Barcaldine

We left the Blackall Caravan Park last Saturday within a few minutes of the others. Kotzy was first off, he had to fuel up. We had all agreed to meet by the Blackall EXIT SIGN northern end of town, before continuing our little convoy a km or so apart the 200 kms to Longreach.
We were 2nd to leave, as I am finally getting the hang of packing and unpacking the van. A few minutes to spare I asked BB to drive in the ‘opposite direction’ to the Southern entrance 3 kms out of town, so I could take a picture of the Blackall Town Sign which is quite unique. Little did I know it was not going to be one of my better ideas.
As we neared the sign I told BB to ‘keep driving’ I needed distance from the sign to take a good shot.. At that very moment, there was no other option as a Road Train had decided to overtake us!
So we kept going, and going and going the kms ticked past, there was absolutely nowhere on that narrow road to do a U-Turn with a van on the back. It seemed like forever but it was around 5km before we could turn back. I did take a photo, BB was not as happy as when we started out so I was quick to jump back in the just in case, then my mobile rings, and it is Polly.
“Car 54 Where are You” ??
“We are all waiting for you at the town exit” (we are no longer Big Bear and Honey Bear on the 2 Way, we were ‘renamed car 54’ in Cunnamulla due to misread of a map or short cut that went wrong). Our 2 Way has a range of 5km and we were at least 10-15 kms in the opposite direction hence the phone call. “We are stuck behind a slow caravan and were now on our way ” I replied! I stayed quiet in our car for the next 45 minutes or so, looking out the window and I unwrapped more lollies than usual. Next message from Polly was very sympathetic Mad Dog, Silverfox and Goatee were slowing up to give us time to catch up, even then they were all still 2 or 3 kms ahead of us, okey dokey! The 2 way was charged up and on, then we overheard caravanners heading in the opposite direction talking about a big mob of cattle over the next rise. So over the hill we went and true to their word there was Cattle everywhere on both sides of the road. So what do you do if you are not a farmer? you stop the car and Maureen jumps out and starts taking pictures. The cattle now have right of way and suddenly they are ALL moving across the road in front of us. We were not going anywhere Just in case the others thought we were lost we quickly get on the 2 Way hoping they would hear (no mobile service) we are now at a complete standstill and waiting for the 600 or 700 head of cattle, 6 horses and Stockmen to cross the road (those numbers were confirmed to Kotzy later in Barcaldine).
We were happily sitting there no other caravan in sight, watching as it was an awesome sight then Kotzy gets on the Radio and tells us “no no you shouldn’t have stopped, get the car going drive slowly, move through the Cattle they will give way to you” so though unsure, we drove through the big White Brahma’s and we were on our way again. We are now at Longreach and apparently ‘lucky’ to get 4 sites in the Tourist Park. Caravan Parks in Qld are hit and miss with a lot of miss. You may get toilet paper, but then you might end up with a cold shower, or you score a bit of grass but the water stinks, or you get uneven and muddy sites but then bonus the water is hot, but your shower head leaks. This Park looked good driving in, apart from the big pot holes at the entrance, and we had a cement slab to park up next to! Woopydoo! My broom gets a rest, no red dirt for a few days. But hey the word lucky kept coming up during our happy hour, wow 283 sites and we got such a ‘great location within the park’ and it is peak tourist season!
At 6.00am the next morning we were all woken by a really loud jet noise, we were in the direct flight path of the Longreach Airport. Just 500m away.
So here we are 2000km in the middle of Australia, and all the planes leaving and landing at that airport have to fly over our vans on the edge of the park closest to the Airport.
This morning it was a 5.00am flight roaring overhead, then 6.00am, only 2 more early mornings left now. Apart from that we have been up and down their Main Street numerous times, had coffee’s, visited the RSL, tourist office, checked out the Bowling Club, went to the Longreach Races for 3 hrs on Sunday arvo. I have washed everyday BB has set up a nice line for me, and we have had a happy hour each day one happy hour was a ‘very happy one’ Yesterday we went on the Cobb & Co. StageCoach experience. When they called for volunteers to ride up top, my arm went up and I grabbed BB’s as well. I did not realise how hard we would have to hang on when the horses were put into a gallop! It was a really fun and enjoyable day. We are going down the street in the morning to take photo’s as it was near impossible to take shots while they were galloping. In the Caravan Pk the ‘boys’ seem to get a lot of enjoyment watching caravans pulling in and then backing onto their site, commenting Oooh thats a nice looking van, he shouldn’t be towing with that, that has to be overweight, they are good mirrors all that stuff that men gossip about. Yesterday theyning we were all standing about admiring a ‘neighbors’ brand new, Range Rover as it was being backed onto the tow ball. It was more about such a short man with such a big van, the boys of course got talking to the owner, who was on his way to Townsville. . Subject came up where was his wife and he replied he was on his own as his 1st wife had died and his 2nd wife would not die you get to meet such characters on the road ha ha. I hope everyone likes the pictures, especially the one of the Blackall Sign although I wish BB had agreed to wait for the car to move out the way as it did spoil my picture! It took a lot of effort to take that shot and one I won’t forget on this trip.Read more