Our first stop along the Capricorn Highway was a town called Barcaldine, with a population of about 1300 people.
 |
| Chook finds a friendly place |
What amazed us when we arrived was how many pubs there were on about a 500 metre strip through the town centre... we counted 6, needless to say it momentarily crossed Richard's mind that we should stay for a night:-)
Like the entire region, Barcaldine which is predominantly sheep and cattle, is also steeped in history.
It played a significant role in the Australian Labor movement and the birth of the Australian Labor Party, when in 1891 it was one of the focal points of the great Australian shearers' strike.
The landmark Tree Of Knowledge, where the strikers met all those years ago, stood outside the town's railway station until it was poisoned in 2006 with roundup (obviously by a red-neck right winger).
To remember the tree, a huge monument now stands in its place in the middle of town. The monument also incorporates what was left of the tree....
 |
| A huge memorial for a small town, Barcaldine |
 |
| The Tree Of Knowledge |
The town has also named its streets after trees, with Oak Road, being the main drag.
We also drove on through Jericho, not the biblical one, and then Alpha which has named its streets after famous poets, the main road being Shakesphere Street.
 |
| The streets of Alpha, all named after poets |
We stopped in Alpha for a coffee and Jack spotted a picture of an 80 year old rodeo star hanging up in the Bakery by the name of Jack Bennett - he had to take a photo...
 |
| A picture of Jack Bennett, the rodeo star |
Emerald was also a pretty town with a huge copy of Van Gough's portrait "Sunflowers" sitting on a giant easel in the local park....
 |
| The amazing Sunflowers, Emerald |
25 metres high, it was finished in 1999 to celebrate the Central Highland's reputation as a major sunflower producer.
We arrived at a free camp called Bedford Weir, 30 kilometres north of Blackwater, around 3:30pm and set up camp. The Weir looked beautiful and it took the boys a heartbeat to have the tinny in the water and the crab nets in. Nina made friends with three girls in the caravan next door and everyone was happy....
 |
| Our set up on Bedford Weir |
 |
| The boys play footy at night by taping glow sticks to the ball, where there's a will... |
Sunday the 9th of September and the boys went out to pull the crab nets, they caught a few shrimp, which would be good for bait and a couple of red claw (like julgies) and being a beautiful day a ski was overdue. So the afternoon was spent skiing and playing by the weir with their new found friends...
 |
| Nina and her friends playing on the biscuit |
 |
| Shaylene, Nina & Hope |
 |
| Harry has a knee board |
 |
| Part of Bedford Weir |
They also had their own yabby races on the ski biscuit, too finny - we have taught them well this year...
 |
| The kids have their own yabby races |
By afternoon, their mates had left to go back to Blackwater and we cleaned up and headed into Blackwater to watch the footy, Eagles V North Melbourne. It was a whitewash but a great win.
Dinner was at the Workers Union Club... we laughed when we went to put our dinner order in at 5 to 6 and they wouldn't take it because it wasn't 6 o'clock yet.
This morning, Monday the 10th, we packed up camp and headed towards the coast, stopping in Blackwater, a big coal mining town, to fill up. We also dropped off some crab nets which our friends had lent us over the weekend.
There wasn't much to see on the way until we reached Rockhampton, or Rocky, as its affectionately known. You know you're still in cattle country when there's a cow of every breed in different corners of the town.
 |
| A cow welcomes us to Rockhampton |
 |
| Cows everywhere |
 |
| The main drag of Rockhampton |
The city of around 74 000, lies on the Fitzroy River which only this week reported a croc sighting.. so we're getting into that territory now, we'll have to be on alert.
I smiled when I read in the tourist brochure that Rocky has 300 days of sunshine a year which is why there's so many tourist activities planned in the city... we obviously copped one of the 65 days.
We stopped in Rockhampton to stock up on food before heading towards Yeppoon... yay, we were finally going to see the coast again.
We weren't disappointed when we arrived, although the caravan parks in town were full so we had to head out a little to find a place to stay... but the coastline is beautiful.
Tomorrow we will explore some more of the town, hopefully with some sunshine.
No comments:
Post a Comment