Alpha, Jericho & Barcaldine - July 09

We have not stayed overnight at all the places we have visited but we have stopped to take in the small townships and have thoroughly enjoyed some of the local history and atmosphere.

Alpha is a small town which boasts a population of approximately 360 so no K-Mart, Coles or Woolies (most likely to the towns pleasure) but it does have the usual pub, general store and servo etc. Friends of ours (Barry & Anne) did stay overnight at the local caravan park and did make favourable comments so it sounds a good place for an overnight or more stop.

Alpha is known for the murals which decorate some of the private and public buildings which depicts the area;s history, all of these were painted by local and ex local artists.

 Above is on the local butcher & deli business.

The above is painted on the still used railway station.

Our next stop was Jericho (just passed through) which has half the population of Alpha (180) so once again very hard to find a Golden Arches or Hungry Jacks here. Yes we all know the biblical story on the battle of Jericho and the locals are quick to tell the story if you don’t know. The town certainly fits in with the story as it is built on the Jordon River, south of Lake Galilee.

The town has one of Australia's smallest drive-in theatres, it holds 36 cars and can accommodate about 40 walk in people who take to the double deck chair set up. The speakers that Lin has hold of are the old “window puller's” if you forget to take it out before driving off. 

The deck chair set up is positioned both sides of the outdoor projection room; information is that the drive in runs every second Saturday. We looked for the popcorn machine but it must be BYO.

Above is the Jericho feature of the Crystal Trumpeters; the “Crystal Trumpeters” were constructed in memory of the story which involved the Israelites marched around the walls of Jericho for 6 days then blew their trumpets on the seventh day and watched the walls of the city collapse (a bit like “Ripley’s  – Believe It Or Not”) sounds like a lot of puffing and blowing to me.

Our next stop was Barcaldine where we decided to stay for 3 nights; the reason behind this was it had a population of 1200, plenty of pubs and an IGA supermarket. No fast food chains here but someone in town recommended the local bakery pies; I am still looking for this bloke to punch him out as they were bloody awful after the first bite. Even “Her Indoors” gave it the arse so they must have been crook considering what I've seen Lin eat. STAY AWAY FROM THE PIES; whatever the meat is in them it cannot be found or purchased from any butchers shop I know.

There are some beautifull old pubs in the town which follow the heritage trail signs; they all provide information on how they came to being and the changes they went through. 

The signage runs down the main street and outlines the history of the old town business that go back over a 100 years. 

Above is the “Tree of Knowledge” (did not help me much) but it is now a town memorial; the tree was poisoned in 2006 and this monument was erected as a memorial to one of only seven nationally listed icons in Australia.

We stayed at the Barcaldine showgrounds; these were well kept and as always had plenty of room. The birds above are the Brolga which are quite large standing around the 1.2m mark; they were at the showgrounds every afternoon for a feed from any of the many caravaners. They were quite friendly and had in tow 2 babies (not shown); the babies are about the same height but have not yet got the red hood as on the adults. The birds were happy to take bread from your hand and would always pass it on to the youngsters before feeding themselves. They can be quite daunting to feed as they extend their wings fully as they come towards you and make a terrible hissing noise (a bit like Linda just before breaky). 

Barcaldine like Alpha has plenty of murals painted by a diverse range of artists; the most famous is the mural in Oak Street by Darcy Doyle.

Well I still have Ilfracombe, Longreach, Winton and a few others to put together for the next post but thats for another day (not to far away).

Will post again soon.

Regards – David & Linda – The DavLin Rig

 

Sapphire - July 09

Well we made it to Sapphire in a hope of making a fortune by finding that elusive large gem stone; not to be but we did have a great time looking and finding several smaller stones.

Sapphire has 3 caravan parks and a further 2 are at Rubyvale another 6km down the road; we stayed at the Blue Gem and we were pleased with the park, it amenities and the great social atmosphere of the owners and other campers. We originally booked for 3 nights but extended this to a week, the cost here is $20 p/n or $120 p/w so very good value. The park had activities on most days and in the early evening which made for a very enjoyable stay.

Above shows one area of the park; we are on the left about half way down. No slabs but good grass underfoot.

No, Linda has not shrunk; outside the park is a giant shovel, pick and sieve. The normal sized ones of these are used in abundance in this neck of the woods and it is very tough going. You can buy buckets of wash from the miners and wash and sift for your own stones; it was a heap of fun but can be expensive if you get the bug.

After the sift and washing the remaining stones are tipped onto hessian and the keen eye takes over looking for sapphire's; stories are that the miners keep all the big stuff found and the use the small stones to “salt” the buckets of (dirt) wash. They say it is like sideshow ally for kids; hand over your money and everyone gets a prize even though it maybe only 1 tenth of what you paid (roll-up, roll-up).

