Blackall

Wednesday 11 September 2013
After Augathella we headed north through Tambo to Blackall for overnight.

Tambo is famous for it's Teddies. 

Sadly the Teddy shop was closed, but Peter and Jonnie had a pie and sausage roll.

Once at Blackall, we had a look at the council camping area located on the Barcoo River, and headed to the Tourist information centre to pay our $8 (2A 1C) for the night. There was an interesting collection of old hats, and the history of sheep in the area. We still haven't seen a live sheep on this trip.

Restful afternoon, just watching the comings and goings.

The camping area was very large. Most campers camped by the river or the small toilet blocks.

There is no water or power, so you need to be self contained. Council cars patrolled a couple of times during the afternoon / evening to check camp tags and security. Maximum stay is 3 nights. We stayed 1.

There are a number of public art sculptures around Blackall. This one is called The Eagle and Nest.

It is made of railway dog spikes and timber and bolts from the old bridge.

These photos were part of Photo a Day - shadow

At the tourist centre I picked up a historical walking tour of the town and on the Thursday morning we walked up one side of the street and down the other. Peter was looking for a coffee shop for his morning fix - there were none. This is the memorial to Major Mitchell, who was the first European to explore this area in 1846.

We did see this funny sign - don't know that it really welcomes business!

Some more public art. This one is of Jackie Howe. He became famous in 1892 for shearing 321 sheep with blade shears in 7 hours and 40 mins not far from Blackall. This art work is outside the Universal Hotel that Jackie owned.

Love bug.

Afterwards we drove to behind the school to the Black Stump. It is situated behind the school in /thistle Street. Surveyors used this stump to record the latitude and longitude observations. Prior to this anything west of here was known as beyond the black stump.

We saw a lot of these signs.

Happy Travels
Allison