28 May Outback Adventure.

Wow, what a day....we “Made the OUTBACK Connection. Longreach to Ilfracombe, to Isisford, to Emmet, to Yaraka....then back, 400k.
Ilfracombe is very interesting and has established a mile long display of old farm machinery as well as historical sheds of how the junction was formed to transport wool in the early days.
Desperately dry, scrub, mainly very straight road, a lot of single lane with very wide graded verges, very flat except for the consistent signs ‘Road subject to flooding, indicators show depth’ with the concrete dip in the road. It gives a very up and down experience. Quite a bit was gravel, we were going to do the round trip between Yaraka & Isisford but that was all gravel and not by the river like we had hoped. We had lunch at Emmet. One house and a railway station. No railway! Oh, and there was a picnic table even with a cover over it. And what’s more.......we weren’t the only ones there! A couple with their camper & her brother with his SUV & his swag in the back. Nice to have company for lunch. Getting near Yaraka there came into view the Yang Yang Ranges, a complete surprise. There was Mount Slowcombe, a bit like Ayres Rock, a stand alone formation that could be driven up and there was a lookout up there with a 360 degree view of the Ranges and surrounding country. It amazes us that people want to live in isolation. There are big cattle stations out there but we saw very few cattle. A few Emu, kangaroo (mostly dead) a coupe of long legged birds, pink & grey galah and one big lizard, about 18 inches long.
It was a big day and so very worth it. What an amazing country this is.

24 May Longreach.

Well, the spirit moved during breakfast, the spirit of ‘Go North Greay Nomads’, and we obeyed.
It was only 214k to Longreach and we knew of the Apex Park, 2&1/2 k north west. Easy to find, it has toilets and 1 tap of drinking water. There are tress that obscure it from the road so as we turned in it was a case of ‘Oh my goodness’ there were about 99 already here!!! OK that doesn’t matter, there was still room for more, on this huge area of flat packed sand. We were able to get a site on the inside edge so are able to run our gray water out into the scrub & not have to bucket it out. There is a fee, wait for it..... $3 per night or $15 per week 👏👏👏👏
We started listening to another audiobook during the trip up, ‘Five Fires’ by Courtney Patterson, well we have laughed so much and are enjoying it to the extent that we even play it in the van, a disc when we have an hour.
The weather yesterday was perfection, at last no heater needed. To day has only been 23% and full cloud, Brian walked to town this morning and I made fried rice which was really enjoyed for midday.
We had a quick drive into town this afternoon and then went for happy hour with Ken & Robyn who were with us at Charleville. They are from Christchurch & now live in Brisbane. They have a lovely ‘Swift’ caravan, English built and very light weight. It’s a similar layout to ours without our slide out.
They are coming here tomorrow.
We plan to stay a week here & tomorrow temperature promises to be 27, & remain so for the week.
Well Brian has gone to bed, so I guess I will take my book & do likewise.

22 May Blackall Queensland

Yesterday was our last day in Charleville, washing, Supermarket, fuel and a lovely evening round the campfire. Pauline, the Camp Hostess made Damper and it was cooked in a Camp Oven by her husband John. It was delicious, quite spicy withe lovely crusty edges. Hot with butter....delicious. It was great talking to other campers & hearing about camp spots.
Up this morning at 7am and a leisurely pack up for a 9am departure. Scenery was nil with the only excitement being a small herd of black cattle having right-of-way on The Mitchell Highway.
We arrived at Blackall about 1:30 and are by the river/creek same as a year ago. We are here 2 weeks earlier than last year & there are not as many on site.
It’s a perfect day, 23% full sun & blue sky. This camp is pretty well in town & it’s only $8 per night, no water or electricity but toilets and showers.
Don’t know if we will be here 1 or 2 nights....just as the spirit moves. How blessed are we!

20th May 2018 Charleville

The 451k drive to Charleville took us through very dry northwest NSW  & southwest Queensland, this area is desperately dry, roadkill more & more, kangaroos, pigs a emu. We saw very few live kangaroo but lots of emu. Temperature rising, up to about 24% and noting the longer daylight hours. Full sunny days but still chilly nights and early mornings. We have booked into a Bush Camp, 2&1/2 k north of town. Friday, as we drove in we wondered what had happened....the town was shut, even the Supermarket!!! It was ‘ Show Day’! The Park is a paddock, 6 powered sites, water, dump site, no toilet it shower. There is a Camp Host that collects the $5 per person for unpowered or $10 pp for powered site. Evenings there is a campfire happy hour that allows folk to join in.
Saturday morning we went to day 2 of the Show, free entry to encourage attendance. So different to the thousands in the big cities. A lovely display of produce, flowers, baking, art, craft, and naturally a big fun fair. We saw the horses in arena and went through the birds and chooks. Beautiful leather goods for sale as appropriate for country shows.
The afternoon and ALL evening were dedicated to Harry’s wedding. I just loved it all. Brian had to watch his football on the iPad because the TV was mine on this occasion. Between the two things we went and revisited some of the sites that were familiar and went to see the site of a huge explosion that happened in 2014 where a truck carrying 53 tonnes of ammonium nitrate caught fire and crashed then exploded at 9:50pm on 5th September 2014. The blast radius was more than 1k & the effect was felt for 30 k. No one was killed but the fire engine and truck were completely demolished & a police car badly damaged. There were 9 people awarded for bravery etc after that. Angellala Bridge and also rail bridge were demolished. It made a 600 detour to the Mitchell Hwy and it was a couple of years before all was restored. All most interesting & the full story in on the Internet.
Today has been very quiet, needed a rest, enjoy reading the paper & internets reviews of The Wedding. Also Planning the next weeks travel and just enjoying life.
Sorry but I don’t know how to include photos......check Facebook for pics.

17 May 2018 Bourke

A great trip, 474k to Griffith on the 16th, the temperature kept rising slowly and the sun greeted up. Booked into a drive through site for the night then off this morning for Bourke 538k to spend another night here at Kidman Camp. We got the last drive through site. We roads are all good, naturally some roadworks but not many. The countryside is becoming drier and we are noticing more ‘roadkill’s’ which is not surprising due to heave night trucking and the kangaroos coming closer to the roads looking for food. We are engrossed in a talking book, more to Brian’s liking than mine ‘Against All Enemies’ by Tom Clancy, as Brian is driving I do not mind, he needs to be kept attentive. This is a very good park, I think it’s our 4th time here!

16 May Donvale

Woke before 6 and couldn’t get back to sleep.....a bit like excited kids on Christmas morning! We are off on our trip north in search of warm weather. It’s dark, cold and overcast.....OK let us get up, we are fully packed, just have breakfast and do a final check to leave our unit ready for Chris to use at weekends. We are grateful to have our home kept so beautifully.
We left at 8am, too early to have the Retirement Village wave us off😪😪.
We know we will see changes, new faces, and sadly we expect to not see some we leave behind.  It’s the cycle of life.

Winter Escape 2018

Winter escape 2018

11th May 2018 Donvale, Melbourne.
Weather forecast is for rain, hail, and wild weather.
Plans are made for our Winter escape next week, heading north for warmer climates.