With Day 1 done and dusted we cracked on.  Augathella was the first stop and we broke out the pizza pieces and esky edibles at Meat Ant Park.  For a tiny town with little to keep the economy buzzing, it was a delightful early morning visit.

 

Meat Ant meets E.

There is a distinct pride in this community.  The wide street welcomes visitors to its historic attractions and there has been a big effort to produce many visual features.

LSM was pleased to be reminded about Smiley.  M’s efforts to assist a friend with her Creevey family tree, were rewarded with the discovery of the author of the Smiley story.  And here was the tribute to him.  We stop here overnight on our return, so it looks like a trip to the cemetery to forage further.

Thanks Augathella for such a gentle, friendly start to the day.

Then came to rolling flat plains, endless shrubby vegetation and clear, rainfree skies as we headed towards Tambo.  Teddies here we come!

E was in her element at the famous Tambo Teddies outlet which dragged this tiny community back from the brink of death.  The initiative to use the wool from local producers to create distinctive Teddy Bears was embraced worldwide and has seen a turnaround in all things Tambo.

E chose Mt Pleasant Percy as her lifelong bear companion.  The Mt Pleasant is for the local property and Percy seemd to fit percyctly!  With her purchase registered on the database, and hugged to within an inch of his life already, we strolled next door to Maggie Mae’s coffee shop.

Here was the intriguing story of an extraordinary horse.  The footpath in this mid-morning peace was suddenly alive with friends arriving for the local book club.  What a great way to use the local venue.  LSM enjoyed his coffee too!

Continuing along the Landsborough Highway, we passed an emu mother and her chick pecking beside the road, plenty of road kill of unsuspecting roos, slight variations in vegetation and wispy cloud formation in clear unrelenting skies.  The occasional Trivia Signs help keep the boredom at bay.

So we rolled in to Barcaldine for a picnic lunch.

We cracked out the corned beef which had acted as frozen ice in the esky and produced the best boiled egg, tomato, avacado, cheese, onion and corned beef sangers!  Even my gf bread behaved and didn’t fall apart.  We supported the local shop, and then strolled to the legendary Tree of Knowledge, the Shearers Walk, and the Artesian Memorial.

E learned lots, was bewildered and couldn’t understand why anyone would poison the tree, and then tinkled on the public piano located near the well-watered park strip.  Barcaldine continues to display its heritage with quality information and pride. This was a great stop.

It seemed like a downhill run from Barci to Longreach….and it was in the scheme of road tripping.  The sight of the iconic stockman, and the big Jumbo at the QANTAS founders museum meant we were there!

We had a very, very pleasant couple of hours exploring the Stockman’s Hall of Fame and the Hugh Sawery Art Gallery. The interactive nature of the exhibits and the quality of the various themed sections is outstanding.  We had not been for many years and enjoyed seeing the contemporary additions.  Particularly powerful was the individual voices of the Aboriginal stock pioneers telling their stories.  Great to see the recognition given to their integral contribution.

Time for a swim in the very comfortable family budget Abajaz motel pool…..freezing water which was unexpected, but most refreshing.  Again our esky provided a basic meal and we plotted our course for the next leg, filled the water bottles and hit the hay after another big day in the saddle.