Travelling South August 2010 part 2

 While we were at Anakie enquiries about the best places to stop on the way south were readily forthcoming with several options.
 So after a few  lovely days on the Gemfields and reminiscing about the times we were working on our sapphire mine and the finds we made and the general wild frontier atmosphere of  the area we found it time to move on.

 Virgin Mary rock

 As we headed south our first stop was  just north of Springsure for a morning cuppa ,here we had a view of the Carnarvon Range and Mt Zamia in particular.   As you can see over the years this particular rock doesn't look like the Virgin Mary as bits of it have broken away over the years.

 It was a nice place to sit in the sun and contemplate the view as Lynn did.

 I think he was reliving his childhood.

 We heard stories that this old tractor would have been very useful to some later travellers who became bogged at the camping spot just behind the tractor.  several people had to go into 4wd to get out and one person who didn't have 4wd opted to stay for a few days until it dried out.

 After passing through Springsure  we continued on to the top of the Carnarvon Ranges where there was a huge area for trucks etc to stop and for travellers to camp. Approx 32 acres all up.  We tucked ourselves away in a spot that wasn't easily seen from the road and the vegetation also helped to reduce the noise of the trucks as they made the steep climb up the ranges.

 On our first night there we were visited  by the landowners who regularly check out who is camping there and have a chat.  They were a very interesting couple who had a property just about 10 mins drive  away and they ran an education centre there with people and children coming to learn about station life and the environment.

 We were invited to Morning tea and a look around so a couple of days later we drove down the range which was  on quite a historic road which was part of the original road from Injune to Springsure.

 After a few days which allowed us to catch up on some washing and have lovely meals cooked on the fire again we headed even further south.

 For several months I had been seeing men wearing shirts with the " Big Rig " on them and  it was apparently at Roma so when we got there I felt it was a good place to check out, especially as Lynn is familiar with a lot of the machinery etc that the oil and gas exploration people use. We were unsure whereabouts in Roma it was but a quick check of the skyline revealed it position.

 part of museum outside the complex

 this drilling platform is easy to see from a distance

  This truck does all the acoustic or seismological  measuring  as they look for oil and gas. as you can see it is a German invention. We have seen newer versions of this doing road checks in outback Qld last year.

 Lynn always seems to find these old steam engines , I suppose it's because he used to work in that field at one stage  of his working life.

  I'm sure this is the image we all have of oil wells.