Next morning we are off early leaving Mount Isa and on the way to Longreach! We have been told there are a few wee towns on the way to stop and the first stop is Cloncurry for lunch. What with the hundreds and hundreds of dead kangaroos on the side of the road, (I counted 100 in a 1klm stretch!) the camels on the horizon, and not passing many other cars on the road it was a very uneventful drive!
Cloncurry is a quaint little town with lots of little shops to browse and had a big supermarket, where we bought some nice fresh bread and salad and I made us some lunch in the van parked on the sid e of the road. The driver had a nap and I caught up on Facebook.
Of we go again and made it to McKinlay (walkabout Creek) where the crocodile Dundee films were made. See photos
Made it to Winton by around 5ish. Setup in the caravan site before the town and decided we will go to the pub for dinner. Lovely wee town, very Aussie and lots of nice wee shops and a few pubs. There is a girl on the saxophone playing some blues as we ate dinner outside as its high 20’s today. Just lovely!
Cloncurry is a quaint little town with lots of little shops to browse and had a big supermarket, where we bought some nice fresh bread and salad and I made us some lunch in the van parked on the sid e of the road. The driver had a nap and I caught up on Facebook.
Of we go again and made it to McKinlay (walkabout Creek) where the crocodile Dundee films were made. See photos
Made it to Winton by around 5ish. Setup in the caravan site before the town and decided we will go to the pub for dinner. Lovely wee town, very Aussie and lots of nice wee shops and a few pubs. There is a girl on the saxophone playing some blues as we ate dinner outside as its high 20’s today. Just lovely!
Up early and off on the road hoping to make it to Saphire today. As we didn’t make it to Longreach last night we decide to just have lunch there and carry on to Saphire tonight.
We stop at Longreach around 12 and enjoy a drive around before picking a wee café for a nice burger n chips lunch.
Longreach is home of the Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame, which was officially opened in 1988 by Queen Elizabeth II. The purpose of the centre is to showcase the history and the culture of life in rural Australia. Sadly it burnt down at the beginning of the year so didn’t get to visit.
Longreach was one of the founding centres for Qantas, the Australian domestic and international airline. One of the airline's original hangars remains in use at the Longreach Airport and is listed on the Australian National Heritage List. The town is now the home of the Qantas Founders Outback Museum, which includes amongst its displays a decommissioned QantasBoeing 747-200 aircraft, registration VH-EBQ, "The City of Bunbury." and QANTAS's first jet aircraft VH-XBA, a Boeing 707, "The City of Canberra.".
We stop at Longreach around 12 and enjoy a drive around before picking a wee café for a nice burger n chips lunch.
Longreach is home of the Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame, which was officially opened in 1988 by Queen Elizabeth II. The purpose of the centre is to showcase the history and the culture of life in rural Australia. Sadly it burnt down at the beginning of the year so didn’t get to visit.
Longreach was one of the founding centres for Qantas, the Australian domestic and international airline. One of the airline's original hangars remains in use at the Longreach Airport and is listed on the Australian National Heritage List. The town is now the home of the Qantas Founders Outback Museum, which includes amongst its displays a decommissioned QantasBoeing 747-200 aircraft, registration VH-EBQ, "The City of Bunbury." and QANTAS's first jet aircraft VH-XBA, a Boeing 707, "The City of Canberra.".
Then its on the road again and around 200km up the road we hit a wee town called Jerico, just a few houses and a petrol station and as we were looking around for the petrol station we came across a free campsite right on the river. We filled up then looked at each other n said…. Do you fancy a free camp tonight? So that’s it we drove down picked out a good spot and got the van setup for the night. There is public toilets, a dump point but no showers, OK for us cause we have our own. Once we are setup we go out for a wee walk by the river and meet some of our neighbours. We started chatting to a couple who had a lovely campervan and funnily enough they were from Seaford!. Had a lovely walk, made dinner watched a DVD and early bed. We had a long lie next morning as it’s a free camp. I had some bacon & eggs ready for Tommy when he came back from his morning run. When he got back he told me he had a chat to an old guy from Seaford who is travelling by himself with his dog and just camping in a swag. Next thing he came over for a cuppa and we all had a chin wag. Lovely relaxing morning. Dishes done, showered, van packed and on the road by 11.30am. The road is a bit more exciting as its beginning to get a bit greener and seeing some hills now. We even spot a few emus in the bush at the side of the road. We made it to Saphire by 2.30, just stopped on the road for a quick bite and a nana nap.
Our friends Shirley & Ken should be at the Emerald Caravan site and we book in for 3 nights with an option to stay longer. We try to get the van into the space they have given us but it’s a bit tight but they have nothing else. We were starting to get a bit ratty and I thought I would go and ask for some help reversing Tommy in, but when I got back the guy behind our site had guided him in! People are very friendly. I texted Shirley and next thing they were down to see us! Had a great chin wag and they left to let us get setup. We have all decided to heve dinner from the café on site and order burger n chips to collect! Yummo! We eat outside with Ken & Shirley and they tell us all the things we can get up to around Emerald & Saphire! They leave promising to come and take us fossicking tomorrow and we have an early night.
Up early and off with Shirley & Ken to the Miners cottage fossicking grounds, it’s a hot one today….high 20’s!
We park outside the gates and enter through a big gate which leads to a big area setup specifically for gem finding. There are buckets at the back of the area and tables at chest hight for picking out the gems. We meet the lady owner and she assigns us a bucket and explains how to spot the gems. We are soon dunking some rocks and then emptying them on a piece of canvas on a table and then trying to pick out some good sapphires. Its not long before we find some beauties! Well to us they are but some have flaws and others are just tiny chips. Found Zircons and Sapphires of all colours! Yellow green, blue and red!
Morning tea was included with our $20 bucket and were served a lovely cup of tea and scones around 11.30, lovely to sit in the sun with friends!
Up early and off with Shirley & Ken to the Miners cottage fossicking grounds, it’s a hot one today….high 20’s!
We park outside the gates and enter through a big gate which leads to a big area setup specifically for gem finding. There are buckets at the back of the area and tables at chest hight for picking out the gems. We meet the lady owner and she assigns us a bucket and explains how to spot the gems. We are soon dunking some rocks and then emptying them on a piece of canvas on a table and then trying to pick out some good sapphires. Its not long before we find some beauties! Well to us they are but some have flaws and others are just tiny chips. Found Zircons and Sapphires of all colours! Yellow green, blue and red!
Morning tea was included with our $20 bucket and were served a lovely cup of tea and scones around 11.30, lovely to sit in the sun with friends!