Day 11 – Blackall – Longreach

A fairly cruisy start to the day. There was a small worry when it started to rain at about 8am but it turned out to be a brief shower only and we experienced no more rain today … phew … no wiper issues. We set out for Barcaldine, (BAR-CALL-DIN – I have been practising saying this ever since Roma when someone told me the correct pronunciation), and had no incidents on the way. I’d have to say the roads are pretty good. You can easily sit on 110km/hr without any problems. Although this is the outback, it is very green due to the recent rains, and we have been told that a couple of years ago it was very different with little grass and what was there was brown.

Barcaldine was a lovely town and we stopped for a wander up the street and a coffee for Gaz. There was a really cute shop that had 60 makers contributing various arts and crafty things – lots of earrings to give me ideas. The town was the scene of the Shearers’ Strike in 1891 and the beginnings of the Labor Party. There is a very impressive “Tree of Knowledge” there which marks the spot, with the original tree only dying in 2006.

It was back on the road, and we were at Longreach in no time, arriving just after 12pm. We unpacked and I rejoiced in the WIFI signal and caught up on uploading a couple of days’ worth of blogs. A quick lunch and shop in town, and we were back to greet Kev, Maz, Wayne and Vicky who had arrived from their Carnarvon Gorge adventure. They had a great time, did a big walk and enjoyed the scenery. Kev & Maz did have a flat tyre incident that would have been scary out in the middle of nowhere, but they finally worked it out and thankfully were able to get to the next town to get new tyres.

We did a bit of a reccy in town then I called Moops’ cousin Alan, who lives here and arranged to catch up with him and his wife Lyndal tomorrow. I don’t think we have ever met before, but it will be good to meet them and no doubt learn lots about that side of the family. It was our turn to cook so we gathered at the Camp Kitchen and enjoyed West African Chicken, rice, green vegies, and a fruit platter … oh and some wine and beers. Everyone was a bit tired, so an early night was called for and we relaxed in our cabin watching the footy. Unfortunately, our river cruise for tomorrow night has been cancelled due to the river being too high but we have planned to visit the Stockman’s Hall of Fame tomorrow and maybe attend the local races – I’m sure we’ll find stuff to do.