We're home, having journeyed 6,960kms of this fantastic country over six weeks.
After two days of exploring Moree and quite a bit of time yakking to other nomads as we eased our bones in the Artesian Baths, we left to head to Gunnedah. Moree is a very interesting town but we guess the highlight for most visitors would be the baths and exchanging outrageous stories with other soaking nomads!
The trip to Gunnedah was relaxing with plenty of beautiful countryside to enjoy on the way. With Spring just around the corner, and lots of rain over the past weeks, the countryside was resplendent in golden wattle, trees and bushes bursting with new life of bright green buds, fields of canola, wheat and barley crops, and all manner of grasses gently swaying in the breeze as far as the eye could see. See some photos below.
Our arrival in Gunnedah was thankfully greeted by a very agreeable 18 degree mid-day and we found the very pleasant caravan park to be within walking distance of almost all the places of interest in town. We spent the afternoon on-foot exploring Dorothea Mackellar country (author of My Country - see below) before going back to the car for a drive to the local Porcupine Lookout overlooking the town in the late afternoon sun. The view from there was absolutely gorgeous bringing together a patchwork scene of colours and textures over the whole district. Again, see the photos below.
We couldn't help putting the first two verses of My Country in the Blog because it seems we've experienced it all as described and it brought back some lovely memories of learning the poem at school all those years ago:
The love of field and coppice, Of green and shaded lanes, Of ordered woods and gardens, Is running in your veins. Strong love of grey-blue distance, Brown streams and soft dim skies, I know but cannot share it, My love is otherwise.
I love a sunburnt country, A land of sweeping plains, Of ragged mountain ranges, Of droughts and flooding rains. I love her far horizons, I love her jewel-sea, Her beauty and her terror, The wide brown land for me!
Dorothea Mackellar
On Sunday morning we explored Lake Keepit State Park about 30kms east of Gunnedah. Again, a lovely area and one which would have been a great place to camp had we known about it. That's not to say we didn't thoroughly enjoy our stay in Gunnedah proper because we most certainly did, it's just it's nice to know there are different venues to camp when next we visit.
We stayed 2 nights so spent some of our walking time in the hope of finding the koalas that are supposed to be abundant in the area. The brochures we'd gathered informed us Gunnedah was the Koala Capital of the World and that often there is a koala in the tree outside the Tourist Information Office and the staff there would put a sign outside the office saying 'Koala in the tree today'. Funnily, we also heard the local joke that the 'koala' in the tree was actually a stuffed one which the staff moved and replaced in the tree at differing times. We didn't know whether to believe it or not but there was certainly no koala in the tree that day (and as it was Saturday the Tourist Information Office was closed, which may or may not have had something to do with it!!). However, we woke on Sunday morning to find a koala in the tree near our van but by the time T. got the camera up and running, it had disappeared! We decided that if we were going to see real, live koalas the best place would be the local wildlife park, which we did. (See below for 'Bureaucracy Gone Mad' for an interesting event at the park early in 2010.)
Bureaucracy Gone Mad: The Waterways Wildlife Park (http://www.infogunnedah.com.au/tourism/attractions_display.php?id=8) is privately owned and supported by the generous assistance of volunteers, the local council and donations from businesses around the town, and is definitely one of the most natural environments for wildlife we've ever seen. With that in mind, you may have seen the segment on the Animal Rescue program some months ago where the RSPCA 'rescued' 8 koalas and 2 lizards from the park because of the 'appalling conditions' the animals were supposed to be in. We saw the 'appalling conditions' and wondered what all the fuss was about because conditions appeared to us to be brilliant.
We were told by a volunteer that the whole TV segment was meant to get attention for the RSPCA and as the Channel Seven Television Network supposedly donated $50,000.00 to the RSPCA, we wondered if there was some truth in that. The story is that an RSPCA inspector arrived at the park, unannounced, to carry out an inspection, and afterwards informed the owner that the park and the animals, were both 'in splendid shape'. Ten days later she came back, with 5 RSPCA officers, government officials and others to lead the 'raid' which removed 8 (licensed) koalas from the premises. The owner, who has government permits and licenses to keep all the native animals in the park, was distraught by the heavy-handedness of the inspectors and the fact that these particular koalas, who were born at the park, were frightened and bewildered by the rough treatment.
