31st August Chinchilla 470 kms today 10,177 kms to date

We had our last freeze-dried meal for breakfast, Beef Curry.  These meals have proved a great success and quite nutritious and tasty.  I stopped to adjust the chain on the DR and then stopped to adjust it back again.  End of trip paranoia was setting in!

We followed the Warrego Hwy east through Morven, Mitchell, Roma and Miles to Chinchilla.  We stopped for a break under a Coolabah Tree.

The impact of the Coal Seam Gas industry became more apparent especially after Roma.  Four years ago the farmers fences were festooned with anti CSG slogans, but these have disappeared as the mighty petrochemical industry rolled into town.  Backed by the State Government, the local community didn’t have a real say in what happened.  The whole business is clouded in secrecy Daniel Prentice tells us, with landowners legally forbidden to discuss with other farmers what deals they have gotten from the developers. I snapped this gas well just outside of Miles. It has some sort of de-watering tower and what happens to the very salty waste water is one of the issues the industry is yet to face.

Prentice family in Chinchilla

We arrived at the Prentices at about 3:30.  Daniel, Joshua and Libby where out in the fields helping their Dad deal with their cows but we were greeted by Frances, Bethany and of course little Caleb.  We played Pictionary after tea and Libby and Frances pipped the boys at the post.

It is still a bit nippy in the evenings so Daniel lit the fire in the “Shed”. It burned all night and kept us nice and warm.

30th August – Charleville – 512kms today, 9,707kms to date

We had our second last freeze dried meal, Mexican Chicken, for breakfast at Longreach before heading for Charleville. Another perfect sunny day, not a cloud in the sky. Unfortunately they need rain badly through the whole of western Queensland. The road to Barcaldine was wall to wall road kill mainly kangaroos. This happens a lot during droughts as there tends to be more feed on the road side than in the paddocks.  Colin reckons it should be called the Slaughterhouse Highway.

The countryside is flat and bare with only the occasional cluster of scrubby trees.  The land was cleared by the pastoralists supposedly to increase grass cover, but the complete absence of trees makes it more susceptible to damage during drought and denies any shelter to the stock.  There were other areas that still had trees and they looked in much better condition.

We are staying in a cabin at the Bailey Bar Caravan Park where everything actually works which surprised us greatly as in some of the places we have stayed in a lot of the appliances/features  didn’t work.  A maintenance man appeared to replace the fluorescent tube without us actually reporting it, which was amazing.

This is the Corones Hotel the only pub in Charleville which was open for dinner. It seems that Saturday in Charleville is a slow day and most of the eateries don’t bother opening. We had a couple of great steaks at the Corones served by a rather good looking Chinese waitress.  Colin was so impressed he spilled his chips just to see her clear them up.  We watched the final free practice of the British MotoGP with Marquez at the top of the list.

Corones Hotel

It was a slow day for Colin with the photos so he took this one of the bar in the Corones. They were having a “Disco” night so we beat a hasty retreat before it started.

This is a genuine Queenslander house. There are not many of them around these days and this is a great example.

29th August Longreach 189 kms today 9,295 kms to date

We packed up early to get to Longreach as early as we could.  We planned to do the Stockman’s Hall of Fame and the Qantas Museum in one day.  We had found a nice cafe in Winton at the North Gregory Hotel, but had to wait 15 minutes until they officially opened (7am).

The countryside between Winton and Longreach continued as flat dry rangelands, but there were more sheep in the paddocks.  Then in the distance, the country changed to a woodland aspect and we descended to a bridge over a flowing river!  It was the Darr River and the woodland was growing in a wide floodway from there to Longreach.  This photo is of the Thomson River just outside the town.

Thomson river - Longreach

We arrived in Longreach in plenty of time due to my sacrificing my own comfort to ride the 180 kms without stopping.  First we dropped into the Qantas Museum to book a jet tour and we were persuaded to add a dinner/show for another $20.

We visited the Stockman’s Hall of Fame, which was an initiative by RM Williams and a few other rural luminaries.  It was a magnificent display of the settlement of Australia and how the pastoral industry played a very important part in that story.

