Long Ride - Day 5 - Barcaldine to Hughenden

The Long Ride day 5 was an interesting one, and probably for all the wrong reasons.  It started early

Long Ride day 5 - Barcaldine to Hughenden

with a meet up at the Knowledge Tree in Barcaldine.  The reason for starting so early was to get as much in as possible while still covering the 500 plus kilometres needed to get to Hughenden later in the day.

 

The first leg was just over 100 kilometres to Longreach, a place I have always wanted to visit for the Qantas museum and also the Stockman's Hall of Fame.  We only had time to do one so chose the Qantas one ... a mistake.

 

Having worked on aircraft when I was younger I was excited about the history of one of the worlds most iconic brands.  I have to be brutally honest, it was a waste of the $21 to get in.  Sure the history of Qantas is pretty unique, but the museum is more or less a collection of old shit that has been put on display, it doesn't really tell much of the history that makes it interesting.  The Lake Boga Catalina museum near Swan Hill is much more interesting and actually has a better display.  I'd recommend that, but not the Qantas one.

 

The good thing about the Qantas museum was that they showed some interest in our ride and took a group photo under the wings of a 747 and 707.

The photo shoot at the Qantas museum was probably a
highlight of the day.

To me the ride there was much more interesting especially seeing an actual stock drive along the road side just outside of Barcaldine.  There must of been a few hundred cows on both sides of the road, being driven by farmers on horse back, it was quite an impressive site.

 

After a quick refuel in Longreach, we didn't have much of a look at the town but from what we could see it does look like a pretty town, we set off for the 170 odd kays to Winton.  Another place I have really wanted to see because of the dinosaur stampede and also the amount of fossils that have been found.

 

The ride there began what continued to be a long hard day on the bike.  There was quite a strong cross wind on a dead straight road, absolutely nothing to look at except a wide expanse of empty land, it's not even interesting desert type land.

 

As we approached Winton there were plenty of signs making suggestions about visiting the dinosaur capital of Australia.  The unfortunate thing was that the road to the Age of Australian Dinosaurs was 11 kilometres of dirt, the bulldust type.  Although I was pretty disappointed the smart thing was to not go down the road on the bikes. 

 

We headed into town and again this was another place I really liked.  Yeah, there's no doubt it is still stuck well and truly in the 1950's, there's actually only 2 ATM's in the whole place, the only bank doesn't even have one, but this added to its charm.  The impressive thing is that the three largest buildings in town are all pubs and all very impressive with an old world charm.

 

Having lunch at the Tattersall's Hotel, a quick conversation was struck up with a farming family at the next table.  They told us that it was pretty dry around the area at the moment and it was taking it's toll on the farming community.

 

Cattle were dying all over the place due to a lack of food.  We were told that cattle were currently only fetching $20 per head.  Amazing when down south we are still paying well over $20 a kilo for some cuts of meat.  Who is making all the money?  Certainly not the cattle farmers it seems.

 

With some emotion the farmer told us that at a recent cattle sale in Roma, they couldn't get 5c per head and the cattle all had to be destroyed and removed to reduce costs.  The sadly ironic thing is that the cost was $100 per head to have this done.

 

In some ways this is the reason why we do the Long Ride.  While the aim is about raising awareness of prostate cancer it is also about speaking about men's health in general and one of the greatest killers of men in regional areas is suicide due to the reasons just outlined.  Being able to speak to the locals and just show that people from other areas, especially the cities, do care is said to go a long way to helping with some of the mental issues being faced.

 

It was quite sobering and made what happened next seem quite funny in contrast.

 

While everyone was at a local BP service station, an accident happened that had to be seen to be believed.  An area of the forecourt was being reconcreted and clearly marked off with witches hats.  One rider, on a BMW, didn't notice this and rode straight into the wet concrete.  Hilarious.

 

It was here that a local roadworker warned us about some serious construction work going on just out of town and for around 80 kilometres.  He told us to ignore the detour route and to ride on the actual area being repaired.  There should only be a few areas where we would need to ride on the dirt.

 

This all seemed fine until following a truck I actually followed him straight onto the dirt.  This soft powdery stuff is diabolical to ride on especially on a 350 kilogram cruiser.  I couldn't believe it, I actually got off the dirt without falling off, but the same couldn't be said for a few others.

 

Five riders all came to grief on this stuff, one being a rider on one of those massive Honda Goldwing's.  These things weigh as much as a small car, and would've needed a crane to lift it.  Thankfully no one was hurt.

As boring as bat poo, over 200 kilometres of straight
road and no great scenery.

After riding for over 2 hours into a head wind on what must be one of the worlds most boring roads, we started to see a sign that things were changing.  A large hill became visible on the horizon and a few trees were coming into view.  Then a few more, and even more.  There was even a rain storm forming not too far away.

 

We were heading away from the arid centre of Queensland and now towards the tropics.  A night in Hughenden with a meal put on by the local caravan park, and then an early night as tomorrow we head to Charters Towers to meet with Frank Beveridge, the towns mayor and see some of his town.

 

A few more donations have come through to my account taking the overall total raised to $12,246.

 

Today we rode 513 kilometres taking the total to 2,424.