A NSW Government hearing resulted in the local vet, who had been caring for all of the animals in the park stepping in, as did various government agencies, to prove that the animals were indeed in brilliant health and after the hearing, the koalas were subsequently returned to their home, with the RSPCA told in no uncertain terms to ‘butt out’! A Government official arrived at the park some time later and informed the owner that his department has been grossly lied to and apologised for the stress that had been caused. This is a much shorter version of the events of this case but you if you are interested to find out more you can log into the NSW Government Hansard records - they make interesting reading about bureaucracy gone mad!
Thankfully common sense prevailed! We highly recommend a visit if you're ever out that way. From Gunnedah we went to Coolah see visit friends D. & D.. D. is a former 'mature-aged' CSU student and is now the Principal at Sacred Heart School, Coolah. On the way we took advantage of a photo opportunity by way of the 150o E Time Meridian Line (see photo).
There's not much in Coolah by way of you must visit but there are 2 pubs, an IGA which sells absolutely everything, a hairdresser, a few 'specialty' shops and a couple of dogs sleeping on the footpath. We had good steak dinner with D. & D. at one of the pubs and a celebratory drink or two having finally got together after not seeing each other for nearly 5 years.
It was then home on Tuesday via Mudgee. Mudgee is one of those towns which until a few years ago was a sleepy hollow that no-one took much notice of but has had the good foresight to reinvent itself to cater for the hordes of tourist who arrive all year round to sample to local tipple and the great food on offer. We took a walk around before heading out of town to 'do' lunch on the side of the road somewhere between Mudgee and Sofala, arriving home to a cat ecstatic to see us.
If you haven't already gathered, we are totally hooked by the caravan travel/lifestyle bug and are now planning a 4-month trip incorporating South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, with like-minded friends, commencing mid-March 2011. More on that trip as we finalise the details later this year.
For now, it's back-to-earth before we set off in a month to spend a few weeks on Norfolk Island visiting our daughter, son-in-law and 2 grandchildren. Can't wait for that one! Pity the van is not amphibious!
We are at Moree participating in some wonderful heat therapy for our tired, aching bones. That aside, the social aspects of sitting in hot pools of Artesian water with about 20 strangers proved to be hilarious as the true Aussie characters came out of their vans and into the 4 x pools of 35, 36, 37 and 39 degree temps to also relieve their aching bones.
This morning we met Nola who told us she was '2 minutes away from 90-years-young'! And what a character! She bounced into the pool, complete with hairdo and make-up, rolled her eyes as she informed us that yesterday had been a tiring day because she'd had to be at the airport at 6.00am for her flight to Moree, booked into the park, did enough food shopping to last a week and then went to bed last night at 6.30 and slept soundly until 6.00am this morning. (We didn't get the chance to ask her how she got about in Moree but we assumed she wasn't driving!) Nola told us that she and her 'much younger' friend, Esme, who is only 87 years-old, apparently often travel together and have a great time wandering around the countryside. Moree is one particularly popular destination because they both love the benefits on their arthritis of the thermal pools.
Nola had us in hysterics as she sprouted on about the election result (or lack thereof), the lack of public transport, what an idiot she thought Peter Garret was because of the pink batt debacle, finally finding a good cup of coffee (yes, she drinks Campos Coffee - how good is that?) and telling us how she spends her Saturday's. Apparently her social activities every Saturday commence at 10.00am coffee with friends in Randwick, and because she is horse-racing-made, she places her bets at the TAB at 11.00am, onto 12o'clock mass at her local Catholic church and then home to follow the horses on Sky channel for the afternoon. Nola then told us that she had been betting on the horses since she was in Primary school and had done pretty well at it too. We could just imagine it!
So horse racing mad is she, Nola then told us about getting a phone call early one Saturday morning from Esme (my family know better than to ring me on Saturday mornings!!). Esme wanted to know, 'What's that stuff you put on roses to make them grow?' Put out because she'd been interrupted in her usual Saturday morning preparations, Nola's response was: Super Impose. It wasn't until Esme told her a couple of days later that when she'd gone to the garden centre, staff there said they'd never heard of Super Impose for roses. Nola then realized that she'd had horses on-the-brain, it being Saturday and all, and should have said Sudden Impact, apparently a specially formulated fertilizer for roses!
We didn't see much of Esme, she was off regaling folk in one of the other pools.
We received an email this evening from our very good friend Robin in response to an we sent him lamenting our lack of fishing prowess and suggesting that perhaps a hand grenade might be in order if we are to achieve our aim of 'catching' dinner. Robin's response is worth publishing!
