Friday the 2nd
This morning the clouds were ominous with rain, given that the wind was coming out of the west, this is the direction the locals say delivers rain. Off course the community is wishing that rain would fall for it has been months since the last decent fall.
Out walking and it was chilly again and gloves and beanie are the call to hold out the cold, once the sun rises the temperature climbs, the sunrise this morning was really beautiful bouncing of the cloudy conditions.
Around 8:30 the clouds dissipated and the sun was really warming things up and as the wind was still coming out of the west we decided to batten down for rain and placed everything undercover.
Today we needed to top up our funds and so we found that we had to go to the Post Office for our bank transaction and as usual they would not give us the amount that we requested, a much lesser amount; we will top up further up the road.
We then went into the Opel Cave to have a look see, the whole interior is supposed to represent an underground mine; I can say with some authority that it does not look anything like the mine that I went down recently. The floor was sandy gravel and the ceiling was concrete sprayed to like a mine. The showcase's covered all the interior and of course when you enter you find yourself right at the Opal cases, an attendant greets you and follows you along the showcases enticing you to purchase.
They use slight pressure to trap you into feeling that you need to purchase, I noted that a couple were being worked over and no doubt they would have felt an obligation to purchase.
The staggering array of Opals in all sorts of arrangements including set with diamonds with prices beginning around $47 to the dearest I spotted of $14,200. It is a really large complex, you even need to go past the souvenirs section to get out of the business. Because of this we determined that we would not be entering the many Opal retailers who of course offer everything at so called wholesale prices.
We decided to do the car door tour and today we decided to do the red door sector, the car doors are the guides to the many tourist operations along the way and offer a self drive experience of the "Ridge".
Lightning Ridge has many residential areas, Caravan Parks and Motels etc all with running water, sewage and bitumen; just on the edges of town are the Mining Leases with many miners huts and accommodation that have no facilities with the exception of power and telephone in some cases. The miners structures vary from small houses built with whole Cyprus Pine logs for uprights and ceiling bearers and joists all tied together with wire, others have gone to the other extreme as we were to find out.

Being nearly touristed out we went back into town and decided to go to cafe for lunch, we both had a hot potato which was really nice washed down with a cappuccino, whilst there we noticed the sky becoming black and watched as the outside umbrella's were demolished by the squall that hit, complete with horizontal rain and plenty of it; though it only lasted for about five minutes and was gone.
After lunch we went to buy the paper and all the gutters were awash with water even though the sun is out again, then it was off to camp, on arrival the preparations we carried out had withstood the onslaught. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and checking out the many photographs taken today.
It was again getting chilly when the sun went down so we went indoors for tea cooked on the campfire and watched television for the night.
Saturday the 3rd
Awoke during the night to a clear sky once again with the milky way showing out in all its glory, this morning after tumbling out of bed there wasn't a cloud in the sky and the sun was shining increasing the temperature, however given this, it was chilly again especially with the slight breeze coming out of the South. On my walk I always take the camera on the off chance there will be a moment that may need capturing, this morning three large grey Kangaroos jumped out in front of me and stopped, stood up which made for a great photo. Wouldn't you know it by the time I had the camera ready to take the shot they bounded away, you only get one chance at something like this.
Oh well! home to do the daily chores which includes re-fueling the generator and checking water etc before we went to town for showers etc. We first bought our newspaper and then went for our hot shower and then hopped into the Artesian Bore Pool and isn't it nice and warm and refreshing, this morning there was steam rising off the water even thought the sun and the temperature were rising.
Into the town centre where we visited the John Murray Art Gallery.
When you enter it is another world with all his works hanging on the walls, John Murray has certainly captured the feeling of the outback which all his art is based on, his caricature of Galahs is rather humorous and we were to discover that the flying van at the Motel/Caravan Park is the vehicle he used to travel around the outback in doing his art work before arriving in Lightning Ridge and settling in the town.
The flying van complete with all the art work cost $5,500 just for the steel work and the cost of raising it in the air onto its stands, it was his gesture to the town that he grown to love so much. (see the photo on the 20th of May) His art has won many awards and is totally worthwhile visiting. It is obvious that he sells plenty of his art especially on the Galahs.
Then we topped up our drums with water, we normally do this at the tourist information centre; there is a whole heap of Opal waste bought up from the various mines and this is dumped nearby which allows the tourists to fossick or noodle or indeed spec to find either small pieces of Opal or Potch Opal. There were about ten people going through the dump trying their luck.
Back at Camp I topped up our tanks and then had lunch and settled in to watch Imparja and the West Coast vs Geelong match, now after many calls etc to Optus Aurora they have given us all the television channels, the last Central Seven coming on line today. This will help us keep up with the football when we arrive further up at the gulf country away from normal T. V.
Happy Hour was a good one today with the lease owners joining us and showing us their Opals that they have mined in the couple of days, certainly to us they looked quite impressive they stated they are probably worth only a couple of thousand dollars, all said in a rather blasé way.
The night is cool again down to 11degrees so we opted to watch television and then off to bed at 9pm to read for awhile.

