Crossed into NT for a beer at Barkly Roadhouse

And there's more photos!

Some photos for the post below!

     Cows at Comeroo like cotton seeds

Cloncurry: the adventure so far!

Friday already and what sights we have seen. After working out which strip to use we landed to a welcoming committee at Comeroo Camel Station on Monday. There was much sniggering at our Jabi covers, apparently real planes in the outback don't have covers. Our host Bruce Sharpe refers to them as nappies!!!

We had drinks and dinner around the camp fire, fed the cows cotton seeds and drove to the hot water bore to meet some fellow travellers. Generally we got in the way but pretended we were a great help. And it was COLD! And DRY!

A few drops of welcome rain awoke us on Wednesday morning but not enough to keep the Jabi on the ground for our planned trip to Charleville. Of course we are no strangers to Charleville airport having stopped there on our maiden voyage to Birdsville. After a quick refuel at Charleville we used our first SAR WATCH (thanks Kate and Ranthir) and set sail for Longreach. Now with a head wind all the way, progress was a little slower than expected but the scenery changed and kept us enthralled along the way. We arrived safely and cancelled our SAR WATCH.
We played tourist at Longreach, walked the streets, visited the Qantas Museum and cruised the mighty Thompson River at sunset. Dinner was had on the river bank and we were entertained by Tania Kernaghan who was in town as well as some great local talent. By now the evenings are balmy and it was very pleasant.

We made it to Cloncurry this morning after a smooth flight from Longreach with a healthy tail wind. We decided to change our plan a bit and stay the night at Cloncurry. After the usual beer for the pilot we immediately put on our Akubras when we heard the Stockman's Challenge was on and took in the local rodeo. It's warm here - in the high 20s.

Tonight we are off to the Wagon Wheel Motel for dinner. It boasts the Prince of Wales historic restaurant and inn, the longest serving licensed premises in north western Qld. We figure that since they have been cooking since 1876 they should have it right be now.

Tomorrow we take off to NT and the Barkly Roadhouse for one night. Insha' Allah.

Thanks for the good wishes, blog comments and blessings, and stay tuned!

The Flying Nabateans

Comeroo Camel Station: a great start!

Thanks to our hosts Bruce and Christine Sharpe for a great two nights - we enjoyed the camp fire chats with all the other travellers.

Lunch Narromine.next Comeroo

2013:our next Jabi adventure

The time has come for the Flying Nabateans to take to the skies again in our fearless Jabi.What adventures await? What wondrous things will we see? How will the flight plan change? How will the journey change us? These questions and more will be answered during nearly 9,000 km, over 26 nights in around 45 flying hours. We start and return to Albion Park (Wollongong) the home of Jabi. Here's our route and the places we're planning to stay are shown in bold in the table below.

 

Insha'Allah...

				km	Time	Nights	Average Temp
Date	Day		Tap or click to know more...	Approx 198  kph air speed			Min	Max
8-Jul	Mon		Albion Park, NSW				8	17
8-Jul	Mon		Narromine, NSW	398	2.0	0
8/ 9 Jul	Mon/Tues		Comeroo Station, Bourke NSW	440	2.2	2	5	18
10-Jul	Wed		Charleville, QLD	335	1.6	0
10/11 Jul	Wed/Thurs		Longreach, QLD	387	1.9	2	7	24
12-Jul	Fri		Cloncurry, QLD	496	2.4	0	10	26
12/13 July	Fri/Sat		Barkly Homestead NT	500	2.5	2
14/15 July	Sun/Mon		Daly Waters, NT	461	2.3	2	12	29
16/17/18 July	Tues/Wed/Thurs		Kununurra, WA	501	2.5	3	15	31
19/20 Jul	Fri/Sat		Derby, WA	566	2.8	2
21/22 Jul	Sun/Mon		Port Hedland, WA	646	3.2	2	12	27
23-Jul	Tues		Newman, WA	359	1.8	0	8	23
23/24 Jul	Tues/Wed		Meekatharra, WA	376	1.8	2	7	19
25/26/27  Jul	Thurs/Fri/Sat		Kalgoorlie, WA	544	2.7	3	5	17
28/29 Jul	Sun/Mon		Forrest, WA	635	3.1	2	5	19
30-Jul	Tues		Ceduna, SA	549	2.7	0	8	18
30/31 Jul	Tues/Wed		Streaky Bay, SA	96	0.5	2
1-Aug	Thurs		Port Pirie, SA	348	1.7	0	8	16
1/2Aug	Thurs/Fri		Mildura, VIC	394	1.9	2	4	15
3-Aug	Sat		Narrandera, NSW	409	2.0	0	3	13
3-Aug	Sat		Cootamundra, NSW	139	0.7
3-Aug	Sat		Albion Park, NSW	252	1.2	0	8	17
				8828	43.4	26