Towards Yaraka

It was almost impossible to tear ourselves away from our three relaxing days at Lara, but it was time to move on.

Today's drive of just 94 km is the sort of distance we should do more regularly. We steered ourselves south to spend two days camped at Blackall. 
The Barcoo rest area is beside the town with a nightly fee of $8.00. This gets you toilets, drinking water, a dump point and within easy walking distance to town.

We stayed here in October several years ago with just three other vans, but this has now become a very popular campsite. This time we shared the site with upwards of thirty vans.

A tour of the Blackall Woolscour (wool washing) today. It operated between 1908 and 1978. After sheep were shorn, the fleeces were washed in water to remove dirt that had accumulated in their wool. Originally the wool was washed by hand in large vats then rinsed. You can just imagine how labour intensive that process must have been.

The wool scour process was fully automated using a steam engine and powered by the abundant amount of wood sourced from the surrounding area. 
The sinking of bores provided unlimited amounts of water, required to wash and rinse the fleeces.

Our two day stop at Blackall turned into three days and on our last afternoon the heavens opened up for about twenty minutes. The normally dry black soil that surrounds the Barcoo River quickly turned to mud. 

We eagerly watched several vans leave the site the next morning and even though I walked to the rubbish bins and came back with mud stuck to the bottom of my thongs we really had no trouble making our way towards the safety of the bitumen.

Another shortish drive today of just 164 km. When we first visited Yaraka, the vast majority of the road was unsealed but it's now fully sealed from the Blackall end. 
We stopped briefly at the Emmet railway station, to take a photo. At one time this busy railway siding was home to thirty people but sadly now there are just two living here.

Last year we camped behind the Yaraka Hotel and that's where we are going to spend the next three nights.
Camp fees are $3.00 per night, yes I know its hard to believe but this includes toilets, showers, water and even a swimming pool. 
Mind you the pool might be a tad too cold this time of year. The fees are collected by the pub on behalf of the Longreach council. 

Friday night is pizza night and because we enjoyed our pizza here last year we ordered one to be ready for us after we arrived back from the sunset tour to Mt Slowcombe. A gold coin donation to the RFDS gets you a bus trip to the summit.

Our plan was to head towards Windorah the following day but our travelling companions required some repairs to be carried out on their van in Longreach. We retraced our steps to Emmet before heading north through Isisford and onto Longreach.

We are booked in to the caravan park here for the next six nights waiting for some parts to arrive and be fitted.