Road Trip With Avan Aliner.  Trip one

Rockhampton, Barcaldine, Longreach, Winton, Hughenden, Porcupine Gorge, Undara Lava Tubes, Cairns, Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton, Dinosaur trail

 

5 May 2023, Day 1, Rockhampton to Barcaldine.

Left home about 5:30am bound for Barcaldine in same day.  Stopped at Duringa, Dingo, Emerald (lunch), at a rest stop on side of road, Jericho; aim was to stop for break every two hours driving.  Along way some of the windows on the camper came open slightly – they were closed without issue. Arrived Barcaldine 2:40pm – nine hours forty minutes travel time.  Nearly hit a bloated dead Kangaroo on entry to Barcaldine whilst tuning radio! Tourist radio was not working and only Christian radio on that frequency.  

When going over the Douglas Range there was one long, steep, climb.  I had the Cruise Control set at 90 km\h and the car could not keep up that speed; the cruise control switched itself off which surprised me – I did not know it had this feature.  Was only able to keep up to 70km\h on that climb.  No other cars were on the road therefore no issue.  Later, went over Great Dividing Range which was not as steep as Douglas Range.  Road west of Emerald City is narrow and rough for some way until start of Barcaldine Shire.  Road then smoother and had a shoulder.

Set up camp in Barcaldine Town's Roses and Things Caravan Park and Restaurant. Phoned mother by 3:30pm; Barcaldine has Optus coverage. Went for a good drive around town to see how it has changed before dinner, at the Witches Kitchen, Union Hotel.  My old house has changed a bit: concrete fence, opening of verandah on front, verandah installed at rear. More coffee shops in town and noticed two bakeries in the main street.  Rob Chandler Park has been installed, incorporating a skate park, located at rear of Council offices.  Rob Chandler became mayor after I left and stayed mayor about fifteen or so consecutive years. 

6 May 2023, Day 2, Barcaldine

Full moon setting in morning, very pleasing to look at. Kirsty, Brian Heumiller’s daughter, said to go to house to see him; went there about 9:00am after difficulty remembering house location.  He has turned into a collector.  Did not know it was his house as could not recognise it; there was a living structure on the property near front fence, but not a house.  Apparently, the actual house was pulled down due to white ants.  Brian now lives in a caravan on the site.  After checking with tourist information centre, they confirmed he has turned into a collector and that it was his place.  Returned to the house property, Brian not home; spoke to Scott Grainger next door who is married to Brian’s daughter, Linette. Mentioned I was staying at Roses and Things caravan park.  Later that day, I had lunch at the restaurant in the caravan park and Linette entered with her female friends.  Got Brian’s telephone number from Linette and sent message.  Brian phoned about 4:00pm and visited me at caravan soon after.  I asked about the news on people I remembered at Barcaldine.  Brian recently retired and had been working for the Council for twenty seven years; he no longer Roo Shoots; he has had heart trouble; wife, Michelle, died of cancer and unsure where in body it was.  Alan Gribble, who I think was a gossiper, killed himself.  Data and Jenny Lawrence are still in same positions in Council.  Trish is still working for Council.  Brian thinks Frank, the Sheriff, the Rural Officer when I worked in Barcaldine, has relocated from Kangaroo Island to Stanthorpe, Queensland.

Went to museum earlier in day.  Found a lot of information about the shearer’s strike.  Saw picture board with the old people when I was there twenty years ago, seems not to be updated (note: Harry Heumiller the projectionist was in it).  Some interesting artefacts but much of it was borderline junk.  Did not see the photo displayed I saved from the council throw-out and gave to the museum.  Grounds of museum had some interesting stuff, note the cottage with old items in it, petrol bowsers, horse carts, other agricultural items.  The miniature railway line was still in place.  The main street of Barcaldine had new, to me, monument to shearers; these were portraits with information, all on hip-height posts, that you walk between.  Also, a marimba type musical instrument permanently set up. On the main street was also the Tree of Knowledge monument; the hand shears monument is still there; and the railway station which was built in 1930s.

Went to IGA grocery store around noon.  The twins still run it, mother-owner-manager not spotted.

Town has Optus connectivity.  Radio station reception in Barcaldine was:-

·         FM band: Christian station (about 88.0 MHz), West FM, ABC RN;

·         AM band: ABC Local. 

7 May 2023, Day 3, Sunday, Barcaldine to Longreach

Barcaldine to Longreach, distance travelled: 106 km.  Stayed in Barcaldine for a while, in the morning, after leaving caravan park. Drove at speed of 85 km/h toward Longreach at about 11:30am – speed limit 110km/h.  No other cars bothered me; only a few cars encountered on trip. Road a little bumpy. 

Illfracombe Historical Display

Stopped at Ilfracombe town, along the way to Longeach town, and looked at the displays they had on the roadside, located on Capricorn Highway:

•  Lots of farm machinery from early twentieth century;
• A historical cottage showing what the houses were like;
• Shed with World War One and WW2 information about locals that fought – had a WW1 uniform tunic (jacket) in there in the light brown colour, also a WW2 uniform tunic which had too little light to see but think it was dark green; 
• Bullock dray (unsure if it was bullock dray or for large horses) - took a photo – Mother wanted to know who the woman was in the photo but it was me! She did not remember I shaved my beard off.

