Longreach.

We are now officially beyond the black stump!! This stump is situated in Blackall (and a bit disappointing as it's not black -well this petrified tree stump isn't!) 

  

        

       

We are now here in sunny Longreach which is on the Tropic of Capricorn and we have all put our shorts on as it's quite warm! I even had a swim and spa in the park pool. Lovely!! They haven't had rain here for 3 years they tell us - and we can believe it! We are set up by the billabong which is so picturesque! 

  

       

We had thought to camp at the free camp out by the weir (it's the Thompson River here) but we had been warned it's rather full - which it certainly was!!  We recon there would have been a hundred or so caravans out there. So we are in a big park which initially looked ordinary - this is the view from the road! 

              

But it's been pretty good as we've set up away from the road and because we are on unpowered sites have plenty of room and aren't squashed in alongside anyone else. Tops and I have been busy in the laundry this morning and winter clothes will be packed away from now on.  We also met 2 couples who have just come back from Cape York and had a good chat to them last night and gleaned tips about the trip ahead of us! 

On our travels, we are constantly amazed at the road kill on the roads and you'd think there wouldn't be any live kangaroos around - but there are! And when we get to a town, we see all the caravans and campers, and wonder who is at home working!! But mind you the average age of travellers is a long way off 30!! We saw our first camels - albeit in a truck!!

          

            

We were also excited to see some bustards roaming along the roadside - our books say they are quite rare these days.

          

Today we are tidying up our campers, then will set off to visit the Stockman Hall of Fame and the Qantas museum. It looks very strange to see a huge jumbo jet just off the main road as you enter the town and people tell us it's a great museum to visit. Qantas began here. 

Tomorrow we leave here and head north and then we'll head towards the coast at Townsville. Our next trip is off bitumen and camp will be in a bush camp in a National Park - more our style of camping.

We hope everyone is well and hope we get reception to write next blog within next couple of days.

Love from Marg & Darryl,Dennis & Tops xxxxx