Merry Christmas;

My two granddaughters rehearsing Christmas Carols.

I wish you all wonderful Christmas days and a happy New Year.

Last leg...Birdsville; Longreach; Charleville; Coolangatta.

Patterns in the desert;

Please click all the pictures to get bigger images.

Approaching Birdsville;

The Birdsville Pub has seen the lot;

Famous for huge Hamburgers;

Over the Simpson desert;

Approaching Longreach;

Hall of Fame has lots to offer.

I would have written "The Men and Women".

The poem was written in 1900 when it still was mainly a man's world.

A tribute to the women in the outback;

The future of any country.

Longreach home of Quantas. Its birthplace was Winton but was moved to Longreach as it was thought to be more central.

Here I have to include a story about early flights. A Family living in the outback, the father was manager of a huge property. In 1926 two of the girls, there were 4 girls and a baby boy, were send with a Quantas plane to boarding school. The cockpit was open, at the back was sort of an enclosure, but the windows had no glass. The children had to be bundled up in warm clothes and blankets, as it must have been freezing up there. Everybody came to the airport to say goodbye and brought presents for the girls.

Later the father flew with a Quantas plane to by bulls in Victoria. On his homeward flight the plane came down and he lost his life. The mother with her 5 small children could not manage the big property and moved to Brisbane. She did not have the money to go to her husband funeral as he was buried in Tambo where the plane came down.

Little Corellas settling like flowers on the tall gumtrees.

( I thought they were Cockatiels but Arija Garden Delights said they are little Corellas.)

Sunset in Longreach sensational with huge flocks of birds rushing by and finally settling for a roosting place.

Charleville a pretty and tidy town.

The Gold Coast, not far to to Coolangatta and home.

This is the last post of a series of The Outback;

1. Back O'Bourke

2 .Still in Bourke

3. Adieu Bourke

4. Coober Pedy

5. The painted desert

6. Last leg, Birdsville, Longreach, Charleville, Coolangatta.

I hope you enjoyed my mainly birds eye view of the harsh but absolutely beautiful Outback of Australia.