Day 2: Crazy Outback Livin'

Monday Day 2: Today we did heaps of driving to get to our destination so we could actually see things and not sit in a car for the next few days. It was smooth sailing and easy driving up until charleville where we stopped to stretch our legs, eat lunch, and explore a new town. They had a really nice information center which was heavily outer space themed. This town is famous for its observatory. Rightfully so though, because at night in the outback you can see every star. Well maybe not every, but the sky is lit up with so many stars. It is breath taking. But since i'm in the southern hemisphere now I don't know any of the constellations. So it's really cool see the starry night in a completely different way. Instead of the north star here they have the southern cross which is 5 really bright stars that are shaped like a cross. They even had a tree identification nature walk later in the evening, I was so upset we couldn't stay for it. I would have felt so at home, walking through the woods and IDing trees and plants. I've been able learn some on my own by taking pictures and looking them back up when I get home from my walks, but it's a lot easier when you have someone there to tell you what it is and why.

The next stop along the road was Quilpie. Here we just stopped to fill up on gas on were on the road again. But a few kilometers outside of town we saw a sign for a really awesome lookout point. We followed some dirt road for awhile, which made it feel a lot more like the outback and came upon I guess what you call a plateau maybe? Well it was a large flat rock formation that we were able to climb. The scenery at the top was amazing. You could see the outback go on forever into other formations and mountains. I took a nice seat at the edge of a rock and gaized out for a good 10 minutes. After being couped up in a car for 2 days it was the best feeling in the world to just take in fresh air and stare at the beauty mother earth bestowed on me.
 
Um also so I may have left the keys in the car, windows down, and car unlocked whilst hiking so I was a bit worried when some other car came driving by. Luckily nothing happened. ;-)

After Quilpie the road turned into a one lane road, which was freaky enough when cars were coming from the other way and you had to yield to each other. But when we saw our first Road train, holy cow. These trucks are literally road trains. They are behemoth of trucks. Trucks with 2-3 cars behind them and when you see them coming at you it can be frightening. The back cars are swaying left to right while the truck is going at high speed basically plowing anything that comes in it's way. So you just have to pull all the way, way way way off the road and let them pass you. You also have to roll up your windows because sometimes there are rocks and heaps of dust that come flying at you. But we survived.  I kind of felt safer though on a one lane road though. Because it felt like more people took precaution when driving and you could always see if a car was coming or not. Anyway that wasn't our only obstacle to the next town. When it gets dusk the kangaroos are jumping everywhere, emus are running all over, and pigs are taking up so much space. You really have to be careful. You can simply tell by the side of the road. There are dead kangaroo literally every 20 feet. Sad and scary at the same time. Sam and Thomas earlier during the day actually were playing a drinking game where they take sip of beer if they see a dead one and chug a whole one if they see a live one. And lets just say by dusk they were forced to quit the game and pass out.

Finally we got to Windorah and camped on the outskirts of town only hitting a lot of rats along the way. We set up camp, at dinner, gaze at the stars, and most of us went to bed. In the middle of the night I was woken up to loud music, some people yelling, and a car engine rumbling. I get out of my tent and see Graham, Sam, and Marlon sitting next to a fire with some locals. I was so wide awake at that point and more interested in meeting the locals they met than my sleep. There were 3 basically I call modern cowboys. They are contract hire to round up cattle and other odds and ends jobs. Tonight they were out hunting pig and lost their dog. I guess they came asking us if we had seen the dog, but instead of continuing their search in the dark outback they decided to wait til morning and have a bonfire with us. They are true aussies though, they love their drinking, hunting, and being in the outback. They were in their late 20's and were really fun to talk to. Their names were Scooter (Scott), Matt, and Carter. I could really talk on forever about them so I'm just going to sum up the night. They got fire wood by driving their staple outback white pickup truck with a grate on the front into dead trees, plowing them over, and putting them in the back seat. I don't know how I felt about it because I felt like it was big disrespect to the land, but it was so crazy and new that I had to go for at least one ride in the truck. Then around the fire they brought our their swags. A swag is like a portable bed that bushmen take with them and it just rolls out. It comes with the mattress, sheets, blankets, and pillows. So it turned out to be a decent night of bonfire, drinking, and talking.

Matt, Carter, Marlon, Sam