QI Tour - Thargomindah to Cunnamulla (Day 29)

Reluctantly but sensibly, we made the grown up decision and realised not so much our limitations but that going forward with our plan to drive the 300 plus kms to Eromanga on the Natural Science Loop was placing us too close to where those limitation are these days. Too much risk.

So instead, we did something we hate doing and retraced our steps, 200kms back to Cunnamulla. I was quite nervous about the drive, because there were some narrow sections and questionable road edges on that path too but at least there was much less of them.

In the end, the drive was relatively easy and almost all the passing of other traffic happened on wider sections. Only once did we have to drop the left wheels onto the dirt but it was full of rock and provided stable footing. On another occasion, seeing traffic coming in both directions, I pulled over on a wide section to let them pass before we returned to the narrows I could see ahead.

Back at Eulo after 135kms, we had tea and discussed our future travels. This episode has convinced me that our "adventure" touring is over. Highways and good country roads from now on and our time towing is closer to ending than it has been since the beginning. Maybe another 7 years will do and one more long trip. A return to the Centre and the West are off the agenda for good now but perhaps a return to Tassie might be worthwhile.

The RFDS was in town, their plane parked on the gravel which makes up both the parking area and taxiways and runway. They fly into Eulo once a fortnight, offering GP services and on alternate fortnights, a physiotherapist or a podiatrist. Sue had a chat to them in the local hall.

As it was a few days ago, the Queen of Eulo Opal Centre was doing a good trade, with seven vans parked in the main (perhaps only) street. No one was at the Hotel.

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The remaining 65kms to Cunnamulla were comfortable and we headed out to a new camp we hadn't tried before, The Warrego River Tourist Park, located right beside the Warrego just to the south of Cunnamulla. and it only took a short while to realise why it has such a good reputation. Just a one night stay and then off to Charleville and get the tour back on track. Lovely spot and Sue sat by the river and watched the abundant birdlife and a passing rowing team! We both enjoyed a sunset over the Warrego which was probably the best on tour so far.

TOD Tour 2.0 Day 58 - Oil Tunnels, RFDS and The Esplanade

The WWII oil tunnels

Our third day of public transport. The caravan park is located near the bus stop on the main road into Darwin City and its only about 20 minutes to the centre of town.

We started today with a walk across the Skybridge which starts a block away at the end of Smith St. A block in the other direction is the famous Smith St Mall. The Skybridge goes from the cliff edge on the Esplanade across to a building in the Waterfront precinct. At the end of the Skywalk is a glass lift which drops you down to the restaurants of the Waterfront and the Wave Pool.

There are no surf waves at Darwin ... not unless a cyclone is hitting the place ... and then there's the problem of Box Jellyfish, estuarine crocodile and sharks. As a result, if you want to catch a wave, you go to the Wave Pool and surf in safety.

Nearby is Fiddlers' Green, an Irish pub with great tucker, good coffee and Guinness. My kind of place.

Not far away are the World War II oil tunnels. After the Japanese air raids began in February 1942 and the big surface oil tanks which supplied shipping were damaged, it was decided to undertake the ambitious project of building tunnels into the cliff face and placing longitudinal steel tanks in them. To fool the Japanese bombers, the majority of work was done with hand tools, as the use of machine would have tipped them off. The piles of soil outside the tunnels was, however, apparently missed by Japanese Intelligence. Once the tunnels were deep enough, steam shovels were included in the digging, which caused a further problem. The steam they generated pushed the humidity in the tunnels up to 95% and with the heat hovering near the old century mark, the workers went on strike.

By the end of the war, only six of the nine tunnels were completed and none of them were ever put to use during war time. Two of them were eventually used for a variety of purposes. At one time, a tank holding kerosene ruptured after heavy rain which caused the the tank to implode during the night. Thousands of litres poured out and made its way into Darwin harbour. Oops!

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After the tunnels, we caught a free shuttle around to the Stokes Hill Wharf and the Royal Flying Doctor Service museum, which we had visited late yesterday afternoon. We had another turn on the virtual reality version of that first air raid in 1942. This time, Sue armed with the tip to rotate her chair and look all around her, found the experience thrilling but needed to sit quietly on a chair for a few minutes afterwards. We consumed the information on the walls and finally got to the RFDS part of the facility. A retired plane is available to climb in and there are more VR presentations of a patient being transported to Adelaide and suffering multiple heart attacks.

