Day 88 Belombre Station 3

 Another slow morning, and we headed over to the farmstay and Matt was back into working on the Wifi system in the under construction Reception area. I sat in the dining room and started to write a story of our adventure for the support group newsletter for people like me living on TPN -  PNDU- Parenteral Nutrition Down Under. It’s very hard to summarise not just the 3 months but, also the 12 months it took to plan and organise the medical deliveries and aspect of the trip. But I want to encourage others to travel and to share the story with the staff at Baxter Pharmaceuticals, to show them what they helped me to be able to do, so it’s important to write and share our story in this way. It’s hard to really describe how grateful I am to be able to have done what we have achieved and to see and experience all that we have; to be well enough and strong enough to do all the walks and long days, to have the TPN shipped to these remote places. I spent a few hours today and will need more time to finish it, and then to choose photos to match. But I am enjoying the writing.

i clad a table and cabinet in Corrugated iron, after finishing the data wiring under this desk and around this reception building. guttering makes a nice rustic corner edge.

We watched the tour group that had stayed here overnight, reboard the little plane and taxi out from the carpark and onto the runway and take off. It was great to watch. I then went and helped Fiona for a bit, before I went and had a rest and returned to continue helping Fiona. Matt had finished the wifi and was doing other odd jobs, as the farmstay is an ongoing work in progress to get the aesthetics done and add more facilities and rooms, to make it more accessible and functional. There is a huge to do list, and it’s very hard to get trades out to help. We are more than happy to help out where we can, and wish we had more time to help them further. As there were no guests tonight, we got to eat back at the homestead together, and talk about all sorts of things. A lovely way to spend the evening.

 

the backyard of the homestead 

Day 87 Belombre Station 2

 We didn’t rush out of bed, after the late night storms. We had enjoyed watching the lightning from the bedroom window in Bridget. There was a fair bit of rain too, and there were puddles and soft mud and ground this morning. They got 6-8mm of rain, which has reduced the dust a bit. We headed over to the farmstay and got to say goodbye to the lovely family, before Matt got stuck into extending the wifi system he had installed last year for them. I pottered about and helped Fiona. We headed into Quilpie to get fresh groceries and meat, as a plane load of guests were arriving late that afternoon.

Adding more wireless network connections between buildings 

My work Ute only has 580000 k on it. Doesn’t show…

I continued to help Fiona after my nap in the afternoon, I haven’t been 100% and needed a rest to get me through the afternoon. I helped Fiona for the rest of the day, with cleaning, washing up and  food prep and getting the dinner ready for the 12 guests. Meanwhile Matt continued to battle the wifi system, until it was all up and running well in the new zones he had added for it. We saw the air strip finally being used for a plane, instead of our kids driving dirt bikes and vehicles up and down it (the fun they had on our volunteer trips on the air strip made for great memories). The shiny plane taxied right up to the farmstay. I was expecting it to stop at the airstrip and we collect them in the bus, but the pilot turned off the strip and drove down the driveway , and parked it in the carpark. No problems.  It was another wonderful sunset on the horizon that seems to go on forever, as it is so flat. Matt and I disappeared back to Bridget and I cooked Matt’s dinner and then we opted to relax for the night. We have been playing scrabble most of these evenings, after we have prepared this blog. Matt’s getting quite good at it now and occasionally beats me! Only when she wins.  Just kidding. I am getting good at using 4 letter words now. Not just 3. 

Day 86 Belombre Station, Quilpie

 We had an early start this morning, to go on a tour of the property with Adam taking us out in the mini bus, and we had on board this beautiful young family, with the most delightful 2 girls and their equally lovely parents. This is the family travelling and doing school with the girls and working for Queensland Tourism at the same time. They have been travelling the world and now Australia for the past couple of years. We have really enjoyed their company and had some great chats with the girls and their parents. We all enjoyed the tour. Adam took us out to see where the watering of stock would happen on big cattle droves back in the late 1870’s  until mid 1970’s, when road trains took over cattle transport. It was where the Durack family had land, and had started to drove their 6000 head of cattle all the way to Kununurra in WA, to the property that is now where Lake Argyle is situated. We found the connection to be very interesting, as we had learned about the Durack family back when we had visited Lake Argyle. It took them over 2 years to move them there, with many adventures and disasters along the way, and only 2000 of the cattle survived the venture. There were a few posts left standing from that era, and further along Adam showed us where the Cobb and Co coaches would stop and change horses, for fresh horses. They would do this every 20 miles or so back in the day. Again, there was some old posts where they would tie the horses up, and on the ground were a few pieces of glass, metal, and buttons like a time capsule to what had once gone on there. 

