Charleville in a day

All these photos of a beautiful old pub in Charleville 

Barman’s RDO

As the sign says

The ford Everest is still causing us some grief so we head to DR FORDS office for a full body scan, we are soon to discover the BLUE GUM CAFE I settle on the big breakfast . With better conditions forecast for today, today is only expected to reach 35 with late afternoon showers . Tom has arranged for us to do a guided tour of the soldiers rest and retreat at a remote location out of town. Some people really care for these first responders and the effort they put in to help others is something special. With a clean bill of health the ford is ready for a big drive down to Louth , but with the management of SHINDYS HOTEL on the phone asking if we would like to change our plans. A very good chance of heavy rains approaching over the next two days could see us stranded, WADDA decides to detour via COBAR. More tomorrow……..WADDA

Betoota to Longreach

 As you smart people probably realise WADDA fell behind with his blog because of wi fi not being available deep in outback QLD. So now where back in civilisation things should be okay. After departing the lonely outpost of BETOOTA with food in our stomachs and relieved of a great chunk of money LONGREACH is our next destination some 550 ks to the.north. After taking on some refreshments in the small town of WINDORAH we start the next leg to LONGREACH planning to stop at JUNDAH for lunch. The vehicle decided to have a hissy fit on this lonely outback stretch of road in 38 degree heat, to avoid heat exhaustion we decided that by keeping up our fluids we should be fine. Limp mode is not funny just 30kph for 30 kilometres and the blazing sun was not helping our mood swings. I’m into the esky one more time only to find our water supply cactus the coke was also all gone, but we do have a generous supply of beer ,we aren’t going to perish just yet. The hissy fit problem fixes it self so after missing out on lunch at JUNDAH we head for STONEHENGE no food here either so we will now have to wait until our arrival in LONGREACH to curb our hunger . With a great meal and a few glasses of cheap wine under our belts the days troubles seem so far away. Sorry no photos today just to tired……….WADDA

Surplus photos

Men at work on a really hot day

at Mungrannie

B

The ballroom at Betoota

This is the pub ….again

Rainbow at BETOOTA

 

The long lonely highway

 Our time in Mungaranie is almost over and what a time it’s been, from the fabulous hosts to the wide open spaces and the sheer distance from anywhere. The size of our country is truly remarkable and to travel it with 3 great mate’s makes is more remarkable, and after watching a sound and light show performed by Mother Nature that night it starts to rain. Early next morning we are full of excitement as we depart this lonely location . Not far into our 600 k plus journey to we come across a road train loaded with cattle stuck on a wet and soggy jump up, not much further on down the the track we come across another traveler stuck in the mud, we push on .With another 300 ks to go along the famous Birdsville track we push hard for a lunch break in the famous BIRDSVILLE HOTEL,this place is like a ghost town everything shut down and the streets deserted…….you have seen the last of WADDA and his cronies .we cut east and make for the real desolated location of BETOOTA. The temperature is climbing into the high 30s and the old folk are fast looking for a shady spot, as the harsh terrain keeps unfolding before us our target is insight. We are greeted by a couple of dogs and the publican whose name is ROBBO or so he says . Fun begins with the storyteller taking centre stage, many hours later he decides to rustle up some fine food for the exhausted travelers and calls it rooshooters stew. Before dinner is to be served in the so called ballroom we must wash a very heavy layer of dust from the tables, temperature now hovering near 40c god it’s hot .I retire to the so called bedroom which is even hotter, by now it’s not funny anymore. I consider dragging my mattress outside to one of the many outside tables, but with the presence of dingoes and other scary shit WADDA stays indoors and suffers in silence. Showering at 4am brings some relief,as night turns to day more harrowing thoughts cross WADDAS mind, was it heat stress or did I hear mention of roo shooters stew for breakfast. Oh my god will I ever be the same again………..WADDA

Early mornings 

Just love this stuff

Oh yeah

Mother Nature at night

Mungarannie and surrounds

 The beautiful Mungarannie hotel 

Water feature and wetlands also the home of the straw necked ibis

The long term parking at Mungarannie

Sunrise 0630 am

Road train

This tree was reportedly used by the Afghan cameleers to tether their camels

Photo failure

 Until I remember how to post photos again you will just have to be patient …….WADDA  PS     I’m working on the problem as I speak

Another trip to the interior of our beautiful country

 With Covid fading fast in our rear view mirror it time to let some moths out of my wallet, with the seeds planted in my head by my good friend who will be known as Jack I ponder the problem . As this project gather legs rather quickly one Saturday afternoon about three months ago over a few cool drinks, at about this time we realise we are short of many of the ingredients to drive this dream further than my backyard. Firstly we don’t have clearance from the lovely ladies and next up we are short on transportation , one hour later we have solved everything that needed solving so let the planning begin . Fast forward 3 months later we depart the lovely Seymour heading for wycheproof to team up with a couple of other adventures, we are ready to go bush , we are headed for Peterborough in South Australia stopping in at Morgan to attend to some family affairs, Our arrival in at the motel is disappointing I thought we had stumbled on to a people smugglers half way house ,but no I was assured this was our accommodation for the next 12 hours. Crammed in with only inches between us I kept one eye open all night just to be safe than sorry, tomorrow we tackle the infamous Birdsville track some 620 kms to our north. Seating arrangements have changed as Jack is promoted to the front seat to navigate as he is the only South Australian on board we feel more in the hands of this military trained expert. We pass only one other vehicle on the road to Mungerannie and we arrive safely with nothing broken or bent . With the food ho and the beer cold I’m sure our stay at this extremely location will be memorable…………..WADDA