I planned a trip to Charleville, my first of any length
in my new home called ‘Bluey’; but did I have the strength
to iron out the bugs myself, to test my Winnie’s mettle
to set up camp and fetch the wood and boil the old black kettle?

So I conned my new co-pilot, though he’d little time to spare,
and we had to do a hurried trip to get from here to there;
from Boonooroo to Longreach via Bilo, Springsure, Barcy
to Isisford and Tambo, no time for much malarkey!

From Morven then to Mitchell, through Roma and Dulacca,
through Taroom, Theodore, Cracow; the pace was quite a cracker.
Eidsvold, Gayndah, BanBan Springs, Biggenden then home,
three thousand Ks in just two weeks, a bit too far to roam.

And, yes, you’ve gotta have a laugh at things that bother you,
like when we camped beside a lake and a new rig blocked our view!
Or when we found a grand old pub and went to meet the locals,
but the barmaid came from foreign lands and we couldn’t grasp her vocals.

And when the knob came off the fridge and we had to use the pliers
to turn the shaft from ‘gas’ to ‘off’ – ingenuity needs admirers!
Like the bloke from Longreach Waterhole who couldn’t stand the tap
that squirted water upwards, so he donned his plumber’s cap.

Removed the tap, his wife passed tools, new thread tape and voila!
Water now flowed downwards and he became a star.
While out there in that sheep country I went to buy lamb chops,
But they were frozen - from Shark Bay - in that inland butcher shop.

What of the wedge-tailed eagle that swooped my puppy walking,
a look-alike for a baby goat that he was used to stalking?
There were fingers cut and fingers burned, no shower for five days,
burrs and bindies in our clothes and mats; my purse I did mislay.

But, oh! The stars that dripped at night, the crisp and cleansing air;
to travel this wide land of ours one could have no finer fare.
And Oh! The wonders that we saw in this land of changing clime
have honed my taste for more forays, but then I’ll take my time.