******************************************************************************

Continued to Longreach and drove the highway through edge of town.  Looked for the Muddy Duck caravan park, it was 2 of 3 km out of town.  Wrongly turned right at the point where truck rest stop is located on the left hand side of road – turned into the Apex Park.  Apex Park is the free camp spot at Longreach.  Apex Park is a dusty, large, paddock with many campers and caravan trailers; there is no toilet or showers that I could see.  The small bridge across Thompson River, at this location, was closed off.  Back tracked to the highway as I knew Muddy Duck was on the other side of the river.  Back on highway I could see the hand-painted signs for Muddy Duck.  Arrived and it is a dusty road area. Sites are grassed – it is not a very nice caravan park like Roses and Things in Barcaldine.  I had purchased food supplies in Barcaldine, so there was no reason to go back into Longreach.  The thin ice pack bricks I purchased in Barcaldine IGA worked well to keep everything in fridge cool after 3 or so hours.  Stayed at Caravan Park for rest of afternoon and night.  No shade and sun was directly on side of van with annex – unpleasant.  The Charles III coronation was taking place that evening, Australian Eastern Time.  None of the radio stations were broadcasting it and I had no TV set available.  Phoned mother and she was watching it; described some of it to me.  Cooked dinner and over-ate on vegetables, so packed/stuffed myself.  Read book and in bed listening to radio till late.  Very cold through night – this was the first night of a cold snap that would last several days.  I was just warm during night but my feet were freezing.  Bed lid jammed in the caravan, so could not get blankets out. 

8 May 2023, Day 4, Monday, Longreach

Woke 5:30am. Cold wind blowing outside. Had breakfast of slices of toast and 3 boiled eggs.
Finally off to town 8:30am. Spoke to next door caravan before leaving – they are from rural Victoria. Have been to Charleville (south central-west Queensland), then northward to here. They are going to the Northern Territory, then back-track to Atherton town area (northern Queensland coastal area).  Seems a bit silly way to me. Went into Longreach town and walked around. Purchased souvenirs from a newsagent type of shop. Posted mother a card for mother’s day this Sunday, and a picture post card to mother also, at Australia Post office.  

Stockman’s Hall of Fame

Went to Stockman’s Hall of Fame (SHF).  Viewed museum $35.00.  Not that large really. Different to 20 years ago when here last.  Given a voice pod on entry, with lanyard around neck and wired headphones.  This voice pod detects where you are in the museum and talk/guide you.

• Low level: Ramp leads down to lowest floor/level. Stock Route display; aboriginal rock (about as round as my dinner table and about thigh-height) which seemed to have a worn dish formation on top from grinding seed (the same way one would do with a mortise and pestal), at this location an aboriginal welcome to country played in the headphones – in language and in English (there was no written or spoken description of what the rock represented); bullock dray – very high platform and 6 foot wheels with some bails of wool loaded on them; an Afghan display of camel drivers; a merchants horse carriage with all sorts of goods loaded on it (note that the merchants were Indian seeks); a cottage made out of logs with period furnishings inside – the pod played the roles of women: seamstress, doctor, etc., talked about how they were  left alone for long periods when men went droving.
•  Mid level: On middle level. Flying Doctor display. Pod talked about it for a while. Talked of Flynn starting a long named service which we shorten to “the Flying Doctor”.  Window at back shows windmill outside in grounds. Donated by Southern Cross. I think 7.5 metre blades and there was a size bigger (note that the one in Hughenden town was much bigger at 11 metre). A Flying Doctor aeroplane was hung from the ceiling above the ramp to the top floor.
• Top floor: Display of outback theatre and (pub) bar; a boxing display of banners and bass drum (note this is in relation to the boxing tents that used to be at shows, etc., and there was a boxing tent at the Rockhampton Ag show some ten years ago).

After finishing with the museum, I upgraded my ticket for the outback show at the rear of the SHF - $40.00.

Outback Show – Stockman’s Hall of Fame

First we see a movie about the history of the outback. I am not sure but the weather must have been better in the mid-1800s as there was heavily stocked land. Apparently, the stockmen were famous in Australia - 20% of the population was employed in the rural areas; some stockmen were known in the city due to newspaper articles.  Then bad times with the Federation drought of 1890s and also the shearers strike.  Film says strike started around the Barcaldine region but Barcaldine displays say it started in NSW. The film said the strike was called “The Barcaldine War”.  The strike was unsuccessful, however, events soon after led to set-up of the AWU (Australia Workers Union) and later the Australian Labour Party (not sure how these events led to Labour Party).

After film, walked to arena at back of the SHF.  A Jackaroo/Ringer Lockie Kasser (check name spelling) put on a show:

• Horse riding, whip-cracking, and other tricks;
• Sung with guitar, songs he wrote (very good country songs);
• He also talked about his personal history including how he broke-in horses;
• Then gave a dog mustering display with about 15 sheep – 2 Kelpie dogs and 1 Smithson dog (Smithson is a woolly dog popular in Tasmania);
• Finally Lockie rode out on a Brahman Bull, dark in colour, and sang a song with a guitar (“No Cowboys”) - most of northern Australia cattle are Brahman due to heat tolerance. 

I took one photo where he is on horse, playing the guitar, but he is small in photo.  The show is light humour and very enjoyable.

*********************************************************************************

Back to the SHF foyer and purchased some souvenirs.  Time was now 12:30pm.  Went to the Longreach main street, found a nice café and had toasty for lunch.  Posted, with Australia Post, a souvenir spoon to mum and then walked a bit. At 2:00pm I visited the tourist “information” and found the Powerhouse Museum closes at 3:30pm, therefore a bit late to pay entry fee and explore the museum.  Walked down street to chemist for moisturiser as it is very low humidity.  Then to grocery store, IGA.  Back to car, fuelled, back to caravan.  Stayed around caravan park and did washing and drying.  Head to Winton town tomorrow.

Next blog post – Winton and surrounding attractions.