After the RFDS, we again caught the shuttle, back to Fiddler's Green and had lunch ...oh and I had a Guinness.

After lunch, it was back across the Skybridge and a walk along the Esplanade past Government House and the NT Parliament.

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That was about it for the day, so we made a slow walk back to the bus interchange, as Sue's knee was ready to retire for the day. Back at the caravan park, we closed the day's activities with a dip in the pool.

So much done and yet, still so much to do.

Qld Outback Tour - John Flynn Place

The promised tyres - the main reason we were in Cloncurry - didn't appear on the overnight transport from Townsville, because an employee for got to order them. I didn't see the point of being upset and it paid dividends when I was offered a good price for the tyres ... about $60 per tyre less than Tamworth prices.

With another day to kill, we eventually returned to John Flynn Place and the museum set up to honour the Royal Flying Doctor Service which was first set up in Cloncurry and took its first operational flight from here to Julia Creek. We hadn't been keen to see it again, having appreciated it once before but a return visit ended up being more than justified.

Extremely well curated, there was lots of information but presented in a variety of learning styles which caught the eye and helped things sink in.

We would highly recommend it.

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We had a very nice dinner in a very ordinary hotel which offered a two for deal on meals, resulting in us getting barramundi and salad and a curry for the sum total of $25.

Day over, largely boring, we sat it out hoping the new tyres arrive in the morning.

Queensland Outback Tour - Old Planes & An Old Hotel

Our last day in Charleville was by far our best.

This morning we took ourselves out to the airport and grabbed an advantaged position to watch the landing of the twenty five planes taking part in the Royal Flying Doctor Service Pilgrimage - a flying tribute to make the 90th anniversary of the RFDS. The group are flying from Dubbo in the NSW Central West and had already visited Moree and Roma before Charleville. They will visit several other towns in Qld which have been important landmarks for the RFDS, before finishing the journey in Mount Isa.

There were some serious old birds among the group, including three Gypsy Moths. In they all came, one after the other and out stepped a variety of ... well it would be wrong to call them pilots, as their commitment is better rewarded with the term enthusiast. The surprising thing was the shortage of people who turned out to see the event. It has been poorly advertised, with the local paper saying they would cover the event after it had happened so they would have photos!

Sue, who knows little about planes, was enthralled and even though I don't know as much as either my brother or father, I have always loved aircraft, having at one stage wanted to be a fighter pilot in the same way most boys want to be firemen.

We went into town to The Black Sheep Cafe and had lunch, a delicious stew made on the premises. The cook even came to our table to check we had enjoyed it! Unbelievable hospitality in this town.

Amy Johnson's famous bathtub

Our afternoon was filled with a fascinating tour of the Hotel Corones and more stories about the man behind the place, Harry Corones. He started out as an owner of a cafe in Charleville - who would have thought, a Greek cafe owner - and moved into the Charleville Hotel as it licensee a few years later but it burnt down in the same year. It was rebuilt in brick to prevent fire and Corones signed a new lease. Soon after he built Charleville's first cinema and in subsequent years was one of the first shareholders in QANTAS.

In 1924, he started building Hotel Corones and from the start it was to be in grade style. Fully tiled walls and floor and the biggest bar top in Qld. Four ornate pillars were a feature of the bar and stained glass windows. Accommodation was added upstairs and a very fancy dining room. To this he added a dance hall beside the hotel which was the venue for all of Charleville's most important weddings.

Many famous guests have stayed at the Hotel Corones, including Gough Whitlam, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester (well one of those Royals), Brian Brown and many famous aviators. In 1930, the famous English aviatrix Amy Johnson, landed in Charleville as part a solo flight from England to Australia and of course, Harry Corones with his love of aviation, insisted she stay at his hotel. She ordered a bath be drawn but filled with champagne. 23 bottles did the job but Harry, always on the lookout for making an earned pound make another, had the bath drained back into the bottles and sold them as mementos!

A small landing from her room and one other beside it provided a secret access to the back of the hotel, where the famous could whisk consorts up a steep but unseen staircase and into their room.

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It was an excellent tour which was as much about the legendary Harry Corones as it was about his hotel.

Our evening ended with a campfire stew provided by the owners of our caravan park, the Bailey Bar and chats with fellow travellers.