29th May. Camoorweal

To day we drove into town to check on necessities, fuel $1.35 lt diesel, Dump point, water tap, garbage bins. Things to attend to before we leave on Tuesday morning. We went to investigate an area where there were a lot of trucks and activity, found that there had been a Rodeo the day before and today there was an event where women & girls competed to show their skill of cattle handling while on horseback. It was most interesting. We stood out.......not wearing jeans and a kubaru (cowboy hat)

This was the cutest sight,

There was a big change over of our neighbours today, it's a very popular place & a lot only stay one night. We are enjoying 3 nights. This afternoon I even made some cards, it was so calm and beautiful, 31 degrees.

This is what it looks like along the edge of the Billabong 

Had a nice chat to Gayle re the Phillip Island Card Camp, only 2 weeks away, numbers are down & like me, there are a number unable to join in this year. Life changes for us all, I hope the changes are as happy as mine is proving to be.

28th May. Camoorweal Billabong, Queensland.

Yesterday was spent preparing for our next 2 to 3 weeks in the Northern Territory. Washing up to date, car fueled up, supermarket moved into our caravan (well thats what it felt like!), water tanks filled & route planned.

This morning we set out for the 'Rubbish Dump' no, not to get rid of anything but because there was a 'weigh station' there. We had checked the other day and had the OK to go through for our car and van to be weighed. It was for free because we came and asked beforehand. 

WE NOW KNOW FOR SURE THAT WE ARE COMPLETELY LEGAL.  It's all very well thinking we are but to know is a great feeling.

Now for the 200k to Camoorweal, it was a flat, easy drive and all scrub land, some Brahman Cattle and millions of Termite Mounds. The town is VERY small, the caravan park looked to have 100 vans in it, we went just over the river (I will rephrase that, over the bridge..... No water in the river) then turn left, travel 1k down the dirt road and there you can camp beside a Billabong (for free) no amenities, but we are set up for that. There were about 50 vans lined up along the waters edge & now there are a lot more. The Billabong is covered in beautiful white water lilies, there's a lovely breeze and we are revelling in this life style in this wonderful spot. We can stay 3 days, time will tell.

I've enjoyed catching up with a few phone calls & just enjoying the scenery.

To have this as our scene, what more could we ask?

26th May. Mt Isa. 🌞🌞🌞🌞

Well we know what it's like to be in the heat now. 🌞🌞🌞🌞🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥 

It's hard to get going, especially cooking a meal. Fans are wonderful, air conditioning is even better. It's OK while we are on electricity but otherwise it's solar or battery which has a limited life.

My advise to any who are reading this is ........ Do it while you are young, soon as you retire, don't wait until your are a Dinosaur like me.

Well we are in this great copper & lead mining city,

Huge smoke stacks and everything is huge. The machinery that they use underground has to dismantled to bring it out, so they usually just leave it there as its to expense to bring out.

We took a tour of the underground Hospital that was built during WW11, in case of the mine being bombed. It was opened up 1997 and volunteers turned it into a tourist attraction in 2002. The hospital was dug out of the hillside and was fully set up, theatre, maternity, children, and had everything that was needed...... It was never used! Thank goodness it wasn't needed.

It was MOST interesting. $14 each. Open from 10 to 1pm as it is run by volunteers.

Brian did the underground mine tour 2&1/2 hrs while I did a small grocery shop. Have to stock up tomorrow for outback travelling over the next 2 weeks.  

There was a lot of walking and so much information, he really enjoyed the whole experience.

At night we went to The Irish Club for dinner, I had a superb Tai Chicken Curry & Brian had a Pork filet minion. It's a huge Club and was most interesting to see the miners coming in for their meal, all nationalities and all ages, male & female. They were all chatting and it was a League of Nations.

Today I made a big Spaghetti bologna and have frozen it for while we are staying free camping with no electricity. It's all in the freezer now. Tomorrow I am making a Sweet & Sour Chicken and freezing it also. 

