Night 24 - Kurnturlpara

We left Mt Isa at 10.30am and drove west towards the border.



Finally we reach the Northern Territory!!





Check out the speed limit!!



We drove until the kids couldnt handle it anymore. They lasted until 5pm, they have been so amazingly good in the car. We found the nearest free camped and set up. A little spot called Kurnturlparra. Someone at Mt Isa advised us not to free camp between Mt Isa and Three Ways but there were about 4 other vans there so we felt safe to camp there the night. Its so quiet at night, except of course for the occasional 52 metre long road train screaming past!



We quickly cooked up a meal before the sun went down. Check out this gorgeous picture Craig took of the sunset....



When the sun went down we lay the kids ontop of the car to check out the stars. Bailey was so unbelieveably excited to see his first shooting star. Its a moment he will never forget Im sure. When we put the kids to bed at night Craig and I sit under the stars and we see them all the time but Bailey has never seen one until that night.

Night 23 - Mt Isa

This morning I went straight to Coles and stocked up on everything as the next few days we are going bush. Ellie was so excited to go to the ‘mall’ although it wasnt anything exciting. Probably smaller than Warriewood Square!

We did a morning tour of Mt Isa underground hospital which was great. They built the hospital underground as they were worried the town would be bombed during the war.





Afterwards the tour guide told us of a new kids park that had recently opened so we went to check it out. Well the kids thought it was Disneyland!! They had an absolute ball. Definitely worth checking out if you pass through Mt Isa with kids.





Later that night we got talking to our neighbours in the caravan park. One couple plus 4 year old boy were from Coogee and had just come from N.T. They gave us so much info on where to go, where not to go and fuel prices. The other older couple were so lovely. She was telling me that her husband always talked about travelling Australia, it was his dream. Finally he retired and they bought a huge van and 4WD but only months before leaving they discovered he had a terminal illness. They still decided to do the trip but have cut it short as he is too tired to do anything. She said he is kicking himself he didn’t do it when he was younger but he was always too busy. Made me realise that life can be short and we should get out there and just do it and have fun.

Night 22- Mt Isa

We left McKinlay at about 9am and drove west to Cloncurry which took an hour or so. We stopped at Cloncurry to visit the first Woolworths in about a week. Happy joy! Still no sign of anything vegetarian, I can barely even find tinned lentils!

We stopped at a road stop for lunch then continued on towards Mt Isa.



We had no where booked so we drove around looking for somewhere to stay. The Mt Isa Rodeo was on over the past weekend so there were still plenty of people around. We managed to get the last spot at a caravan park called Copper City. We have booked to stay here two nights so will do some sight seeing tomorrow.

Night 21 - McKinlay

Left Winton to do a tour at the ‘Age of Dinosaurs’ which was really worth visiting. Our little dinosaur lovers were pretty excited. It has only recently opened and they have plans to expand to include a museum, hotel, campground and restaurant within the next 5 years. Its located on top of a massive ‘jump up’ or mesa plateau. They have discovered dinosaur bones in the area that were covered by floods millions of years ago. They are in the process of digging them up and putting them back together.

Great view from up the top, you cant really see but we are standing on the edge of a cliff in these photos.





The palaeontologists sit there all day scraping the dirt off the bones. Such dedication! Bailey got to hold the claw of Banjo the Raptor and Kai got to hold a rib bone of an unknown dinosaur. Both were pretty thrilled.









After the museum we drove west again, we had lunch at a little rest stop and Craig started chatting to this guy who grew up in Warriewood and knew Craig's uncle. Small world! He ended up giving us lots of tips on intersting places to visit and fuel prices. McKinlay was our next stop, home of Crocodile Dundee’s famous Walkabout Creek Hotel. We stayed here the night out the back at the caravan park which was more like the car park! Of course we had to have a beer and pub meal and took plenty of photos. There is lots of memorabilia inside.

Night 20 - Winton

We really would have liked to have stayed in Longreach another night but it rained which caused thick red mud. It was absolutely awful and it was absolutely everywhere. We stayed in a massive caravan park and we had our own ensuite.....HEAVEN. We had a real sink, shower and toilet!

So in the morning we headed to the Longreach School of Distance Education which was really interesting. They have 168 kids from 120 families spread over 8,000kms. Its amazing how it all works. The boys really enjoyed it as they are currently studying via distance education.



