Last Night in Longreach

My last night here in Longreach. Its bitterly cold and the wind, in Julies eloquent words, is described as smelling of penguin shit…. or polar bear arseholes…. humm classy - thanks Jules!!

 The rain has made it over from Bedourie, where one of Dougals crushing plants is currently…. Which means that things will halt and hunker down till it stops raining… again... 

I’d love to go and see the channel country now and compare it with the thick dusty roads we drove through for thousands of miles last year.  I caught up briefly with my brother Geordie who’d flown in from Birdsville on the weekend.  He reckons the countryside is incredible, transformed into huge lakes, vegetation and flowers. seems almost impossible to me - having see those long read expanses.  It was like driving on the moon. Not a stick, not a blade of grass for thousands of Miles. Poor old Bourke and Wills.

Having been here a number of times theres only so many times you can do the touristy stuff.  I’ve really come out here to see Jules and the kids - so that my kids can continue to get know their cousins and to experience some real Australian bush life.  Julie and her gang drive to mum and dads for Christmas every year and we generally spend two weeks with each other a year.  Its really not enough.  Every time we part I cry. I know I’ll cry tomorrow.  Distance kind of makes you forget how nice it is to have  a sister.  Someone who knows you so well that you don’t really have to talk. Boy and I am lucky,,, or unlucky.  I have three sisters all thousands of miles away from me in far flung dusty country towns. And its times like this I really really miss them. 

Poor Lilly has been crying alot tonight. She has had such a wonderful time with her cousins. 

and I totally understand. When I was growing up, we had cousins who lived in Mackay who we only saw once a year.  We adored those times and were so close to them as we grew up.  you know its crazy too. We didnt’ grow up in a luvy huggy kissy family.  But you knew where  you stood and that your family was always going to be there; you just have to say the word and you know they will travel thousands of miles to be there.

We’ve already begun planning our next trip out here. Julie and Dougal both turn 40 next year - so its got to be a big shin ding!  Morgan has committed to mastering riding his push bike so that at Easter next year, he can learn to ride a motorcycle. We will all get a bit better at our fishing skills ( like the tying of knots) so we can go fishing in the boat next time as well.

I’ve been posting photos up of our trip onto facebook - so go over there and check them out.. with my new Iphone - I’ve gotten very lazy with all of this - its so easy to upload to facebook I just don't do my blog much.. 

I've done this as an Audio Boo here   and there was a quick one done when I was in Roma on the way home here. 

My Audio Boos get posted directly onto my Facebook  - all you need to do is click on them while you are scrolling down and checking out what other people are doing and it will play in the background... otherwise just go to my AudioBoo site and follow me from there.  Every Sunday I will be reading one of my short stories - first drafts of them at least.

cheers!!

A week in Longreach

You think its a long time - but its not really...

A little about what we have been up to whilst in Longreach. Having been here a number of times theres only so many times you can do the touristy stuff.  I’ve come out here to see my sister and for my kids to both get to know their cousins and to experience some real Australian bush life.  When I was growing up, we had cousins who lived in Mackay who we only saw once a year.  We adored those times and were so close to them as we grew up.

Although some of them are a little older than my kids, the age differences aren’t so great that we can’t all do fun stuff together. Morgan has committed to mastering riding his push bike so that at Easter next year, he can learn to ride a motorcycle. We will all get a bit better at our fishing skills ( like the tying of knots) so we can go fishing in the boat next time as well.

Last night I sat  looking up at the velvety darkness, sprinkled with stars so bright and near  reckoned  if I reached my hand up just a bit higher I could reach them. The bonfire was gorgeous, so warm and full of fire dragons, I wished I could have sat there all night. 

I really love it out here and want Morgan and Lilly to keep experiencing the bush and country life.  We get so sedated in the city. Its all so clean and safe.  I do know I couldn’t live in the country again for a long stint; but it doesn’t stop me from enjoying the stillness, the beauty, honesty and harshness of it all.

Its been a very relaxed holiday; unlike our last trek out here where we covered nearly 4 thousand km over 5 days going from Longreach out to Birdsville and back in a very round trip.

Yesterday we went fishing at the billabong; where Lilly caught a tiddler.  I’m sorry to say I didn’t believe her when she said she had a bite - not until she hauled it in.. and she reeled it in on her own hot pink fishing rod all by herself. She was so delighted and proud. We did throw it back - just in case you were wondering.

Morgan cast some good lines out into the middle of the waterhole, but his bait was taken each time. I got a bit frustrated with the fishing rods continually tangling. Cheap  and nasty lines and ineffectual sinkers.  I’m going to raid some of our old ones when I go to visit my parents in a few days.

Julie and I are taking it a bit steady with the drinking. A few nights ago we went for a few quiet ones at a neighbours.  Two bottles of port, a bottle of vodka and a bottle of wine later we were singing at the tops of our voices to the country and western radio show; phoning in requests and laughing so hard my ribs still hurt.  gotta say I’m embarrassed how much country and western lyrics I actually know.  The first bottle of port was a really good one - $50 one.. the other one was a clayton special - a great big goony… anyone remember that mcwillimas cream port?  it still tastes the same. gross on the way down, worse on the way up. We made it home and straight into PJs and bed.. who knows how with kids in tow.