We took a picnic lunch and went Lake Moondarra, about 20k out. It is Mt Isa's water supply. It was so beautiful, with islands, the dam, look out and a perfect picnic area.........and........to cap it all off we had unexpected company, a flock of peacocks! They were so tame, I think I could have touched them.

Taken from the lookout.

Our company

Showing off his tail, back view. I asked, pleaded, told him how beautiful he was but he still didn't put up his tail properly for me. I tried to sweet talk him but I was not good enough!!!

We have once again had very nice neighbours, they pulled in yesterday just as I had made coffee and Ray said he would be much better when he had a cup of tea, so I made them one and they sat and chatted instead of setting up their van, it's been a very comfortable relationship. They move on tomorrow to meet friends.

Time to make a coffee then prepare to have Another 32 degree day tomorrow!! Sorry Melbourne folk.!!

23rd May. Mt Isa, Queensland..

What's happened??? We are away up north and its only 23 degrees, had to go & buy a fan heater! It was $19.85! Out old one had died.

Yesterday we stopped in a free camp half way between Cloncurry and Mt Isa, there were about 20 vans there & it was drizzling so it gave me opportunity to write Post cards to the grandchildren. 

These were the last ones I sent from Richmond

The folk camped behind us were from Christchurch, she, like me, went to Avonside Girls High School, he went to St Albans Salvation Army , went to Scouts at the Citadel, knew my house in Rutland Street. 

He is 13 years younger than me & no longer SA. McIvor family, golly how the connection keep going.

Golly it rained. Brian went through 2 pair sandles and ended up in his Crocks.....had to put all into plastic bag before daring to put them in the car..I've had to wash all our footwear that we wore this morning. Lucky only a little drizzle today as we drove the 60k to Isa and we were here at Sunset Caravan Park by 10am. We  had left our muddy green mat draped over the carbage cans at Julia Creek, no, not on purpose! lucky it was old and had some holes, so today we now have a nice new one. The people next to us today were with us at Julia Creek, we know we will keep meeting up with fellow travellers. We are booked here for 5 nights. Nice chat to both Jan & Roger today. They are coming up this way but by then we will be in the Northern Territory. Touristing tomorrow.

21st May. Julia Creek.

This morning I did a little HAND washing a new experience. 

Into town to get post cards for the little grandchildren, hardware shop for a gas fitting that they didn't have & supermarket to get raffle tickets to support the Lions Club.. We had just come home and I was doing a little rearranging when there was a knock on the door . It was Kathryn & Tim, the NZ lady I had sat with at the Women's function on Thursday. What a lovely surprise. We sat and chatted for a couple of hours. Kindred spirits, I continually amazes me.

We spent the afternoon with another couple camped near us, Pam is a card maker & has the nack of selling them as they travel. $5 each! Today she went to the library & sold $85 worth!. Her husband came to our van and talked Brian's ear off about cars........for 2 hrs! Brian said he didn't understand a quarter of it.

We went to the only Pub for tea & had been warned to only order 1 meal between us. How right they were. We had a Fishermans basket, 95% fish & a few chips. We both had all we could eat, only $24.

Brian looked at the board......the raffle was drawn at 12.30. His name was there.... We won the prize, $120.00.

Wow, it was a thrill.

There were 3 ladies on the next table & as we left the first of their meals was delivered, it was a HUGE Seasor Salad with prawns. I commented on how lovely it looked a how huge. They were nurses, one just arrived as director of nursing, one from Yorkshire, and one from Oamaru NZ. The N,Z nurse said she was just talking to her friend Kathyn....I said, the one who does the mail run!!! Yes. She said, Kathryn was just telling me about you! Again, how amazing, it just keeps happening.

20th May. Julia Creek.

Let me tell you a little of yesterday, 19th. Around Happy Hour the previous night we had been told about a Women's event to be held 10.30 to 2pm on the 19th. McKinlay Shire Council, Outback Queensland put on a 'Succesful Women' seminar, with a 2 course lunch.. The focus was on health, particularly for isolated women. 3 speakers, and different local government departments demonstrating there health activities. The main speaker was Helen Everingham, her marriage broke down early and she brought up 3 sons. 2 of them went on a surfing holiday up to the pacific islands, their plane went down & both sons were killed, aged in their early 20s. This amazing, now 'Succesful' woman was an inspiration on mental health for, particularly isolated women.

