Woke to birdsong (or more parrot squawks) for the first time in a couple of days. Most of the campers left yesterday and with only a few of us left the  wildlife has returned. A troop of roos scoured the camp site last night making it clear we were in their territory not the reverse. 

After breakfast and a bit of route planning for tomorrow we headed off to explore the Cobb & Co history of this area.

Like all good visitors to Longreach we booked into the Cobb & Co outback ride experience. Our main goal was the coach ride and a bit of horsey time (me) but once we got there we found (like most other tours we’ve done in the outback), the  history was fascinating. The young fella who did our tour walked us through the evolution from mud wagons to coaches to the first outback trucks, the mechanics of the coaches, the set up of tack, and the evolution of Cobb & Co the company who at one stage employed 40% of men along its route. 

Noting that I didn’t select the props for the next photo

The coach ride itself was fab- now pulled busy a team of 5 ex-racing trotters. One was being a bit pesky, but so would I be pulling a gaggle of tourists through rough and ready roads. It was certainly a rough, dusty  and noisy ride  so I think both humans and horses are better off with the advent of locomotives!

Part of the tour included a screening of the 1950s film ‘Smily gets a gun’ filmed in Augathella, in a historic cinema with original deck chair seating. A cracker of a film even if a bit non-PC to have a plot involving an 8 year old reprobate doing good deeds to prove he was responsible enough for the local sergeant to reward him with a gun.

It was a scorcher today so we finished our day with a swim and early dinner in the local Chinese restaurant. We are now contemplating the pack up for an early start tomorrow.  We are heading for Windorah or thereabouts.

Today marks the turnaround point for our trip as we start winding our way slowly home.

Today was all about outback history, and the characters and horses that shaped it. Having heard great things about the centre we had booked in for the ‘full stockman’s experience’ which involved a screening of the brilliant short film ‘A Stockman’s Tale’, entry to the museum and a one and a half hour stockman live show.

The museum was fabulous- a truly accessible audio tour with the audio being sensor driven so it clicked into the narration for each exhibit as you arrived there- heaven for me. The displays bought to life the immense challenges, incredible feats, and daily realities of early pastoral pioneers, drovers,  Aboriginal workers, stockmen and women who shaped the Australian outback. 

We gave it a good crack, listening to as many of the stories as time would allow but I came away feeling like we’d only scratched the surface. 

The live  show was brilliant- but how could it not be when it featured three of my favourite things- horses, dogs and whip cracking- as well as an incredibly  moving tribute to the stockmen and horses who joined the Lighthorse Brigade… gulp.

David almost had to drag me out of there, and let’s just say there’s been an old girl demonstrating her whip cracking skills in the camp ground this afternoon!

Today we followed the Paddy Behan Way, an alternate route recommended by the caretaker at our station stay who said it would offer nicer outback views .

it was a pretty rough and ready narrow tarmac road,  which promised to avoid the road trains (and hopefully road kill). It lived up to expectations and the small amount of traffic we did encounter was mostly locals and caravans who like us, had obviously been given ‘the word’.

The road passed through several unfenced stations,. The first couple were cattle stations but after crossing the ear piercing dingo fence we began to see sheep.

We stopped for an early lunch in a cute little town called Isisford on the banks of the almost dry Barcoo River renowned for its annual giant yellow belly fishing competition- of course with a giant sculpture to go with it. 

Arrived in Longreach round 12.30 to 35 degree heat and opted to tour the Qantas museum rather than melt. (It was a line ball to be honest). While it didn’t change my world it was quite interesting, and after walking through decades of old planes I can confirm we who sit in the back definitely have less leg room than we used to.

We finally did set up camp late afternoon as the cool breeze came in. And even fit in a load of washing. The wading  machines require you to enter your mobile number and send you a text as your washing finishes – a neat solution to the usual dog eat dog world of camp laundries. 

The camp ground is ringing with the sound of cracking stock whips from all the kids (and big kids) who visited the Stockens  Hall of Fame today.  Maybe I’ll be doing my own little whip cracking tomorrow!

Had a hearty meal at the local Woolshed Tavern , and now feeling replete having devoured a small calf (me) and a ram shank (D).

Did a quick pack up this morning and were on the road soon after 8am with the intention of getting breakfast en route. 

We headed up the Matilda Way- a fully sealed highway, pretty narrow in places, especially when the big road trains (and there weee too many to count) were coming towards us.  

The road surface was pretty good (ironically less potholes than the Hume Highway). The amount of roadkill was disturbing- I guess it’s the late night road train traffic.

Our first stop was in Augathella for a hearty breakfast at the Catfish Cafe. It’s a cute historic town famous for its street art and in particular its big ant sculpture, a tribute to the Giant Meat Ants local football team.

From there we went to the must-see Tambo – another beauty of a town famous for reinventing itself as a ‘teddy bear town’ in response to the collapse of the wool industry. A whole shop is dedicated to production and selling of the most beautiful sheepskin teddy bears now shipped to the far reaches of the world. Also had a fabulous art gallery with a mother daughter exhibition of outback paintings and sculptures- resisted (but only just) the temptation to buy a huge cast iron emu!