"Ah, great minds obviously think alike - as if we didn't know. I tried to post something on your blog advising about the wonderful fishing properties there are in a very small lump of gelignite carefully place in blue-tack. But my ineptitude with blog postings resulted in my carefully considered fishing tips going the way of so many really constructive, imaginative and utterly brilliant ideas, up the chimney without trace."
So that's how it's done! Anyone else got any creative fish-catching ideas?
Yes, we've changed our minds again! Yesterday we decided we really should make the effort to visit Moree and environs despite having said a week ago that we wouldn't, just in case it is a few years before we head that way again. We will be home in (about) a week so this morning we left Nambucca Heads to head inland to Inverell for our first night's stay in the area before heading on to Moree tomorrow. And what a day of contrasting scenery it's been!
As we left behind the lush greenery of the many trees, bushes, flora whose botanical names escape us, the ocean, rivers, lagoons and lakes of the the coast and the hinterlands behind the Coffs Coast, we were greeted by a profusion of colour of different sorts as we drove into dense rain forest along the Gwyder Highway lined with tall palms, huge orange gums, bright yellow and silver wattle and stringybark trees, all followed by the alpine grasses of the farming country around the New England region. Today saw us travel from sea level to 1068mtres above at the highest point over the Gibaltar Range National Park with its very deep, beautiful valleys and giant granite boulders. We passed through the Mann Valley which was absolutely wonderful but because of the the steep, winding road were unable to capture any good photographs. On cruising into the New England farming countryside we were again greeted with colour though with a winter-tinge still quite evident, something we really noticed because there was such a Spring-feel on the coast. The small selection of photos below don't really do the day justice but you may get some idea of our experiences.
We're camped the night in the Fossickers' Rest Tourist Park, in Inverell. It is a small town, with a population of 10,000, on the picturesque Macintyre River and we have just discovered that Inverell is called the 'Sapphire City' because of the prevalence of the gems and minerals to be found in the district. (In the office at the caravan park there are 10kg bags of 'sapphire' gravel for sale - and T. is sooooo....... tempted! It'd be good for a giggle anyway, and you never know your luck do you!!)
Two nights ago we had a delicious dinner of an over-sized blackfish, grilled a la natural on our hotplate, unadulterated by herbs or spices, and as fresh as it possibly can be. Who said we couldn't feed ourselves?
Having said that, the fishing hasn't been quite as brilliant as we'd envisaged. Despite the best fishing advice from our fishing-legend brother-in-law Terry, who has been known to catch enough fish to feed the multitudes using a bent pin and a piece of string, we've not had the pleasure of those much anticipated, longed-awaited fish dinners each night, despite the smorgasbord of bait we've been feeding the fish. We've got a range of venues to choose from by way of a breakwater, pontoon, river and lagoon, all without any reel (pardon the pun!) success. That's not to say, we haven't actually caught fish - we most certainly have. However instead of being fingertip to elbow in size, it's been more like fingertip to palm, so of course they've been sent back to their mothers! Those cans of sardines in the pantry are going to come into use after all!
The Excuses:
Tide: too high; too low; too late; too early; too fast; too slow.
Bait: Long green weed (supposed to send (black)fish 'wild' definitely sent them (into the) wild); cabbage weed; beef strips; chicken strips; bait prawns, and 4 new bright, shiny lures, (designed we were told to catch just about anything), 2 of which have found watery graves somewhere in Numbucca!
Gear: Rod too long; rod too short; rod too flexible; line too light, and definitely too many tangles!!!
And today it's raining!
By the way, the fish we had for dinner the other night was given to us by an 'ancient angler', fishing about 10 metres away, who obviously took pity on a couple of 'youngsters' struggling to make a catch. His generous gesture came with the words, "I just caught this so it is perfectly fresh. They're not biting much and I've only caught this one. I can't be bothered cleaning it......... would you like it? "
Would we like it? Is the Pope catholic?
Now for that inevitable fishing joke: Did you hear the one about 2 men sitting out on a frozen lake all day ice fishing? One has been having no luck at all, while the other has been pulling fish after fish out of his hole in the ice. The man having no luck finally leans over and asks the other what his secret is.
"mmmmm mmm mm mmm mmmm mmm mmm." is the reply.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?"
"mmmmm mmm mm mmm mmmm mmm mmm." the successful fisherman repeats.
