Barcaldine

Barcaldine is our next stop and on the way we came across the Alice River Botanical Walk. This was a bicentennial project to help educate everyone about the native environment. Many of the trees on the walk through the bushland are labelled and it gives a real appreciation of how diverse the landscape really is. Sadly it has fallen into some disrepair but still good exercise.
We stopped at the Homestead Caravan Park in Barcaldine. This is the first paid park we have stayed at since we left Canungra almost 2 weeks ago. A nice quiet park with grassy sites.
Time to strip the bed, wash the sheets and the mats and the towels and all the marginally dirty clothes. A full machine in their laundry for $3, pretty good value.
The park also provides billy tea and damper every afternoon for the guests. We went for a wander around the town which is just a short walk from the van park. So sad to see the Tree of Knowledge now although the monument they have replaced it with is excellent. Glad we got to see the original so many years ago.
One thing we have learned about these outback towns is to not assume something will be open. We've been caught twice now, this last time with the local IGA closing at 2:00pm Saturday. Of course we got there at 2:10. :(
Had the chance to go for a couple of early morning walks around the town and down by the lagoon. Long hours in the car take their toll.Read more