Here is a pic of the boys doing their school work in the van. Its a real struggle to get them to do a bit each day!




After lunch we headed for Winton. The last time we were here we were stuck as the roads were closed due to flooding. Hasn’t changed much, it amazes me that these little towns are so derelict and no one seems to care. We wonder how they manage to stay in business.

We got the last spot at the Pelican Fuel Stop which isn’t allowed to sell fuel anymore! The owner insisted we pay cash ($20 per night). OMG how do I even describe this place? Full of old men who were blind drunk by 2pm. Of course they wanted a chat with Craig who they nick named “Bull”. I told Craig we were not here to make friends!!




I was scared so pretty much slept with one eye open all night. We were outta there first thing in the morning.

Night 19- Longreach

We had an early morning walk along the river which we camped by. What a great spot...classic little winding river with coolabah and gum trees lined along it. Heaps of birds and cows on the walk....I'm still waiting for the first snake encounter!!

The people you meet along the way (especially the "grey-nomads") are always willing to give advice on the places to stay on the journey. The places the books don't tell you about but where others have been, usually are great spots!

We continue along these incredibly straight roads (at our steady pace of 90km/hr) past differing beautiful countrysides of red dirt, flowering wattles, big bottle trees which is then shattered like an explosion by a massive road-train coming the other way that are sometimes 50m long.......scares the 'you-know-what' out of you (we have found out now we have a button on the centre console that swings the side mirrors in.....the road-trains almost blew them off each time they past!!).

The clouds have started moving in and now it is raining as we arrive at a Longreach caravan park.

I took the kids for a swim at the local council pool (recommended by previous nomads) which is thermally heated from underground. Great to have a swim in.
We got back to camp and had a mob of about 10 kangaroos right outside our campsite. Ellie wanted to pat one but they were a bit timid......at least they didn`t box!!
That night it rained buckets!!

Night 18 - Jericho

Goodbye Rubyvale post office



Goodbye Rubyvale tennis club



Goodbye Rubyvale cows



Goodbye Rubyvale mansions



We wont miss these cold nights in Rubyvale. Craig was so cold he almost got out the foil emergency blanket from our medical kit!! If only it wasnt so noisy he would have used it for sure!!

We stopped in at the Sapphire markets which were 20 times the size of the Rubyvale markets. Bought some local produce of the fruit and veg variety. The lady running the massage table was making the most money off the old bushy miners!!

Drove west again to our next free camp at Jericho. The road is long and straight and dusty. We have not seen clouds since we were in Brisbane, maybe rain ahead.



We camped by the Jericho River, again in the middle of no where. Jericho is like a ghost town. Its a free camp so usually they have a gold coin donation box. The only gold coin we had on us was a $1, pretty cheap accommodation for a family of 5.



We had a campfire and Craig perfected toasting marshmallows.



Next stop Longreach.....

Night 17 - Rubyvale

Happy birthday to you,
happy birthday to you,
happy birthday to Ellie
happy birthday to you.....



Ellies 3rd birthday was celebrated in Rubyvale. We had our usual traditional birthday pancakes then headed for the Saturday markets in Rubyvale. Got a bit excited at the thought of fresh fruit and veges and good old country items but we were wrong. There were 6 stalls which only sold gems:



After lunch the boys and I went to a heritage mine for an underground tour. Same mine that Lisa and I did a tour of 10 years ago. Excellent tour and the boys loved it!





The mine is a bit more touristy now rather than being a working mine. We we previously did the mine tour it was still a wokring mine.

After we had cake for Ellie and put the kids to bed I thought that as I was having a football drought I it was only prudent to head accross the road to the Rubyvale pub to watch the Bledisloe and then Manly VS Melb. As I strode in through he double doors in my trackies, sneakers and jumper I sidled my way up to the bar next to the one toothed locals and ordered myself a schooner of XXXX. I aksed the lady behind the jump what t.v the football is on and got the reply 'there is no football on our t.v tonight'!!!! They had Guns and Roses music video on 3 t.v's playing instead! Ive never heard of a pub on a saturday night that didnt have any football on any t.v's needless to say it was the fastest schooner I ever drank!

