Charleville

 23 - 25 October 2021

After looking around Barcaldine, we set off towards Charleville. We stopped for morning tea in Blackall, and at a couple of rest areas for a stretch. The forecast was once again high 30's and it was about 39° when we stopped for lunch in Augathella.

We drove through town to a lovely spot by the (dry) river where you can also camp. It was a great spot for lunch despite the hot wind. We will keep it in mind as a possible camping spot in the future - nice clean toilet block, picnic shelters and lots of birds, and just a short walk to the pub. You can't get much better than that.

We had decided on a couple of extra nights in a cottage in Charleville where we had stayed once before and had booked in advance. As much as we love camping, it's not much fun when the temperature rises and the nights don't bring any relief. Our cottage at the Charleville Bush Caravan Park would have to be one of the best resourced we have ever stayed in. It has its own yard and everything needed for a very comfortable stay.

The view from our cottage at Charleville

After settling in, Mick spent a good bit of time wandering around looking for birds to photograph, while I settled into the air conditioning with a good book.

There was some rusty old junk to ponder

There were flowers to enjoy

On Sunday we spent a quiet morning at "home" with Mick wandering with the camera for most of the time. In the afternoon we visited the Charleville Cosmos Centre. It was necessary to book ahead, which we did online. The Cosmos Centre is one tourist attraction that I had always wanted to visit but we opted just to go along for the free "Astronomy by Day" self guided tour. Unfortunately we were rather disappointed for a number of reasons.

On entry, our booking was not checked and we were just directed in to wander around. The displays were interesting but the audio on a couple of the videos was so bad that we could not understand what was being said. The "Outback Stargazing Theatre" featured NASA videos (again with dreadful audio) that didn't seem to have anything to do with the Australian outback.

The absence of Australian content on the interactive map of the world showing how ancient civilizations viewed the solar system was astounding. We also found it unusual that there was nothing in the self-guided tour to encourage participation in the other tours available.

The late afternoon was again very hot but Mick still managed to go out walking with the camera. We also decided on, and booked, our next stop at Charlotte Plains near Cunnamulla.

There is always kangaroos around

Striated Pardalote

On Monday morning we tidied and packed the car ready for the journey further south, and hopefully better weather.