Saturday – Emerald, Queensland
I was only a day away from home but I had decided to break it up into two days and get back Sunday. The worst job of the day was getting my riding pants and boots back on, after the ride through the locust plague yesterday, from the knees down they were slimy with guts and stuff, eeeewww 😦 After grabbing some fuel and food down at the BP I went looking for the first cache for the day, down at the Waltzing Matilda center, which is an Australian cultural center based on the music and poems of the past and in Particular Banjo Patterson.
After sorting that one out, I headed to Longreach, about 2 hours away through mainly flat terrain but quite green for a change and even with full rivers. There are a number of things of interest here, but for me, been there and done that a few times, so I checked out a cache near the hall of fame before heading to Barky, or Barcaldine.
Now, Barky was a surprise as they had changed the main street, or the highway in actual fact and built this huge structure on the left hand side.
This is or was the location of the tree (Tree of Knowledge)under which the Australian Labor Party was born. The original tree was killed by poison by some idiot years ago, the dead tree was removed and a sapling from the original root stock was put in its place, they had a number of these descendants in various places and some were quite well established . That was as far as things went before I left, this young 15ft tree now in place. I knew the original tree was being preserved but now I know what for. They have removed the living tree again and moved it to I have no idea where, maybe back where it was from originally. In its place they have placed the original preserved tree and the actual structure above it is a wooden carved sculpture, of the tree canopy if it was alive. It is hard to describe, but if you can imagine a mold of a tree canopy, then remove the tree and canopy itself, this is the shape the wood bits conform to, an interesting concept. Here is a sequence of photos from the past few years of what used to be here, the what is there now.
After the tree is dead before removal, about 3 years ago
The old tree replaced by the new tree about 1-2 years ago
And how it is today
After a short stop here onwards and as I was in no hurry I actually went and looked along this dirt track which I have seen a few times now either riding or driving past. There is not much there, but a small piece of history anyway 🙂
Next stop down the road was at the town of Jericho, I have always been intrigued by the name even though I am not religious and it seems to be related to things that happened long ago in a faraway place.
I could not make any real sense out of it, but it looked OK and was different so I will put it down to my ignorance 🙂 Next stop heading east was the Drummond Range, there was another cache here somewhere and I eventually found that one as well, a nice place to sit and relax and enjoy the view 🙂
If you are wondering what that is in my hand, it is one of the treasures in the cache, a squishy rubber chook that lays eggs 😉 All these short stops add up, so the normal time from Winton to Emerald was extended but not long after this I was passing through the cotton fields and booking into a motel. Knowing as I do the hassles of finding accommodation in the mining communities in the coal fields around here, I had booked a room here two nights ago. I have stayed here many times for work and I was surprised to find that the price had not changed much over the past two years even with the new owners, and they included a full on fried breakfast, cool 🙂
After a beer or two to quench the thirst I went up to the local I usually drink at and to get a meal. Not much has changed here either, except the price for the special had gone up by 5 bucks and the portion size had dropped, I will probably try something different next time out here, with work or without. A few beers back in the room sorting out some more caches for tomorrow, it was only a short 3 hour run to home, but I was planning on arriving in the middle of the arvo, in time for the raffles down the club, just getting the priorities right you know 😉
Day – 609 km and 378 miles
Trip – 9,892 km and 6,147 miles
Cheers
TravellingStrom
WORLD 
TravellingStrom 