These couple of posts are all that remain of the 150 year old cattle yards on this site. We have now inadvertently seen both ends of this massive 1870’s cattle drive from Eromanga to argyle station in Kununurra 

We had flocks of budgies flying about, kangaroos bouncing along near us, in this area. The girls were keen explorers to find more relics. Adam then took us over through their own property, and to where there had been an old opal mine, for boulder opal, and to show us the cluster fence built to keep wild dogs and dingoes off the property. Dingoes are a real problem to sheep farmers, as they often don’t kill the sheep entirely, but maim them, and apparently the sheep just never heal from dingo bites and damage, and hence the dingoes can destroy a flock quite easily. The cluster fence gets its name as it runs through adjoining properties and the farmers worked together to erect it and to benefit them all.

From here, Adam drove us in the mini bus to the Shearing shed. When we walked in, a Barn Owl flew out.  Adam explained how they grade the wool and what qualities they look for and assess and how that system all works. Adam has very high grade Merino wool, from years of breeding to get the ideal fleece. They are  currently running 4-7,000 head of sheep and 400 cattle on the 130,000 acre property. We returned back to the farmstay for lunch, before we headed back to Bridget to sort out my TPN delivery. Fortunately, we have worked out a solution to the situation, and Jolyon will receive the delivery and we will collect it from him upon our return. We headed out to Quilpie to explore a bit and also to let the Pharmacy know that my delivery that they were to receive next week, was no longer coming. It was great to see the green paddocks along the way, and to see the area looking so much better than the drought conditions we had always seen it in previously. 

Tonight we enjoyed another group dinner that Fiona had cooked, some very tender lamb shanks and mash. We had had more good chats with this beautiful family, before dinner was served, as we watched the night sky darken. But after dinner, the wind picked up and we could see some lightning on the horizon. Then the  rain began in big drops at first, so Matt and I raced into the borrowed car and drove back to Bridget. We raced between the drops and into Bridget. We turned off the lights and watched the occasional lightning, and listened to the wind blowing around us. Eventually there was a bit of thunder as well, and then it all settled and the storm calmed. There has been a little bit of rain, there may be more overnight, but hoping it helps refresh the ground and post flood growth and not wash out the freshly graded dirt roads. Not sure what tomorrow will bring.

Day 85 Cooper’s Creek, Eromanga, Belombre Station

 We had a lazy morning and sat by Cooper’s Creek and just was present and enjoying the beautiful surroundings. Birds of all kinds flying about, swimming on the water, soaring above, chirping and tweeting and flying about doing their thing. The phrase ‘Be still, and know I am God’ kept coming in my mind and heart. And so we were, no rush, just resting in the majesty and peace of it all.

yesterday evening before dinner i thought i'd throw a line into coopers creek and see if i would change my usual fish catching quota average of 0 to maybe a bite, then in rolls the local fisheries inspectors Mr percival and warren.  the line hit the water and these 2 pelicans came to ask what the hell i think im doing with their fish. they sat immediately over where the line would enter the water so that anything i caught would have to come past their bilious beaks first. needless to say we all went away hungry.

mr percival and warren

 

Eventually we did have to pack up and leave, and head to Eromanga. We made sure we stopped along the way to enjoy the fields of colourful flowers. I don’t know if they were weeds or flowers, but they were pretty all the same. The road was mostly a single asphalt strip, with graded dirt and rocks on either side. Fortunately most oncoming traffic gave way and let us stay on the hard stuff, and slowed down as they passed us; but some drove really fast down the dirt parts, kicking up rocks as they went past. So we had a few more hits from rocks. The scenery would change from golden grassy plains, to fields of green and wildflowers when you passed a creek crossing. Some areas were still arid, dry, red dirt with lots of rocks, despite all the recent rains. We drove into Eromanga for lunch and apart from a few new dinosaur themed play gyms in the park, and an electronic sign, nothing much else had changed since I was there last in 2017. 

the town where i do a street view in the video, is the main drag of Eromanga. it was peak hour with three caravans in town! and yes the each end of the street here that you can see are the north and south ends of the town. it does extend more to the east by three blocks, but thats about it. 

