Outback Adventure - Days 6 and 7

We were picked up from the motel at 07.00 as the train left at 07.45.  It took a few minutes to check in my case and I went looking for my cabin.  When I booked the holiday I was told that I had to have a twin berth cabin as all the singles had gone but that I was assured of having the lower bunk.  If not I wouldn't  have gone.  To my surprise there was a real old stockman in the cabin and he definitely had a ticket for seat 13 which was allocated to the lower bunk and my ticket said seat 14 which was allocated the upper bunk. The old chap wasn't too pleased to see me either a he had been assured that he had the cabin to himself.  He was going to Brisbane to have knee replacement could not get out of his bunk and toddle of down the corridor for a pee so he intended to use a pee bottle.

I knew that I couldn't get up to the upper bunk so we both set of to find the conductor.  On the way a lady who I had sat next to at dinner on the way up waylaid me.  She remembered that I was worried about sharing a twin berth cabin.  In a certain irony of fate she and her husband were told when they booked that there were no twin berths available and they were happy either.   She wondered If  I was still on my own in the twin berth and would I swap.  John, that's the stockman, was just behind me and overheard the conversation and called out, "yes!".  We traced down a conductor to make it legal.  We all hurried back to our cabins to collect our overnight luggage and managed the swap just before the train left.

John was a wild looking fellow with long straggerly grey hair.  He always wore a bushman's hat and working boots. He spoke with a quiet Australian drawl. We got on very well and I sat next to him at lunch and dinner and found out quite lot about his life. He had spent many years as a stockman in Australia and a cowboy in the USA.  He had married and had three kids, two whom live near me on the Sunshine Coast.  He and his wife ran museum in Birdsville for 20 years.  This the most remote area in Australia but two years ago the sold up and moved nearer to civilisation about 100km from Longreach.  The following link shows John and his museum:

Johns Museum

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-09-20/birdsvilles-working-museum-closes/290773

 One ofmy tour companions was concerned that I was being collared by a wild man  but I explained that although he was a bit of a character he was a lovely person. I wouldn't have met him but for the booking mix up.

After settling in we had breakfast and afterwards I updated Day 4 of this blog and managed to upload it later when in Internet range.  We stopped briefly at Barcaldine where I took some picture or the train. 

I had lunch sitting and talking with John.  Afterwards I wrote up Day 5 of this blog but had to wait until getting home to paste it.  Later I sat in what I had previously thought was the Club Lounge.  I was told that First Class passengers like me sat in The Stockmans Lounge and the Club Lounge was back in the lower class area!  I took one more photo from the train just before nightfall.

John and I sat with a South African father and  son for dinner.  The son was a mining executive with Xstrata, a big coal mining company in Brisbane.  He had flown Dad out from SA for a holiday daughter in law and the grand kids. 

After dinner we had a couple of drinks together before I went to bed early as I had to be up and dressed by 05.00 to get of the train at 05.00.  The train was late and I was dropped of at Cooroy at 06.15.  My other do walking friend picked me up and drove me home.

After a shower, shave and breakfast I did some shopping and picked Louis up from kennels.

It had been a brief, busy and very nice adventure.

Outback Adventure - Day 5

Outback Adventure  -  Day 5

Written on Day 6 on the train after a great lunch.

Day 5 was set to be long day with nearly 400km in a coach.
We were picked up at 07.00 and loaded on a small coach to go to the iconic bush town of Winton 180km away.

We were driven north west across the 90km wide Thompson River flood plain.  The Thompson River flows south east inland before flowing into Coopers Creek and onto Lake Eyre in South Australia through some of the most isolated country in Australia.  Then we entered the Diamontina River flood plain which also meets the Coopers Creek.  The country is dry and very isolated.  There were many kangaroos dead along our way having been cleaned up by B-doubles overnight.

About 20km before Winton we came to a low range of hills the locals call "jump ups" but more properly should be call Mesas as they are formations left when the surrounding country is eroded.  We took a 20km diversion to an attraction called The Age Of Dinosaurs.  In the area around Winton there have been many significant dinosaurs remains found and these had be taken to Brisbane for examination and of course ended up in the Brisbane museum.

