Winter 2013
Part 10
Barcaldine & Aramac

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 If you live in Barcaldine or you have had anything to do with the creation of this great big ugly wooden box then I apologise for any hard feelings that my opinion might cause. The monument or whatever it is, looks weird, it must have required the destruction of untold numbers of trees, it must have cost a HUGE amount of money, and nobody knows why it is there at all. The placard below it, talks about the tree of knowledge.

There is no shortage of pubs in this tiny town of Barcaldine. We counted five before we decided to get lunch at this one. It was a good feed for only $12.

This was a fairly quiet time of the day in the main street, but don't be misled, we have seen it when it gets busy and there are sometimes three or even four cars in the main street - all at the same time.

After talking to the information centre, it seemed that the "Aramac and Gracevale" tour was an exciting tour adventure. Total cost $270. Total time 10 ½ hours. Food and beverage provided. Lets do it!!!

Now this might sound ungrateful but .. we spent about 7 hours in a 12 seater bus that rattled and banged along the dirt roads and drowned out most of whatever the driver was saying. When we reached the site where an old pub once stood, I had trouble understanding the fascination for some broken bottles.

I was amazed at the amount of interest shown in this old piece of wooden post that had been stuck in the ground many years ago.

There is definitely something wrong with me!

Our tour crossed the paths taken by the Cobb & Co coaches of many years ago. This particular site was at one of the resting places for the passengers and/or horses.

In those times, many years ago, the recognised thing to do was to carve your name into the soft rock nearby. There are numerous names and dates.

I could not see my name anywhere. (So, I wasn't a Cobb & Co passenger, teamster, or one of their horses). 

This is where my imagination was stretched a little. It is claimed...

The earliest dwellers (aboriginal) knew about the "big bang" that created the universe and the "Milky Way". These rock carvings clearly seem to show it. You can see it can't you? Some scientist are trying to demonstrate that the holes in the rock actually depict some of the star constellations. Personally, I thought it was quite obvious that an alien had been composing music on the rocks.

This roughly scratched "picture" has baffled science. They have many theories about what it meant to the ancient aborigines.

I wanted to ask why the scratches were nice fresh, clean rock and the surrounding rock was weathered and stained. But everybody was busy offering ideas about it's possible ancient significance.

Again, whats the matter with me?

Now this got my attention! (watching from the bus window)

Wild pigs get thirsty, very thirsty.

The tour operator has trained these wild pigs, like dogs, by using buckets of water as a reward. So far they only understand "sit" and "lie down" but they will apparently get smarter.

He has told them all to lie down in a straight line if they want a bucket of water.

When they had drunk all the water, they flew away.

After leaving Barcaldine and heading 156 kilometers east towards the city of Emerald, it seemed weird to see these signs in the middle of nowhere - but of course some kids still go to school even if it is 100 kilometers away. 

The coal trains seem to be endless. The fully loaded ones are going east and the empty ones are going west. Connie tried to count the number of carriages in this one but gave up when we stopped for lunch. Every so often there is a pair of engines (maybe one kilometer apart)in this long line of carriages.

This is a worry! I've fixed so many things in this caravan ...

 sexy young Lee Miller might be hanging around here for weeks.

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