Day 9: Mt Isa to Wonarah Bore

Last night I had a bit of drama which in the end turned out Ok but at the time was a bit traumatic - I tried winding in the caravan awning on my own. It got jammed and after I released the jam, it kept winding in - unfortunately my hand got stuck in between two pieces of steel holding the awning - I was hanging there with crushed fingers and luckily I was able to reach up with a piece of wire I had in my hand and release the mechanism. Lorelle, Doug & Sue came running just as I released it and luckily after applying ice for a couple of hours everything seems to be OK. I did have thoughts for a while while my hand was caught that I might lose some fingers!!

Anyway, for today, we left Mt Isa at 8am and arrived in Camooeweal at about 10am. The country was flat and lightly timbered. They have had good rain in the past couple of months and although not as green as further south, it's still looking good. Temperature today got to about 31 degrees but htere was a good breeze blowing which made it feel cooler.

There is a small yellow wattle about a metre high growing everywhere along the roadside and it is adding a touch of colour to the landscape.

After having morning tea in Camooweal, we drove past the old hall where I used to live in when I taught here in 1978 and we then took a photo of the school where I taught for a couple of months in that same year.

We then headed off to Wonarah Bore, a rest area a couple of hundred kms west of Camooweal. Nothing here but a tank which I think contains bore water, a broken windmill and a shelter shed. Nothing else. We are camped here in the middle of no-where. We are obviously real geeks because it is 4:30pm and three of us are sitting typing up blogs, etc. on our laptops. No power so hope the batteries last (I have a 12 volt adaptor if necessary.) Also, no phone signal - have had no phone signal for last few hours of driving.

At sunset, we all assembled near the shelter shed and took photos of the windmill - quite pretty.

Today we travelled just over 400km.