PopPop & Grandma's Travels

Up reasonably early, packed up went and filled our tanks with the good water that is here, emptied our cassettes at the dump point and then headed off to Barcaldine where we fueled up at $1.47cpl and then made our way towards Longreach.

We had heard on the radio that the roadworks between Barcaldine and Longreach had been completed but this was not so as there is still a lot being done so we had to slow down continually at all the roadworks.

Stopped at Ilfracombe for morning tea and took pics of all the varied and different old machinery which lines the roadway and is on display in a fenced area.

Headed off again and finally arrived Longreach where we made our way to the Apex Riverside Camp, a freecamp on the Thompson River about 4k's north of Longreach. Set up camp, had lunch, and then headed into town where we did some shopping and sightseeing.

Have a bit more to do tomorrow and will also post some pics then as well.

Catch you out there,

PopPop, Grandma & Beau the Wonder Dog

Had a great night sitting out amongst a billion stars in a cloudless sky on quite a warm and balmy night. It finally cooled down in the very early hours of the morning so we were able to have a good nights sleep.

Woke to a nice breeze/wind blowing this morning and the temps are only supposed to get to 32°C today yet it is 33°C in the van as I type this, but the breeze is keeping it cooler. No clouds in the sky again and beautiful clear sunshine but HOT.

Checked the rear right tyre on the van today and had to take it off the van as I couldn't find the reason it was losing air pressure very slowly. Was losing about 2 to 3 psi a day.

Took it into the tyre place and found that it had a screw in it causing the leak but you couldn’t see the screw head etc. so ended up getting the puncture repaired by them brought it back and put it back onto the van.

We then headed off into town and bought some veggies from a roadside stall and then visited the Stockman's Hall of Fame. Was good to see and very interesting, but you need a LOT of time and do a LOT of reading.

Had a flight around Longreach in a helicopter today and what a fantastic experience – we both have never been up in a chopper before and it was really AWESOME. Took plenty of pics and video as well.

We are heading off for Winton tomorrow to look at the Dinosaur bones and also where there was a dinosaur stampede many thousands of years ago, so will have another relaxing afternoon and evening before we get ready and head off tomorrow.

Catch you out there,

Up reasonably early packed up and set off for Winton having an uneventful trip arriving in Winton around 11am. We headed out to The Long Waterhole which is about 2 k's out of town on a Billabong.

A nice spot but the soil is all black soil and cracked and lumpy and uneven and makes it hard to walk around but other than that a lovely spot with a heap of the small little bush flies again.

Again it was a beautiful day with temps reaching around the 33°C mark and thank heavens we had a nice breeze blowing which kept it a lot cooler.

After setting up camp we had lunch, and then went out to the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Display, which is about 35 k's out of town on what they call out here a 'jump up' we would call it a hill, and where they have various Dinosaur bones that have been found in the area plus the laboratory where they process all the rock and clean it off the bones. It was a very very interesting display and well worth visiting.

We didn’t get back to camp till after 4pm so just sat back relaxed and had a nice evening sitting outside on a clear sky under a billion stars, chatting with our friends Ed & Ros.

Due to the unevenness of the ground and the large cracks in the ground, my chair decided it was time it would not play games and packed it in as well. Lucky we have a spare that we carry so am now using that. Grandma again couldn’t contain her laughter as she watched me slowly sink towards the ground, (similar to an earlier experience I once had at Barmedman - Ha Ha ha - not funny Ethel)

It was truly a glorious evening and we eventually went to bed as we had to be up early in the morning so we had an early'ish night.

Catch you out there,

PopPop, Grandma & Beau the Wonder Dog

Up reasonably early and readied ourselves to go to Lark Quarry and see the Dinosaur Stampede which is 110 K's from Winton. Went to the bakery at 8am and got some fresh bread and sausage rolls for lunch and then headed off to try and get there for the 10am tour. The tours they have are at 10am, 11am & 2pm and we wanted to get it over with early so headed off for the 10am one.

The road out there is 80 km's of very rough and corrugated dirt road in sections and you have to take it quite easy as it will rattle your false teeth out it is so bad in spots.

We arrived at Lark Quarry around 9.40am and in plenty of time for the tour.

The building is specially made and insulted to protect the diggings where they have uncovered over 3000 dinosaur footprints. There are footprints of 3 different types of dinosaurs here and it was a very, very interesting insight to events that have alleged to have occurred around 100 million years ago. The way it is explained their reasoning is believable as well and it was an interesting experience.

The tour finished around 11am and we headed back for town and Ed lost his large rubber mud flap from across the rear of his Cruiser.

On our way home we decided that seeming though all we were going to just sit around and relax that we might as well head towards Longreach this afternoon and this way we would not have as far to travel tomorrow as the girls want to go back to Lloyd Jones Weir out of Barcaldine so they can do some more washing etc.

Headed back into town, went and saw Arno's Wall, fueled up and then went to the Information Centre where Grandma bought some souvenirs and headed back to camp

We had some lunch, packed up and headed off at 1.15pm for Longreach and decided we would try out a campsite that some friends of ours Herb & Dors had suggested about 30 k's out of Longreach on the Darr River so we headed for there arriving around 3.30pm and found a lovely spot right on the banks of the river, set up camp and settled in for the night with a lovely fire and a nice meal cooked over the fire.

Sat back and relaxed for a few hours under a cloudless sky again with a billion star view when we finally called it quits for the evening and went to bed.

Catch you out there,

PopPop, Grandma & Beau the Wonder Dog