We headed out to Belombre Station, where our long time friends Fiona and Adam run ‘Toogunna Plains Farmstay’. We first met Fiona and Adam and their sons in 2013 when we were Outback Links volunteers on their station. That was one of our best family adventures in our previous bus, which had broken down both ways many times, and was my first real experience caring for my medical needs away from home, except the pump was not portable and needed a drip stand and to be charged up every few hours.  We became good friends with this special family and this is our 4th time together, and Matt’s 5th time here. Eromanga is the furthest point from the sea, anywhere in Australia. It is home to the largest Dinosaur fossil found in Australia as well. Belombre is a sheep and cattle station. Their new initiative is the farmstay, and it’s getting very popular. We caught up with Fiona at the farmstay, as she was madly running around working. Adam was resting up after some recent heart procedures. We met Fiona’s staff, who work for the main season, of about 5-6 months. Some new guests arrived and then all the guests and ourselves were bundled into the mini bus and taken out to the neighbouring property, some 25km away, and we went to the amazing red sand dunes, to enjoy the sunset and have drinks and a cheese platter. We had a lovely time sinking our feet into the silky, soft, red sand, watching the two young girls work out ways to slide down or roll the sand dunes. It brought back many fond memories of our own 4 children doing the same, some 12 years ago. Everyone staying here has a great story to tell, and how they got to come to staying here. The family are touring parts of Queensland together and reporting it all on social media platforms for the Queensland Tourism. It was a lovely dusk. We headed back home to the farmstay, and I was watching all the stars starting to appear as the night sky darkened. A hot roast dinner was served for everyone when we arrived back. The conversations continued and it was a most delightful evening. We look forward to a tour around the farm tomorrow morning first thing, and hopefully more time with Fiona and Adam, over coming days.

We returned to Bridget and parked up for the night, and I checked my emails, to find one urgent one from my team at Westmead hospital, telling me that the courier company can no longer deliver my TPN within the 24 hour timeframe required for next week. Unfortunately I have had to use a couple of my spare stock items on the trip already, so without this delivery, I will be short a days worth and it also leaves me without any spare as back up. So I have had to email this information back to my team, and tomorrow being Friday, it’s going to be very hard to work out a solution, before we leave the Quilpie area, and start driving home, on Tuesday. At least we got this far without a hiccup with my deliveries, but hopefully they can work out a solution.

 

Day 84 Jundah, Windorah

 Today has been a pretty cruisy and relaxed day. I am writing this as I sit by Cooper’s Creek, just outside of Windorah. The wind is blowing gently through the trees, trees that still show signs of the immense amounts of water that flowed through here, only a couple of months ago. Budgies flit and fly about, chirping and chattering to each other; whilst whistling Kites float in the thermal air flows above, occasionally whistling as they do. The creek water is flowing steadily and has apparently returned to its normal levels. Matt may drop in a line to see if he can grab a catch, or not. A pelican flies and lands with a splash as the momentum of flying perpetuates the Pelican, until the water slows it down, and then it paddles away.

Today was a chilly start in Longreach, and the warmer clothes have been pulled out from the  back of our drawers, dusted off and worn. We headed out and watched the scenery change to flat plains with golden dry grasses and a scattering of trees amongst the paddocks. There was the occasional burst of bright colours, as the wildflowers are appearing. In places you could see new fencing had been installed and the road had been patched up from the flood damage. Some fences had debris caught up in them, revealing how high the water reached. We climbed up a few ‘jump ups’ as they are referred to out here, in other words, a small, rocky mountain range. Up here you could see everything, it was a great place to appreciate the vastness of the area, especially if you had your glasses on (getting old😜) to see that far! We stopped for lunch by the Thomson River at Jundah, after a brief drive around town (didn’t take long, it’s not very big). Matt spied some budgies and we were finally able to film and photograph the tiny little colourful birds, so we can share with our niece who loves Budgies. Matt was also having a go at trying to photograph the whistling Kites, soaring above in circles, occasionally swooping down to the river. fun fact, this council area , the Barcoo shire, covers 61,974 square kilometres and has a population of 462. Today was about 320km of single lane bitumen road. The etiquette for the single lane is as follows.. if you’re bigger you get to stay on the road, caravans and cars have to move onto the dirt verge to let the large vehicles pass on the bitumen without throwing rocks. So usually I get to stay on the hard stuff but there are still plenty of road trains and large trucks on the road that I have to make way for ( in the video )

