Hello from Winton- it appears that we maybe here for a couple days. There was a bad rain storm to the north east of here and Cloncurry had 5 inches of rain and the road is now impassable, so will wait and see what happens tomorrow.
Winton is the home of the waltzing Matilda museum and it is where the song was written. It is also the place that Qantas actually started, not Longreach even thought they have the Qantas museum there. Qantas stands for Queensland and northern territory aviation service.
So have taken a room as Donna can not tent is this weather. Still raining but just very light, waking round but did not get too wet.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Emerald to Longreach.
we left Emerald this morning on our way to Longreach after having dinner last evening with Land and her husband. Was great to see her again. Lane was going to come with us on a visit to Rubyville, but due to the rain cancelled because there was a chance that she would get stuck out in the bush if the creeks filled with water and overflowed the road.
Rubyville got its name ,years ago when the old miners got red stones in the area that they thought were rubies but were actually red zurcons or red sapphires.
Rubyville was a bit of a disappointment, had thought that when you were looking for sapphires that you could go out and dig up your own dirt but that is not the case and you are only given a bucket of dirt to screen that has been dug up already, and has probably been screened for large sapphires and all you get is small bits.
The country side on this part of the trip is very varied. From lush bush to scrub and then areas of not much growth at all and you can see for miles.
Have seen lots of dead animals on the road, usually wallabies. Also seen several emus and and lots of live wallabies.
Tonight we are staying in Longreach, the place where QANTAS airlines started and the home of the Stockman,s Hall of Fame.
Because it was raining we have taken a cabin at the caravan park. Still have not learnt to check first and pay later. This place is clean but not worth the money that they charge. Will have to add a blog to the travel advisor telling all other travellers to check it our first.
Rained most of the way from Emerald to Longreach, just a light rain, cleared this evening and had a beautiful red sunset - hopefully tomarrow will be sunny. Althought it rained it was warn + 26.
To everyone who is following along - HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Rubyville got its name ,years ago when the old miners got red stones in the area that they thought were rubies but were actually red zurcons or red sapphires.
Rubyville was a bit of a disappointment, had thought that when you were looking for sapphires that you could go out and dig up your own dirt but that is not the case and you are only given a bucket of dirt to screen that has been dug up already, and has probably been screened for large sapphires and all you get is small bits.
The country side on this part of the trip is very varied. From lush bush to scrub and then areas of not much growth at all and you can see for miles.
Have seen lots of dead animals on the road, usually wallabies. Also seen several emus and and lots of live wallabies.
Tonight we are staying in Longreach, the place where QANTAS airlines started and the home of the Stockman,s Hall of Fame.
Because it was raining we have taken a cabin at the caravan park. Still have not learnt to check first and pay later. This place is clean but not worth the money that they charge. Will have to add a blog to the travel advisor telling all other travellers to check it our first.
Rained most of the way from Emerald to Longreach, just a light rain, cleared this evening and had a beautiful red sunset - hopefully tomarrow will be sunny. Althought it rained it was warn + 26.
To everyone who is following along - HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
December 30, 2008.
Before leaving Marnie’s we went to check out the area, first Shute Harbor and Airlie Beach a tourist area north of Mackay. Airlie beach is the jump off point for most of the tours to the Great Barrier Reef and is full of tourists at this time of year. They have a really great salt water pool for the people that run along in front of the beach and has different areas of different depths for all swimmers. Sorry did not take any photos.
The area around Mackay is grows mainly sugar cane and there are miles of sugar cane fields. They cane had been cut in early October and the fields are now been planted for the next year. You can still see the tracks for the sugar trains, but some of them are not used now as the cane is carried by truck into the factory. There used to be several sugar factories in the area but they have been closed and one super factory now takes all the cane.
December 31, 2008
This morning we all got up early to go up to the Finch Hatton gorge to go Forest Flying 350 meters of flying fox/cableway through the rainforest canopy up to 25m above the forest floor. Was an amazing experience, very hot and humid on the ground but a lot cooler in the forest canopy. The area that the cable goes through is an area that is inhabited with thousand of flying fox bats and there were a large colony of them in residence and we got to fly by them on the cable. We then headed to Eungella to see if we might see a platypus in the Broken River. No platypus but did seen lots of turtles. The up the very twisty narrow road to the outlook and back to the outlook at the Chateau. The view is spectacular but there was a haze over the area and we could not see all the way out to the ocean at Mackay. After a long day out in the sun we all went back home, had dinner and then all went to bed early and woke up in the New Year.
January 1, 2009.
We say good bye to Peter, Val and Andrew this morning and continue on the journey. It is very hot and humid, +36 and 48% humidity but it will get less humid as we are going inland. As it is New Years day there is not too many places open and most of the attractions are closed. We go from lush cane fields to dry ranch land and miles of flat farm land. Much like driving through the prairies of Alberta and Saskatchewan but with different trees and scrub. There are also a lot of mines on the way to Emerald, mostly being coal mines. We will be staying here until the 3rd. We meet Lane tomorrow but she is not back here until the around noon so we will have the morning to do some shopping for groceries and to have a look around. Has started to rain so things will cool off, hope it will clear off by the morning.
Before leaving Marnie’s we went to check out the area, first Shute Harbor and Airlie Beach a tourist area north of Mackay. Airlie beach is the jump off point for most of the tours to the Great Barrier Reef and is full of tourists at this time of year. They have a really great salt water pool for the people that run along in front of the beach and has different areas of different depths for all swimmers. Sorry did not take any photos.
The area around Mackay is grows mainly sugar cane and there are miles of sugar cane fields. They cane had been cut in early October and the fields are now been planted for the next year. You can still see the tracks for the sugar trains, but some of them are not used now as the cane is carried by truck into the factory. There used to be several sugar factories in the area but they have been closed and one super factory now takes all the cane.
December 31, 2008
This morning we all got up early to go up to the Finch Hatton gorge to go Forest Flying 350 meters of flying fox/cableway through the rainforest canopy up to 25m above the forest floor. Was an amazing experience, very hot and humid on the ground but a lot cooler in the forest canopy. The area that the cable goes through is an area that is inhabited with thousand of flying fox bats and there were a large colony of them in residence and we got to fly by them on the cable. We then headed to Eungella to see if we might see a platypus in the Broken River. No platypus but did seen lots of turtles. The up the very twisty narrow road to the outlook and back to the outlook at the Chateau. The view is spectacular but there was a haze over the area and we could not see all the way out to the ocean at Mackay. After a long day out in the sun we all went back home, had dinner and then all went to bed early and woke up in the New Year.
January 1, 2009.
We say good bye to Peter, Val and Andrew this morning and continue on the journey. It is very hot and humid, +36 and 48% humidity but it will get less humid as we are going inland. As it is New Years day there is not too many places open and most of the attractions are closed. We go from lush cane fields to dry ranch land and miles of flat farm land. Much like driving through the prairies of Alberta and Saskatchewan but with different trees and scrub. There are also a lot of mines on the way to Emerald, mostly being coal mines. We will be staying here until the 3rd. We meet Lane tomorrow but she is not back here until the around noon so we will have the morning to do some shopping for groceries and to have a look around. Has started to rain so things will cool off, hope it will clear off by the morning.
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