Author: Mr A
Location: Barcaldine, Queensland
Saturday: Wevoted for a two day stay here – feeling the driving distances since Darwin a bit – sore eyes. So we settled in to a cosy little park that only has space for less than 10 vans. Very nicely kept with a tea house adjacent.
Barcaldine is a sleepy little place, it just doesn’t have the vibe of Winton. No welcoming pubs with outdoor seating, just the usual closed dark entrances with a glimpse of pokies inside. So we gave them a miss, and just had a 10km ride round on the bikes.
Not a great deal here that interested us, although the town does boast the start of the Australian union movement, celebrated with a fine monument in town that made us look twice – the Tree of Knowledge encompasses a Ghost Gum tree which stood on this site as a silent witness to the union struggles. The wooden blades represent the blades of the shearers and pastoralists who made up those first workers in 1891, and clink melodically in the breeze. 
But we just couldn’t imagine what you would do for the weeks that some people are clearly spending here! There are four caravan parks in town, and no shops that seem to cater for them. What do all these nomads do here? Some on our camp look very settled in. Each to their own I guess.
Sunday: We had a cruisey 9km ride around some wetlands on the edge of the sand hills that now seem to be encroaching on the edge of town as the climate changes.
Then a very chilled out day, concluding with a Goan fish curry courtesy of Mrs A’s fair hands. Well I have now graduated to kitchen assistant preparing the garlic, turmeric, ginger and blending up with pestle and mortar. Its a start!
