Today we are in Blackall and officially in the Australian Outback.
On Monday we left Charleville for Augathella where we were bush camping for Lance’s birthday. We are camped on the backs of the Warrego River which runs along the outskirts of Augathella.
Denise’s sister, Leanne and her husband Bill have joined us for a while. Bill and Leanne decided to put up their shower tent which required a bit more effort than the spring up one we took last big trip. We all sat down in a row to watch how this tent is put up. It was a bit like watching a large screen TV.
A caravan and some other vehicles camped near us and it was obvious they had been mining. The Mum of the group came over to talk to us. She and her 3 adult sons had been in the sapphire fields prospecting and were on their way home. She told us a lot about mining for sapphires and told us about petrified wood which has some opalisation in the petrified wood. Later she came over with a couple of pieces of petrified wood for us as a gift. It is the magic of meeting people like this that makes this trip so special.
Obviously having a campfire was important. While stopping at a rest area for morning tea we noticed a lot dead wood around. Out came John’s chainsaw and soon we had quite a load of wood.
Here are Denise and Leanne watching the campfire.
Tuesday was Lance’s Happy Birthday so it was important to get the sight seeing done so we could get the roast beef in the camp oven to slowly cook.
On one building was a big mural about the 1956 movie, “Smiley”, which was based on the popular novel 1946 Smiley by Moore Raymond, who was born in Queensland but worked as a journalist in Britain. He was the son of the local teacher in Augathella.
We had heard great reports about the butcher in Augathella so of course we had to check it out. He didn’t charge outrageous prices and his T bones steaks looked a treat. He had this weird sculpture of a meat ant out front.
In Augathella they have a small park called the meat Ant Park which had a gigantic meat ant sculpture. Meat ants can remove all meat from a carcass within a couple of weeks.
Driving around town we saw these sculptured Brolgas in someone’s garden. I stopped to take a photo of them……………..
…………….when the lady of the house came out to see what was happening. I talked to her for a while and she told me her son next door created these giant flowers from old corrugated tin he finds.
For Lance’s birthday dinner I cooked roast beef in the camp oven. Leanne cooked cauliflower cheese while Denise cooked cabbage, potatoes, sweet potatoes pumpkin and peas. we had a huge meal and then Denise and Leanne brought out the birthday cake made up of meringues with cream and berries and a candle.
Happy birthday was sung and the candle was blown out.
Today we packed up to drive to Blackall as I had a doctors appointment here. I have been having a lot of nose bleeds, probably due to using a small heater in a confined space which dries out the atmosphere.
Again we are semi bush camping on the banks of the Barcoo River which has no water. We pay $8 a day for a permit to camp here. Its better than the $30 per day at the caravan park. The town provides free showers to travellers and truckies and there are clean toilets also.
Around dusk a couple came through the camping area in a horse and buggy. The horse was a Shetland pony and the couple were taking their grandchildren out for a ride. They were telling us the grandchildren thought all children went out for rides in a buggy pulled by a Shetland pony.
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