Day 33 - Charleville

Back to awesome mornings again - brisk and clear.

Charleville was historically famous for its hidden WW2 involvement. For 10
Months, in 1942 the USA had 2000 personnel located here as part of its Pacific presence. At 9am Graham, Karen, Peter, Julie and myself went on a self drive but guided tour of where these secret locations once existed. Our guide was a font of knowledge.

Next up was a visit into town for brunch and a look around. Found a great local butcher where we purchased some meat for bbq night tonight.

Back to the vans to rest for the afternoon.

At 5 each day the caravan park puts on social activities. Tonight was a singalong with a local cowboy. We went for a few songs but needed to have our bbq over in time for another tour tonight.

Graham, Karen, Peter, Julie and myself piled into our car as we had booked another tour at the local Cosmos Centre. An hour of astronomical delight at 8.30. The moon was in full swing tonight which made it a little difficult to see some of the stars, but it made for some amazing photos that the iPhone actually made look like they were taken in the daytime. I assure you, the photos you see with us looking through the telescope or at the stars were taken well after sun down.

The D-Max auto high beam feature caused a little concern as the reflection of the bright spotlights from any road sign resulted in a nerve racking light show. High beam, low beam, high beam, low beam.

There were 3 guides, and we were fortunate to get the comical one who happened to be just 15. He put Peter and myself in our places. The pièce de résistance was fallen for by Peter. Through the continual astronomical banter our young guide threw in “do you know Updog”…..all of us thinking this was an obscure constellation none of us knew. None of us responded until it got the better of Peter. What’s Updog he asked. Our juvenile guide responded with something like “Not much, what’s up with you”.

The rest of us lost it. Needless to say Peter has a new nickname.

Peter’s audible flatulence resulted in a reference to the 7th planet of our solar system by a complete stranger.

Turning the spotlights off on the return journey seemed to limit the light show.

We arrived back at the vans safe n sound where Gail and Anne were patiently waiting.

This was one of our later nights so far on tour.Read more