 

No chance of getting pissed at this RSL as it is only open 3 days a week on limited hours; there is a bottle shop and pub at Rubyvale. I was going to buy a carton til I saw the price, I decided to get the roast off lay-by instead.

Barry and Anne above were also hot on the trail of gems; they were a little luckier than us as they probably got 12% of their money back.

This is known as the “Thong Tree” just out of Rubyvale and is set amongst some of the hundreds of mining leases; the people who own and mine these are very wary of trespassers and whenever you see the white lease markers it pays to stay out.

A mechanical repairer in Sapphire; not sure how much work he gets mechanically or sexually but the sign says it all.

We are now at Ilfracombe but following this post I will finish and upload Alpha, Jericho and Barcaldine; Alpha & Jericho we passed through but both places have some great history and sights to see and photograph. We stayed at Barcaldine for 3 nights for the “heritage trail”.

We are moving from Ilfracombe tomorrow (13th July) on to Winton for 2 nights before we head to Boulia, we did the Longreach tour from here rather than stay in Longreach itself.

Will post again soon

Regards – David & Linda – The DavLin Rig

On The Way To Boulia - Some Stops

The day or so stops included Kilcoy, Kingaroy, Gayndah, Dululu and Emerald.

23rd June – After being at Hervey Bay we needed to get a window seal fixed in the van, we decided that before we took off out west we would head back to Sunland at Caboolture. We did not get away until 4.00pm on the 24th so we only made it a short distance before camping overnight.

We stayed at the Kilcoy showgrounds and there were plenty of other campers to keep us company; not bad value here at $8 per night which includes power & water to the van and good showers. The grounds are approximately 2km west of Kilcoy and are set about 1km off the main road so it is very quiet with little or no road noise.

The caretaker has a motorhome and enjoys a lonnnnnng chat; on the night we were in he was well involved in happy hour (or 8) and did not get chance to collect everyones camp fees till the morning. The only down side is the caretaker has a bloody big rottweiler (we called him Cujo) that barked off and on during the daylight hours but at night was completely quiet (best arriving late and leaving early).

Us parked at Kilcoy; the polo club had been at the grounds the weekend before so plenty of free horse shit if you wanted some, even if you didn’t it was glued to the bottom of your shoes (at no charge). 

25th June – Next stop was at Kingaroy. Linda has a bad back so we are taking our time, no more sex on the front draw bar for us as the satellite dish tends to get in the way and can easily cause disc bruising.

Kingaroy showgrounds are only a 10 minute walk from town so shopping is easily accessed and the town has a Woolies, IGA etc; the grounds are flat with plenty of power boxes and water connections. The showers are good and the ground managers live on site; price here was $15 per night but well worth the money.

26th June – Arrived in Gayndah to the fruit box and picked up a 5kg bag of mandies for $5; these were straight off the tree and bloody good eating, just shows how much profit is in the supermarkets and no where near the quality of this local produce. 

26th June – The caravan park we are staying at (Mandy Inn) is a little like the Lismore one and in the main has a lot of park owned small vans which are for the seasonal fruit pickers. The park is at the back of a Caltex service station; the amenities are only just and the park is full of back packers & fruit pickers, price is over the top considering the location and services available ($23 per night). I would suggest you give this place a miss unless you are very desperate (or stupid like us).

June 27th – Decided to stay at Dululu which is north of Monto about 30km before the Capricorn Hwy which takes you west; we arrived at around 1.00pm and already 8 vans were in place. This is a free stay rest area run by the progress association but if you want to plug in to power and get a key for the showers it costs $5 per night; yes it is only 5 bucks. They do have a maximum stay of 2 days but it is not enforced; great place to stop over and we had a great arvo session with the other campers who were in the main full time on the road travellers, one couple had been on the road full time for the last 7 years and had recently upgraded to their 3rd van.

28th June – The last stop we made was the Emerald showgrounds; we decided to stay for 3 nights just to take some time out from the day to day set up and relax for a few days. The grounds are good and very quiet; the amenities are okay with plenty of pressure and hot water, at only $15 per night it is good value.

The army arrived on one of the days for an overnight stop; they were in a separate part of the grounds which was fenced off. I was thinking of yelling out “Hello all you Dad’s Army Wankers” but visions of me being taken to Emerald base hospital and a team of surgeons toiling to remove a 5 inch mortar shell from my rear orifice made me keep my mouth shut.

We re off to Sapphire, Rubyvale and Anakie tomorrow (1st July) for a week of R & R and try our luck at gem fossicking; following that we will be off to Jericho, Longreach, Winton and then Boulia. We will post up the gem chipping trip when we move to Longreach.

Will post again soon.

Regards – David & Linda – The DavLin Rig