Morven & Blackall

Hello from Longreach where we will stay put for the next three days.  Philip does all the driving and we have had three days of driving with only overnight stops.  We need to get out of the vehicle for awhile!

So what have we seen and done in the past couple of days.  After Miles our next stop was Morven.  This is where Philip lived on "Millwood South" for the first couple of years of his life before the family moved to Julia Creek.  We are free camping at Morven Recreational Grounds,, with power and water all for a donation of $10.  The Morven City Council look after this camping area and what a credit it is to them.   

After we set up the van we went for a walk to the Main Street of Morven that is actually the highway.  Morven has certainly changed since the last time we were here.  There is a very new Hotel that advertises meals from $18 and the old rundown motel that we have stayed at in the past has been demolished and replaced with a very modern complex of individual units all sitting in a landscaped garden.  It is very attractive and would be a great place to stay as it is right beside the new hotel.

Morven is a very small town so it did not take us long to walk the Main Street.  I loved the sculptures of the sheep dogs rounding up the sheep that sit in the one and only park in town.  

The next morning it was very cold and we were pleased that we were on power so that we could run the reverse cycle in the van.  But, as days go in the west, it warmed up very quickly and by the time we reached Blackall I had stripped down to shorts and a t-shirt.

Blackall is another town that has catered to the tourist.  There are sculptures scattered throughout the town as well as many murals.  There is the Terrick Terrick Wool Museum sitting beside another museum that holds a lot of information regarding the artesian basin and how water has been extracted from it over the years.  We stopped at the "Black Stump" to read about its history.  The original "black Stump" was a piece of petrified wood that was used by surveyors as a mapping guide way back in 1888. We walked past a statue of the famous shearer, Jackie Howe, who retired in Blackall and opened an hotel.

Back at the van park, after our walk, we showered and walked the short distance to the camp kitchen where there was a live entertainer.  His music was bush ballad that is not our favourite music genre but it was still good to listen to.  He only sang for around an hour and we were back in the van by 6pm.  The night had turned chilly again so it was good to be back in the van and snug and warm.

The drive from Blackall to Longreach is just over two hundred kilometres and as we passed through the little town of Ilfracombe we were absolutely gobsmacked at the number of vans/motorhomes/campers that were lining both sides of the street.  Literally dozens of them.  Ilfracombe is another interesting little town but there is not much there except a pub.  A bit like Morven.  We were pleased to be moving on to Longreach.