Days 5 and 6

Tuesday - Longreach to Mt Isa
The day started with light showers as we packed up our camper at Longreach tourist park. We pulled out at 9am and headed down the road for a couple of hours till we came to the town of Winton. We had a nice morning tea at the local bakery. The pies were most impressive and the baker was in the midst of baking some more when we arrived.
 

One of Winton's hotels. It could almost be a movie set.

Winton is well known for its dinosaur fossils, so all the street bins are now very easy to spot.

 

After that we headed to the musical fence which we discovered in town. It was opened in 2003. We had so much fun clanging all the found objects which have been made into musical instruments. You could play the drums and strum the wire on the fence in key as though it were a string instrument. I'm no muso but it was heaps of fun for a novice like me.
 

I hope she doesn't want a drum set?

 

We then hit the road stopping off at combo waterhole for lunch. There was only one other vehicle there. You will laugh at this because when we arrived the man in the other vehicle was sharpening his knife on a sharpening stone. For me it was rather eerie as I had all sorts of strange images running through my head of a man wielding the knife at us. I told brett and he said 'oh fi the man is just making a sandwich for lunch'. I mean seriously who sharpens their knife to put on mayonnaise! Well that's what I saw him do with it after he sharpened it. In case you don't know combo waterhole is near the place where troopers came across a swagman who had killed a sheep for food. The swagman drowned trying to escape when he jumped into a waterhole fully clothed. Banjo Patterson visited the station that the waterhole is on in 1895 and heard about this story. Shortly after he penned what we all know now as Waltzing Matilda. From the carpark we walked the 2.6 km return to the waterhole and back. The spot is quite pleasant with a commemorative plaque identifying the site. I find it quite amazing that people know so long ago it is the exact spot in the middle of the outback that such an event took place.
 

The track into Combo waterhole

Stone overshots. Built in 1890 by the station owners to help retain water in the billabongs of Dagworth Station.

Combo Waterhole

 

We hit the road around 3pm and stopped off at the Walkabout Creek hotel where they filmed the bar scenes in Crocdile Dundee. The hotel is in the little town of McKinlay and is on the main highway, although it used to be down a side road, it was moved to the highway after the movie due to its popularity. No bar fights with crocs occurred in the short time we were there. After a few quick photoes out front we made our way for Mt Isa. The termite mounts appeared about 30 km up the road from the hotel. The flat landscape then turned into rocky hills of red earth. It was very pretty seeing the light over the landscape as the sunset.
 

 
We arrived at Mount Isa sunset caravan park around 7pm. We set up the camper in record time in the dark and went to the Isa Hotel for dinner. Mount Isa is all about the mine. Two chimney stacks fully impose you as you set foot into the town. At 8am and 8pm they blast somewhere on the site. We heard the rumble at the hotel of the 8pm blast. I have a lot of admiration for those who live there and build there lives around mining.
 
Wednesday - Mount Isa
Today the plan was to first visit the family fun park to let Chantelle go wild, but guess what, it was closed on Wednesday's for cleaning ( even in Queensland school holidays) go figure? So we went to the outback at isa information centre. We got the low down on mine tours and everything else to do in Mt Isa. We went straight from there to a potters studio and gallery followed by a trip up to the lookout over looking the town back towards the mine. Was a great view and we decided to come back for the sunset later in the day as the views were facing west.
 

 
We then made our way to the historic underground hospital. The tunnels were built during world war 2 when locals feared that Mt Isa could be bombed after Darwin was bombed. Given that Mt Isa is close enough to the Gulf of Carpentaria for the planes to reach then they had reason to be fearful. During air raid sirens which apparently went off a couple of times a week, patients were moved from the local hospital to the tunnels built behind it. But, and its a big but, if you were in traction and couldn't be moved then you were left behind with a couple of matress put over the top of you for protection.
 

 
Lake Moondarra was where we headed for lunch which is about 17km out of town. We were not expecting the site that greeted us when the large lake appeared along with club house for canoe and sailing and plenty of picnic areas. Later that day we went back to view the sunset at the lookout. No clouds in the sky to add colour but it was still a lovely view.
 

 
One thing to note about visiting Mt Isa. If you want to do the underground mine tour you will need to book in advance. All 3 tours were full the day we arrived and even if there were spots Chantelle was too young to do the tour (for kids 7 years and over). It would have been fantastic to do. It's very popular and we would try to book in advance next time we are in town. There is also an above ground tour run on 2 days a week and this also fills up quickly and is apparently well worth it.
 