Spot the Kangaroo photographed on my morning walk

Monday the 4th
Another beautiful sunrise this morning and I was able to capture the sun through one of the Mine Winder's, again this morning my friends the grey Kangaroos were there to greet me and I was able to get a photo before they skedaddled into the bush on this occasion.
We went into the Ridge early this morning with the view to upload the next segment of this Diary, do our heavy washing at the Laundromat and then have our final shower and dip in the Artesian Bore Pool.
We had just completed our shower and about to hop in the pool when the council bloke put up the keep out signs whilst they did their maintenance, however on hearing it was our last dip he relented and gave us ten minutes, which is about all you can stand in the 52 degree bore water.
Picked up our washing and then onto to pick up water and have a walk through the gardens created by those on the Dole and Community service orders, they have done a wonderful job which has made the entrance to Lightning Ridge that much more welcome and memorable for tourists. A job well done even if I do not believe in the politics of it all. Then back to camp for lunch and then we started dismantling ready for our journey tomorrow.
Liz had booked into the hairdressers in the afternoon so in we went again and whilst Liz had her hair cut I went down to the sports club and washed poor old Digger who was quite dusty, Digger has done a wonderful job for us in the past fortnight the rough gravel roads it has taken in its stride burning very little petrol.
Back to camp again and started to load Digger and then as we had promised to have a happy hour in the "Ridge" we went in an enjoyed a couple of good hours with Hilda, Marlene, Bradley and Jamie, people who we have met and who have taken us under their wing and shown us areas that we would not ever seen had we just drifted in to town. We finally said our goodbyes and as they all stated they would coming to Tasmania next year we invited them to come and stay with us.
Back to camp again and finish off baking our roast pork and veggies for tea and what a wonderful meal it has been with enough left over for the next couple of days.
As we had taken down our Satellite dish the television in the terrestrial manner is no where the quality and in fact is a bit snowy though we will watch it for a couple of hours and then off to bed to sleep. A very fulfilling day.

Wednesday the 7th
I awoke at about 4:30 am to a shotgun blast and a few minutes later our camp was bathed in a spot light just for a few seconds and the the vehicle moved on, I reckon he was out shooting Kangaroo for there is a chiller in Mitchell for that purpose.
5 degrees was the temperature this morning at 6:30 as I went off along the highway for my walk, it was brisk though no traffic about and it was a change to walk on the bitumen rather than gravel roads. I was to spot many old grey Kangaroos who were about six feet tall also there were many on the road knocked over by traffic.
We moved on and the morning was cloudless with just a slight breeze and of course very sunny, along the way we were to spot mobs of Grey Kangaroos and a few hopped across the road in front of us and I had to apply the brakes a couple of times to miss them. We then spotted two Fox's, on wild pig and of course a few Emu's.
It wasn't long before we were onto single lane bitumen and luckily we never encountered any traffic on these sections, the countryside is as flat as and as dry as. Around one water hole we were to spot cattle, sheep and Kangaroos all drinking together, the rest of the land is so dry we could not think of what the stock were eating. We now have come across Brahma cattle on one Cattle Station and about 60 kilometres out of Mitchell we came across a golf course and school house with no housing at all around them, most unusual.
We finally arrived in Mitchell and went straight to the show grounds where you are able to stay for $11 with power, showers and toilets for three nights, extremely good value and this is the first time we have paid to stay anywhere so far on our journey. We set up camp and had lunch and lazed about for a couple of hours and then went into Mitchell town centre and had a look about and then we went into the Courthouse Hotel and sunk a few pots and absorbed the local culture.
Then back to our camp and had our own happy hour, we had a couple of other campers Bob and Anne come join us and we cranked up the fire as the night chill was setting in. We had a good old chinwag and discussed areas that we had been to, Bob and Anne who have a camper trailer tend to do the out off the way areas where cant travel so it was interesting listening to them. We then cooked tea and went into watch television tonight and as we have three good channels so we wont bother setting up the satellite dish.
Kilometres travelled 176