Stockmans Hall of Fame

Inside the Stockmans Hall of Fame

We saw a stockman show in an outdoor arena and the lone horseman rode 3 different horses, sang songs and ended up riding a huge bull – very entertaining.  He started with a horse that lay on its back to allow the rider to clean it’s hooves without straining his own back.  Alan is shown with Jigsaw the bull.

A demo of wrestling a horse!!

Jigsaw the bull .. on the left.

The Qantas Museum was just across the road.  The original hangar was there, where Qantas built it’s first 6 planes themselves: an Avro and a replica was in the museum.  There was a lot of information about the founders of Qantas – Hudson Fysh, Paul McGuinness who were WWI Air Corp buddies and Fergus McMaster who provided capital and political influence.  It was touch and go initially and a number of mail contracts including to Singapore really gave them the start they needed.

The original hangar

A copy of the original Avro used by Qantas

We had a special guide to take us through the big jet planes in an outside display.  One was a 1979 vintage 747 just like the one I flew to Australia in with Morag. and it was gifted by Qantas – the only involvement it has in the museum.  To land it at Longreach airport it had to be stripped inside to lighten it as the runway was much too short for a fully equipped plane to land.  We walked under the plane and the guide pointed out all the sensors and what they did.

A couple of Egits in the engine cowling.

Then we went inside and saw the inner workings of the aircraft, including the black boxes, which are actually orange.  As we were a small group we were allowed into the cockpit and Captain Alan took his seat at the controls.

These are the "Black Boxes" except they are orange!!

Just made for the job!!

There was the first Boeing 707 that Qantas flew. Alan flew to Australia in 1966 in a similar 707.  This plane went through a complete refit after they to entice a Middle Eastern princeling to buy it as a personal jet.  They made one big mistake when they used pigskin leather for the seats!  The plane ended up mothballed in the UK and was bought by the museum for $1.50 It had to be re-commissioned by a small army of volunteers before it could be flown back to Longreach.  The last plane is a Catalina seaplane from Spain, which is being refitted to replicate 5 Catalina’s that Qantas operated between Darwin and Sri Lanka to deliver mail and documents through enemy airspace during WWII.

We ended up the day at the Heartland show in the old terminal building.  We were entertained by Mike, Lee and Grant with a great selection of their own compositions and bush ballads.  The dinner was excellent – it was prepared by the Qantas chefs.

28th August - Winton ; 468kms today, 9,106ms to date

We were up at 7am and on the road by 8am heading for Cloncurry 120kms away for breakfast. This is the sort of scenery between Mt. Isa and Cloncurry, low hills, twisty roads and interesting scenery much different to the scenery between Cloncurry and Winton which was pretty flat and boring.

This is a little place called McKinlay on the road from Cloncurry to Winton. The pub is called Crocodile Dundee’s.

Occasionally you see crosses like this on the side of the road signifying where someone came to grief. This one is for Ed the “Singing Shearer”.

This IS a WIDE load. It is an ore truck for a mine. It covered more than half the width of the road. It has a vehicle in front and behind warning the traffic that it is approaching. There was only room for a motorbike to get past so I’m not sure what they do when a four wheel vehicle comes along. Probably pull it over on the narrow hard shoulder.

Our answer to the rock formations in Arizona!!!

Winton is dinosaur central. There are all sorts of tours to follow the dinosaur trail etc. The garbage bins in the CBD are dinosaur feet!!! This monster was in the caravan park we stayed in.

We found out that there was a free concert in the town put on by the Queensland government in support of cultural diversity. It was held in the Winton Royal Open Air Theatre an outdoor cinema where the audience sat in deck chairs. The group were very good. There were musicians from India, Zimbabwe, China, South America, Samoa and Australia. They played instruments from their particular part of the world and accompanied each other with great skill.

Cultural event of the trip in Winton's Royal Theatre

27th August Mt Isa 0 kms today 8,638 kms to date

We got up early to give us enough time to walk to the Hard Times Mine for an underground mine tour.  The main mine no longer runs mine tours after a visitor broke a leg and sued the company.  So the Mayor and some retired miners got some funding and created their own mine.  We had Bill as our guide. He had worked underground in the big mine for 30 years and had dug out the Hard Times mine so he had plenty of stories to tell.   If you look closely you can see women’s bras strung together.  This is part of a larger plan to set a Guinness Book of Records record.