We’ve been to the Hall of Fame and to the Qantas Museum, have had picnics, played board games and driven round the town and property.  There are enough kids at Julies to play a decent game of baseball - so we had a hoot doing that - limited rules to include the little kids and to dampen the competitive spirit of the teenagers.  Today we had a huge table of craft and art things with plenty of inspiring creations happening.

On the cards over the net few days is a very competitive game of squatter with some neighbours.  cracks me up that farming folk love this game so much - well we did when we were kids. the banter and wise cracks as we go along I think is the best part of it.  Some craft and painting sessions, visit to the new heated pool the town has and dinner at Longway Station with a tour of the house.

Then its pack up shoot off down to Mum and Dads where they are shearing, stay there a few nights and back to Brisbane, just in time to catch a Lions Match and for me to shriek remembering I have to prepare for a term of teaching science and that the kids have a dance competition the following weekend.

Road Trip and Holidays at Longreach

I must be mad.. no wait - don’t answer that. Not only did I stay awake all night watching the second series of True Blood on Monday - but then thought it a good idea on Wednesday to go to a triple twilight move marathon, get in the car with the kids and drive to Longreach.

Now I have one this trip heaps of times - but this is my third time doing it solo. 

What an epic trip.  It usually takes 11 - 14 hours to drive out - with kids. and by that I mean you have to stop to run, pit stops, run and play, eat and more pit stops - about ten mins after the last one - because they didn’t want to go then but now have to… you get my gist.  But with the roadworks galore, then a grass fire outsie Chinchilla which stopped all traffic - light flashing the whole bit and then me just not coping, I trundled in at 8.30 pm tonight...and really have been driving solidly since 3.30 am - having been up the entire day beforehand.

When I got to Roma - I knew I was in trouble. I was really dazed and spaced out. Usually by Roma you’ve just gotten into the groove of driving and are feeling pretty good and we’ve always considered it as halfway. My biggest issue was that had overdosed on coffee and was now having a huge reaction to it - I know - my coffee stream was getting blood in it.  I thought I was feeling better by Mitchell. I’d drunk about 2 litres of water and done a bit of a run around the car a number of times as well as my power naps with the Pzizz…...but somewhere between Morvan and Augathella I started to hallucinate; which in itself would have been quite fun apart from the fact I was in charge of a speeding car hurtling down a deserted highway at 120kms an hour and that my kids were in the back seat.  It was the usual stuff - spiders in my hair, building nests on the roof, that little guy who keeps crawling on the bonnet of the car and the things in the trees reaching out and sliding across the road in front of me.

Having talked to a number of other long distant drivers its about the same - trees moving into the middle of the road, black dogs running beside or in front of you.. I’m putting it down to my imagination filling in a bunch of stuff… plus there is always the screaming tear of the veil between realities….

I’d been doing some pzizes every hour for 10 mins - which really slowed my timing down - but I was literally falling asleep in front of the wheel crossing the highway and being danger to myself and the kids. I can see that now and I did know it then. but  with no reception on the phone, I wasn’t sure if I should just keep going, find somewhere to sleep it off or find a room. I kept having wolf creek flashes and wasn’t keen to pull over on the side of the road waiting for some mad gun weilding weirdo to murder us and no-one know where to start looking for us.

I’m afraid I resorted to the tried and tested solution - those mini shots of V, red bull and some other energy drink - which the truck stop dude assured me was the go, followed by a chicko roll and a corn thing rolled in fat and other unmentionable grease.  I followed up said prescription every hour with the V… my body is hating me but at least I was alert for the next bit.

It was nearing 4 and the gloaming was setting in.  At Blackall I had to make a decision to bunk in at the pub ( where although I am sure the publican won’t remember I have a lifetime ban after a bender 25 years ago… but I didn’t want to take the chance.) or fight the roos for 220 kms in the dark.

So it was Roo Patrol - Morgan took front seat as my co-pilot and with high beam on and us at full bore - we tore into the closing night sending up prayers to the Goddess to keep the wee beasties at bay while we passed. Morgan was awesome and didn’t fall pray to the fledgling mistakes of stickaroos.  We had to break with burning screeches only twice and do some quick manoeuvring a few times as a mob changed direction.  The trucks going the other way were the worst issue.  With their lights on, we couldn’t see the roos being chased in front of them and narrowly missed a few as they bounced off their bull bars.

There were plenty to freshly killed carcasses along the way - so I think there must have been a road train just ahead of us swathing the way through the mobs.

It was pretty intense for a while and full on concentration - and I’ve never been so glad to see the water towers of Longreach.  So now we are here.. looking forward to a relaxing time with Julie and kids.

Just for fun now, I am doing something called Audio boo - which is sort of a podcast - but much easier for the person doing it to do.  Its being posted up on my facebook status and I’ll try to do one every week.   Its a way for you to hear my voice and for me to chat about whats been going on with us over the week.  I’m limited to 5 mins - so its a quick way to catch up  if you don’t have the time to read my stuff.

The link to my AudioBoo site is here

I’ve put some ‘boos’ up about the road trip ( recorded along the way) - here are the links.

Dalby

Part 2

Roma

middle of nowwhere 

Hallucinations in Augathella

Longreach

Enjoy!