"I'm sorry, I still didn't understand you."
The man spits something into his hand and says very clearly, "You've got to keep your worms warm."
Don't let anyone tell that this Grey Nomad stuff is relaxing! We've been so busy we need a holiday! We were delighted to have spent the past week and half visiting friends and family in Bundaberg, Buderim, Maroochydore, Nerang and Pottsville and whilst we've enjoyed every minute, we're exhausted! We're done visiting so now we're going fishing! Drove from Pottsville (near Murwillumbah) to Nambucca Heads yesterday and have a great camp site almost on the waterfront at the White Albatross Caravan and Camping Park. The park is well away from the highway, trucks, noise and only rolling ocean and bird call in the morning to wake up to. Ah..... peace and quite at last!!!! Will post some photos of the area later.
Our kilometres to date: 5,321 (not bad for 4 weeks huh!)
Whilst visiting the Gold Coast with C., C. & S-J, we had ice cream that blew the calories off the map for the week. At Baskin-Robbins Ice Creamery in Broadbeach where we ate a 2 scoop bonanza so disgustingly delicious it was worth every calorie - rich chocolate with peanut butter; and vanilla with cookies, in giant sugar cones. mmmmm.......OMG!
We can't believe how much infrustructure development is going on in Queensland between Maroochydore and the Gold Coast. The number of new highways, byways and freeways is staggering and that's just the roads. The new teaching hospital, Queensland University Hospital, being built next door to Griffith University with an expected completion of 2012, is a third the size bigger than biggest hospital in Melbourne. It is enormous!
And new, very expensive housing estates on canals, with multi-million dollar houses seem to be everywhere with these houses are so big it is almost obscene. We saw a house in Sovereign Bay with a price tag of $17 million to house mum, dad, two kids and two nannies (one nanny per child!). Take a look at the photo, and also the one that looks as though Colonial Sanders has moved in.
Some houses have garages underneath to cater for 5/6 cars and then 2/3 story homes on top. We just couldn't believe what we were seeing. Obviously, none of these folk have heard of the Global Financial Crisis or Global Warming!
We also had a personal tour around Griffith University and it makes other universities look like preschools in comparison. Griffith Uni has obviously attracted some serious government funding. The 16,500 day students have facilities that some students can only dream of. The lecture halls, library, teaching rooms, doctoral student work rooms and student recreational facilities were stunning. Around the campus there are over 200 computer work-stations available to students 24 hours a day with the latest, greatest technology available to each and every student regardless of course.
There is also a stand-out 'sense' of professionalism by both academic and general staff, as well as an expectation that students too will rise-to-the-occasion with their professional conduct at all times. The whole atmosphere is truly inspiring but then I guess an injection of the sort of funds that must be going into Griffith Uni in any university would be conducive to inspiration!
Can't stay another day! This caravan park is the pits so we're off tomorrow to Biggera Waters (Gold Coast) to visit friends at Arundel. Have booked ourselves into the the Treasure Island Holiday Park at Biggera having had it recommended to us from fellow travellers. We're going to save the visit to the Eumundi Markets for another trip.
We managed to catch up with 2 out of 3 friends here in Maroochydore so decided to get out of here tomorrow to Gold Coast for 2 nights before making our way south into New South Wales. Haven't yet decided just where we'll stay but then that's the beauty of having our own bed - we just have to find somewhere to park it. Hopefully somewhere between Tweed Heads and Evans Head will have easier accommodation options as we would like to stay put for at least a week before heading back inland toward Moree and home in 2 and half weeks. If anyone has any suggestions, send us an email please.
Last night we caught up with friend S. whom we haven't seen for 27 years. Had a great meal at a nice pub with the unlikely name of Trader Dukes. It was good to see S. and we all decided that we didn't look a day older than we did 27 years ago. All lies of course, but which one of us was going to argue the truth?
This afternoon we had the pleasure of having afternoon tea and dinner with PD. and J. at their beautiful home and garden. The garden made both of us jealous to see what can be grown with a bit of warmer weather. PD. has a magnificent tall tree forest growing right outside his back door with ferns fronds so big 6 people could have a great picnic underneath them and still have room to spare. There is a veritable feast of veggies growing 2 steps outside the kitchen door, and a fruit salad growing at the side of the house. Lovely!
We also met PD. and J's beautiful 17-month-old dog - whose breed we can't recall - named Dougal. Dougal kept an eye on us the whole time just in case we might play catch with him, or even let something yummy fall his way!
