On our last night in Birdsville fish & chips were on the menu at the Birdsville Bakery, so making the short walk across town we enjoyed our meal sitting around the camp fire outside the bakery. As we were returning past the pub we noticed a very faithful dog sitting on the window sill waiting for his owner who was inside quenching his thirst.
Our only mishap on the trip into Birdsville was getting a broken windscreen in the Paj, we had actually completed the gravel section and were back to the single lane black top when a vehicle travelling towards Birdsville sprayed us with rocks, smashing the windscreen. It was so frustrating as when we see approaching vehicles we pull right off the black top onto the gravel to give the approaching vehicle the whole lane, but no, the metal mentality of some of these cowboys they still need to travel at high speed with two wheels off in the gravel, too bad about spraying others with rocks. It's a good thing we have windscreen cover on our insurance as it seems we need a new one about every two years.
Monday we left Windorah after returning to our van the previous afternoon and took the road heading north to Longreach. We had lunch in Longreach and reacquainted ourselves with the town before heading 3 klms east of Ilfracombe to a free stop over for the night. Tuesday we were keen to move on to Lara Wetlands that is 28 klms south of Barcaldine. Barcaldine is the home of the Tree of Knowledge, a Ghost Gum Eucalyptus which earned its claim to fame as the founding site of the political movement we now know as the Aust. Labour Party.Striking shearers met under it boughs during the "Great Shearers Strike". In it's hay day the town of Barcaldine or Barcy as the locals call it had six pubs which kept the shearers well watered.
After a stop at the IGA and the loacl butcher to restock the van we headed south on the Lansborough Hwy for 28 klms turning off at the Lara Wetlands sign then it was a further 13 klms on a very dusty sandy road to the Bush Camping Grounds. What a beautiful spot, it is one of the best Bush Camps we have been to, lovely and clean with nice green grass around the wetlands, plenty of fire wood for your fire, lovely bush walks, birdlife and best of all the natural thermal pool. We paid for three nights on arrival and will be staying on for another couple of nights as it so peaceful and a great place for us to relax Jo the station owner is an amazing person who has overcome huge difficulties that have been thrown at her, especially since the death of her husband 4 yrs ago when he was killed in a helicopter accident when mustering on a local property.
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| Fish Chips Birdsville Bakery |
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| Waiting patiently at the pub |
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| Sunset near Ilfracombe |
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| D & B at the Tree of Knowledge |
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| Three of the six pubs at Barcaldine |
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| Camp ground Lara Wetlands |
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| Thermal Pool Lara Wetlands |
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| Sunrise over the Wetlands |
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| No way was I going to share the Throne with Baz! |
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Old Homestead at Lara Wetlands
under renovation |
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| Museum at Lara |
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| Sunset over the Wetlands |
