Bon jour from Blackall,

It was 8 degrees when I departed Bourke around 7:45, after filling the tank and heading north along the Mitchell Highway, under clear blue skies. At 9:05, I crossed into Queensland, and I was in Cunnamulla by 10:15, where I did the usual bakery visit. I had morning coffee a few kilometres out of town, then continued north to Charleville, on the outskirts of which I had lunch ’round 12:40. I topped up the tank again in Augathella around 2, then followed the Landsborough (or Matilda) Highway to Blackall. I was in my motel room by 4:10, and the temperature was a pleasant 23 degrees.

The trip was uneventful, although overtaking 3-trailer road trains, at 110km/h+, was a bit scary at times, as the road edges were often uneven, causing the trailers to fishtail across the centre lines slightly.

I booked this motel for a number of reasons; it’s the only 3.5 star motel in town, with restaurant/room service and high speed internet access. Guess what? The restaurant staff are on holidays, username/passwords for wireless internet access currently can’t be generated, and there’s a problem with the PABX so there’s no dial out! To top it off, I get “No Service” on my Telstra mobile. Boy, was I pissed off, particulary at being incommunicado. I calmed down when I discovered that I could connect to their ISP’s (NomadNET) wireless access point, and pay for access via PayPal, at cheaper rates anyway.

Today run was 776 km; here’s the route map:

Cheers,
Julian