To Tambo
On Day three I travelled from Bungeworgorai to Tambo, arriving in the afternoon. Tambo is an interesting little town, neat and tidy, with a range of historic buildings and a Teddy shop. I went into the Info Centre, which is also the town library, and watched as 2 well behaved young boys (around 10/11 years) arranged to borrow some books. There was an issue as one of them appeared not to have his Library Card. I was impressed with the boy’s very nice manners.
The Tambo Post Office
In the Teddies shop
I was seeking information about a Free Camp – in my info, it was near the lake near the town, but apparently, the council had changed the rules. It was behind the lake on the banks of the very dry Barcoo River.
Tambo Teddies
The old buildings were interesting, so I took a walk down the main street taking photos of the historic buildings and came across the Tambo Teddy Shop. I had heard about this shop some time ago, and decided to go in and see if I could write a piece for Weekend Notes. One of the owners works for the council at the Art Gallery, so I went over to see her. She introduced me to an exhibition that was on there – two sisters had created a wonderful exhibition – one had written a story and the other had created the rooms and other material, to support the material. It was almost closing time so we made arrangements to meet at 7.30 am at the Teddy Shop.
The Old Barcoo
With a little trepidation, I set off to see if the Free Camp was suitable. It was a dry spot, with no water in the Barcoo at the spot where several vans had already set up for the night. I joined them. A lovely couple were close by and invited me to join them for a chat. They were from NSW and were draught horse people – taking their well trained horses around the state to show how these magnificent horses did their work.
The Barcoo River
The van fitted into a spot near them, after a chat I went back to the van to get my dinner and settle down. It was quite cold and I had to fill the hot water bottle. Luckily it kept me warm as toast.
Sheepskin put to use as Teddies
In the morning I was at the Teddy Shop, and the lady as promised arrived to show me around. She told me the story of the creation of the Teddies out of sheepskin. It was something created at a time when Tambo was suffering a downturn. Several owners have run the business since its inception, and they have quite a staff and business. (You’ll have to read the article when it is posted on WN.)
After I had taken the photos etc I had a coffee and toast at the little café beside the Teddy Shop, before setting off on my journey.
