Lara Wetlands to Goodberry Hills Broadwater Campground - 5 June to 9 June

Longreach

From Lara we headed off to Longreach for 2 nights.

The last few trips we've bypassed Longreach as the camping options aren't the best, in fact they border on terrible.

A new camping ground (Muddy Duck) has been started by a local young family and we were lucky to score two nights there. As they only have 70 sites open to date, it's really hard to get into. Its an easy 5 km ride into town along the old highway. A nice safe and flat ride.

On the way we passed a "Blue Tree" which is a project to help people start talking about depression, and encourages them to speak up when battling mental health, particularly in the bush.  The trees can sometimes coincide with a suicide from the local area.  Definitely not something we see in the city, but very obvious out here.

We had mornos at the Qantas Founders Museum

Longreach Stockman's Hall of Fame

Goodberry Hills Broadwater Campground

From Longreach its an easy 42kms drive to Goodberry Hills, includes a very good 35kms of dirt. This is the best farm stay camping we've come across. Just $10pppn and you're guaranteed the site to yourself. No annoying campers on top of you.

It's part of a large cattle property and has 11 sites all along the Thomson River - all far apart from each other. You can't hear or see your neighbours, if they exist. As we're in Site 11, we're at the end of the road, so nobody drives past. We walked to site 10 yesterday and its not as good as 11. 

The only sign of human life here was when the owners son and a station hand came by on their ATV's to say hi.

Being right on the river is a big plus!

One thing that's in the Thomson River is Red Claw! They aren't native to Australia and are considered a pest.

So you're allowed to catch as many as you like. And catch them we did on our first day.  The best bait, as recommended by a local supermarket worker was cat food, so we cracked open the can a little, and hurled the whole lot into the river.

Jayne's first cast here caught 14 biggies! Yum. They taste sweet like lobster.  Her next cast caught another 14. Total 28 edible sized ones. We threw 3 small ones back.

The most important part of the fishing process - cat food!

What a cast!

Watch out for those nippers!

What a beauty!

So many Red Claw

Our dinner was a Red Claw pizza with garlic and chilli

As you can see, we didn't skimp on the Red Claw

Pizza anyone?

Then it was time to prepare the wood for the fire. Wood is in an abundance here.

Our battery chainsaw certainly comes into its own around these parts.

Some minor adjustments to the TV bracket. Wunda Silicone spray works wonders!

Jayne's Birthday

It's Jaynie's birthday today. Happy birthday Jayne. Looking good at 21!

She enjoyed a bit of a sleep in, as did I! :) In fact, we sleep at least 8-9 hours a day.  It's amazing how tired you get when you're doing nothing.  Then a cappuccino and breakfast. Before we knew it, it was time for mornos again!

Tea and a birthday cake for Jayne, mocha for me.

Then it was Red Claw-ing time again. So far this morning she's had zero success, and we must have cleaned that part of the river out yesterday.  We've moved the net 20 metres further down the river, and tried a different cat food. Just doing our bit for the environment.

Some other local life that comes to visit.  Yesterday he went for a swim in the river, going all the way under the water, then popped up and went on his way again.

Tonight's birthday dinner for Jayne is River and Turf. Normally you'd say Surf and Turf, but there's no surf anywhere around here.

Tomorrow we're off to Winton after 3 relaxing nights here.