LEODESTRAVELOZZ

20250626  Arriving at another of our favourite Hotels, the Cracow, she still stands tall and proud over a town that was once a thriving community in the 1800’s when the mine was at its peak until the closure in the 1970’s, which saw a decline and many houses abandoned. The mining of gold has since reopened and although the town has little left to offer there’s no going past the historical old pub. No longer owned by Fred Brophy, icon of the Australian tent boxing scene, but is now in the hands of another tent boxer who worked with Fed in his youth, who went under the nickname of "Kid Goanna". Stuart and Nikki Burke, his wife, meet at the Cracow over 20 years ago when she was working behind the bar. When the pub came up for sale the Burkes family decided to buy the Pub, in the hope of containing the Cracow story. Now! With their children,  Brophy and Chilli at there side a new chapter of their life begins, in the town where their parents meet. Chilly, the new barmaid who serve...

20250625  Following the Mountain Range to the left of us along the A7, Carnarvon Highway towards Rolleston, Rough Surface as the sign says. It fascinates me how the council go to the trouble of driving to these places to put a sign up, don’t kill two birds with one stone and fix it while their, that might make sense. Loosing reception just out of Roma and passing many cattle trucks headed towards Roma  Saleyards, the country's largest cattle selling centre and Australia's marketplace of choice with 223,984 cattle sold through the yards in the 2023/24 financial year. We camped  at a truck stops and the cattle’s head peaks over the top of the carriage, their big black eyes staring straight at me, let me out of here.🐄. We were woken buy the tucks starting their engines so we continued our journey to Rollestone,  it certainly gets a bit creepy as the road trains head towards you on some narrow parts of the road as I squeeze my eyes in anticipation. Getting  closer ...

20250617 Well here we are back in Roma and I’ve always wanted to stop and check out the sculptures in the park as you enter the town only this time there are many more due to a outdoor exhibition. Sculptures Out Back is celebrating local history, cultural heritage, community, and the environment, artists from around Australia display their handcrafted pieces on the bank of Roma’s Bungil Creek and is definitely worth a stop.  With nearly $40,000 in prize money up for grabs, this exhibition is not only a showcase of artistic brilliance but also an opportunity for sculptures to become part of the region’s public art collection. Sculptures are scored on first impression, creativity, originality, finish, composition and texture. And the winner is: Yeh, Nah, She s Bogged This sculpture is a playful tribute to everyday life in the Maranoa - a familiar scene of one bush-battered truck pulling another out of a bog, complete with three life-sized cartoon-style characters caught in the chaos....