 

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Days 3 and 4

Sunday - Charleville to Longreach
After we packed up Brett took some nice photoes of Chantelle standing by the Evening Star Tourist Park caravan which was brightly painted and situated at the gate point to the park. We will be back for a few nights next time with the telescope and lots of marshmallows to toast by the open log fire.

We then detoured back into Charleville for a quick stop to get some supplies from the IGA, cappuccinos and jam drops from the local bakery. We didn't hang about knowing we had 500 + km to go. Around 12.30pm we stopped at Tambo for lunch. It was very popular and so pretty with picnic and amenities located road side by a waterhole with lots of birdlife.

Chantelle is always looking to find new friends.

We were amazed as we drove along seeing the remnants of last years floods with debri that was caught up in fences. What was the amazing part was that the land is so flat out here and we couldn't imagine what it would be like to see that amount of water spread out over such a large area.

Brett was hoping to fill up with fuel at Blackall but decided to push on and we briefly stopped off at Barcaldine.

We stumbled across a magnificent woodern structure located just in front of the train station. It's called the tree of knowledge and is a giant wooden wind chime. It's hard to describe but I'll give it a go. The tree out the front of the train station is supposedly the site of where the labor party was formed by striking shearers in 1891. It was sadly poisoned in 2006 and the remaining part of the trunk has been restored and maintained. Half the root line is sunken below a glass platform which you stand on and as your eye moves up the tree trunk there is a vast negative space which takes the shape of the trees branches formed by rods of wood (4000) or so which fall at various lengths from the square structure above it. They all clang together and sound out as wind chimes do so peacefully.

Fiona and Chantelle making their own music on a timber xylophone.

The remains of the tree of knowledge is now protected by huge sculpture above.

We then hit the road and arrived at Longreach caravan park around 5pm. Camp set up, showers, dinner and lights out by 10pm. It's a huge park. Lots of travelling public stay here. They were doing a bird show at 3.30pm Monday afternoon and 4.30pm poetry reading.
 
Monday - Longreach
We spent the day in Longreach today. First stop the bakery for a fresh Vienna bread loaf for lunch. Lots of 4wd vehicles here, cowboys with white hats, moleskins, rm william boots and fleece.

Started the day at the Australian Stockmans Hall Of Fame. Oh my goodness I feel like I have lived under a rock all my life having lived in the city. I really have not given much consideration to living a outback life untill today. What is the outback to you? I guess before today I thought that it was the red centre but it was described to me by a stockman for him as the wide broad open spaces which exist. It has a sense of freedom about it. I agree. It's a landscape of breathing space which has already surprised me with the animals which have appeared. The Stockmans Hall of Fame is set up into several areas reflecting on life in the outback - indigenous, pioneers, explorers/surveyors, shearers, outback properties, communication, royal flying doctor service and the stockman to name a few. We did the 10 am tour which was well the hour it took. It had quite a lot of interactive displays for the kids. I couldnt read all the text recorded for all on display as it was not fair to expect a 4 year old to behave quietly for another great amount of time.

"where are the buttons?"

This is a quilt above.

Next thing she'll want a horse.

Fiona in a flying doctor cockpit.

 
After lunch we visited the Qantas Founders Museum. We only did the museum tour for $21 per adult as the plane tour was $50 or so per adult and was booked out for the rest of the day.

The first Qantas plane to have a toilet. They bought the plane as an 8 seater but gave up one seat to add in the comfort for passengers.

The original Qantas hangar.

A 747 is permanently on site for guided tours and wing walks.

We then headed into town again for afternoon tea at Kinnon and co station store and cafe for coffee and cake.
It's quite an experience at the cafe as its set up like you are on the set of an outback movie complete with mercant cards, live animals and live entertainment. Glad we stopped in there!

Nothing quite like an outback Queensland hotel.

Before going back to camp we decided to check out the local river. Lots of people camped out here too.

 
That night we had a little drizzle about but the clouds kept the temperatures up a bit. And if your wondering what was for dinner, we had apricot chicken, rice and veggies. Fiona had precooked lots off meals, frozen them and we keep them in our freezer in the camper. We decide in the morning what will be for dinner, pull it out and let it thaw out for the day. Having the freezer means we get to keep frozen veggies too.
Tomorrow will be a big day. Over 600km to our next stop over at Mt Isa and a few historic places to visit on the way.