May 16th: School, Sky & Serenade

Day 43 (Day 18 in Australia)

We all agreed this morning that we didn’t want to leave the amazing campsite in Longreach. Reluctantly, we had to check out by 11am, which at least is an hour later than most hotels.

Just before we left we heard a noise outside the tent. Checked it and 2 guys were camouflaging the wheely bin. The owner thought they were not aesthetically pleasing. And here were we thinking there is absolutely nothing they could do to improve it!

We had some time to kill so back into Longreach for a coffee in the sunshine in a former bank.

As we sat sipping, the Cobb & Co stagecoach went by. Just got my phone out in time.

Soon it was time to drive a couple of miles to visit Longreach School of Distance Education. Previously known as School of the Air. For a tenner we had an hour+ tour of the school. It was incredible. Words cannot do it justice. Teachers have 2 screens on their desks, one showing the lesson and the other their 4-6 pupils.

Notice their motto: effort conquers distance

My ignorant preconception was “they are making a valiant effort but these kids must be missing out on so much”. I could not have been more wrong. 

All I can say is this: if any UK teachers visit, their first question would surely be, “Do you have any vacancies?”. 

A fantastic experience. 

Then it was time for the 100 mile drive to Winton, The landscape gradually changed to smaller and smaller trees and bushes then to almost all grassland. There was evidence of recent fires.

The bushes are all black following a fire

All week I’ve wanted to take a photo of a road train with 4 trailers but the ones I saw were all driving at 110kph. Just outside Winton there was one parked. At last! The driver was doing some checks and I noticed he was driving a 50 metre, 4 trailer, 200 ton truck for 100s of miles… in flip flops!

Typical, isn’t it? You wait all week for a four trailer road train and then two come along at once!

Winton is our final destination on this week-long epic journey from Sydney, which will then take us back most of the same route and then on to Gold Coast over the next 2 days of VERY long drives.

We checked into The Australian Hotel. Let’s just say it is slightly less luxurious than yesterday. It’s £35 a night which tells you all you need to know. Like something out of the 1890s Wild West.

A short walk up and down the main road in the searing heat revealed the opportunity for employment in the town if anyone is interested.

I may have mentioned this before, but Winton is named after Winton in Bournemouth which was the birthplace of the town’s founder, Robert Allen, in 1876 (reading Wikipedia so you don’t have to!). It is famous for being the town where ‘Banjo’ Paterson (and some Sheila) wrote and first performed Waltzing Matilda, the country’s unofficial national anthem. 

After a short siesta (did I mention it was hot?) we all drove back several miles to “The Jump-Up” (an Aussie name for a flat-topped hill) in the middle of thousands of square miles of flat bush land. This is the permanent home of a major tourist attraction, “The Australian Age of Dinosaurs”.

But we were not there for that. The site is being used for a week for an annual music festival. Tonight is “Dark Sky Serenade” or light opera under the stars. And what a setting! Music came from the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and Opera Queensland plus 6 or 7 ‘famous’ Queensland opera singers.

I had not heard of any of them but they and the whole show was very good. The scenery, of course, was incredible. 

The photos don’t do it justice but give an impression. 

Back at the ‘hotel’ (inverted commas to avoid any legal issues with the trade description act), the most famous (“but not as famous as Kylie” - Phil) singer of the night, Kate Miller-Heike, walked in for a beer. Apparently she represented Australia in the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest*. I was going to get a selfie with her but a) you would not have been impressed and b) I would have looked a twerp.

A fantastic day and night and endless thanks to Phil & Carolyn yet again for organising it.

Anyway, it’s now 10:30 pm and we’re setting off at 6:30am for a 10 (yes TEN!) hour drive to Roma.

* yeah, that’s what I thought.