With a big day of driving ahead of us, we managed to get away about 9.30am, passing by Augathella and stopping at Tambo for some lunch at the dam (that had very little water in it today, but apparently it is used for waterskiing?).

We continued on through Blackall and stopped again at Barcaldine, known as the birthplace of the ALP. A major attraction in Barcaldine is The Tree of Knowledge a 200-year-old Corymbia aparrerinja ghost gum that unfortunately was declared dead in 2006, but the preserved trunk remains and a massive memorial has been built around it.

All very neat and manicured towns, but absolutely nobody to be seen and all shops closed due to it being a public holiday. The drive was quite pleasant - we saw a massive herd of wild goats and a couple of brolgas. The landscape is quite green due to recent good rainfall, and the weather's around 32 degrees with cloud overhead.

We arrived around 4.30pm and had plenty of spots to choose from but it's really hot and there are not too many trees. Eventually we picked a spot, set up and went for a swim in the pool.

Around 8pm the forecast rain began to fall - it was actually really nice to see some rain.