Tieri to Longreach

This morning we left our good friends in Tieri, Dave, Anna and BJ bound for Longreach. A great couple of days were spent there & they were extremely welcoming, great company and as always a good laugh - thanks again guys & we will catch up again soon.
Yesterday the boys invaded the next door neigbour's house and ate all of their chips and crackers. Zander was making eyes at the little girl there a who is a few years older than him & Maverick just wanted to watch the motorbikes, eat some more, watch the bikes and then eat some more. They have also found a great friend in BJ who was unfortunately just coming to life as we left after being a bit off colour when we arrived.
We also caught up with Josie and Dylan who used to work with me on the Gold Coast and recently moved out there. They are doing well and I think will have a couple of mates in Dave and Anna now.

Tonight we find ourselves sitting on the river bank of the Thompson River - a few klms north of Longreach. Almost 500 clicks on the odometer so a long day for the boys but they are doing better than we thought. We had a brilliant coffee at Rubyvale in the Gemfields along the way which brought back memories from when I worked in this area. Nat is still astonished at how people live in the bush, I expect it will only get more interesting...

We then had lunch in Alpha and carried on to here - a good road and an easy drive.
There was a free camp further up but it was packed with grey nomads so I said to Nat, "lets go down where it says 'no camping' and see what is there".
I had some inside knowledge from Dave and Anna's neigbour who is from the area.... he told me not to worry about the signs & to go down and find a spot by the river. We could throw our pots in & its almost a guaranteed catch of redclaw. Apparently they just dont like caravans down here for fear of getting stuck and nobody will bother you. He was right.......

We are dead set on the river, where the trailer is strategically placed looking out across .......and the boys have their pots in. Nobody in sight, not a cloud in the sky, no wind and it is not cold, so after a little bit of aprehension from my adorable wife, she managed to reluctantly say to me that this is better than the place we could have stayed up the road!!
Z & Mav have been a handful but I guess it is to be expected as they have been in the car all day. I hope we catch a couple of redclaw because they will be ecstatic and those are the sorts of things that will make the journey worthwhile.

QANTAS museum and Stockmans Hall of fame tomorrow. We might grab a spot in town to stay, then soldier on.
We have decided to not have a beer tonight as we have been 3 quarters cut 4 nights in a row...time to ease up a bit...

Jase