Probably the most notable aspect of the Qld portion of the journey so far has been the FLAT. Also, maybe, has been the desolate nature of the landscape. Couple these two aspects and it’s a long way to anything.
I headed the last entry “Yowah” but failed to actually get there. Well I was probably dying of boredom. 100km of nothing is fine but 200kms is bloody boring and its typically that far from anything to anything else. Yowah is 70km off the road from Eulo to Thargomindah and its just a thin strip of bitumen going through the middle of nothing. Why anyone found a need to be here in the first place defies belief and to do it 130 years ago on horseback just seems stupid. Well the story is that the person who did make it here first was drunk but he must have stayed drunk for several weeks. How he recognised opals beats the s… out of me. We’re told they lay on the surface back then but I can tell you with absolute certainty they don’t now. Now to add to interest Judes and Robyns aunt and uncle had a mine out here in the 70’s and Robyn actually went down it in a visit in 1979. Bugger -we couldn’t find it. We’re no better off than we were when we got here – we didn’t strike it rich. Mind you when you encounter the locals here it becomes very apparent that nor did they Every 
one of the present 80 residents live in less than salubrious surroundings…
There are hundreds of mines/claims around the place and there must be 10 or 15 purveyors of opals but I guess you’ve got to love these stones cos I had difficulty seeing their worth. We stayed in the local caravan park at $20 for the night – power and water but both were a bit slimy and the toilets/showers were ……. (basic).
(the white posts are claims/leases). There are a couple of serious miners out here with heavy equipment but most are still pick and shovel. All water is from an artesian bore and it comes out under some pressure at over 50c – which explains why the showers were at least hot.
Engrossing landscape broken only by the need to pass another vehicle.
Back to the highway!!! and on to Thargomindah, the first hydroelectric powered township in Australia, but more tomorrow or next day cos I can only put one dot on the map per entry so Yowah is it today.