We drove around this morning having another good look at the Maroochydore/Mooloolaba/Cotton Tree areas and found a caravan park at Cotton Tree which we would like to try some time in the future. The whole area is really beautiful and if it weren't for the expected influx of around another 60,000 residents, which the area simply won't be able to cater for, it would be a fantastic place to retire. No - we're not moving!
Well, we stayed in the Maroochy River Cabin Village and Caravan Park simply because accommodation is so hard to get in this neck of the woods, and we have 3 friends to see here so have no choice other than to stay put. We forgot to the mention in our last blog that the park turned out to be next to the Sunshine Highway so, overnight, we had not only traffic noise to contend with but the flood lights from the expressway over the caravan park can be seen from the International Space Station!
The only thing to do this morning was to head out and about for the day and we certainly weren't disappointed with the scenery. Maroochydore and Mooloolaba town centres are lovely, as was Bribie Island, Caboolture and Caloundra. All tourist-oriented of course, and lots of high-rise but still beautiful beaches, lots of trendy shops and cafes, good sushi and great weather.
Still more exploring to do over the next couple of days, and on Saturday morning we're off to the Eumundi Markets before heading out of here on Sunday morning toward the Gold Coast to see our 'surrogate' grandson S-J and his mum and dad. (It won't be long now guys!)
We arrived at our pre-booked destination at Woombye (near Buderim) late this afternoon only to discover that the site was totally inappropriate for our van. Struggle though we did, there was no way our caravan was going to fit onto the site. So we had no choice other than to pull-the-pin and make a retreat before all the park 'busy-bodies' threw in their two-bob's worth!
Desperate phone calls for accommodation resulted in the only site left anywhere for a 100klms (ok, that might be a slight exaggeration - maybe it was 50klms!) and we made our way to the 'Maroochy Cabin Village and Caravan Park', described as being 100 metres from the river, the site 'grassed' and the owner to assist to reverse the van if we needed it. Need it! You should see this site! We were greeted by not a skerrick of grass and huge palm trees on the perimetre of a damp, slippery, slimy patch of dirt suitable only for a camper-trailer. T.'s nerves shot through the roof and D.'s stress levels reached epic proportions just looking at it. The owner offered to get his tractor to back the van into place and after much too-ing, fro-ing, and audible cursing, the van is finally in place. So wet is the ground that the owner scrounged up a couple of planks so that we have something to step onto to avoid slipping! I think we're outta here tomorrow morning instead of staying the 4 nights as planned! Will keep you 'posted'.
Ok, I know some of you are thinking, what do these Grey Nomads get up to at night that constitutes a 'wild night'? However, let me assure you that last night's experience had absolutely nothing to do with anything exotic we could have dreamed up!
Normally the song of rain on our roof at home is music to our ears but last night's 101mls of precipitation in Bundaberg caused more angst than joy. For over 3 hours torrents of rain pounded the 10-square-metres of our roof; thunderous rumbles rolled around and tongues of lightening licked the surrounds of the hatch directly above our bed. And just to top if off, the huge shade tree we'd so admired the day before, creaked and groaned directly above our heads. Sleep we didn't! As Bundaberg is a geographically relatively flat region, we quickly packed up this morning and left before water run-off turned into floods. We did drive through some flood water but were lucky enough to be able to drive south into clearer weather.
Situated 18klms from the town of Emerald, Lake Maraboon is a park on the foreshores of Fairbairn Dam. It was very relaxing even though the park is quite big and clearly very popular. The fact we got a site at all was pretty lucky as we understand some visitors book months in advance. We had a great site backing onto bushland for 2 nights and were visited by wallabies and possums which came into the camp ground at night to feed on the lush grasses throughout the park. There are apparently koalas in the area too but we weren't lucky enough to see any. We were also visited by a variety of birds - Take a look a the pictures of the cheeky lorikeets who invited themselves almost into our door!
When in Rome ........., so in Bundaberg of course we had to visit the distillery. We arrived for a guided tour at the 11.00am time slot - keeping in mind that we'd had breakfast fairly early this morning - and on an almost empty stomach, we spent a great hour and a quarter learning all about the molasses, distilled water, distilling and the aging process that goes into making T's favourite drink - rum. So far, so good.
