Tuesday, October 13, 2015

OUTBACK QLD - DAY 6 - LARA WETLANDS TO CHARLEVILLE

With was with a little sadness that we packed up to leave Lara Wetlands this morning.  We loved our time here and if our time wasn't so tight, we would have stayed at least an extra night.  We pulled out of Lara a little before 9.30am and headed off towards Charleville. 

About to leave Lara Wetland
Ian and Kathy pulling out
Farewell to a very lovely spot. 
We lead the way out.  Ian and Kathy were a good kilometre behind us so that they weren't caught in our dust.   We arrived at the turn off first and Steve wanted to hop out and check the van to make sure everything was OK after coming across the dirt road. 
Photo taken at the turnoff to Lara Wetlands..
Here comes Ian and Kathy
Ready to turn back out onto the main highway
Getting a photo of Kathy at Lara also.  We don't want to forget this lovely spot. 
 After all the outback stories we have read and heard about the outback,  it was quite refreshing to see some stockmen, droving their cattle. 
Cattle drovers..
 We came across these guys between the turnoff from Lara Wetlands and Blackall.  We passed through some lovely little towns today,  we would have liked to stay and explore them some more.  They were surprisingly green,  quite a contrast to the drought conditions we had experienced out west between Barcaldine and Longreach. 
Coming into Blackall. 
 I was pretty familiar with Blackall, as I have a good friend who comes from here, and she often talks about her home town fondly.  In fact both her older children have chosen to go back out to Blackall to get married. 
Sheep country
Coming into Blackall
 Well it used to be sheep country.   Unfortunately Australia's wool industry is a dying industry.  It Blackall's heyday,  it was one famous for it's shearer's and many shearing records were broken here. 
Boah trees in the main street of Blackall.
Main Street in Blackall. 
Holds the record of the most sheep hand shorn in a day.
Monument in town in his honour. 
 We thought this was pretty cute too.  The dummy in front of the Bakery...
The local bakery. 
 We didn't stop in Blackall,  we had only been on the road an hour and we still had a long way to to.  Still we were impressed with what we saw there and it is another place we would like to return too. 
 The scenery here was different again,  we did see a range or two here and there along this stretch of the road.
We were pretty impressed with the highways out west.  They are good roads, and mostly the traffic consists of trucks and other touring caravans. 
Landscape between Blackall and Tambo
A lot more vegetation along the side of the road. 
Ranges in the background again.  How we have missed the ranges. 
 The next town we passed through was Tambo,  another very pretty little town and quite green.  This little town is renown for their teddy bears.  We did stop in Tambo, but only for a pit stop so we weren't here for too long.  We still had not quite covered half our distance for the day.
Arriving in Tambo
There were some really lovely little homes in this country town.  We were really surprised at how lovely these little outback towns were. 
Cute little home.
The town Library
Saw this on the highway passing through Tambo...
Back on the road again, and we are amazed at the diffence in scenery along the highway. 
The futher south we go, the greener it is getting.  We started to notice wild flowers growing along the side of the road along this stretch of the highway.  They were probably weeds and a pest, but to us they really looked quite pretty and made out day,

Much greener
Lots of lovely yellow and purple wildflowers along the side of the roads. 
 We witnessed a dust storm too whilst we were driving along. 
Beginnings of a dust storm
It moved pretty quickly
 The next town we came to was Augathella.  Not quite as pretty as the other two little towns we had passed through and possibly not quite as green, although it was obvious that there was water around as people were using their sprinklers. 
Coming into Augathella
 This was to be our lunch stop for the day.  We had been driving pretty solidly for the last few hours and Augathella was only 100 odd kms away from Charleville, so we decided to have a break here and have lunch. 
We found the Augathella  Meat Ant Park and thought this was as good as any place to stop for lunch.  The park was right in town and lovely and green and well kept.  
Large row of national flags in front of the park...
Our lunch destination
The large Meat Ant
 Quite a pretty park 
Ian and Kathy with their lunch
Having lunch
Steve and I
Enjoying the great outdoors
 We went for a bit of a wander around the park before heading off again.  As much as anything this was to stretch our legs, and give us a break from all the sitting. 

A very large Meat Ant
His large head
Just to put it in perspective and show just how large it is. 
From a different angle
Ready to leave this lovely park
 Of course we all needed to make a pit stop before we took off again.   The public toilets had historical murals painted all over them. 
Public toilets in Augathella
Close up of the mural on the Ladies wall
Close up of the mural on the Gents side
 Looking down into the centre of Augathella
Main Street in Augathella
Farewell to Augathella..
 We have another 98kms to go until we reach our destination for the night.   Feeling a little tired and it was getting on in the afternoon.   To go to Charleville, you have to divert off the main highway and head further west. 
Coming into Charleville with the flood wall in the background
Finally set up.  Time for a cuppa and relax. 
 We were pretty tired by the time we got here.  We have gone none stop since leaving home 6 days earlier.  We had a list of things to do and see in Charleville, but in the end we decided to needed a down day so not much was planned for the following day. 

Highlights of my day today...
1. Seeing stockman actually working cattle...
2. The beauty of small outback towns. 
3.  Appreciating the history and our heritage
4.  Mountain ranges again coming into view..
5.  Wild flowers on the side of the road....
6.  Enjoying the great outdoors...

Looking forward to a good sleep tonight and a good sleepin tomorrow.  

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