We spent most of yesterday driving from the outskirts of Emerald to Longreach. There is more skill in that than you might think – got to dodge all the kangaroo carcasses spread all over the road! They are everywhere, along with quite a few bird of prey that were obviously feeding but didn’t make it out of the way in time. We got a really good, but brief, close up glimpse of a huge eagle. For a moment I thought the whole windscreen was going to be replaced with an eaglescreen (it was big enough to completely cover it!), but fortunately for it, and us, it made it out of the way just in time.
I had thought Emerald was a little dry, but it was a green oasis compared to the final kilometres coming into Longreach. I’d call it a dust bowl, but that might be slightly harsh and I’ll reserve that term for the campground we are spending tonight (will explain more later….). It wasn’t so dry most of the way in though. Barcaldine and Ilfracombe were a bit better. Barcaldine has that tree (tree of knowledge they call it) in relation to the shearers strike that lead to the Labour Party, which some big dollars have obviously been spent on (there is a huge fancy wooden structure surrounding a dead tree…). We also went out to an aboriginal botanical garden and did the walk. The boys weren’t very impressed at the start as it was just plain old scrub, but they actually ended up enjoying reading the tree names and what they were used for.
Emu walking the streets of Barcaldine. Saw a few wild ones in the bush too.
Ilfracombe has this cool line of old machinery and other stuff along the side of the highway. There is heaps of it! Here’s your truck George… Continue reading
