Caleb woke us up with a plastic bag containing Ray’s Father’s Day presents being waved in our faces. Ray opened them while I made him breakfast in bed, the first time for him on this entire trip. Such a negligent wife! 

We knew we had such a long day in the car ahead of us so we were packed up and on the road by 9:04am. We had to drag Caleb away from our neighbour’s caravan as he was playing ‘Go Fish’ with them, as he had been for much of the morning. (He charmed them into letting him win.)

Our morning stop was at Barcaldine which is home to the Tree of Knowledge. 
This tree is where the ideals of the Labor Party were first read and formed as a result of a miners strike in this area. 

The original tree was poisoned and the trunk that remains had been treated so that it will be preserved. After it was vandalised, but before it was entirely dead, it was cloned with cuttings taken from it and these cuttings were replanted by Julia Gillard. ( aka ‘the high heel getting stuck in the grass and toppling over’, moment). 

The monument to the tree would have to be the most impressive we’ve come across and at a cost of $5million, it should be! The huge swinging blocks of wood represent the striking shearers clippers and they could do some real damage if they were to fall. 

Lunch was at Alpha, a small town where nothing appeared to be open. Luckily, the public toilets were, but we didn’t see any locals about at all. A real ghost town, or perhaps all the men were enjoying their Father’s Day lunch like Ray. ( He was clutching a jam, peanut butter and cheese combined sandwich and a soft boiled egg. It doesn’t get much better than that!) 

We crossed the Great Dividing Range and I yet again realised just how far across Australia this mountain range is stretched. 

We passed through gemstone country, seeing names of towns like Rubyvale, Sapphire and Emerald. A lot of the Grey Nomads inhabit this area, staying for months while they fossick for gemstones. They get their finds polished and made into jewellery. Nice. 

We pulled up for the night at 6:03pm at a free camp just outside of Duaringa. We are about 150km from Rockhampton. Poor Ray! What a way to spend Father’s Day, driving 571 km almost in a straight line. I did give him the token offer to drive, but both of us knew it wouldn’t happen. I don’t go over 60km/per hour towing the van, we would still be near Longreach! !

We think today was our longest travelling day, to date. We had a quick dinner and Caleb pulled out his cards. We played Fish and then we taught him ’21/Pontoon’ ( minus the money). He enjoyed it and kept asking to play more, not realizing that he was actually doing number work. It’s “on the cards” for tomorrow.