Going inland......

Going inland here means going to the outback...... what happens when you live down under...

Queensland is a large state and 7 hours of driving with not much to see (a couple of small towns) and we get to a historic town called Charleville... (and we didn't get near central Queensland)

The Bilby is a cute marsupial and used to live in about 70% of the country, now endangered and Charleville has an active breeding programme and information area....

They are nocturnal so red light is used - we can see them but they think it is night time....

Pretty cute

In the museum was this little jacket made for a dress up party....

1894 and you could still read it....

I always love popping in to museums.... many small town ones hold much the same things but they are always fun to see..... so often I see things we used when I was a child!!

Of course we had a couple of walks around....  this was a lovely one where children could ride bikes and a motor bike track too...

The river looks a bit mucky....

There is a large painting... not a silo - perhaps a water resoirvoir?

Daily refreshments....

Another short walk in a park where they are planting various native trees...

The big bench is in this park which we did sit on.  It looks like "Honey I shrunk the kids"

A large observatory is out there.... not having city lights helps.  

We were so lucky with the weather - most of the time was overcast and drizzly.... but there was a couple of hours the clouds cleared and it was exactly when we were booked to stargaze....

It was fun to do with the strong microscopes... but to be honest I had no idea what I was looking at

Charleville played an important part in aviation in Australia, it was a good place to stop when flying over Australia and pivotal to the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

A very interesting information centre...

A little know fact was that Charleville hosted an American Secret Base during WW2

There is a lot of scrub bush and it was good for hiding vehicles etc.

Their service is being recognised in this area... still in development but good progress and plenty to see...

Of course I had to have a play with their photo thingy......

Heard a thump on the roof of the house where we stayed .... mum possum and her large baby were up there then navigated this line.... - very impressive tightrope walking display

Of course we had to support local.....

Hotel Corones is a historic hotel with a great story and we did the tour and saw some rooms general visitors don't see.  The guide entertained us with stories of Harry Corones for a couple of hours - and ended with a drink at the longest bar (that we know of) in Australia.... made in the hey day so loads of people could get their drinks in a short time...

I didn't get a picture but the ceilings were great....

This pub gets flooded to different degrees regularly, however the floor tiles haven't moved.... clearly very well made! 

On the way home popping in to Roma - this is the Big Rig at the visitor centre....

... and that's all folks.....  a quick overview of a fun few days..... got back to wet cold weather... 

Righto, Gotto Go..... need to stoke the fire up....

Hugz