Saturday the 10th
Awoke during the night to the patter of rain on the roof, though it wasn't much to speak of. The temperature was 19 degrees in the Motorhome when arising this morning a temperature we have not experienced for some time.
Due the the uncertainty of the weather I did not think of a morning walk, we both just headed off to the shower and then brekky and on the road by 8am.
We had a couple of fellow Tasmanians come over just before we departed and we chewed the fat for a while, wished them well on their future travels, then we headed off to fuel up while the rain had become steady. On arriving at the cheapest fuel outlet in Mitchell Liz was to hold an umbrella whilst I topped up both tanks at $1.43.9 not bad really and Liz informed me that is the cheapest fuel since leaving Melbourne.
On the road and the rain was consistent and the radio informed us that Charleville had already received 42 mills of rain to date.
We are now again on the three trailer 53 metre road train road, we were to see plenty of rain and when we turned onto the Charleville road, the road narrowed dramatically and we were to experience road works which had become waterlogged either side of the existing bitumen.
Here we were driving along in rainy conditions and in the distance I could see a red stop light, I thought that I was imagining things; we were to strike three of them over the next 20 kilometres and at one stage we were held up for 15 minutes though no traffic appeared.
Through the traffic light areas the roadwork's only allowed for a very narrow stretch of bitumen if you went off that I believe you would have bogged down, not good in an area that was traffic reduced.
We were to see heaps of Kangaroo hopping about enjoying the new growth caused by the rain, about 20 Kilometres out of Charleville we came across a Goat Abattoir and there must have been over 500 goats waiting to be slaughtered and a couple of kilometres on the Cattle and Sheep Abattoir.
The rain was still steady when we arrived in the town centre of Charleville and parked up and went to get a few items for tea tonight for tea from Woolworth's and then onto Crazy Clarks for a junk fix. Then on the road towards Quilpie and the Ward River, our next camping site. We were to cross a floodway where the water was about six inches above the road, so we took it easy driving over the flooded section of the road.
The rain now became very heavy so it was obvious that we wouldn't be able to access the camp area on the river so we looked for a solid stand where we could camp for the night.
We found a spot 10 kilometres from Charleville which had been a road metal dump so we pulled in, when the rain ceased we lit a fire with some difficulty and for awhile it smoked heavily and when it rained again we abandoned the idea of a fire.
We still had our happy hour and the temperature was 21 degrees inside so I cranked up the generator and watched television after tea, we had bought Y Bone steak for tea and it was tender and very tasty at $9.90 a kilo, we have plenty of meat in the freezer which we are leaving for when we get to the Gulf due to lack availability and price of what would be available.
So tonight we hope the weather clears away and tomorrow the sun appears again, in the meantime it will be television and then read and then off to bed.
Kilometres travelled 203

