Central & Western Queensland

After a crazy week of cleaning and packing we had an awesome night saying goodbye to our friends and hit the road!

First stop was Lake Nuga Nuga. This was such a hidden gem. We had prime parking on the grass by the lake front. The water was covered in water lily's and had the most epic bird life at sunrise and sunset. The days were warm, enough for Nada to get in and paddle around on the lake on his surf board. Behind Lake Nuga Nuga was a couple of beautiful looking mountains that seemed to cliff out

near the top. But with no trail or signage we thought we would have a go at a 'first ascent' and follow our noses. We managed to get to the summit and it was spectacular with Carnarvon George in the background. Lake Nuga Nuga and then onto Carnavon George was a well needed few days to rest, recover and walk away the term!

We couldnt go through Central Queensland without a trip down Nada's memory lane in, Charleville or as Adam would say "to check on the kids"! We rode our bikes all around town as Nada played tour guide, we checked out his old school, classroom and house. The house is probably on the worst street in town on the 'wrong side of the tracks'. Charleville has a rich history because of its location for aeronautical development, in particular I was captivated by the American Air Forces presence there during WWII and the secrecy and length they went to to

protect their new missile technology, the Norden Bomb. I also loved Hotel Corones and the man who built it, Harry Corones, left such a legacy in the community which is hard not to reflect on. Dont suppose anyone has an old bottle of champagne from the Corones Hotel lying around do they? It could be worth a bit, but I probably wouldnt drink it!

The rain came in and so we decided to stay in one place for a few days as it quickly turns to mud and putting up and taking down canvas is not exactly fun. So deviating from the plan, we wound up in Illfracombe which is between Longreach and Barcaldine. There is plenty of rich history around here too from the tree of knowledge where the Labour Party first formed, to the QANTAS founders museum and the Stockman's Hall of Fame. It is incredible how resilient and resourceful people in the outback have to be. Whether it was Fysh treking from Longreach to Darwin in a T-Model Ford with no roads to build the runways between Darwin and Longreach for the great London to Melbourne air race, the Hawkers and

Indigenous Australians who faced such discrimination, or the stockmans wifes so isolated out on properties on their own for months while their husbands were out droving (even better the women who became drovers themselves!). There is so much strength and spirit.

The stand out story to me was of Len Waters, a Kamilaroi man and WWII Fighter Pilot who was never given a commercial pilot job after the war, despite his service and accomplishments. This is such a sad and frustrating story and indicative of the racial predjudices at the time. I have since found a biography about him and am looking forward to reading it.

Our last stops were Winton and Boulia to check out the Dinosaur Fossils and the Min Min Lights. Surprisingly the Min Min Lights show was impressive and a lot of money

has been pumped into the creation of it. We chanced apon a ripper campsight in Bladensburg National Park and had it all to ourselves which is a real win. We enjoyed riding around the National Park on our bikes and it was nice to do some physical activity after so many days driving and slowly plodding around museums.

I must admit it has taken me a while to strike up the motivation to take some photos or write this post. We are just generally enioying disconnecting haha. We are on the NT border at a station and will be meeting up with Adam in Alice Springs in a few days to start hiking on the Lara Pinta Trail, cant wait