We stopped in at the iconic Fanny Mae’s for an obligatory coffee and vanilla slice (who could say no?) which was true to its claim to fame.  

Alas, as much as we wanted to, we couldn’t stay to 5pm to see Ben’s nightly chicken races at the local pub. But I guess you have to leave something for next time.

Arrived in Blackall round 2pm and did the rounds of the main sights before setting up camp. We are now officially on ‘the other side of the black stump!

We are fast discovering that most outback towns have to have a giant something- for Blackall it’s the giant  ram. Like any good Kiwi, David was quick to make friends with the old boy.

The days have been hot (33-34 degrees) but a dry heat, so not too bad in the shade. So far a cool breeze has rolled in round 4 each day keeping the tent cool and sleepable.

We’re now camped up on Shannendoah Farm about 10 from Blackall. We are the only ones here and have a beautiful shady spot. We discovered our camp freezer keeps ice-cream frozen so today enjoying an ice-cream and a G&T.

Was glad to step out of the tent this morning and find no sign of our brown slithering friend.

Had a relaxed morning taking care of camp housekeeping – basically re-organising storage and doing washing. The machines were humming early this morning – it seems that everyone had decided it was laundry day . This made for long and lively conversations at the clothesline about everything from ‘where you from and where you going’, to ‘where you escaped to in COVID’ to local and international politics. I absolutely love the interesting mix of people you gat in these camping grounds.

Washing was close to dry by the time the conversations ended (nothing quite spins like a hills hoist in the outback).

started with a drive round town. There are some beautiful parks and playgrounds . The blue painted trees are prominent here marking the commitment to rural men’s mental health.

Today we unveiled Charleville’s big secret – the US WW2 base that house 3500 US airforce with 300 plus planes and the top secret Nordam bomb sight technology. Charleville was chosen for the base as it was too far for Japanese bombers to reach without re-fuelling and because its climate was optimal to avoid plane corrosion.

While great for the US soldiers the plight of the Australian women who either worked at the base or were enticed there for  social events with the hope of becoming a war bride was somewhat different.  Several hundred of them ended up marrying soldiers, returning to the US on a war bride ship and having to give up their Australian citizenship as they boarded.  When things weren’t what they were promised on arrival they then couldn’t return as they were no longer Australian citizens. Folklore has it that several of the next generation in Charleville have found out later in life they have American fathers. 

After a late afternoon nap we did some outback stargazing at the Cosmos Centre. they have an amazing set up there- four massive telescopes with a personalised guide at each one – we were able to get up close and personal with Venus, Jupiter, Alpha Centauri, another star constellation whose name escapes me and of course the moon (which was near on full).  If you squint in the right direction you should be able to see the bilby in the moon. 

Now back at camp heating up a late night meal of pumpkin soup and roti- last night here before we start heading north again.

Total km – 1883km

After one final coffee we parted ways with the clan this morning, so grateful to have had a few days together but  sadly couldn’t convince them to drop everything and stay on the road with us!

was good to know the coffee shop shared our sentiments

It was an easy but slow road to Charleville, much more windy than we expected given we were in the ‘big country’.

Definitely out in the big skies today

For the first half of the journey we travelled behind a 3 trailer road train. He was travelling at 80 most of the way but unlike the locals we were neither brave enough or foolish enough to try passing with the unknown bends. Thankfully he did let have ‘the smell of money’, coming from his cargo !

We all stopped at the Marven Roadhouse for lunch and we munched through our steak sandwiches quickly to be on the road ahead of the truckie.

And of course no visit to an outback roadhouse would be complete without the obligatory jerky purchase (even if it is made in NZ).

Arrived in Charleville round 2.30. Were staying at the Charleville bush camp- a fabulous camping park about 5k out of town- we are camped up in a beautiful shaded spot under the canopy of  a bottle tree that’s keeping us nice and cool.

Last thing for the day was a visit to the Royal Flying Doctor Service Visitor Centre . It was really informative, they do such amazing work in rural  and remote communities both in terms of emergencies and  health promotion. It was a bit sobering to know they do over 350k emergency flights a year.

Finished our day with a cool drink in our shady spot, salad and some locally sourced lamb cutlets. We have 2 nights here so we are looking forward to being able to  have a relaxed morning tomorrow.

Neighbour just came over and told us they had a brown snake just slither through their cam site EEEEEK. We are now making lots of noise and preparing to scurry into our tent!!!!

TRIGGER ALERT:  vegan folk perhaps don’t read.

We arrived at the Roma saleyatds round 7.45 this morning, not quite sure what to expect. It was easy to spot the city slickers – all those wearing shorts and not wearing a western shirt.

By the time we arrived all the cattle were penned in their lots (apparently they-have to be installed by 8pm the night before and on a water only diet so as not to inflate their weight.

It wasn’t quite the assault to the senses we were expecting, a little bit stinky (‘the smell of money’s we’re told) and lots of weaners bawling. The veteran  cattlemen who conducted the (hugely informative) tour assured us that the bellowing didn’t mean the cattle were in pain- just that they were missing their mums……gulp.

