Central Queensland

We have made it back East, albeit in the North! We travelled through to Longreach where we played tourist for a day, seeing the QANTAS museum (the airline was conceived and first flew from that area), and the Stockman's Hall of Fame. We loved the QANTAS museum. The tour was full of info, and variety.

The Stockman's Hall of Fame unfortunately was vastly over capitalised for the information it contained. It is obviously catering for the o/s tourist wanting the whole Aussie experience. By chance we discovered the township of Barcaldine, birthplace of the Australian Labour Party, following the shearers' strike back in the 1890's. The symbol of this chapter in our history was a magnificent old "tree of knowledge". Sadly, it was poisoned and killed early this century, but the town has erected this interesting series of enormous wind chimes to perpetuate the monument.

We have now spent a lovely time with the Stanleys in Rockhampton. It was great to sit and enjoy each other's company in their beautiful surroundings. On Saturday, we celebrated the 100th birthday of Wayne and Grant, best buddies since boyhood. Little Milly will be six on Tuesday, so that meant three different cakes!

The griffons flew up and joined us on Thursday, so we're in doggy mode now. Great to see them again!!

Today we had a lovely picnic at Yeppoon, and then a wander around Mount Archer, with panoramic view, inspite of the controlled burns today.

 Finally, moonrise over Gret Keppel Island.