Day 223. Charleville

The Laundry Incident...

Shane was up and out the door by 7:30am this morning with the washing. There are only two machines and we saw how packed the two lines got yesterday; so he wanted to get in first. Well it turned out the laundry wasn’t even open yet, so he left his washing by the door along with another lady who had done the same, and came back to the van. About 15min later he spied the caravan park manager opening the laundry, so quick as a flash he went down and threw in his first load. Standing outside for 10min he decided the other lady was nowhere to be seen so he would use the second machine too. He figured she wouldn’t come back till 8am, and his load would just about be finished by then anyway.


A very friendly Eastern Grey Kangaroo and joey - making themselves right at home


Well, we were outside when we spotted an old lady heading over to the laundry and then come back out with a look of total ‘thunder’ on her face. The next person who approached her was then given a total ear full, and we can only assume her anger was directed at the machine jumper… Shane! I told Shane after we saw the second person cop an earful off her, he needed to go over and apologise so we weren't tarnished throughout the whole park. At the rate she was off, it wouldn’t have taken long. So he headed over (I followed from behind to watch) and while she was running him down to person number three he stopped her and said ‘sorry’.

After he copped an ear full (which he totally deserved) she ran out of whinge, and we sank away. It was pretty funny when I think about it now, but at the time, laundry jumping is serious business with grey nomads in the parks. But I am sure poor Shane has now learnt his lesson.

After this morning’s excitement, Scarlett was after pancakes for breakfast. So we took all the gear over to the camp kitchen to use their great BBQ’s, and cooked up a storm. She also asked her two little mates who she had met yesterday over for breakfast too, and it was a lovely morning in the sun with lovely company. Oh, and good pancakes too.

The 'Vortex Guns'

After our four loads of washing were finally complete, we decided to pop into town to have a look around. We called into the IGA to pick up some essential popcorn supplies, more fuel (again), money from the ATM, and then we took Scarlett to the park. She had a great time playing with all the kids in the playground, so while we were there, we also checked out the ‘Vortex Guns’. These guns were used in desperation during the 1902 drought to charge gunpowder hoping that the resulting explosion would change the atmospheric pressure and produce rain. Unfortunately it didn’t work, but the two preserved guns make for a great outback story anyway.

The afternoon was spent doing not too much; we talked to our neighbours who had just started their journey around Oz; while the kids played great together. We had an early dinner of boring spaghetti bolognaise, then hit the campfire toasting marshmallows for dessert. Shane is still over there watching the only TV with reception in the whole park. The rugby is on in the camp kitchen, so he and a few other blokes are having a couple of quite ones while cheering on the Wallabies! Meanwhile, I’m looking forward to an early night in bed with my book. We have another big drive tomorrow to Longreach, a good 500km’s….