Emerald-Isisfold

So I was only planning on going half way to Longreach today, but Andrew and Michelle, who I am staying with tonight, are going away for the weekend. They are going to a camp draft at Muttaburra, so I might go up and have a look too.

Piggy mail box

I had a bit of a slow start today. I wanted to take advantage of the opportunity for a few hours extra sleep. I filled up on fuel, and headed west. I went past Sapphire, one of the places we stayed on our first trip. I remember going for walks around Sapphire, and exploring, meeting different people who actually lived on the creeks, panning for well, sapphires i guess, for months at a time. It was amazing driving out, looking at all the different colours as the soil types changed. There are the most amazing dark reds and oranges...
Its getting more remote now, with roos everywhere. I even passed a dead cow on the side of the road! Wouldn't fancy being in the vehicle that hit that... 
There was lots of wattle trees in blossom along the highway, I could smell it driving along. Smells better than diesel... 
It's very dry out here now. Which makes it seam rather odd when you see flood warning signs every few kilometres along the road. It's hard to imagine floods there when only one in every five or six creek beds even have any water in them! 
I've started seeing termite mounds beside the road to, although they are still only a foot or two tall this far east. 
I did have a few stupid drivers to contend with today. A caravan driving 20km under the limit, in the middle of the road. A guy in a ute overtaking a caravan in the other direction, on a blind hill- so he came over it on my side of the road! Fortunately I saw him early, and had room to get over. I also saw a guy coming up behind me, pull into the other lane to overtake me-a good 500m behind me! He eventually got a reasonable distance behind me ad overtook me safely, though I was glad to see him gone!
I stopped for lunch at Alpha, which was nice and quiet. Had a good pie at the bakery. I went through Jericho just down the road, which I remember stopping in on our previous trip. They had murals everywhere.

Train station at Alpha

I stopped again at Barcaldine to have a look at The Tree of Knowledge. We stopped there to see it in 2006, but it has since died. They have put a support structure up around it, which is actually really nice. The Tree of Knowledge is meant to be where the ALP was founded by a group of protesting shearers, unhappy with their work conditions. 

The Tree of Knowledge

I had a bit of a brainwave this afternoon. I have a few days around Longreach, so I'm going to go around to a couple of the local schools, and see if they are interested in me speaking with any of their classes. I do some speaking at schools at home, and I think this trip could be an interesting thing to talk to them about. 
I really wish Hayden could have been with me for the last 100km of my drive this afternoon. I left the main road at Ilfracombe, heading to Isisfold. I saw about 3000 kangaroos, which isn't so extraordinary around here, but there were so many other animals. Cattle, sheep, goats, cats, eagles, horses, emus and a few big water birds. He would have loved it! 


I also had a realisation today. I am back riding now, and I take great pride in the fact that I really don't have any modifications to my saddle, just a bar round the front and a few straps over my legs. I am wondering however if it's time to change my thinking. I have recently seen a young lady from America called Amberley Snyder. Kristie, from Oakey, showed me a video of her barrel racing (you can find it on youtube) and I was amazed. She is a paraplegic, granted a lower level injury that me, but almost indistinguishable from an able bodied rider. She has got me thinking that maybe I am looking at this wrong. Maybe instead of trying to ride with as little help as possible, I should be looking at getting as much out of whats available. 
I know a guy who broke his back last year, and he has got back enough to allow him to be able walk short distances. He is so caught up on walking, that he won't go anywhere that he can't walk. I can't understand why he wouldn't use his chair in those situations, to get more out of life. By me choosing to only ride with minimal help, how does that make me any different to him? 
I'm very excited now to look into getting a saddle that will give me more opportunities. My saddle at home has only two elastic straps over my legs. Amberley's has a seat belt, and leg straps. My straps have Velcro to allow for quick release if I get into trouble. Maybe I could look into more secure strapping in situations where I would need more support, for short periods of time, and with others around to help me if need be. You never know, maybe I could barrel race again...

Distance travelled: 480
Time driving: 5.5 hours
Total distance: 4100