Night 16 - Rubyvale

What a cold cold night, beautiful warm days but then by 6pm it turns nasty! Rarely does Craig ever say he is cold and last night he was so cold he could barely sleep.

In the morning we woke to lorikeets who wanted to be fed! There were heaps of them and Ellie was petrified as one landed on her head.





We went for a coffee to the only coffee shop in town and got talking to a guy who gave us his 'secret' location to have a dig. We hired some gear and Craig was excited! This place was an old dried up river bed so we got to work. After about 2 hours of not finding anything we decided to head for the fossicking park.







This place is truly the middle of no where, 800 square km's of sapphire bearing land. We head down this dirt track and see one other older couple digging a huge hole so Craig heads over and has a chat. They tell us to watch out for the ticks and brown snakes.....great! I got out the picnic rug and a magazine and all of a sudden this person appears. She says 'hey youse wanna dig some?' She was about 40 and had no teeth at all, she was unkempt and slightly scary. She told us that she also had a spot and we should follow her. Craig eyes wide with excitement we followed her on her pushy to her tent. I was so scared, I thought for sure she would rob us out in this no where land. She showed us where to dig and what to look for and left us alone. I looked over my shoulder the whole time!! We didnt find anything so headed back into town where we bought a few bags of wash and found a few small sapphires.



This is part of our treasure:

Night 15 - Rubyvale

We headed west from our free camp (which was a great night) to Emerald. We stopped for lunch at McDonalds, gee the kids were excited....first take away on our trip!

Next stop Rubyvale, good old Rubyvale! This tiny little town is special to us. We were last here 10 years ago when we did a half trip around OZ. Little did I know that Craig bought my engagement ring from here, he then proposed on top of Uluru a month later. Who would have thought that 10 years later we would find ourselves here again, this time with three kids!

The town hasnt changed at all. Its a little sapphire mining town that basically has one street, the smallest post office you have ever seen, a pub, a tiny supermarket, cafe and about 10 gem stores. Everyone at our caravan park is here to strike it rich!

We are going fossicking tomorrow.....look out!

Night 14 - Bedford Weir

So off we headed west again from Gracemere (a central cattle sales town....moo) along the Capricorn Hwy. The countryside changed dramatically from hills to open flat red-dirt areas with large cattle stations and wheat, cotton, sunflowers, etc crop farms.

We also went past a de-railed coal train that was a total wreck. The workmen were going from carriage to carriage chopping them up into small bits and loading scrap metal bins that were hauled of on trucks.



We were headed to 1 of a number of free-camps that we could decide on. The first was right on the side of the highway (too noisy and we got there at lunch so still some driving to do), the 2nd had a bushfire raging nearby (we didn't have enough marshmallows) but the 3rd was a cracker.

Situated 27km`s off the main highway was Bedford Weir campground. On the way in we went past some Emu's which was a thrill for the kids. There was a boat ramp and a water-ski clubhouse (corrugated iron - that's all you need hey boys for a club house!!) next to the campground which had a fulltime caretaker onsite who welcomed you there and gave a run down on the place. We could pick any spot and did so away from others (let the kids go crazy time) and hopefully away from snakes or other nasties......we had just driven through a town called 'Dingo'. We could also light a fire here so Bailey and I went wading through waist high snake infested (the toilets had a sign in them 'please shut the lid to keep the snakes and frogs out') grass to find fire wood. Returned with only minor patches of 'bark off' and all limbs plus some wood to burn which we did under the most amazing starry night sky I had seen in a long long time. It is a great spot (reminds me of Manly Dam) and free. You can stay there for up to 7 nights.

Night 13 - Rockhampton

Today we explored Capricorn Caves. Well worth a visit. We went on an hour tour which was really intersting and the kids loved every minute. The caves were discovered by John Olsen who bought the surrounding land back in the 1800's. He explored the dry cave system using candle light.

Here we are in the cave's cathedral where the acoustics are actually better than the opera house. The tour guide turned off the lights and played an opera song which was absolutely amazing.







Bailey inside a limestone tube.



We are ready to head off now. Craig new best friends 90 year olds Dave and John are really going to miss him. They bailed him up every single time he stepped out of our van and talked about everything and nothing.

The Rockhampton fashion, hair styles and tattoo's are out of control!!!

Next stop.....our first free camp of the trip. Looking forward to another night of toasting marshmallows on the campfire.