She gave us this to put on our fridge so that all our families could join in this 'ATTITUDE'

Who should I sit next to but a woman from New Zealand who had been here 8 weeks! Her husband had been offered a job working hay & she had a 2 day per week job driving (I think mail) 880k return trip in the day! Buy the end of the day I found that her husband had been an Anglician Priest & still does some social work. They are undertaking WALKING the full length of NZ, they are taking a break to earn some more funds. Amazing world we live in. Their 3 children in their 20s are all in 'people' type jobs.

The lunch was just delicious, and the day was well worth the $30.

About 50 to 60 wonen attended.

Now today, we went to the amazing information centre, many visual & audio, a display of old things  all in railway cottages. There was also live feeding at 10am of the 'Fat-tailed Dunnadts', a mouse type unusual creature. 

We took a picnic lunch and went for a drive in the countryside............why???? 250k return to see a water hole exactly the same that is 5 feet from our van door. We had our lunch in the picnic area and were attacked by 2.587 flies (each)!!!!!! I ended up laughing so hard I couldn't speak. It was crazy.

Please appreciate the scenery we enjoyed all the way there AND ALL THE WAY BACK!

Got the message? Outback Queensland.

18th May. Julia Creek RV Free Camping 👏👏😃😃🌞

Any  crocodile here?

    Joe is the 'Camp Host', I wish I could pass on his patter......for example: The first night is free, the second night is half the price,  and the next two are the same as the first, and if you stay for the four nights you can go to the Caravan Park in town & have a powered site for $15 instead of $23!.

At high tide, there is Marlin fishing ( we are in the middle of a dessert!)

At 5pm is Happy Hour, but not just a casual 'drinking' time, it was a genuine large circle with a guest to talk to us. A man & his wife who coordinate Blaze Aid for norther Australia. Volunteers who are willing to donate time and expertise to go in their caravans and help isolated people on outlying properties, especially after fires, floods, earthquakes, and drought. It was most interesting. He did a week at Coonabarabran when we were there helping at my brothers farm. Laurie, who headed up that team still lives at my brothers farm & we had meals with him last month. Small world!

Back to yesterday, we went to the pub for tea, good grief, both our meals were double, they automaticly gave us a 'doggy' bag, and we had enough for our tea tonight!.

This morning we set out to sight see, such a lovely town, 'Richmond' an oasis in the dessert.

Such a lovely lake with beautiful children's play ground

On to the reconstructed early house from an outback station

Richmond is on the Dinosaur  Trail, how about this for a garbage bin holder

I was a little scared at his one

It's OK, I'm safe!

Some things are explicit !

All the drive today was most unexciting....

Mile after mile, it's grazing land, but not many cattle. Quite a lot of road trains though.

All in all, a lovely day.

Message to self, watch for Crocodiles, and Marlin at night tide tomorrow !!!

17th May. Richmond. Go tiges!

Well, it's Richmond Queensland really. Can't help the name association!

We had a nice quiet day at Marcrossen Park, free camping ! And I went by myself into Charters Towers for a few things. We wanted an outdoor gas ring and cast iron fry pan to use while free camping , especially for one night stops. It was a nice experience at Home Hardware...... the man scanned the fry pan into the register up it didn't come up on screen. I said "Th Boss didn't enter it" he looked funny, so I said "And you are the Boss?", he agreed!. We decided he could blame his wife. I had asked for Seniors discount which was given because of my 'youthful' appearance! He said its $109.95, will you get in trouble. My reply was , I will be in trouble if it's over $99. He said, OK, I'll make it 20% discount, $95.00. Then to top it off he even offered to carry them out to the car. Very much appreciated. I told him to thank his wife also.

