Day 387 - 390 Gregory Downs Part 3

This was our fabulous spot at Gregory Downs, on the Gregory River....we had 4 nights here, free camping...to wake to the sound of the water flowing just outside was glorious.
The river was quite fast flowing but great fun to float down stream...Graham and Stephen passed me many times doing the lap..you had to watch it though as some of the part of the river were very shallow and you came to a grinding halt, literately!!  Grinding off bits that didn't need grinding down !!
The clock is still running on this one, Graham cut some wood for a camp fire and discovered this very yellow couple of logs...any ideas what type of wood it is?
Our last night with the McAlpine's....or so we thought!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 387 -390 Gregory Downs Part 2

If you remember we went to Mt Isa to the Riversleigh Fossil Tour and so as we were so close to the Riversleigh Fossil site we did the trek round.. there is only a small section available for the public to walk round, and in all honesty if we had done this as a separate day trip we would have been very disappointed. The walk was about 15 mins and there was only a few sites of fossils for you to observe. Still nicely laid out...
Can you make out the bone fossils in this rock?
A picture of Toby sitting in the car park all on his own... taken from the top of the walk..the flat plains that sit all around... dry as but beautiful.

Day 387- 390 Gregory Downs Part 1

We stopped at a part of heaven right on the river at Gregory Downs (pictures to follow) and met another lovely couple by the names of Alison & Graham McAlpine (alias Mr & Mrs Stalker, but that's another story). We wanted to go to Lawn Hill and Adels Grove and so did they but they did not want to take there Motor Home in so we all piled into Toby and went for a spin.. above is the idyllic Lawn Hill with the Tuffa Rock. 
A Pandanus at Lawn Hill, the curls took Stephen's fancy. We went to Adel's Grove which was a fabulous spot but we all agreed that our free camp was even better.
We did a bog lap from Adels Grove to Riversleigh and passed through the Gregory River...were the Bogan got us three out and he reversed back through the water and then came flying back, to wash the underside of the car...yeah right...boys will be boys!

Day 387 Quamby Rodeo

We left Cloncurry in the direction of Burke and Wills Roadhouse...we had been missing Rodeo's all the way along and had heard that there was a small rural one on the Saturday only, on our road north at a one pub town called Quamby. This family style Rodeo was great fun..the kids had a ball, the shot above just missed the kid being pulled along the ground, he had tried to dig in his heals but ended up doing the splits until he let go!!!!
Mt Isa Rodeo was in a couple of weeks time so there was a lot of the local talent having a workout....the action shots belie the action of the time.
They start them young, one adult holding the kid and the other holding up the calf by the tail...it was hilarious..........
They had come from far and wide dressed in their new duds...this little one got us with his shining new boots and hat that looked larger than him!!

Day 385 - 386 Cloncurry Part 2

Went to the deserted Mary Kathleen Mine just outside of Cloncurry. This mine is the radioactive type (Uranium).. after getting a flat tyre on the way up we found that the mine had filled in with this cobalt blue water...plus tree!!! Wonder if the water glows after dark ?
Oh the Toyota moment!!!! Well we had got the tyre fixed and back on the track.... only the second flat since we started which is not bad as we are still on the mainly road tyres!!
A memory photo of the four of us outside our two vans...just before we parted company again...great to catch up even if it was for such a short time!!

Day 385 - 386 Cloncurry Part 1

We then did something that  we normally try and not do and that is backtrack.. Alan & Alys were in the area so we came back to Cloncurry (which we had passed on our way from Mt Isa to Richmond) to catch up with them for a couple of nights. Their trip had been a little restricted with Steffie coming along but we did manage to get her into the museum at Cloncurry.
There was a lot of information on the mining in the area, and it's development through the years..they also had this cabinet on the Burke and Wills Expedition, in fact the small water holder in the cabinet was supposedly Burkes.
Had to put this one in, have a read...love the spelling. There was also a poem but I can't read all the words so you are safe.
Stephen could not get over this quartz in rock which had been found in the local area.

Day 385 Richmond Sunrise

I know you thought we had finished with Richmond...well nearly, Stephen got up at day break to see the sunrise....and found one of the largest flocks of Galah's that we have ever found.
He could not resist this photo of them taking off with the sunrise in the background.