We are in the thick of the channel country now, and the channels are as green as they get due to the recent floods. Seeing the country at its best . 

We ventured on to Windorah and stopped in at the Visitors information Centre and checked out a couple of sites they had with museum displays. There was an old slab hut set up with items that would have been in there for a family living in it, back in its day. Matt found an old Austin A30, in mint condition, (more original than mint, it was rough but original)
no rust and original very old Queensland number plates. He reckons it never left town after being registered. On another site, was an old Cessna plane that had belonged to a member of the community that had used it for anything from rounding up cattle on properties to rescuing people in floods, or taking people to access urgent medical care. We did the obligatory lap around town and headed back out to where we have camped up for the night. Our big adventure is quickly disappearing, and I wonder how well we will readjust to normal life and work, after all this freedom to explore and relax and enjoy our beautiful country.

Day 83 QANTAS Founder Museum, Stockman’s Hall of Fame

 We got another sleep in, which was nice. We headed into town to do some groceries and a quick look at the op shop. We went out to the airport, and on the way Matt spied a tour coach with one of his former Coach Drivers driving it. Of all the places to run into someone you know! You could find the museum easily, someone parked a dirty big 747 out the front 😜. We headed into the museum and this time we happily accepted the mistaken seniors identity and took the cheaper price, so we could have more access and it meant seeing the big planes. There was an art exhibition on display there as well. The museum was very busy and could have done with more space, so people could walk around the displays more easily. I say this because at one of the visual displays, a screen on the wall playing a story, there were 2 seats right in front of the screen about 1m away from the screen on the wall, and the sound was directed so that you could only really hear it if you sat in those seats. So we sat in the seats and were watching the story being told, when a few seniors from a tour group started to walk past in front of us, that was until one lady, totally oblivious to us sitting in the seats and watching the screen, stood right in front of us and watched the screen, of course totally blocking our view. She stood there for a good couple of minutes, before walking away. Some people are really in their own little world and unaware of their surroundings. The story boards told of how the founders of Qantas came together after fighting in WW1 and the journey it was to get support and sponsors to make it all happen, yet alone buy planes suitable. There was a few replica items in the showroom, including a replica model of the first plane they flew, there were plane engines and a Model T Ford made as a replica for the one the founders had used to get around the top end of NT and QLD to mark out places for runways for an airplane race that was going to happen. They had barbie dolls dressed up in all the uniforms that staff had worn over the decades, depicting the fashion changes and colour choices. There was a joystick simulation to control a plane and for the kids to climb in and try to fly too. We then had the tour out to the planes in the original hangar and also outside under an awning. The oldest planes were in the hangar and outside were all the big ones, including the last remaining 747-200 jumbo jet in Australia. One thing our guide pointed out, which confirmed my suspicions about the claim to where and how Qantas began, yes there is indeed rivalry between Winton and Longreach on that.  ( the guides account is that the first meeting for Qantas was in Winton, and at that meeting they decided to move to longreach from that point)  We got to see the DC-3 which was Matt’s favourite due to the classic shape, a Catalina sea plane, a Constellation plane, which we got to walk through, a 707 that was once used by the Jackson 5 and was fitted out for the use of the rich and famous. John Travolta had flown this one apparently, and we got to walk through and see how the rich fly around in opulent luxury, and the main ticket item was the last 747-200 that was used to bring home those in the Bali bombings. We also got to walk through this and climb the stairs to the premium lounge, where the suite had been originally fitted out in ‘70’s and ‘80’s bright and gawdy colours and wood paneling. It was all very interesting and our guide was lots of fun. We could tell he wasn’t a QLDer as he spoke too fast😂! 