Winton locals determined to set up their own dinosaur museum and laboratory.  One property owner donated 4,000 acres at the top of a jump up and the locals have built a laboratory and display center which has become a major drawcard for the area.  Incidentally they don't find dinosaurs up on jump ups but down on the plains.  The  facility is self funded and it is possible to buy a two week dinosaur exploration tour where you work alongside scientists digging up remains.  You can also pay to be trained in the laboratory extracting the bone fro the surrounding rock.  This all helps funding the ongoing operations.  We  had a tour or the laboratory and a presentation in the special area where the remains of two, previously unknown dinosaurs  are on display.  These are between 40 and 60% complete.

Next it was onto Winton for a walk around the little town  of  about 1,000 residents which is flooded by tourist in caravans and motor homes.  They are nearly all retired and STKIs (Spending The Kids Inheritance).  They are also known as Grey Nomads.

We had lunch at the Coolibah Cafe and toured the Waltzing Matilda Museum.  Winton  is where Banjo Patterson's song, Walzing Matilda, was first performed in the1890s.  The museum also has a great collection of memorabilia and made an interesting visit.

Then it was a two hour drive back to Longreach where we had a barbecue to end our outback tour.

Outback Adventure - Day 4

Outback Adventure - Day 4

This actually being written on Day 6 - Thursday June 26 as Days 4 and 5 were very busy days and it was too late to up date my blog when we got back to our motel.

Day 4 had an early morning start as we we off to another station for a tour and Smoko.  For those who don't know the sheep shearers in the 1890s had two big strikes which resulted in establishing the union movement in Australia.  As part of their working conditions they were entitled to a morning and afternoon smoking break which became known as a Smoko.  Virtually nobody smokes in public these days but morning and afternoon breaks are still known as a Smoko.

This station was only 18,000 acres and as the joint owner, the wife, said not big enough to be viable in the harsh climate around Longreach. She and her husband also owned and worked two other properties totalling 80,000 acres.  They employed only one full time worker so were very busy.  She explained during the tour that they worked six days a week from dawn to dusk to keep up maintaining their stock and facilities. They tried to keep Sundays as family days but often these were interrupted by property maintenance.

They ran about 4,000 sheep for wool and meat  and about 2,000 cattle for meat and 800 for a cattle stud they ran. Like everybody in this area they were badly affected by drought and would soon be reducing their meat cattle herd but would retain their stud stock as long as possible.  She took us back to the homestead for Smoko but no shearer ever had the spread that she put on for us. The profit she makes from these tours pays for he two older girls to go to boarding school.  Her youngest girl is still at home.

She was born on the property and her grandfather and father had developed it from scratch and bought up surrounding properties.  She and her husband had bought the original property from her parents and her brother bough the adjacent 100,000 acres.  She believes that they have enough reserves to sit out the present drought.

This tour really showed us city folk how hard our farmers had to work and how tough they are doing at the present.

After Smoko we were off to the The Stockmans Hall of fame.  This was established in the 1980s by R M Williams, a well known stockman turned manufacturer, who established the internationally acclaimed range or country clothing especially boots.

On arrival we were entertained by a country showman/stockman who demonstrated his horsemanship and sheep dogs. He also sung a few country song he had composed.  It was quite a performance and he ended up riding a big bull.

We had time to tour the museum in the main hall which as it name suggests is devoted to the history of the stockman.  It was interesting but I think it would be more so if you were country bred.  I left before the coach came and walked a couple of kilometres back to the motel having let the tour leader know.  I had time for a couple of hours rest and photo uploading to my tablet before our evening activity began.

At 16.30 where taken to Smithy's place by the Thompson river.  Smithy runs the tour company and runs a river tour on the Thompson which is a lovely placid river and we were out to look at its beauty and the sunnset.  Both were great.  It is amazing that in flood this river is up to 9 kilometres wide.  Smithy lives in a house on stilts near the river and sit out the floods commuting to town by boat.

After the cruise we had and outside dinner at Smithy's while being entertained by a nationally acclaimed country star, Tania Kernigan.  She was joined by her father, Ray, who has a bust at Tamworth.  They were really terrific,  the food was great and the big bonfires and gas h eaters kept us warm.  It was a great evening and were got back to the motel at 21.30.

