The Tropic of Capricorn starts by road at Rockhampton & ends, as a nearly direct road route at Longreach before the road makes bigger deviations from this line across the rest of Australia.
After leaving the historic gold mining town of Mt Morgan we headed west, driving through towns with names unfamiliar to us. Dululu, Duaringa, Dingo, Bluff, Blackwater, Comet & then the bigger town of Emerald. This route runs slightly below the Tropic of Capricorn. We passed through grazing country, passing the Blackdown National Park in the distance to the south.
From Emerald we passed through the tiny towns Anakie, Bogantungan, Alpha, Beta & Jericho on the way to Barcaldine. The landscape has started to flatten out & the grass is browning off as we head west.
Alpha (Greek for beginning) is supposed to be the beginning of the outback in Qld. A little town with a lot of pride. A typical wide Main Street, murals painted on many buildings & the pie shop that has been recommended from Rocky to Alpha by many travellers. Had to succumb to a couple of pies but boy the vanilla slices also looked very tempting.
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| Maybe time for some repairs on the sign? |
We are starting to pass road trains with 3 trailers, luckily they are going to the east while we head west. The road isn't bad, a bit bumpy in parts but so far so good. We have passed a couple of trains with 90 odd carriages pulled & pushed by three locos. The town of Comet is the coal capital & other than a 50 carriage cattle train the other trains are loaded with coal.
Reached the town of Barcaldine for our next stopover.
The home of the Labour Party & the tree of knowledge.
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