Monday, October 1, 2012

Captain Starlight's Lookout

What a day of inspiration!

Today we travelled to Captain Starlight's Lookout just outside of Longreach on the Cramsie-Muttaburra Rd. It was a 50km drive on unsealed road and we could almost hear the Prado resounding with throaty exultation to have her tyres chew through the gravel.  This was one of the smoother parts of the road/track.

 
We saw a big bearded dragon, emus and Eastern Grey kangaroos. We stopped at this pretty waterhole where Jack proceeded to get stuck in the mud and finally managed to extract his shoe.
 
 
The lookout was easy to spot, as the expanse surrounding it was spread flat like butter on bread.
 
 
Captain Starlight was a cattle rustler and his story is well worth the read if you have a spare 5 minutes. Read here.  He manged to wrangle a herd of 1000 cattle and run then down through some of the harshest country in Australia and sell them for a profitable fortune in South Australia.  A feat that Burke and Wills failed only a few years earlier. In the end he was trialed and found not guilty due the admiration of his amazing feat.  Late in life he also ran the first lot of cattle out to Brunette Downs in the Barkley Tableland, a place where my husband Don spent a part of his childhood. The lookout was used to keep an eye open for anyone who might discover his herd before he had a chance to set off on his grand adventure south. Oh, does anyone else feel a new novel coming on?  I know I do!
 

 
Sam climbed all of the way to the top by himself.  A prouder Mummy you have never seen.



The view from the top was worth the climb.



Doing just like Daddy does.



These little mountain men, were pretty proud of their explorative efforts.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Fantastic summary. I am going there next week and look forward to it.

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