The Ellis Oz Blog: Crows, Cats and Kangaroos

The kids have been really excited to see the wild animals of Outback Australia; we just didn’t expect to see so many of them as road kill on the side of the road. Travelling along country roads, you expect to see a few animals that didn’t quite get out of the way quick enough, but we couldn’t believe how much there is in the outback. Bronwyn told us that they counted over 700 dead animals between Sapphire and Longreach! It is mostly kangaroos, but we were surprised to see foxes, emus, dingos, feral cats and even wild pigs! And at every carcass, there are at least three crows eating dinner. That makes a lot of very fat, well fed crows in Outback Australia!

I don’t particularly like cats. I am –as they say – more of a dog person. However I like rats even less, so I was very grateful that the Apex Park was home to many Feral Cats after I had heard that there was a rat-plague in Longreach (even if the cats did scare me half to death every time they jumped out of the bin when I walked past!)

While driving along the Capricorn Hwy, Dan nearly had a heart-attack when a rock was flicked up by a passing truck and hit the windscreen. It hit right at eye level, causing Dan’s instincts to make him duck for cover! Funny to watch after we got over the fright!

It did quite a bit of damage to the windscreen so we needed to get it replaced. We loaded up the bikes on the back of the car and dropped the car off at the local windscreen repairers. We then spent the day riding around Longreach.

When we started this trip we decided to get the best insurance we could for the car and caravan. We paid a little more to get no excess on windscreen repair and replacement. It has now paid for itself!

We rode up to the Longreach School of Distance Education. Sam and Will were very excited to go there and see how the kids of Queensland do their schooling through Distance Ed.

Sam’s thoughts; “The LSODE is very different to how we do it in Vic, because it is all done talking with your teacher through microphones and over the internet. We get two booklets, one for English and one for Maths, and we do our studies in our booklets then send them in to DECV. Our teacher is our mum (called the supervisor) and she helps us whenever we need it.

We got to walk through the school and see some of the models and projects that the kids have made and sent in. Twice a year the students get to come to the school with their parents and stay for a week. While they are there they get to meet the other kids in their class and meet their teacher. They get to play heaps of games but still have to do some schoolwork.”

Longreach is famous for the QANTAS museum and the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame. We spent an afternoon at both places.

QANTAS, the world’s second oldest airline, was registered on 16 November 1920 as Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Service Ltd. While Winton was the official birthplace, the company and operational headquarters were moved to Longreach in February 1921.

Will’s thoughts about the QANTAS museum; “The QANTAS museum was really cool. We went to the cafe and had chips and a drink and then got to spend our pocket money in the shop. Sam brought a set of three foam aeroplanes. We went outside to the park and had races with the planes while we waited for the tour to start. My plane was a trickster, so I won!

When the tour started we got to stand under a huge plane and a man told us all about the plane. We got our photo taken inside one of the jets. It was about 45 degrees and we were standing on the metal for a long time. It was really hot! We went inside the aeroplane and sat in first class while we watched a movie about how the plane was built. Then we got to go in the cockpit and pretended to fly the plane. I was the pilot and Sam and Zaccy were the co-pilot and navigator. It was a really good day!”

Will standing in the undercarriage

The well-known black box - which is actually bright orange!

The pilot, co-pilot and navigator.

The Australian Stockman's Hall of Fame is a museum dedicated to Australian stockmen and Aborigines who have shown bravery and courage.

Dan stayed at the caravan to work, while I took Sam and Will to the Hall of Fame. We spent the morning wandering around the museum, looking at the old artefacts and discovering facts about early Australia. We got to see a fantastic show by a very funny man and his horse, dogs, camel and team of bullocks.

Dan and Zac joined us for lunch and we meet up with Bronwyn, Gavin and their boys. We all spent the afternoon wandering around the museum.

Watching the Bullock team in action

One of the locals saying hello to us

Lunch in the Wool Bale Cafe.

Impressive Architecture

The day we were leaving, there was a Horse Muster in town. We packed up the van and towed it to the R M Williams muster. It was a cattle mustering competition between NSW and QLD. It was the perfect setting for our first experience at a Muster – very dry, hot and dusty.

The beautifully painted R M Williams Truck

My 3 cowboys

The juniors went first and they had to beat the clock on an obstacle course. Saddle their horse, burst balloons with their whip, pitch a swag and climb in, get back on their horse, knock in a star-picket, ride between two logs backwards, jump on a quad bike and lead their horse across a course to the finish line. Next came the open-aged amateurs . They had to lasso and lead calf for branding. It was very impressive to watch.

The kids loved sitting on the fence and watching the action. They spent the day pretending they were cowboys and made lassos with a piece of rope.

Will and his new buddy - Jeremy

Will decided that the cowboy life was for him. He spent hours trying to talk us into getting a farm and living in the outback. He wore jeans, a wrangler shirt, and his cowboy hat, with his lasso tied to his belt. He stayed like this for the next few weeks. It was over 35 degrees most days, but he kept on his “uniform” not matter what the temperature.