Going to Smiley town

Day 5 – Charleville to Longreach

Today we had over 500km to get to Longreach and like clock work we rolled out of our campsite at 9am.

Our first stop was Augathella which for Australians over 50 is the town where the kid (Didy ‘Smiley’ Creevey) that the character “Smiley” was based on. 2008 was the 50th anniversary of the movie “Smiley”.

Augathella is an interesting little town with a range of sculptures and murals around town including this giant meat ant.

And a painted water tower which had murals all the way around. Here is one side.

And even a mural on the public toilet block.

From Augathella we head to Tambo for fuel and a break. While we were waiting on food I pull off the screen for some running repairs as my electric screen stopped working this morning and was stuck in the low position so I moved it to a higher preset position to help with the wind turbulence for Deb on the back.

In Blackall we found a bakery and a vanilla slice. Oh the disappointment … this was a shocker. It was all wrong.

Score: 1

And one of the many ‘original’ Black Stumps around the country.

It does look a bit fancier than the one out of Coolah in NSW.

The big road trains are now getting more frequent and primarliy heading south. On a bike they certainly are big thundering passed. Here are a few.

Barcaldine is the birthplace of the organisation that later became the Australian Labour Party. This monument of the original tree of knowledge where that meeting took place in 1891.

And close by is an interesting statue using scrape metal, tools and other pieces representing a shearer swearing allegiance to the southern cross in the fight for justice during the shearers strike of 1891.