(Written by Dave)

Three full days off, wow, that was nice. Day 1 was all about getting the computer back working – full success can be reported. Day 2 was about cleaning the bikes, laundry and Blog catch up. That meant Day 3 was for relaxing and fun things. Day 3 worked out pretty good. We had another massive brekkie, then to the library for free surfing and finally McDonalds to call our mothers. All were a success except the calls home – again, the McDonalds network was not quite adequate for Skype calls (video or audio really) – we’ll have to try something different next time. It was nice to speak with our Mums, even if it was not the highest quality call.

This morning at the hostel we met another cycle tourist, Adam Hughes, who started his trip in January in New Zealand and has made his way here. He is heading north to meet a friend in Cairns but will eventually work his way to Darwin, over to Indonesia and up to SE Asia so we may run into him again along the road some day. It was nice to have a chance to chat with another cycle tourist. His blog site is http://www.keeptheaspidistraflying.com.

Our friend Rod told us to keep an eye out for “bulls” in Rocky. There were quite a few of them about town. All of them have some form of clever saying related to the business they are near. It didn’t seem like they were missing “bits” as Rod indicated, but then again we are not cattle farmers so perhaps we are not looking in the right place… Below are a few snaps we picked up over the last few days.

 

Finally, today we made it to the zoo and botanical gardens. The animals and plants were great. For some reason it is all free. The animal enclosures are not completely top rate polished up but the animal spaces were clean and spacious. Most of the animals are Australia natives, which was great. Lots of wombats, koalas, kangaroos and our first cassowary (bird). There was an emu as well, who was making some very weird noises as we got near the fence of his enclosure – almost like a growl. We got some photos below.

 

 

 

The gardens were nice as well. We didn’t get as much time there as we would have liked but what we saw was nice. Instead of flying foxes like they have in the Sydney gardens, it would appear that these gardens are nearly overwhelmed by ibis (birds). There were many nests up high in the trees and lots of places on the ground where you walked fast and didn’t look up (I don’t think that was white paint that we were walking through).

 We took some pictures of some of the ‘Queenslander’ type of houses that abound around here. Most are elevated (to avoid flooding or for the cooling effects) and some have very ornate lattice around the verandahs. Quite interesting.

All in all, a great 3 days. We rested a lot, ate big meals and did some good planning for the road ahead. Tomorrow we head west. We are 8 to 10 days from Longreach – with some interesting towns along the way. We hope to see the Workers Heritage Center in Barcaldine, and the Qantas Museum and Stockman’s Hall of Fame in Longreach. Not sure what to expect with respect to traffic, roads or water – but all three are not a massive concern until we reach the far side of Longreach.

Wish us luck as we head west into the Outback!