By the numbers
286 kms driving
3 hours driving
8.09 kms walking
The day started with a visit to the bakery and finding they have toasted sandwiches and I grabbed that and a sausage roll. I found the sandwich was bacon and egg cut into quarters. A worthy breakfast before leaving Winton. It has been a nice journey so far, but it is now time to head towards home as there are other commitments awaiting us both. Today the drive will take us to the town of Barcaldine.
The road towards Longreach as we found was pretty guys with caravans heading towards Winton or further on, although there is an opal festival on later in the week. That is kinda funny as last week the town had a film festival so it seems to be a busy time in the area. It wasn’t just one or two caravans that we were being passed by it was groups in a conga line. It was interesting watching as there had been few vehicles when we were coming in, although that could be due to the roads we were travelling on. Maybe people had better ideas than us? By the time we went past Ilfracombe, I was on roads that we had not been on before and it wasn’t that long before we arrived at Barcaldine. I had hit phone service and there had been no message about where we were staying in the town so it was leaning either way.
We had to stop anyway in town to use the loo and then get some lunch. For something to do and fill in time before going to check in, both mum and I went for a wander through a museum by the name of the Australian Workers Heritage centre. This place was interesting as it had the clone of the Tree of Knowledge that died after being poisoned in the early 2000s. This tree is known as the Young ‘un. The museum starts with the story of the 1891 shearers strike and the 15 people who were arrested in the aftermath of the strike. Near all of them were sent to St Helena Island for around 2 years. That is located in Moreton Bay. The group also inspired a Henry Lawson song. I found it interesting that Brisbane was where the lotto balls were once made and had some of the machines on display. The big tend seemed to also have tourist information about some of the towns like Winton, Rockhampton and Longreach. While it was interesting that there was plenty about the Labor politicians as it focused mainly on Queensland since it was the state we were in. There were even a little about the voting boxes that were used in the past. The time was slowly ticking away and the museum closes around 3pm and we wandered out before that time even though we hadn’t seen everything, but it was interesting especially when there were different mailboxes with Australia Post.
We arrived at our accommodation and the doors were shut. We were staying in a pub and it wasn’t open. I was getting worried that the booking hadn’t gone through. I basically looked around and then rang the number that I got from Google as the number outside the building wasn’t connected. We were let into the building once the owner came out to see us. We were asked if we had booked with Booking or direct and I said direct with them. I much prefer booking direct as the business gets 100% of the money. We were given the key and we had shared bathroom and toilets, which was suitable for tonight. We had basic rooms without a fridge so it could have been worse and no booking. We were upstairs and the hotel was a heritage type one with a little bit of history.
Once I had settled in I went for a walk around town. I would be back by the time it was ready for food to be ordered, though that seemed to be between 6pm and 730pm so it could either become busy like in Winton or be quiet. I followed some of the heritage signs and came across the old court house that was still being used as a court house, a Queensland government building now being used by the SES, a radio station that is now the movie theatre, although there were a few buildings that had burnt down several times and replaced. The Tree of Knowledge location in front of the train station was fenced off as they are apparently doing some work there and there is also some info panels about the Labor party movement, the shearers strike and the aftermath. Further along the street there was a Barcaldine mural that had been painted and a monument of a working windmill to a bore. The windmill works when the wind blows it moves and you can hear the creaking as it does.
I went back for a meal and I was early for once as I was going to visit the cemetery and decided against doing that. I should relax and not go rushing off. Tomorrow our next destination is the town of Springsure. That is something like a 4 hour drive and we might have quick stops in towns like Emerald.
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