A couple of GITMO refugees!

But first we had to dress up like inmates of Guantanamo Bay!  We weren’t allowed to take cameras underground.  Bill took us down in a cage and then we walked through the 1km of underground tunnels that demonstrated the main features of underground mining.  We all had our own miners lamps as it was pitch black.  Bill operated a pneumatic mucking out machine and we all had a go at using a pneumatic drill: all very noisy.  Bill also drove one of the big face shovels that made the ground shake.  We ended up in a Crib room having a cup of tea and examining some big pieces of lead and copper ore.  The lead ore was extraordinarily heavy.

We also had a look round the Riversleigh Fossil display.  Riversleigh is 150 kms north of Mt Isa and contains a huge number of fossils from 15-25 million years ago all buried in limestone.  Once the fossil is revealed – usually by blasting – mild acid is used to dissolve the limestone off the fossil.  Very intricate bone structures of things like bats can be revealed.  We passed a house on the way back to the Irish Club.  Quite a fancy garden for Mt Isa which usually have bare dirt or concrete around the house.  Mt Isa is a bit down at heel overall like it is expecting hard times.  The mine is owned by Glencore a big Swiss resources company. They have brought about many changes and the workforce is half what it used to be and open cut mining is about to expand.

26th August ; Mt. Isa ; 634kms today, 9,272kms to date

Because of the incessant wind we thought we’d start early today and get to Barkly Homestead roadhouse (180kms) for breakfast. We were up at 6am and on our way by 6.45am just as the sun was rising. What we didn’t think about that as we were heading east into the sun. For the first half hour we were riding blind following the white line in the middle of the road. The other risk at this time of day was wildlife especially kangaroos. Luckily they had enough sense to stay tucked up in bed as any sane person should be at sunrise. The wind was quite manageable on the way to Barkly Homestead roadhouse where we had a hearty breakfast and filled up the bikes. My GS is still misfiring slightly and uses a lot of fuel especially riding into the wind. I am only getting around 300kms from the 20 litre tank. I am carrying 10 litres of fuel just in case I get caught short.

Here are Colin and I outside the Barkly Homestead roadhouse before we took off after breakfast. A Belgian woman tourist offered to the photo. She was heading back to Airlie beach (North Queensland) via West MacDonnell ranges (Alice Springs) which is a pretty circuitous route.

Just in case no one believes how windy it was there were warning signs along the road confirming it. The wind got stronger as the day wore on but started to abate in the afternoon. It is hard work riding into or with a cross wind and we had regular stops to recover.

We met the driver of this road train in a lay by and he said we were crazy riding into the wind but not the worst affected. We had passed a couple cycling the same direction as us and battling the headwind. Now that IS hard work. We didn’t stop to chat as I didn’t think they would be particularly receptive.  We had to pass a few of these road trains on the road as they were going our way at the same pace.  Because of the cross wind the back trailer was usually swinging quite a bit making overtaking a challenging experience.

Colin took this photo of the famous chimney stacks of Mt. Isa  where they just appeared out of the scrub.  The taller is the highest in Australia and was erected because the toxic fumes from the smelting sometimes get blown back across the residential area. The smaller chimney wasn’t high enough to protect the townsfolk and they would have had to evacuate.  The higher stack disperses the fumes over the top of the houses.

We are staying at the Irish Club in Mt. Isa. We stayed here in 2010 so we thought we’d try it again. The accommodation is Donga style with all single rooms. It used to cater for mine workers only but now is mainly itinerant clowns like Colin and I. Tomorrow we are going on a simulated mine tour. There are no tours through the working mine so they have created shaft(s) to simulate a working mine. We have to make sure we bring a pair of socks as you have to wear a boiler suit  plus boots.

Mt Isa Irish Club dongas

This is our accommodation at the Irish Club. There is a bar/restaurant across the street where we have enjoyed draught Guinness and some delicious meals very reasonably priced too.

