Back to our adventure

Highlights	Not such highlights
Catching up with friends – both	Will’s motorbike being stolen from under the annex – Both but Will especially
Contributing to changes and improvements at the museum - both	Bicycles being stolen even if only for a short time – both
Seeing the early morning sun on the escarpments and the colours of the sunsets- Kate	Traveling the Plenty Hwy – Will
Seeing my writing on display – both but especially Kate	Having the backdoor window slip out of the frame allowing a ton of fine red dirt to enter the van (bloody Plenty Hwy) - both
Meeting the men who started the Razorback Blockade – both but especially Kate
Seeing the emotions and gratitude of the family members when they saw the display I wrote - Kate
Meeting with an editor and publisher to discuss writing a book - Kate
Scaring the thieves who stole our pushbikes enough that they dropped them and ran! – both but especially Will also known as the praying mantis or bionic man due to his lengthy stride across two lanes of traffic to bring down the thieves. (they ran before he got anywhere near them but it felt bloody good to scare them even just a little)
Traveling the Plenty Hwy and staying at Tobermorey Station - Kate
Sunset and stars at Winton - Kate
A walk around Barcaldine – Kate
Reading Lola a book - Kate
Chatting with Leongatha-ites around the fire pit in Dingo – Both, but Will esp.

 

Wow, so much has happened since I last blogged. We’ve completed our volunteering duties in Alice Springs, have farewelled our dear friends from 2015, plus newer dear friends from 2022, and have headed east. I think it is fair to say I thrived during our house-sitting adventure while Will survived. And as so often is the case in our world, it was the opposite in Alice Springs. Will thrived and I survived. 

Having said that, there were some very memorable and special moments for me. Meeting Spencer and Carle, two of the men who began the Razorback Blockade in 1979 was very special. I’d chatted with them and many others and hoped that I had created a display they would be pleased with. Watching them and the adult children of Ted Steven’s, the spokesman at the blockade, gaze at the display, with tears slipping down their cheeks, was very moving. I really didn’t understand until that moment how important it was to Ben and Kelly that their father’s actions, which went on to have detrimental effects for both his work and family life, be acknowledged. I felt relief, pride and humbled to have been a part of bringing the display together.

Ben, myself, Spencer, Kelly, Gloria, Senator Glenn Sterle, Mike, Linda, Carle & Ben

There was silence as the men and their families took the display in - a very special moment to watch

It seems that this display is opening doors for me. Not long after I began researching, I found out that Mike was planning on writing a book about Razorback. After a few weeks he asked me to join him as co-author. A day after seeing the display Mike rang and suggested we have a meeting to discuss the project. Seems he has changed his mind. He has know offered to pay me to write the book, with him as editor and publisher. He has a graphic designer lined up to do all the formatting etc. Yep, I now have an official paid

Mike, my editor!

writing job! OK, it’s only a small payment, but it’s a beginning and a wonderful opportunity. I’ve also been offered the chance to write articles for a trucking magazine – Truckin’ Life. More paid writing work – I think that makes me a freelance writer! So, I’ve started playing around with business name ideas, and I’ll need to update my LinkedIn Account, but first, I’m letting myself enjoy our travels across to the east coast.

Before leaving Alice, we decided it was time to tackle a dirt road, take a little short cut, save a tank of fuel and have an adventure. So, we turned off onto the Plenty Hwy. Not quite like the Hume or Bruce or Stuart Hwy that we are now so familiar with. In Will’s words the road was shithouse! It was very rough and corrugated and rocky in different spots with the odd patch of bulldust thrown in for good measure. Once we passed Tobermorey Station, where we camped for the night, and left the NT behind us, the highway was mostly bitumen and even when it wasn’t we could travel at 100km an hour. We’d sat on 30km on the NT side at one point.

 Unfortunately, we didn’t realise until we pulled up for the night, that the back van window had slid down in its frame allowing an inch or so space for dust to fly into the van. Not even when Will stopped to change the van tyre did we notice this issue. Anyway, luckily the people we camped beside had a battery operated vacuum cleaner and the cattle station workers were able to supply and fit a new tyre. ($360 not cheap, but bloody grateful we could get it)

Even the anthills are huge

I'm glad we didn't meet too many roadtrains!

We'll always have a bit of the Plenty Hwy with us from now on, I think!!

Our next night was in Winton. What a great little town. I went for my morning walk, it was sad to see shops closed and up for sale. But as the morning went on you could also see how hard locals were working to keep their town going. Volunteers opened one shop/museum and many of the locals would call out a greeting and ask you how your

Painted Brolgas and the real things at the Winton Surf Club - they have a great sense of humour!

day was going. There are great tourism spots including the Waltzing Matilda Museum, and of course The Winton Truck Museum. At $75 a head for the basic experience, we gave the Dinosaur Museum a miss. After a lunch break and wander through Longreach, we made it to Barcaldine for the night. I am so pleased that I can now picture the towns I’ve so often heard spoken about.

My morning walk around Barcaldine was lovely and educational. I hadn’t really heard of the Shearer’s strike until we were driving into Winton, when the ABC was talking about the meaning of the song Waltzing Matilda. Of course, we read more about the shearer’s strike at the Winton Museum and then I read more on my morning wander. The strike headquarters was set up in Barcaldine and the strike began on the 5^th of January 1891. The military arrived by train, ‘scabs’ or non-union shearers began shearing, strike leaders

were thrown in jail, and by June 1891 the strike was called off. In 1892, union members once again met under the tree at Barcaldine. This time they decided it was through political means that they would have their say, so they began the Workers Political Party which later became the Labor Party.

Will and I hit the road again. We spotted an emu and her chicks on the side of the road, boab trees in paddocks and white fluffly stuff all along the highway. Turns out it was cotton. We also saw hundreds of cotton modules lined up in paddocks, a bit like we’d see hundred of bales of silage on some farms.

We had a short day and had parked up by 3.30pm in a tiny town called Dingo. After sitting quietly, Kate writing and Will, well just sitting, we headed over to the firepit. A lady heard me say we were from Fish Creek, she laughed and said, “We’re from Leongatha”. The blokes looked at each other and low and behold, they’d known each other for years. The evening passed quickly as we chatted to David and Chris Hengstberger. Whilst I’d never met them, there were families I knew through my years of teaching that Chris and I were both familiar with.

Today, we are having our usual go-slow morning, although, for me, much more slow than usual. I’ve generally had a morning walk by now and probably showered and I’d be ready to go for the day. Today, I’m still in my pjs, in bed, about to boil the kettle for a second cup of tea to enjoy while I reread this blog and find some photos to go in.

Will is sleeping, as usual. Our plan is to head to Bundaberg, should be there by the end of the day, and to find him some work. So, hopefully by next week he’ll be rising and shining for work commitments. He did have an interview for a farm hand job lined up, however, that position has already been filled. So, stay tuned, and we will keep you posted as our adventure unfolds.

 

Cathy, I had my outdoor haircut! A fellow traveller set up her business at her van.

Birthday bouquet from my co-workers/volunteers

We attended a Norforce Ceremony event