After lunch we headed across the road to the Stockman’s Hall of Fame. This was another fascinating museum full of history about droving in Australia, surviving the outback, the cameliers who brought goods to sell to the remote properties, and the hard slog it was to travel and survive our harsh weather and country in remote areas, so we can have wool and meat and food. You were given a headset to listen to as you walked along, and you could listen to some personal recounts of stories and adventures. They had a guy showing you how to make a whip, a display on the Royal Flying Doctors, and another on rodeos and country singers. Our brains were exploding by the end of it all. Just realised that I only took one photo in the Stockman’s hall of fame. Proof that guys can only do one thing at a time and cause I had headphones on, that one thing was listening.  There were a lot of words.  

We headed back to our camp site to rest our brains for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

Super constellation walkthrough. 

Boeing 707 luxury plane walkthrough. 

Day 82 Winton Heavy Machinery and Truck Museum, Longreach

 Bonus sleep in this morning, as the museum didn’t open until 9am. We headed into Winton and Matt was in his happy place checking out old trucks. We almost got in as seniors again, but insisted on paying the full price. The museum had old, restored trucks of various brands, and sizes. Some including Mack, Atkinson, Commer, Dodge, International, Ford, Diamond T, Dennis, White, Leyland and more. Most were all beautifully restored. But Matt being Matt did find out the back in the yard, all the yet to be loved vehicles. Matt can see the potential in everything, and if we had a big block, I can see these trucks finding there way to our place. So probably a good thing we live on a suburban block! (Italics don’t work on emojis  😔)

Around the corner from the museum, was a music wall that had been created out of junk to make sounds like a drum kit and a swing set with various odd shapes you could bang on, to make music of sorts. We had a play but couldn’t quite make a decent sound. Cause it was all junk, good sounds come from good instruments.  Next we headed to a Boulder opal shop to see how they used Boulder opal in jewellery, very interesting the difference between Boulder opal and the normal black and white opal.

After fuelling up, we headed to Longreach. On the way a fire truck with lights on, drove past and about 50km down the road, a purple old Mazda T3500 mini bus converted into a camper had rolled. I was surprised to see a t3500 bus still running, as I drove one when I was 20 and driving trucks, and I have nothing good to say about those basket case vehicles.  It Coped ok with the rollover though I must say, roof was at a sideways tilt a bit but not caved in, and from what we heard on the CB people walked away from it,  Not sure what happened to cause it. We had also seen an ambulance come away from the scene, so not sure if anyone was injured badly. We eventually arrived in Longreach, took a leisurely stroll around the main street and checked out a few shops and Matt got himself a new shirt, we then returned to Bridget. We noticed the guy in his flashy new caravan, parked in front of us, seemed to be in a bother, so Matt went and offered him some help. Even though Matt couldn’t help the guy with the power issues he was having, he was able to give him advice on using solar and how much ability the caravan had to power, or not in this case, all the electrical equipment it was fitted out with. The guy had been driving solidly for 2 days and the batteries were not very charged, this was a brand new van with all the bells and whistles, powered by 240v which means he has a massive inverter to convert his 12v to 240v. Which he leaves on.  Tiny house batteries, and the solar was pumping in about half the power his fridge was using.  The caravan didn’t even have dust in it yet.  They were given no wiring diagrams or user manuals on the electrical equipment so I couldn’t really help him without knowing how it was wired, but it was pretty easy to see that the gear running off the batteries had the capacity to kill them within 10 hours.

These fancy new caravans are sold with just enough gear to get them off the showroom floor, but practically, they don’t cut it and are massively underpowered.  Buyer beware I guess. 

We headed back out of town and found a camp site in an Apex park by the Thomson River, and stopped here for the night. We enjoyed a leisurely stroll and explore down by the river, where a man had brought his pet cockatoo and it was talking to those that walked past them. There was someone else playing a recorder amongst one of the camp areas, and they were playing for a good hour or more. Pity the people around them, glad we were parked in a different location. We will do more tourist stuff tomorrow in Longreach.