Well, there are much worse places to get stuck for a few days than Cloncurry. Elliot, for example (uuuh - shiver). And while that is true, it was almost a bit funny how Louise and I kept reminiding each other of this fact. Typically this went a bit like this:

You know, it's not that bad.
No, it's quite a friendly place, really.
There are far worse places.
Absolutely.
And the people here are really nice.
Yeah!
And the campsite is very clean as well.
Yes, this is one of the best campsites I've been to.
And there is even a museum and stuff.
Yeah - and the weather isn't that bad either. I mean, it's cold, but at least it's not raining.
Yes - and we are saving money, too.
Yeah!

and so on and so on and so on.

But seriously: Cloncurry really isn't all that bad. Granted, it would have been better to break down in, say, Townsville, but we made the best out of it. We went to a rugby game, saw a Rodeo for the under-seven-years-olds, visited all the pubs of Cloncurry (in less than 30 minutes) and on the last night there was even a concert in our caravan park! I'm pretty sure, though, that that was agaist the Geneva Convention. I mean, it positively was torture. And since the stage was right next to my tent there was no way we could have escaped it. I tried to get drunk very quickly but that didn't help either. This guy could not even not sing (he would even have lost a Karaoke-Competition) but he was also so not funny, it was painful. And he knew it, too. You know, he said things like: "Have any of you heard my show before? Yeah? And it's stilll the same old jokes, isn't it?" ARGH!!!! Well, somehow we survived the "Touch the Morning Tour". But it was close.

Jillaroos in Cloncurry

One night we also met two Jillaroos (Aust.: Cowgirls) who were going to Mt. Isa for a day of shopping. Tey are doing it for one year and it seems like they are having quite an exciting time. The one had only been at it for about a month and had already been charged by a bull and rolled over a Toyota. There you go! They also solved a bit of a mystery for me, being how do they manage to round up the cattle? Remember, some of these cattle stations are thousands of square-kilometers big. The answers is: They stop the water as good as they can five days before mustering, so that the cattle go towards the few remaining water holes. Pretty clever, ey?

Sitting it out - together

We didn't see the Flying Doctors Museum (the Flying Doctors Service was founded in Cloncurry There, you learn something new every day!) since it was 8.50 AUD, but I don't think we missed that much. Btw: I gotta give Louise credit for sticking with me after the car had broken down. Someone else might have said: "Ok. I'm taking the bus from here." But she stuck with me. Nice. And btw: She is not blonde! But unfortuanetly I don't have a photo to prove it, either. The only thing that really, really scared us was the possibility that something could go wrong on monday when the new water pump was due to to arrive. Let's say they'd put the wrong pump on the truck in Townsville or sth. like that.