We moved on to a rest area about 25 kilometres north of the town and the first thing after setting up was to light a fire,
As it is only 2:45 pm we are going to have an early happy hour celebrating Sunday something, somewhere. We were the only one to be in the roadside stopover, we could have continued onto the rest area on the Barcoo about 30 kilometres up the highway.
It wasn't long before others arrived and set up, having the fire going proved to be a focal point and it was good to meet others and talk about there travels to date. A road train came in and undocked from his trailers and came back to the last trailer, of course I had to check it out and found that he was indeed filling his fuel tanks on the truck from large tanks that are fitted to all trailers, apparently this does not detract from the amount of cargo carried. This was unusual until I found that his 650 horsepower Kenworth was indeed powered by Bio-diesel he only needs to do three refills to get to Darwin. It was interesting to note that the truck and its driver left Sydney at 5am yesterday gradually picking up his trailers until the is now three trailers totally 53 metres and there is a move to, by law, allow them a fourth trailer; heaven forbid!
Then a bus arrived that we noted, that like us appeared to be heading to the Ward River to camp, he informed us that he had seen us parked up short of the river and he elected to travel on to the Ward River, unfortunately as we suspected the heavy rainfall had made it impossible to get into the camping area. He then informed that he tried and became hopelessly bogged which required the police and the RACQ to tow him out due to the river rising rapidly.
The sunset was excellent and we cooked our meal on the fire and after that we enjoyed the fire after tea. Though there is television stations available we have decided not to worry about it and then read when we go indoors.
Kilometres travelled 249

Tuesday the 13th
On my walk this morning I decided to walk the main street of Blackall from one end to the other, even at 7am the town was waking up with the shop keepers out hosing down the footpaths in front of their establishment, it is obvious that the town takes pride in itself for the the whole area is very clean and tidy. Of course they also take pride in the fact the town is the home of Jack Howe, even stating that we are in Jack Howe country. They indicate that Jack Howe was a gun shearer with shearing blades who established a record at Alice Downs in 1892 shearing 321sheep in 7 hours and 40 minutes. He also in the same year established a record in the first year of mechanical shearing at Barcaldine Station of 237 in 8 hours. He later became a publican at the Universal Hotel, the original hotel is long gone though the daughter of Howe's son along with her husband built a replica of the original hotel. It has a bronze statue of Howe complete with sheep in its forecourt, the establishment is not a hotel it is a Nursery complete with memorabilia of the first hotel complete with photo's of Howe in action, they also wrote a book on Howe entitled "Jack Howe-The man and the Legend"

On the road to Aramac with a stiff breeze assisting our journey the temperature was steadily rising and at 11am it was 24 degrees with no clouds to speak of, the countryside was flat and the buffalo grass was prevalent and there was plenty of cattle and sheep along the way, the road was narrow and eventually became a single lane bitumen roadway. We did not come across much traffic so it was easy going on this type of road.
We were to see the Tablelands, to the east, in the distance they looked great the way they shimmered in the heat of the day, there was plenty of dead roo on the road and as the cattle drive had come this way, poor old Digger copped the dung again sent up by the Motorhome.
What we were not aware of until we arrived in Aramac is that it is the annual Harry Redford (Captain Starlight) cattle drive which commemorates the fact that he stole 1500 cattle and drove them along the Barcoo River and then down to South Australia in 1870. When we arrived it was a pleasant surprise to see they had a council caravan park that offered two nights free, complete with power, toilets and showers. We were only to happy to take up this offer and after lunch we went to look at the town of Aramac, population 150.
Last year they experienced a tornado that caused extensive damage to the town and there is still a couple of houses with roof's tarped against the weather.
In the main street are many canvas's attached to poles that show the many programme's undertaken by the town for entertainment during the dry season including a Harry Redford Festival. Opposite the Aramac Hotel is a replica of the white bull that Redford stole which being easily identifiable bought about his arrest. He was acquitted by a jury who appeared to more supportive to his actions much to the chagrin of the trial judge.
All the buildings are from another century and take account of the heat that can be experienced in the area, they are very well maintained complete with plenty green gardens and plenty of Bougainvillea; unlike the people of South East Queensland who are on level 3 water restrictions. Hoses are going everywhere and the water in some areas is going down the gutters, the difference is they take their water from the Artesian Bore; which is only 37 degrees in Aramac and 67 degrees at Muttaburra.
In all, a wonderful clean town where the local people including those in the pub make you most welcome and assist to make your stay memorable, thank you Aramac well done!.
Liz used the washing machine to catch up on our heavy wash and there was plenty of hot breeze to dry them quickly, if this keeps up we will be in shorts very soon. We had an excellent happy hour with other fellow travellers in the park and as it does not get dark until 6:30 pm it meant that we had a late tea before going inside to watch television.
Kilometres travelled 88