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