End of tour - arrive in the Bond Store to buy, what else, but a bottle of rum, only to discover that each person undertaking a guided tour gets to sample 2 x standard drinks of their choice. T. quickly puts her hand up to try the Rum Liqueur which can only be purchased directly from the factory and not anywhere else in Australia, not even via mail. Words can't really describe it but 'smooth, mellow, sweet coffee and chocolate' are the few words which easily come to mind. Talk about the Nectar-of-the-God's! And only 20% alcohol!
Of course, it didn't end there. T. then just had to try a Dark & Stormy directly from the brewer rather than the insipid version made at home by mixing ginger beer and rum together.OMG! T. is totally impressed but she's definitely over-the-limit! Giggling her way back to the car, D's reaction is that she absolutely must eat some lunch!! T. is not too sure what made him think that, but went along with it anyway - happily!
You may have noticed, we haven't been blogging much of late. T. has been struggling for some days now with an ear problem - lose of balance, nausea, dizziness and a sense that everything is moving in slow motion. A pharmacist recommended Kwell - a motion sickness medication - which we hope will help to alleviate the problem.
The Capricorn Coast is located just above the Tropic of Capricorn. The Capricorn Palms Holiday Village was our venue for 2 relaxing nights. The whole of the Yeppoon area is beautiful, and peaceful. Great Keppel Island is just across the way; hidden away behind the ocean sands and trees is Causeway Lake, and the shopping centre to cater to the tourist and locals, was hopping. Yeppoon is one of those sleepy little hollows often given a miss by the tourist looking for the highlife of Rockhampton but we found it charming, relaxing, friendly and aesthetically pleasing. We didn't do a lot of sightseeing though as we felt in need of a rest and that's exactly what we did. Sitting in the sun, with at a pleasant 25 degree temperature, reading or working through our maps to sort our next port of call. What more could we ask for? Quite lovely really!
We so enjoyed the peace and quiet of Lake Maraboon we decided to so spent our first night in the Rockhampton area at the Capricorn Caves Tourist Park away from the hustle and bustle of the City of Rockhampton. We were absolutely delighted to find the park in the midst of beautiful limestone caves (http://www.capricorncaves.com.au/). The park itself is set amongst a large variety of trees and unspoilt due to a lack of rigid rules and regulations. The only 3 'requests' made were: that we care for the environment; use water sparingly, and don't feed the wildlife. The amenities were fabulous, the wildlife friendly, including the guinea fowl which kept trying to hop into our van. Our cave tour was absolutely wonderful! Another highlight!!
On Tuesday last we drove from Barcaldine to Emerald along a softly undulating Capricorn Highway and sadly left behind the dry, scrubby, though colourful vegetation of the past week with its unique red soils. The taller blue-grey, blue-green, grey and dark green trees, thicker grasses with a sprinkling of golden wattle, interspersed with bright orange grevilleas, all made for a very pleasant drive. The Capricorn Highway goes up and over the Great Dividing Range with fabulous views in all directions. Pastoral land dominates the countryside although, as coal seams are prevalent throughout the land, the area seems to have been given over to mining. This was evidenced by the number of coal trains we passed, all about 1and half klms in length. We were told by a guy we met who works for the Department of Agriculture that each train carries coal to the value of $2 million dollars and that the mining companies can well afford to pay the Mining Tax the Government is trying to impose!
Our arrival in Emerald heralded a mining town and as such, seemed to be an oasis in the desert. We rolled into town to a feast (after the Outback anyway) of shops, businesses, housing estates, a botanical garden and a population of 15,000. We checked out the Botanical Gardens that was established in 1988 and were surprised by the variety and maturity of trees, palms and shrubs given the garden was so young. We found kids' self-peddling monorail tandam bikes in the garden and so of course we couldn't resist the urge to try it out and we don't know, but can guess, what the locals thought of a couple of oldies laughing their heads off madly peddling a monorail bike built for 2. Thankfully, we left the camera back in the van, so no evidence!
Our stay at the Barcaldine Tourist Park, though a very pleasant atmosphere, was the noisiest night we've ever spent in a caravan park. We made an error of judgement that the highway going past wouldn't be as busy as the Capricorn Highway however it most certainly is!
Our site for the night was only 30 metres away from what turned out to be the main drag for triple - bogeyed road trains. We could hear them coming about a kilometre off and as they passed through what felt like the middle of our caravan with a rumble, they left behind a vibrating, quivering sensation that took 10 minutes to settle before the next one came raging through. Needless to say, there was not much sleep that night and a couple of tired, cranky Grey Nomads hit the road the next morning.
