a kangaroo.
It was well worth the effort. What a beautiful spot we had found. It looked like a truck stop from the front, but there were also dirt roads winding further into the bushland.
We decided to stay herethe rest of tonight and tomorrow. Spent the whole day reading, lying around, writing songs, sunbaking and drawing ... ahhh, this is what we came 'outback' for.
In the night I collected some wood and we had a nice little 2 man camp fire : )
I am over the flu now and stew's been struggling with it, but hasn't got it as bad as I did.
a drawing i did in pen : )
5th August 2010
Had to leave this lovely spot, but now we know what we're looking for. I've been listening to a lot of music on my ipod, soaking in the lyrics of Joni Mitchell. I think she is the type of songwriter I'd love to be. Her songs seem so simple but when I try to write that way, it's not so easy. I'll work on it.
Today we made our way to McKinlay, stopped at Winton on the way through. A pretty little place and we decided sit outside the local pub in the sun drinking a corona...nice. When we got to McKinlay we realised that there was no internet reception and also no dogs were allowed at the camping spot. It was already the afternoon when we arrived so we were running out of time to go searching.
The Walkabout Creek Hotel is where the movie Crocodile Dundee was filmed with Paul Hogan. We went in and had a look around and took some pics. They had a camp spot in the back of the hotel where campers could stay, so we stayed there for the night. Stew had to do a jingle in the morning, so having elecricity was handy, and I wanted a shower.
Walkabout Creek Hotel - Crocodile Dundee filmed here
We've been living on a diet of rice, beans and occasional pasta. I think the beans are setting in for Stewart and I, we may need to take a break from them : ) I wonder if the van could run on Bean Gas - that'll save a lot of petrol.
xxx
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