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| We stopped by these friendly horses on the northern outskirts of Boulia |
We were out of water in our caravan tanks again so made our way into Boulia. To our surprise the main street had taps and hoses on the middle island for the very purpose of filling up tanks with drinking water! We then did a bit of food shopping to keep us going until hopefully when we get down to Port Augusta, and refilled the fuel tanks ($1.45/L).We weren't feeling that hungry after doing shopping even thought it was close to midday so we had a snack and kept going.
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| Crossing the Tropic of Capricorn, again! |
It wasn't long before we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn, once again! Between crossing it travelling north in Rockhampton, then various trips in and out of Alice Springs a couple of weeks ago during our commutes, and now, as far as we're aware, crossing it south for the last time on our journey back towards Adelaide, we've built up a number of these milestones!
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| The vast flatness of the Gibber Plains out here in 'Channel Country' (more about 'Gibber Plains' in the next entry). |
The
countryside out here is so vast you go past sections where it's so flat. Thanks to the recent rains there were sections of ground where there was some pretty enormous patches of standing water!
As we travelled we listen to some more episodes of Just William.
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| 'Motorcarbreakdown' Creek! |
We stopped off briefly at a place called the Motorcarbreakdown creek and also found some little gems. Such an odd name but funny - one can only wonder what stories must have led to a name like this!
Bedourie
We then pushed on for a while longer until
we came to Bedourie where we stopped for lunch. The intention was to drive onto Birdsville but as it was now after 3pm we wondered about free camping near Bedourie for the night. However the only advertised free camp was closed for maintenance. So we made lunch and then headed over to the
information centre to get some advice as to where to stay the night.
Well! The lady who staffed the Bedourie Information Centre was a wealth of knowledge and so friendly! She said the only caravan park running in town only charged $15 per vehicle for the night, or $20 with power. She also spruiked the local swimming pool plus geothermal spa for $10 for the access card for as long as we were in town, along with the local food. We acquiesced, bought the card and decided to go to the caravan park for the night.
To be honest it wasn't much of a park - it was literally a patch of dirt next to a portable toilet block, although at least there was a big shade shed under which we could park, and hook up to power.
Our first stop was to head down to the local pool and try out this thermal pool! Bedourie is a town of only about 90 people so we didn't expect much, but check it out!
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| Bedourie geothermal spa |
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| The 25m lap pool nearby the spa |
After we'd warmed up sufficiently we jumped into the main pool which was lovely and cool. Nearby there was a bin full of pool noodles and a floating mat, and it was so relaxing just floating around on the water. The kids found Flippy the Green Frog hiding in a little alcove at the end of the pool where the lane ropes are hooked in, and enjoyed playing (gently) with it!
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| Flippy taking a ride on one of the mats! |
What's the do with Bedourie?
I have to say something about Bedourie. In all our travels I have
never come across a small country town which punches above its weight quite like Bedourie - and having travelled
through many dozens of country towns in the past three years it's a statement to make. The town is only really a main street with a few backstreets - probably
similar in its feel to Tintinara or Coonalpyn in SA. It only has a population of about 90, but its facilities belie such a number and a town 20 times the size would be proud to have its facilities!
The playground where we first stopped was modern and well maintained, with several seating areas. There was a central BBQ with a tap and sink connected, and for a joke I turned it on to wash my hands and was surprised when it actually worked! This 'as if... wow!' was characteristic of the town. Next to the playground about a dozen workmen were laying concrete for a new skate part. The pool and spa, as already shown, were up to a very good standard. The information centre was modern and well looked after. The houses were
neat and tidy. The information centre looked like the jewel of the
town. They have a (dirt) racecourse and a showground. They have sprinklers on a lot of the grass so it stays nice and green. And while it might sound stereotyped or racist to say it (when in fact we're neither, it's simply speaking it how we see it), there also didn't seem to be any of the hallmarks of indigenous people there we've seen in so many other towns, of trashed cars and junky yards - these were completely absent here in Bedourie.
Bedourie has had a rough time recently. Their main roadhouse burnt down a couple of weeks ago but in that time they've pulled in a semi-trailer kitted out as a new kitchen and dining area. I was chatting to a guy in the shop where we paid for the caravan park who turned out to be the fire chief (who tragically was out of town when the fire broke out). He said they've already got plans for the new roadhouse and expect it to be up and running by February 2021.
We wondered quite how they did it, as the town didn't look at all big enough to create enough money to support such facilities. So on our way out of town, we asked at the (modern) information centre (staffed by two people that day) on our way out quite how they manage to do it! The lady we spoke to said a lot of it is government money, but they have a very good person who writes grant applications for them. Also their local mayor is a very hands-on person who gets the community behind whatever they're doing, and really looks after the people who come into the town to help build the facilities for them.
Bedourie gets all of its water from the ground. It comes out of the ground at the 40 degrees or so that the spa's at, and at the edge of town they have cooling ponds to allow the water to cool down before it's pumped into the houses for drinking water.
If I was inclined to live anywhere out this way, I would not hesitate to live in Bedourie!
We then went to look at the dirt racecourse. It was closed but it was fun to wander around, look at the starting gates and we even did a horse race game!
In the evening we went to the semi-trailer for tea and enjoyed a roast lamb special, a pretty good feed for $19.50 per person. So long since we've had a roast!
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| Inside the semi-trailer dining / kitchen car |
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| Roast lamb / fish and chips |
And naturally we were treated to a delightful sunset!
That evening I worked pretty solidly on updating the blog from Kings Canyon, in particular the video. It was 1:30am before I'd finished, so we slept in pretty late, and while we'd intended to move, we decided to stay another day and try to catch up further, as well as getting some business work done.
We started the day with a morning dip in the hot spa, then a swim, a play with Flippy who was still in his lane rope home, and then got on with the blog and some work.
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| Getting our toes warm before moving into the 40 degree geothermal spa! |
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| Flippy the Frog vainly trying to sleep! |
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| They had this cool automatic pool vacuum cleaner running around the pool while we were there. |
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| The pristine new roof over the pool was full of these mud swallow nests! It was amazing seeing them fly in and out of the tiny openings to feed their young! |
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| The commentary tower at Bedourie Racecourse |
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| Another beautiful sunset in Bedourie |
-- Greg
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