Waltzing Matilda Mateship Myth, Winton Outback Queensland, Thursday 19 July 2012 Yesterday afternoon Dave and I paid $18 each (Seniors Concession) to go to the "Matilda Museum" in the main street of Winton. It was full of interesting "pioneer" memorabilia. They do tend to go on and on about Banjo Patterson writing "Waltzing Matilda" in this town; a cheery little song about stealing a sheep, and a body in a billabong. I got a bit het up inside myself seeing a h...

Escaping Longreach and looking for Dinosaurs - Tuesday 17th July I saw Trish punch the air with her fist as we passed the spot where her bike ground to a halt 47km out of Longreach on our first attempt to get to Winton. This time we are onward to Winton. Unfortunately the change of plans meant that we could not get back into the caravan park we had to cancel. Beggars can't be choosers when there is very little room at the inn. On arrival we found that the Pe...

Still in Longreach - Grrrrrr! A beautiful sunny morning, no tent to pack up and only 178km to ride, what could go wrong? 47km out of Longreach and we had just overtaken a very long Road Train with Trish leading when she started flapping her arm in the air in frustration and slowed dramatically. With the Road train looming up behind we managed to get most of the way off the road before the Road Train thundered past. By this stage I had worked out that all the...

Longreach sightseeing on Friday 13th July2012 In the morning we visited the School of Distance Education, or "the School of the Air" at Longreach in outback Queensland. This place looks like a normal primary school complex on the edge of town, only it is so quiet; no sounds of any children can be heard! They are all scattered around on outback cattle stations and other remote places, doing home schooling. There were 2 tour sessions daily and both were fully ...

Rubyvale to Longreach Qld: Thurs 12 July12 A misty moisty morning in Rubyvale, and we rode out of town in light rain. I was a bit spooked stopping for fuel at the little village of Sapphire, because of a lot of water-filled potholes in the gravel entrance to the petrol bowser there. Never mind; fuel up, continue onwards and keep an eye out for cattle looming out of the fog on the edge of the road down to the Capricorn Highway. It was a very pleasant surprise ri...