Wow what a Weekend

Leaving finally, hard to believe that this time last week we hit the road. Was a fabulous weekend, went way to fast, and nearly 600 photos later and still wishing I was able to take more it was over. Some crazy roadkill, we see roos and the occasional dingo here, but out there we saw emu's, wild pigs and camels, some of them would leave a nasty dint in the car. Also saw half a dozen live camels on the side of the road, wish we stopped to take pics but the kids were sleeping and being only about 15 minutes out of Barcy we didn't want to wake them again.

Stopped off in Emerald on Friday Night, just so we could break the trip up a little, didn't know how well the kids were going to travel. Had to get Red Rooster for Tea as the motel we stayed at (after telling Luke they did tea) apparently DON'T do tea on Friday/Saturday/Sunday nights. Left about 9ish Saturday Morning and continued our drive, finally reaching Barcy about 12.30pm just in time for Lunch. Went to the races and sheep shearing that night. Fun atmosphere.

Rev Fest all day Sunday. Decided against going to the footy that night and Luke and I stayed home to try and get the kids in bed for a bit of sleep, and we watched a few movies. Was nice just to chill out for a while. Luke's cousin Cindy (who we stayed with) went out and didn't get home til 2am, for such a small township Barcy has 6 pubs on the main street.

Monday we decided to drive out to Longreach, had a look at The Stockmans' Hall of Fame and the Qantas Muesum. Seeing as it's only an hour away we couldn't not go all that way and see both those places. Was just a shame that we couldn't of spent a while longer exploring.

Left about 1.30pm and decided that we'd travel home, made a few stops along the way for fuel, tea and just to have a break and Managed to hit home at 10pm. Exhusted but so glad of the time away, planning on going again. If your after a great drive I say head out west. Once we went past Emerald we were lucky to see maybe 50 cars in four hours of driving.

So onto the happy snaps.

Just as we pulled out onto the highway.
Sunset near Blackwater

Just coming into Blackwater, coal loading facilities, wish we were able to see it during the day, kids would of loved seeing the dozers and trains.

Barcaldine Sheep Shearing.




It was really really dark inside the shed, needed to manual the camera and use the flash, photo's stilled turned out pretty crappy, but seeing as I couldn't move cause one child wanted to sit on my lap to see this is the best I could do. Was incredible to watch, and the girls were going faster and doing a better job than most the blokes, also there was the fastest sheep shearing in Australia, OMG he was amazing, incredibly quick.

The Barcaldine Rev Fest

Had a great day, got plenty of car pics, and racing snaps. Fast cars, some we weren't really expecting, like a Turbo'd Volvo, and a Ford Territory, but damn both those vehicles could move. One of the quickest cars all day was owned and driven my the local doctor from Longreach. Was cool to see, also one of the local chicks has a very hotted up ute that really really moved. Was really hot, and I got pretty badly burned, but good feeds, great atmosphere, and the whole community really gets involved in the local events. So brilliant to see. And they are all so friendly, make you feel very welcome into the place.

This Falcon was dropping the biggest burnouts all day.
Nothing better than a bit of smokage.
This ute is from Rocky. So he travelled nearly as far as us.
Some hot cars were around. Just needed to snap this one, is the most gorgeous shade of green and being an imparla brought back wedding memories, we had imparla's for our bridal cars.

This is what happens when you travel out on the roads at night. CARNAGE





The kids just loved this 'rana. Sounded good and went pretty quick too.
Just a few of the cars for the car show.

Austalian Stockman's Hall of Fame
Is gorgeous, full of lots of things too look at, heaps of information, and they have a live show which we opted out of as it went for an hour and we didn't want to have to hang around. Very very dark inside, so it made taking photos really tricky, but got some good snaps nonetheless. I'm so glad that we left Barcy early on Monday morning and went for the drive out to Longreach. Just wished we had some more time out there so we could of explored the town a little more.

Loved this carving

Looking at Explorers Routes.
Stunning Picture

Engraved Nuts
engraved Emu Egg.

Chilling with the Sheep.
Sitting outside an old slab hut
Old Bullock Wagon
Very groovy displays

We all had to have our photo taken with the stockman Statue.
The Building itself.

Qantas Muesum

Luke's dream place. Managed some lunch here, paying nearly $9 for a sandwich. Lots of history, could of done tours but lacking dollars and time once again.

Boeing 747. I was standing about 200 meters away from this, zoomed right out, with my little 18-55mm lens on. This is one HUGE plane,
Taking the steps, going for an explore.

Cockpit. We couldn't get inside so I swung the camera in a far as I could to grab this photo for Luke.
Boys standing in front of the prop.
Can't remember what this plane is, but all the previous photos are of it.
Taking a break, can't believe how old Miss C looks in this photo.
Zac loved this place, doesn't take after his father much.

landing gear of a 747.

Miss C learning.
Old bus that used to carry passengers.
Some history

Sitting in a cabin of one of the old planes.
A funky old beast.

Some very cool quilts they had on display,
Checking out a prop.
and a prop building machine.

There is some fabulous history in the muesum.

Illfracome Machinery Muesum.

This little place is between Longreach and Barcaldine. They have HEAPS of old machinery lining the main street through town, goes right from one end to the other. only stopped here for 30 minutes on our way home and say maybe a quarter of everything there.

Some old graders.
Charlotte was excited just to find Buffel Grass like she has at home.
Zac loves his machines.
Charlotte thought she found a tractor like Pa's

An old Anchor chain
Taking a break out of the sun.
A D10 that when whizzing past as we were stopped once again Luke wanted this photo.
On the road home, sunset caught in the side mirror.
Zac's new toy. Can't not have a plane now.

So that was our weekend.

Very full as you can see. We had a blast, but still couldn't wait to get home.

Hope everyone has a brillant weekend.

Nicxx