I took some nice photos of things in Charters that I had missed on our last visit.

Strange gutters , it's had to imagine the wet up here and I'm quite happy to leave it to my imagination .

These two statues are at the entry to town from Townsville and are very impressive.

Today we set out for Prairie, but when we got there, decided it was only a lunch stop and kept driving.

That's how straight the road was, on & on, and most of the way was

With only 2

We are so pleased that we did the 400k to Richmond

We are free camping here in Kronosaurus Korner free camping. There is a lake very near by. We will enjoy this area  for 2 or 3 nights. Off to the Pub for tea tonight..

15th May Reid Creek Rest Site

Good Sunday morning to you all. No Church today, so enjoyed Belfast Revival CD while driving.

We had seen this site on our way into Townsville & decided it was a lovely rest spot - Free camping!

On the way , there was a big Semi trailer coming toward us and within in 20 metres of us passing..... a Kangaroo shot across the road 🙉🙊 both drivers had applied breaks but not severely & by now the stupid roo has forgotten all about it & all of us just 'kept going'. Today's good story

Life in the 'fast' lane is hard work.....

There is a rail line away across the other side of the Flinders Highway & there has just been a long load of copper go through. Wonderful resources of our great land.

14th May. Farewell Townsville

Today we said farewell to Townsville. Golly GPS has been a wonderful invention. How on earth did we manage with maps. "Jennifer" even tells us 'You are over the speed limit'!!!! I wonder how many people will have wanted to tell her to "SHUT UP" (in the nicest way possible!) She did lead us to all the places requested (good girl) 

Again a very nice park, Walkabout Big 4, friendly & helpful neighbours.. Yesterday we had a visit from Betty & Jim who were our neighbours in Charters Towers, they are in a different park & staying. Week. They are from Tassie, it was $1700 return in the ferry for them and car & caravan, wow, sure makes it expensive.

Also had a nice message from the Lady Owner of Charters Towers Tourist Park, saying she sorry to have missed saying goodbye........we left too early!

Tomorrow we are off adventuring again - Free Camping, heading toward Mt Isa.

Sorry I haven't been doing 'happy snaps' this time , must do better.

11th May. Stop press! Special Edition!

Today Brian had an encounter with the local 'Wild Life', he wea getting ready to pack up the weber into its carry case.......and........ ROSEMARY!!!!

The bag had been invaded.....

The dreaded Cane Toad!

Opportunity for a closer look, but not tooooo close,

Oh, well, it wasn't a snake. We have had our first 'Wild Life' experience for this trip.

11th May. Final day in Charters Towers

At last we feel safe......... Flu Injections! It's been quite a process, appointment made in one town, only to find that they had run out of supplies. Today, success, a very nice Doctor (from Wellington NZ!) and neither of us even felt it. That seems to be the story this year according to Christy.

Washing done and dry by noon, (Jan, take note!) just great. Chatted to interesting fellow campers. It's a continual amazement to hear the same story over & over. Sold our house, moving into a retirement village, just filling in time and enjoying our caravans.

We are all packed and ready to move to Townsville (137 k) for a few days of The Coral Sea before heading to Mt Isa.

This was on Facebook today and I thought it was beautiful. It applies to you who are reading this blog.

10th May. Charters Towers

To day we drove out to 'Bethal' Texas Longhorn property. The season doesn't start until the weekend & we will have moved on. They have 109 Longhorn cattle & do covered wagon safaris tours. They also make saddles ands all things leather. It was very interesting and being leather VERY expensive.

Their horn span is up to 8 feet, we couldn't see any, just this one in the shop.

We did a walk of the town it was the second largest town in Queensland in 'Gold' days, it had 65 hotels in its hey day, also the first rural Stick Exchange.

They have preserved so much of the beautiful old buildings and they are in use.

This is Target frontage, with individual window boxes for display,

The Stock Exchange.

The information centre.

A mural and also......

Some other signifi ate buildings.

31 degrees today, 29 tomorrow., Flu injection a laundry day tomorrow, cool breeze please.