25th August Three Ways RH nr Tennant Creek 60 kms today 8,638 kms todate

We both woke up just before dawn when the temperature dropped and we felt chilly.  We have found this quite common on this trip – the predawn chills.  We rode into Tennant Creek for brekky and found a nice cafe for our traditional bacon and eggs.

First stop after breakfast was the Battery Hill Mine Museum.  They had lost their licence for the underground tours due to safety issues.  We had the social display and the mineral collections to choose from.

The social display was the personal story of Kevin Weabers who’s father set up the Rising Sun gold mine in the 1930’s as one of the first mining families in the Tennant Creek area.  His father was blind but that didn’t stop him being a key player in the local community.  Kevin painted a very happy life with his family.  Then tragedy struck and his  sister Kate was killed in an air crash where Owen was the pilot and then Owen died flying in WWII.



The mineral display was very good with clear descriptions of the different types of minerals and beautiful examples from Australia and the world.  This is a Crocoite crystal of Lead/Chromium oxide.

The Weabers built an ore battery to crush the rock and allow the extraction the gold.  They bought it from Harris Scarfe in Adelaide!



After WWII Peko Wallsend started mining on a large scale and developed the Nobs Hill mine into one of the most productive in Australia.  From 1949 to 1969 Peko extracted 50 million oz of gold and was a financial bonanza for the shareholders.

I couldn’t resist the photo opportunity!

We next went to the Nyinkka Nyunyu cultural centre.  It was an audio visual display of the life and cultural history of the local Warumungu people.  We were given an audio self guided tour player and looked at 2 different aspects in the centre.



The beginning was a series of diorama's of the life of aboriginals after Europeans arrived in  the area.  The local elders started a native title claim in the early 1970’s and were eventually granted their lands back despite the obstruction of the NT government.  The High Court was the one supporter they had and it proved decisive.  Nyinkka Nyunyu is the aboriginal word for the spiky tailed lizard and it is a key totem for the Warumungu people.  The rock formation above is actually the sacred site where the lizard was created in the dreamtime.

Alan decided to clean his air filters to see if that would solve his top gear engine problems.  He washed and re-oiled his primary sock and secondary filter.  A quick test ride showed some improvement.   Tomorrow we are planning to leave at sunrise as we have a long 600 km ride to Mount Isa fighting the wind.

24th August – Three Ways Roadhouse nr Tennant Creek – 326kms today,8,617kms to date.

This Australian Defence Force Tank transporter turned up at the roadhouse as we were having breakfast. It is an M1 Abrahms tank made in the USA. They were taking it to Brisbane.  We saw a snake on the road and a Pelican in the Newcastle Waters flood plain.  That was a big  surprise.

 Quite frequently we see ant hills dressed up like this on the side of the roads. Occasionally they do a bit of modelling on them but mainly they just drape them with old T-shirts etc. Probably done by backpackers playing strip poker??? 

We met this little man soon after we left Dunmarra roadhouse. His name was Nicholas and we think he is French. He seems to be walking round the world. He started in April 2013 and has just done Japan and NZ and is now “doing” Australia. Next he will walk through SE Asia, the Middle East, Europe and finish off walking from Alaska to the tip of South America. Forrest Gump II or just plain nuts!!!!

Nicholas was the second guy we saw walking through Australia

The roads were pretty straight today, but there were some panoramic views off to the East as we crested the few hills on the road.  This area of Australia is so flat that you can see the curvature of the earth on the horizon.  Unfortunately there was a strong side wind which made riding rather difficult. The wind is forecast to continue and we will be heading straight into it when we leave for Mt Isa on Tuesday. Colin has a theory that if we get going early just after first light we can get a few kms under our belt before the wind sets in. We’ll see.

This is the Three Ways Roadhouse where we are spending a couple of nights. It is at the start of the Barkly Highway which heads east to Mt Isa. It is 25kms north of Tennant Creek. There is a local festival called Desert Harmony on in Tennant Creek and we are going to check it out plus other sights tomorrow.

This is a memorial to the Reverend John Flynn of Flying Doctor fame. It is near the Three Ways roadhouse.