Besides some puddles on the ground, there was little evidence of the overnight rain this morning. The sky was blue with some wispy clouds scudding across the sky but rarely obscuring the sun that was a welcome sign of at least one more fine day before these (alleged) record breaking rains arrive. After a slowish start, we set off for the Tourist Info Centre and found a lovely lady who gave us all the brochures we could carry, some advice, and a marked map of everything we might need in town.
The adjacent park has an interesting group of mosaics on a pathway that tell the story of the town from creation through to the present day, (well at least up to the time when the mosaics were installed). They have accompanying brass plaques that describe what they mean, just in case you were a bit light on interpretation skills. In this same park there is also the largest painting on an easel in the Southern Hemisphere – it’s Sunflowers by Van Gogh and I have no idea how this long dead painter managed such a feat. OK, I know it was some guy copying it. Anyway, one of those random things country towns install to get the tourists, sorry – visitors, in. There was also a big metal dragon…
We stopped briefly to have a quick look at the beautiful heritage listed railway station - the town only became a town when the railway came to town - OK I went to town a bit there...
Perhaps the best gem (get it – Emerald lol) of information given to us at the Tourist Info place was that pre-polling voting started today and interstate voters were catered for. That was our next port of call and, just as she said, we were in and out of there in a flash with our civic duty done and no worries now about where we needed to be on 21 May. Thankfully, this also means we no longer have to pay attention to debates, ads, the election part of the news, conversations around the BBQ or in the pub. I’m happy to clearly state, “Don’t bother to convince me of anything – the deed is done, the vote is cast!” How good is technology? We just walked in, told them our address, and they printed off the appropriate ballot papers there and then.
Serendipitously, Coles is right next door to where you vote
so we grabbed some groceries, strolled around the mall for a while where I
picked up a pair of board shorts, (ever the optimist for the coastal part of
our journey), and then it was back to the cabin for lunch – more Turkish
toasties.
Gaz had booked us in for golf at 1pm so that’s where we
headed next. Apparently the golf pro said, ‘would you like to play the front
nine which is pretty tricky or the back nine that is much easier?’
Unsurprisingly, we went for the back nine, though I can report there was more
than one occasion when Gaz was heard to mutter, “all I can say is the front
nine must be f*#*ing hard!” Anyway, there were lots of hills and doglegs and
trees and creeks … but only two bunkers so I was happy about that. We played
some good shots, more bad shots, and forgot to score so all in all it was a fun
time. I did manage to get a par on one hole so that was very impressive for me!
When we were on the fairway of the 14th hole, we got a call from Vicky saying they had been advised to get out of Longreach or risk being stuck there for a week. Suffice it to say they were on the road heading for Emerald and said they should arrive after 7pm, one day earlier than originally planned. They all duly arrived after dark and headed over to our cabin after they had their (late) dinner. We heard about the Cobb & Co coach ride that we had missed, the Winton dinosaurs that we had missed and the Matilda Centre at Winton as well. Sounds like it was all good but, hey, peace of mind is priceless.
The weather on the news is the top story here at the moment
– massive amounts of rain is expected across most of Qld and they reckon there
will be flooding in parts. Not much we can do except sit tight and wait and see
what happens.
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