Roon and Family around Oz

T+200 Bourke & Cobar, Go West young man or East to Eden?  We're at Cobar, a NSW crossroads. Literally and figuratively. We go west to South Australia, self-isolate for 2 weeks and continue on our big-lap, albeit with a chunk missing? Or, we head east and meander slowly through Central NSW in the direction of Coffs Harbour? Cobar Another crossroads in our lives. Like most, we've had a few and as we weigh the pros and cons can't help think of those life-changing decisions, some well considered, others fanciful, which have led to the present day and yes, Cobar.  I've written earlier in this missive about our charmed life in Zambia and how 3 weeks turned into 5½ years. Leaving was a wrench but had to be. Personnel in London, known these enlightened days as HR or the Spoiler Police, had decreed that Zambia long-term was no place for a mid-20's bloke with a degree of ambition and perceived potential. Matters had been made worst by winning...

T+ 180 Winton to NSW Border via Longreach, Barcaldine, Blackall, Tambo, Charleville and Cunnamulla.   One door closes. and another opens or is it the other way around? Officially Queensland is open for business, the hospitality and tourism businesses rubbing their hands together, sprucing up the old place and hanging out the welcome flags. Problem is they're not. Longreach, which we were looking forward to, is to put it mildly, comatose. The iconic Qantas Museum is closed. The even more iconic Stockmans Hall of Fame closed. The sing-along, clap along outback evenings around the camp-fire - closed. So with nobody willing to part us from our hard-earned we continue our trek south.  The plan now is to time our itinerary to arrive at the South Australian border in time for the grand opening on the 20th July. As the Beast refuses point-blank to get down and dirty on gravel this means transiting across South West NSW which we reckon shouldn't be too much of a hardship. First u...