From Roma to Hervey Bay
we now leave Roma after some great experiences and head for Hervey Bay doing a stop over at Gayndah an passing thru Chinchilla and Wallumbilla ( I love these strange sounding names) The weather is still quite warm here and we haven’t seen any rain since March !! We will be staying in Hervey Bay for around 2 weeks while I update my passport,collect mail and go for a medical checkup in preparation for our next continued trip towards Tasmania Hopefully after my nieces wedding in the Blue Mountains and we will probably meet up with some family I haven’t seen in a long time (we have booked our camp for the occasion) we will see more of Brisbane/Sydney/Canberra but Back to today’s events We were amazed to see cows paddling in a large pond and enjoying themselves PLUS the BIG orange icon advertising their wares It got just a little scarey as we drove thru a small bush fire and hopefully it was put out Its very dry here considering the place was devastated with floods earlier in the year We have booked to go whale watching Wednesday and hopefully will have pics and a write up
Roma Cattle sale yards
This was an awesome experience ! Spectators are allowed to mingle in this amazing maze of cattle holding stalls Just to listen to the auctioneers was an experience and to watch potential bidders doing their secret signals to accept a price !! Each stall was perfectly handled by cowboys on horses who skilfully manoeuvred the cattle to others stalls.Each cow is “branded” with a paint number on a very long pole and as they are sold they are in turn colour coded with a different colour paint !!Staff use a long pole also with a plastic bag to move the cattle along (its hard to believe how docile these animals are ) Just to hear the 1000,s of cattle mooing was a sound I wont forget in a hurry>Id even say the cattle were contented !! All the bidders (and auctioneers) wore AKUBRA hats (told it takes 27 rabbits to make one hat.NO the rabbits didnt make the hats !!) I was compelled to buy one ! and for all you Pomms? Yes I will wear it !!
Yehawwwwwwwwww !!
Charleyville and Morven
after leaving Longreach we headed for Roma passing thru Charleville (that has the weirdest monument to a dead tree that when alive sheltered Unionist at their meetings,interesting to know that these meetings led to the start of the Labour movement In 1902 Charleville was the location of an unsuccessful attempt by Clement Lindley Wragge to fire cannons into the clouds in order to break a drought.) after a very brief stop we stayed at Morven Oval overnight at a nominal $2 fee !! At this venue we discovered ( after a year !!) that we had reversing sensors 1IF only we had been told when buying the bus wouls have saved a couple of “reversing incidents” purely my fault Next stop Roma is going to be very interesting Sad part of the journey from Longreach to Roma is the fact that literally hundreds of slaughtered Kangaroos lie on the roads edge creaing a huge feeding frenzy for the birds Every so often the road would be speckled with large white shaped that resemble an English foot path with discarded chewing gum ! Only this time its bird poo left after the Kangaroos had been devoured !!We stopped at a lonely roadside lay-by for a cuppa and came across two elderly farmers in a brand spanking new 4WD truck and they invited us to sit with them for lunch.They are known as COCKIES which relates to farmers They offered us food (tucker) their wives had made for their 10 day adventure into the bush !!Highlight was when they lit a fire and boiled water in a grimy old tin and mad tea that that drank from very old tin cans !! Brilliant ! One of the blokes wore a battered old hat that could probably tell a few tales Very insignificant meeting BUT a real joy to experience !!!
Goodbye Longreach (appendix) coz I had a few more photos !!!
Last parting photos of Longreach Well worth staying a couple of days Met some very interesting people time to move on now
Longreach Cowboy Show
We visited the Rodeo Show and for $42 it was well worth the visit included was entry to the Hall of Fame.The Show and a great Lunch.Altho it was basically a one man show showing the audience his skills on horse back riding,Camel manoeuvring Sheepdogs doing their tricks with the BIGGEST cows I have ever seen !! they were taller than me! He harnessed 8 of these giants whilst reciting a poem,Brilliant stuff !! and then using his farm skills loaded logs onto a large wagon with NO effort shown He sang.told very funny stories whilst hanging upside down from his horse and he kept the large crowd mesmerized with his craft If in Longreach go and see this show you will NOT be disappointed !!
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- This cow is taller than me
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- Very Skillful
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- Me n a Cowboy
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- Great Show
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- I wanna Horse
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- Not a bad singer neither
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- Masterful Cowboy
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- Clever Camel
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- Should get him to train Annie
Watch me play Didgeridoo
Geoffs Life After Work ! 