Waltzing Matilda Motor Inn Charleville

... in all racing (or really, I should cay Crawling)! Proceeds are halved with the winner, the other half going to the RFDS. It was a fun afternoon and raised a sizeable amount for the charity. I now believe Aussies WILL bet on anything, 2 flies racing up the wall, or yabbies trying desperatley to claw their way across the finish line!!

Also last night we went out to the Cosmos Centre to view the outback sky. This was also a wonderful, but ...

Hopped on the bus to Charleville in the last minute. Had actually planned to head for Longreach, but there was no accomodation free, some big golf tournament or something. Found a really cheap hotel, only $130 on weekly basis, so I decided to stay here for the week to apply for new job, have to have some more money soon!!! A really nice town, living in a historic hotel, established 1895. Just exploring and relaxing.

... in the 1950's to prevent dingos and other wild dogs from travelling south. Craig's Dad, Bill, has relayed stories of when he was driving trucks across the country to get past the fence you had to bring your vehicle to a stop, unlock the gate an open it, drive through to the other side, and then lock the gate before continuing on. Nowadays they have cattle grids across the roads but the old gate still remains ...

... brief stop, some fuel, and a bagged lunch we were off to the final destination of the day, Charleville. Charleville is a town of 3,000 or so which was at one time three times that size when cattle and sheep were king and the ranchers were wealthy. Today there is an old hotel that is trying to recapture the glory days of Charleville, Corones, which is worth visiting. We stayed the night ...

... on a quad with the three oldest ones, Daniel and Jamie on their dirt bikes, Zac on his mini quad and Daniel decides to cut off Zac, they both roll and zac's quad ends up ontop of Daniel who is wedged to the ground with his leg stuck. There is much screaming and crying (kids not me), me thinking a leg had been severed off. Jamie was sent for help in her histarics ... I'm left with the scrawny 7 year old to pull this thing off of him ... which didn't look ...

After the night in Emerald and a long drive I arrived at Carnavon Gorge feeling rubbish but upon pulling up to the campsite a Roo bounced passed. The first wild Roo I had seen it cheered me up. Carnavon Gorge was an amazing place with some aboriginal art paintings and plenty of wildlife. The wildlife included a snake that I was only about one foot from standing on before I saw it. It was almost brown trouser time I can tell you. Fortunately it turned out to be a non-poisonous snake.

Hello from wet and wild Cairns.It seems that everywhere we go we always take the rain, but at least it isnt inconveniencing us. We are doing a lot of rainforest walks etc, it doesnt matter if its raining in the deep dark forest. Im desperate for another snorkelling trip, but there is no point in this bad weather.We went to kuranda via the Skyrail yesterday that was quite a heart starter, suspended high over the trees.It was fatastic, dont miss it it if you ever get the chance.