Judy & Brian Tour Oz

  Charleville Qld, July 11, 2024 Two hundred kilometres in a northerly direction will take you from Cunnamulla to Charleville. And that is what we did, leaving late, about half past nine or so, and strolled up and into Charleville. Benn a few years since we were here last, and we had chosen to stay at the Bailey Bar caravan park again. I have to say that it's pretty tired and compared to Cunnamulla, cramped and dirty looking. It didn’t help that the man-on-the-mobile-chair really didn’t know how to direct us into our spot and to be honest, I just wish they’d leave us alone. As soon as he left to "help" another happy camper, we pulled it to and repacked it. After 15 years, we have it down pretty pat. Hardly even a raised voice these days!. First thing to check out is the Cosmos Centre, which is somewhat larger than last time. The have a planetarium dome thing where we watched a great movie all about the solar system and planets and things. Inside the main building they ...

Charleville Day 2 Did nothin’.  Well almost nothing all day, just resting, getting ourselves ready for The Big Night. Yes folks, tonight is the weekly running of the almost famous Bailey Bar Crustacean Cup, a short dash over 1 metre for crustaceans of the yabbie family. You get an entry when you buy your dinner ticket, so not only do you get to go to the races, but you get fed as well. I’m not sure what was in the cauldron over the fire, but i’d have to assume its the remains of last night’s lamb-on-a-spit dinner, which we chose to forgo. However there is no escaping the Cup, so we duly took our places in the ring and after a good feed of hot-pot, mash and damper, the lights went up and the contestants released into the containment area. The flag dropped and they were off, well they could have been off but then they don't exactly move like startled rabbits. Some just sat and did nothing, most followed the biggest one and broke into a slow crawl toward the winner’s line. The ya...

Charleville Qld, May 31, 2016 Pretty much a repeat of yesterday’s travel, a 250km run from Bourke to Cunnamulla, lunch in the only cafe in town and the afternoon stint of 200km up to Charleville. Somewhere north of Bourke you cross into Queensland and immediately loose the 110km limit, back to 100km. Not that I care, I’m happy around the 100kph +10-5) mark, it’s just that nothing changes: not the road, not the land, not the speed of the people using the road... and yet one government thinks 110 is too fast and slap a 100 limit on. Actually, 20km or so over the border and it went back up to 110, and again, nothing changes. That was almost the highlight of the trip. The real highlight and point of discussion was the carnage on the road in the form of road-kill. Roos, emus, pigs, you name it. It kept me awake weaving in and out and around the carcasses, i sure wouldn't want to actually hit one at that speed, dead or alive. I have to assume it’s trucks at night that do the damage or ...

Off to the pub! We went on the Scones and Story tour of the Hotel Corones this afternoon. The Hotel was originally the Hotel Norman until bought by Haralambos ( Harry ) Corones, an enterprising young fellow from Greece, in 1924. Harry had come to Australia with nothing except his 12yo cousin Dimitris and after a few years in Sydney and Brisbane, moved to Charleville to buy a cafe that was for sale. He was soon co-opted into taking on the Charleville Hotel, but later bought the Hotel Norman and transformed it into his vision of elegance and splendour. Much later, he bought the Charleville as well to add to his portfolio of some 10 hotels. The tour is run by the information centre people, our guide being the great granddaughter of the builder engaged by Harry to build his dream. Lovely tour, got to see a whole lot of the hotel, the bar, the rooms, the very room where QANTAS was hatched, the dance hall and ended up with tea and scones in the dining room. Fortunately the whole place is...

History Lesson today I went and joined a 'convoy' in the morning. It was a guided tour of the area around the airport, which during WWII had been taken over by the USAF and converted into a top secret Air Force base (no wonder you've never heard of it!). Charleville was chosen because it was too far inland to come under naval attack or air attack (remember: the bombing of Darwin is very fresh in their minds, as is the USAF getting wiped out in the Philippines). Anyhow they brought a reputed 200 B17 'Flying Fortress' bombers and 3 1/2 thousand servicemen into town and proceeded to upgrade the airport and everything else around town. The Top Secret turns out to have been the use of the super top secret Norden bomb aiming sight, basically a mechanical, clockwork, analogue computer. So top secret that the few they had were housed in a special bunker, kept under armed guard 24 hours a day, escorted to a plane selected at random, and not uncovered until that plane...

Time to mosey on up the road. You hitch the van on, pull out straight onto the Mitchell Highway and maintain speed for the next few hours. We stopped after 250k at the first town, Cunnamulla, in Qld, (not the first name, that would be Engonia or Barringun) for an early lunch and because we just had to have a break. The driving is flat and mostly straight through scrubby country. The only noticeable thing is the fauna wandering along the road: sheep, goats, cows, emus, roos, pigs. The raptors were having a field day, selecting only the most ripe and juicy while ignoring others. In Cunnamulla we had toasties and coffee and took time to snap the world famous Cunnamulla Fella (what? you've never heard of him? shame, shame shame). Nothing for it but to push on up to Charleville, another 200 or so kays up the road. I have to say that the roads at this stage are far better in Qld than NSW, but no lessening in animals looking to be the next Eagle Boys meal. Somewhere back near Bourke we en...