Day 12 Barcaldine to Longreach

A lazy 125.6km form Barcaldine to Longreach via the Capricorn Highway.  Visited the Tree of Knowledge at Barcaldine, the birthplace of the Labor Movement and prompted by the shearer's strikes early in the 20th century.  The interior of the monument has hundreds of long pieces of timber hanging from the top.  They apparently are symbolic of the ends of shears and "chime" when moved by the wind.  We noticed as we came west from Barcaldine the countryside changed and became dry and barren, obviously still under drought conditions. Inspected an impressive array of historical farm machinery at Ilfracombe. The display was every bit of 500m long on the side of the main road through the town.  We overnighted on the Thompson River, about 3km from Longreach. The river is sizeable and was full of muddy water.  We met up again with Bob and his cocky who entertained us once again.

180414 The Tree of Knowledge Monument in Barcaldine

180414 The Tree of knowledge, dead but not forgotten.  Note the hanging timbers

180414 Soaking up knowledge from the Tree of Knowledge

180414 Introducing the gnome, checking out an old Chevy at Ifracombe