Day 13: Sun 8 May - Charleville

8 – 22°, It felt fresh this morning, so we slept in till 7am, and even turned the heater on in the van to take the chill out of the air. Shortly after, I headed out for a walk along the levee bank by the river with Greg, but i made a rookie mistake of going out with a flat camera battery. It was a beautiful morning and some lovely scenery. I did return to Noeleene with a cream bun (her favourite), when i passed a bakery on the way back to the van. After breakfast, we returned to the bakery for morning coffee, and we were quickly joined by an 80 + year old local retired farmer who was keen for some company and a bit of a chat about everything from farming to politics. Keith was a lovely fella who i think enjoyed the company. Afterwards, Noeleene headed to the shops to buy victuals for dinner, while Greg, Wendy and I headed across the road with our bikes to the Charleville Historic House Museum. Dating back to 1887, it was purpose built as Charleville's first national bank, before it became a boarding house until the 1970s when it was purchased by the Charleville and District Historical Society, then becoming the museum it is today filled with an array of memorabilia dating back to the 1800s. After a lengthy wander through the museum, we headed out to the airport on our bikes, first stop being the Royal Flying Doctor Service visitors centre which provided a great insight into the history and ongoing service provided to the people of the outback by the Flying Doctors. Next stop 300 m up the road was the very interesting, and not widely known, 'WWII Secret Base' in Charleville exhibition. The exhibition centre outlines Charleville's role during the war from 1942 - 1946, providing an insight into what life was like for the more than 3,500 USAF stationed at Charleville. It was very interesting. From here, we rode back into town, stopping at the Graham Andrews Park before returning to the van for lunch. Greg and I went out for another short ride out of town part way along a dirt track to a water hole. More photos, then we returned to wrap up the day with sunset drinks outside our vans. Dinner was a Green Curry Thai Chicken that i prepared, and it was a nice change eating together, sharing a few glasses of red under the stars, bringing to end another great day.