Outback Adventure - Day 3

After a motel style continental  breakfast ( cereal, fruit juice, toast and tea) we were picked up at 08.45 to go on a tour of the Longreach School Of Distance Education (LSODE).  I didn't  know what to expect but it was very interesting.

The LSODE  covers an area twice the size of Victoria here in Australia.  It teaches from Prep Grade to Grade 10.  Students, in groups of six have personal audio/visual contact with their grade teacher for 45 minutes each school day.  They also have a local tutor, normally Mum or a a Nanny.  The children all live on remote stations, some up to 500Km away.  They receive their course materiel by mail every few weeks and are expected to complete assignments by e-mail or mail.

Once or twice a year a teacher visits the students for assessment and consultation.  Note this can be a three day trip for a one day visit.

The students have a camp every year and a sports day.  They actually rehearsed a play and put it on in Longreach.  They also have an art contest which all the family can contribute to.  My favourite was a little horse  welded up on her own by a Grade 5 girl whose welds would put mine to shame.

We watched a prep group work.  Audio/Visual contact is by phone to minimize the communication delays associated with satellite communication.  The teacher works in sound proof studios and appears in the students   vision and the teacher gets a large view of a single student and all can see small views of the other students in the group.  There is even a Japanese lady who teaches, you guessed it, Japanese as a second language.

We then went to the QANTAS Founders Museum.  I always thought that this was QANTAS  funded bur apparently the locals had a replica of the first QANTAS aircraft for the Stockman's' Hall of Fame which I visit tomorrow.  It was too big so the locals built their own museum containing memorabilia  and replicas.  Then QANTAS gave them a 947 and the locals got a 707 and a Catalina flying boat.  It was an interesting trip and we spent 4 hours there.

Three of us finished it off with a helicopter flight over Longreach.  I had vowed never to fly in a helicopter but have to say that I enjoyed it.

We are going to the local RSL for dinner.

Outback Adventure - Day 2

Outback Adventure - Day 2

06.30

I am sitting on my bunk filling in time as I am scheduled for the first breakfast sitting at 07.00.

I had a mixed sleep in my little bunk.  I had to trot down the corridor a few times and I found the airconditioning  too cold.. Finally I found a blanket and made the bed up properly .  I also opened my blinds and watched the night sky flash by. As there is no light pollution in the bush all the stars  look exceptionally bright.  I did manage to get a couple of hours sleep. Dawn is just breaking and I am looking forward to a great train ride through the outback.  We arrive in Longreach at 14.00, plus delays.

08.15

Back in my cell after a full breakfast - bacon, fried eggs, fried tomatoes, sausages, hash browns and toast.

It is a beautiful morning with a clear blue sky.  We are traveling in from the coast and climbing the central divide.  I am trying to take photos but the double glazed windows are causing reflections.  I will try again later from the club car.

15.00

Arrived in Longreach after an interesting rail journey.  After breakfast and clearing the range we went through several changes of scenery and several small towns the most interesting being Barcaldine where the Labour Movement in Australia was formed at a meeting under what is now known as The Tree Of Knowledge.  This was poisoned by a vandal some years ago and it remains are on display.  We stopped here for a little while to stretch our legs.

19.45

At 16.00 we (a group doing Aussie Outback Tours ) were picked up at our motel to go on the Camden Park Station Sunset Tour. This was a tour of a cattle/sheep station 10Km from Longreach which has been famous for hosting the Queen and prince Philip. It is a really large station which in good times ran 1,000 head of cattle and over 4,000 sheep.  The last two years have been drought years and they have had to sell off their stock.  They have about a dozen cattle and a similar number of sheep which they are keeping alive by feeding them.

The family keep the station alive using other investments and running tours.  They are confident that when the rain returns that so will the profits.  The tour covered the cattle yards and sheep shearing pens.  The highlight of the trip was the Sunset Nibbles at the damn in the middle of the property.  We had drinks and nibbles in a fantastic environment.  The pictures give some idea of the size and beauty of the station.

Back at our motel I had a beef curry delivered to my room.  It was awful.  Luckily I had eaten many nibbles and had a good bottle of wine.