Our introduction to the Tree of Knowledge (see Website http://www.cap.nsw.edu.au/bb_site_intro/specialplaces/special_places_st3/TreeofKnowledge/tree_of_knowledge.htm) occurred as we drove through the main street of Barcaldine sighting what is surely the ugliest of structures known to man. This monolith appears as a 'box' of timber supported by steel girders about 4 metres high and so obviously in great need of our investigations (see daylight photos). However we had a more pressing need at that moment which was to settle into the caravan park for the evening (in what turned our to be our noisiest night EVER in a caravan park but that's another story) and organise our dinner. We later returned to the main street to explore the town after dark. As we again drove toward the monolith we were stunned to see what appeared to be a 'tree'. The nighttime vision of the structure is brilliant - there is a 'tree growing under the box'! As we stood in awe of its design we met a Labor Party devotee who informed us reverently that the monument cost only $8 million dollars and was the birthplace of the Australian Labor Party. The website listed above gives you the full rundown on the story.
The clever design and lighting gives the impression of tree branches and leaves, whether you looked at it from a distance or stand underneath it. You will see by the photos that it consists of planks of wood, about 10 x 10 centimetres, all in different lengths, suspended by steel rods and (hopefully) secure bolts. The planks bump against each other giving a chime effect, although we didn't fancy standing underneath in a stiff breeze. The original tree, poisoned some years ago but preserved and placed back into exactly the same place, is now protected by the canopy of the new 'tree'. There is really something quite beautiful about it, certainly when viewed under lights, and is no wonder the monument is included in the National Heritage List.
Well, we've done what we set out to achieve and that was to explore the Longreach and Winton regions. The Stockman's Hall of Fame and the Qantas Museum were what we aimed to see in Longreach. The Longreach School of Distance Education was also a highlight. And Winton has 63-million-year-old dinosaur fossils just begging to be investigated. Also the Matilda Centre, the Qantilda Museum, the Musical Fence, Arno's Wall, the Opal Walk, the Royal Open Air Theatre 7 Museum, and the North Gregory Hotel were Waltzing Matilda had its first public performance. We were not disappointed with any aspects of either destinations and are thoroughly satisfied as we head east toward Rockhampton to follow the coast southward to Yamba and then home. We've been on the road almost 2 weeks and feel we can slow down a bit now that our objectives have been reached and we know how were are going for time.
We wondered why, and how, anyone would want to set up a tourist attraction based solely on a song, but the Waltzing Matilda Centre in Winton, Qld, touts itself as 'the only centre in the world dedicated to a song', so yesterday we lost ourselves for a bit over 3 hours amongst many groups of tourist as we stepped back to the time of Banjo Patterson 110 years ago. Did you know, that according to a survey done in the 1960's, 9 out of 10 Australians knew the words to Waltzing Matilda? We wonder what those figures are these days? The song itself has been recorded no less than 500 times by well known and not so well known artists and even 'bathroom Pavoroti's' have been known to record it for personal use.
The Centre has videos and a hologram telling the story of how the song was composed, written and performed. Heaps of information about Banjo Patterson adorn the walls, and there is a very creditable billabong setting complete with all the characters and of course a rousing rendition of Waltzing Matilda.
The Centre also housed the Qantilda Museum, for it was in Winton that Qantas was really born, not Longreach. The video shown here was brilliant simply because of the original footage and the interviews with some of the instigators of the concept of flying around the world. The film looked to be made in the 1960's so was in black and white, which only added to the authenticity of the times. Where would international travel be these days without these far-sighted individuals? In all, an entertaining afternoon.
lieve it or not but there was certainly no koala in the tree that day (and as it was Saturday the Tourist Information Office was closed, which may or may not have had something to do with it!!). However, we woke on Sunday morning to find a koala in the tree near our van but by the time T. got the camera up and running, it had disappeared! We decided that if we were going to see real, live koalas the best place would be the local wildlife park, which we did. (See below for 'Bureaucracy Gone Mad' for an interesting event at the park early in 2010.)
There's not much in Coolah by way of you must visit but there are 2 pubs, an IGA which sells absolutely everything, a hairdresser, a few 'specialty' shops and a couple of dogs sleeping on the footpath. We had good steak dinner with D. & D. at one of the pubs and a celebratory drink or two having finally got together after not seeing each other for nearly 5 years.
