28th Sept, Barcaldine to Aniake, no, Emerald, sod it Sapphire

So we leave the comfort of our "self contained unit" (had to drag Lin out) and back on the road. The weathers still nice and cool and even the bouncy, twisty road cant put a damper on things. The roads seems to have narrowed even more, which make it feel like we're doing 110kmh down a long side road. Sixty two wheeled and fifty three meter long road trains (yea I know, Sad git for counting the wheels) are still coming at us like they own the road, (Hey, who's gonna argue).

We're heading for Aniake, today right on the edge of the gem fields, thought we'd plant ourselves here and use it as a base for a couple of days. Aniake should only be a short run, bout three hundred K's or so, anyway, we stop off at Jericho to top us and the bike up, nip into a shop with a pump on the curb. "no fuel here luv, better grub in Alpha", cant argue with that, so back on the bike and off to Alpha. Fifty odd k further on, we pull into Alpha and I gotta say, the homemade pasty was so good, I had two. Lin wanted a cheese roll but they don't do filled rolls. When Lin wants cheese roll, theres no stopping her, so she buys the roll and trots off to the local general store for a bit of cheese. Believe me, she ain't happy at the cost, $7 for a bit of cheese, Still she got her roll, in fact, she went in for two more, Bloody good grub in Alpha. Full bike, full tums and we're on our way.

Its not long before we're pulling into Aniake, not the largest town we've been in, in fact theres the pub and the caravan site and that's it. No messing, straight into the pub for a thirst quencher, Lin gets talking to the barmaid and the next thing yer know, we're off into Emerald (another 44k) and gonna use that as a base. So 30mins later, we're in Emerald information centre. "where's the best camp site round here ?", " Oh that would be Sapphire, bout 50k back the way we came". Right, F*@k it, stock up on supplies at the local super market and its back the way we came. (game and half this).
We finally make it to the site. Its all been worth. The site really is the nuts. The camp kitchen is like something from home. full set of matching crockery, cutlery, pots pans, really clean and tidy. The site is just stunning, set on the top of a mountain and in woodland, Roo's, parakeets all around. Yep, got to say getting here was worth it.
Right, off to bed, gonna do a bit of fossicking tomorrow.

Love you all and Lin really Miss's her weekly chats to Dot & Pete and coffee with Row.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILLEE-JEAN xxx Have a lovely, lovely day, we love you loads xxxx

Here we are on the road again and its still early morning....

On and on and round and round and then theres the up and the down....and the in and out of the hole in the roads....

This is Aniake.... well as we said its the pub and the caravan site and thats Anaike....
Mind you they serve a bloody refreshing lemonade top and cider here...

This is the new art theme displayed in Emerald... mainly a mining town but has lots of new arty stuff and buildings going on...

More Emerald...

Here we go into the site its called 'Sapphire'...(the same as the towns
name).... So all in one day we have been to Anaike, Emerald and Sapphire...how cool is that ????

Can you see the wallaby, he's come for his tea...

Home for the next few days...

A room with a view and a table !!!!! lol  How fab is this. We are staying on a mountain top, with natural forrest all around....

We've booked in for three nights but may well stay longer....its just so ideal....