The auctions themselves were so quick.  With 5000 cattle to sell they aimed for no more than a 50 second auction per lot. The auctioneers stood on long walkways  above pens and literally ran from pen to pen. Even after an hour or so none of us managed to master auction speak other than the final clap of hands that clearly meant the deal was sealed.

The stockyards run like a well oiled machine with stock being ferried from sale pens to weigh bridge (you buy a cow by the kilo so you don’t know exactly what you’ve paid until all cattle in the lot are weighed (the best price we saw was for a group of Angus which was 6.20/kg. Most went for round the $5/kg mark.  Most were heading to feedlots after purchase to be fattened up for re-sale.

Hot, dusty and smelling a bit like bovines ourselves we headed for an air conditioned lunch and a soak in the caravan park pool before a hearty pub dinner.

Slow start this morning as we couldn’t step away from our breathtakingly peaceful camp site. Finally dragged ourselves away round 9 and headed into St George to refuel with diesel and coffee and some groceries.

We had a shorter drive today continuing up the great inland way to Roma- very excited knowing the fam were  heading west from Brisbane to join us for a couple of days. 

First stop was for a quick peek at the Beardmore dam (named after a local MP). Water levels weee low- surprisingly its maximum depth only gets to 2.5m.

From there we headed to Surat  for lunch in the Timber Crate where David said he had the best burger he’d ever eaten (possibly an artefact of the very healthy meals I have been serving up to him over the last couple of days).

Landscape was dry as a chip

We arrived in Roma at about 2.30, just in time to set up camp before the others arrived, and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring all things ‘big’- Roma hosts the the biggest bottle tree, the biggest rig, and the biggest windmill  all of which we paid appropriate reverence..

We were also lucky enough to be here for the outdoor sculpture exhibition, which had the most incredible metal sculptures by artists as young as 14 years. They were displayed spectacularly along the river bank with the backdrop of massive gums that were glowing in the sunset.

Finished the day with the ‘biggest’ pub meal and off to get our beauty sleep so we can get up bright and early for the cattle sales

Total km: 1450

Woke to the stirring of river birds and once the kookaburras got going we knew it was time to get out of bed.

Lovely people at our camp site last night so the morning ‘yarns’ meant we were a bit slower packing up. However we were on the road by 8.45 and heading north to St George.

Much more barren landscape today but  still beautiful under the big skies. Temperature heating up so we broke out the shorts and t-shirts.

This is cattle country- lots of calves in tow. We’ve seen lots of emus (living) and plenty of Roos (sadly most of them flat) and billions of flies. We’ve become very adept at jumping in and out of the car quickly so as not to let the flies in.

Crossed the border into Queensland round 10.30am with that ‘ok, now we’re really on holidays’ feeling. Stopped just over the border at the Hebel Pub and General store for a homemade beef pie, coffee and to refuel – ironically the most remote yet cheapest fuel yet on this journey. 

From there we followed the Great Inland Way all the way to St George.

We set up camp in the Kapunda camp site (a station stay right on the banks of the Bellome river). It was stinking hot when we arrived so we set up as quickly as we could under the only bit of shade we could find and set off in search of cooler surrounds.

Found our way to the Riversands Winery (thanks for the recommendation S & J) where we sat under a huge shady veranda with a cheese plate to die for until closing time. 

Back to camp in time for a shower and sunset. It’s now a balmy 20 degrees – the river is like glass and all is well in the world.

Total km: 1097 (we cracked the ton!)

Awoke to the morning chorus and 6.30 sunshine. Leapt out of bed (at least in our minds) and got the coffee pot humming.

We aimed for an 8am departure and were on the road, coffee and banana in hand- unshowered but hey, we’re camping!

First stop to take a picture of the local playground for you know who…then on to Condoblin

Arrived in Condoblin round 9.30. The town was a mass of people and horses with the local camp draft underway. It’s a beautiful, thriving regional  town, beautifully preserved buildings and obviously a vibrant community. 

Resisted the temptation to buy a prized lam- or property but could see us living here in a parallel universe.

Stopped off at the ‘Utes in a Paddock’ art installation which has a couple of dozen Australian utes painted by famous artists reflecting outback history (mostly post colonial mind you).

Fully caffeinated and fed we continued north.

Next stop was Tottenham whose claim to fame is being the geographical centre of NSW. On arrival we discovered the true centre is marked 20km west of town. Given the long drive ahead we opted out  of the photo op and decided near enough is good enough.

Followed the ‘Bogan Way’ today north through long miles of lush cattle and canola country – easy to see how this region gets its Kings in grass castles reputation.

We are listening to the book ‘Outback Stations’ as we go – a historical account of the Aussie meat industry and the 8 biggest cattle stations in Australia, some of them along the route we are taking.  A & J you’d love it!

Arrived in our riverside camp spot right on the banks of the Barwon River. We stayed here a couple of years ago and it’s still magical. We are all set up and David’s in the process of cleaning the 5000 mashes insects off our windscreen (no exaggeration) before settling in for our sunset G&T.