We took flew from Townsville to Canberra and Canberra to Melbourne to bury Fred's Brother.
Funeral- check
sister-in-law in ICU Well again - check
Volcano ash gone - check
Setting off tomorrow for Townsville via Sydney - Check 
more soon........

We have been in Charters Towers now for four days.  It was a long trip from Clermont, about 390km, the road in part was quite good but very bumpy in other parts and of course narrow, especially when the road trains are coming from the other direction.  We had originally planned to stay for two days but the weather has been magnificent around 25C and the caravan park (Dalrymple Tourist Van Park) is very pleasant and comfortable.  We did a day trip to Townsville to check out van parks for our weeks stay there.  We had lunch in Townsville before we came back and decided to stay another couple of days here in Charters Towers where the pace is a bit slower & restful.  Sadly Michael (Fred’s twin brother) who had been sick for the last eight months passed away, so we have made arrangements for our van to be stored here at the Dalrymple Tourist Van Park and we will fly home from Townsville via Canberra for about a week, then come back and resume our trip.

We made a slight detour today, on the road out of Roma, we had to wait for road works and I saw a sign on the side of the road whilst sitting in traffic showing Carnarvon Gorge and a picture of a caravan, so in the town of Injune where we were going to stop for petrol, I made enquiries at the Tourist Information Centre and found that there was actually a caravan resort at Carnarvon Gorge.  I spoke to someone from the resort  on the phone who convinced me that we could get there easily with the caravan.  So off we went.  We had to be fuelled up as there was no fuel available there.  The road in was bitumen and as we were driving in we could see a big storm up ahead.  Luckily for us it was gone before we got to the dirt road section although it had left its mark.  Lots of mud and three creek crossings.  Fred got to expedience 4X4 again.  It was well worth the drive.  We had to use the fuel in the jerry can once we got there.  Green eco sites and lovely amenity blocks.  No only that but they had a spit roast night for $22 a head and a well stocked shop.  But that was all beside the point compared with the beautiful area surrounding us.  Kangaroos grazed on the grass around us, lots of bird life and clean, quiet fresh air.  The Carnarvon Gorge was a short drive from the resort and the rock formations, the water crossings, the amazing flora and fauna were nothing compared to the indigenous art on cave walls.  We only had two nights and one full day there and that was not nearly enough time. We visited the Baloon Cave (baloon is the indigenous word for axe) and Mickeys Creek in the morning then in the afternoon we walked very fast to the Art Gallery which was the most beautiful and spiritual place.  We left far too late to make the whole trip and as we didn’t want to arrive back at the car in the dark we didn’t spend as much time as we would have liked.  It was an 11.4km return walk and we did it in 2 hours 45 mins.  Also being in one of the most picturesque places in Qld my camera stopped working.  I took lots of photos with my mobile phone but at the moment can’t get them onto the laptop to share. 

We sadly left Carnarvon Gorge and headed north.  We arrived in Clermont this afternoon and will be heading to Charters Towers tomorrow.

All I can say is road kill road.  If I never see another dead kangaroo it will be too soon!

Don't worry if you are reading this and wondering who is running Trail Mail.  My co-worker Peta is taking care of things whilst I am away.

I called into a great little wool shop today in Cobar called Jellywares on Marshall.  I bought some lovely wool to knit Jesse (grandson) a nice little jumper on my journey.  I met the owner Jodie, who was really helpful and had a fantastic  shop.  It was so refreshing to meet someone with such great passion for her work.  She has a website www.jellywares.com  where you can order some lovely products.

I spent a thoroughly enjoyable morning sitting in the passenger seat of the car, listening to jazz and winding balls from hanks of wool purchased from Jodie. 

We hit a bit of a snag in Bourke.  Only two petrol stations and only one sells gas and for some reason they would only sell gas if you held a star card???  Wouldn’t accept cash.  The other petrol station only sold ULP & Diesel.  Our car runs on gas and ULP.  So there were quite a few tense moments wondering if we were going to make it to Cunnamulla.  So you’ve probably guessed that we did make it cos youre reading this.  There is no LPG available here in Cunnamulla either so Fred has had to purchase a 20L Gerry can of ULP to get us to Charleville tomorrow.  Its been another beautiful sunny day, again great driving weather.  After leaving Cobar a town which we were very impressed with we did see lots of goats on the side of the road, I don’t know if they are farmed or feral.  I was reading about an eradication program in the Flinders Rangers of wild goats.  We saw a dead wild pig on the road (and lots of kangaroo roadkill) but the main wild life to be seen were emu.  I wish I could have got the camera out quicker as 3 ran beside the car.  So far we have driven over 3000kms.  Off to Charleville……….

We left a foggy and cold Broken Hill and headed towards Cobar. It was about 5 ½ hours drive today.  It was fairly uneventful, very straight and the weather conditions were very suited to towing a caravan.  We pulled into Wilcania for petrol, it’s a bit of a scary place.  We didn’t stay long and we were back on the road again.  About 2 hours out of Wilcania, two police cars waved us over to the side of the road as a wide load was coming from the other direction.  We pulled off to the side as far as we could and this big red spool on the back of a semi trailer came past followed by another police car.  We’ve seen kangaroo and lots of emu around the Flinders Ranges and Broken Hill, but this part of the trip we saw lots of goats.  I don’t know if they were wild but they were at the side of the road and could do some serious damage if they ran out in front of your car.  Heading up towards Queensland tomorrow.

Today is our last day in Broken Hill, and we drove out to Menindee.  The lakes were full of water after the recent rains after years of drought. It was very green and very peaceful. Lots of bird life.  

A freezing day in Broken Hill.  The sun has been shining all day but its freezing.  Our car temperature read 12C but I’m sure it was colder than that.  We spent the day around town, as we have had a slight problem with the car electrics and were waiting for the one and only auto electrician in Broken Hill to ring us.  Its currently 4pm and we are still waiting.  We’ve decided to stay another night here as we want to go out to see the Menindee lakes and possibly an odd mine or two before we leave. And today we wanted to stay close to town in case the auto electrician could see us today so we went to see the living desert sculptures, http://www.visitbrokenhill.com.au/pages/the-living-desert-sculptures/   they were magnificent set on the top of a hill with nothing but open desert around them.  The cold wind stopped us from doing the cultural walk, I couldn’t feel my ears by the time we finished looking at the sculpture.  From there we went to visit the Pro Hart Gallery.  It was lovely and warm inside and the lady behind the counter was very helpful with her knowledge of Pro and his work.  www.prohart.com.au It was a privilege to share in Pro Harts life and work.

We have just spent 3 beautiful days at Wilpena Pound in the Flinders Ranges.  The weather has been warmish, a little rain but mainly at night.  The wild life in the area is amazing.  Wild emu and kangaroo abound.  The bird life is abundant.  We did a short half day walk to the old pound farm house and then up to the look out.  The next day we went on a 4WD trip around the flinders ranges and followed some of The Heysein Trail.  The weather being mild and the peaceful nature of the Flinders Ranges made for a restful stopover.  Tonight we are sitting in the Broken Hill Caravan Park, listening to millions (I mean millions) of sulphur crested cockatoos and semi trailers.  A contrast to Wilpena Pound. There was just enough rain on the trip here to stick the orange dust to the car, but not enough to wash it off.

We need to do some washing and buy some food to eat as the reserves are low.  I’m really missing banana’s.  The last time I saw them was in Burra and they were $15.99 kg.  I haven’t seen any since.   Hopefully off to Menindee lakes tomorrow.