Tuesday

A lovely sleep in this morning. After breakfast I headed for the shower but the owner showed me a closer one. It was more rustic than the container type set up but the shower was hot and there was plenty of room.

We went into town and due to the operating times we thought we'd do the Stonehouse Museum, then the Min Min Experience at the Information centre then have lunch at the pub. We got to the museum and were told that the lady was not there at the moment but everything was open and we were welcome to start looking around and just go and pay later. We saw a sign with the prices that indicated it was cheaper to buy both the tours rather than pay separately.

The museum was really quite good. The Stonehouse was an early settlers house and was given a grant from National Trust to help in the restoration. There are family stories on the walls from descendants and the grounds have loads of old machinery. There are sheds with more farming equipment and the old town telephone systems. And finally, there is a fossil display that is so much better than the one we saw in Mt Isa. You could actually see the markings in these ones.

After looking around we went to pay only to find that you could only buy the joint ticket from the Information Centre. She offered to ring the centre and let them know but we thought it would be OK to show the tickets we'd just bought. Once we got down the street we had to pay the full price for the Min Min Experience. This was an animatronics show giving different stories about the Min Min lights that are reported to appear at night.

I was really impressed with this little town. While there is not much there they are trying very had to win over the tourists. The town is neat and clean and lunch at the pub was quite good. The caravan park we stayed at was lovely and spacious and the owners friendly.

I got talking to an older couple in the afternoon - Ken and Claire - from Mackay. They have a huge amount of travelling experience and I talked to them for quite some time swapping places of interest etc. They are also heading down to Birdsville Races but will spend a few more days in Boulia first.

Another cold night tonight so quite early to bed. Blankets and doonas a definite.