23 September: On the road again! Camping in a nice camping area beside a stream just out of Canungra and on the road to the Lamington National Park. Good winding narrow road up to the park – not one you would want to tow a caravan up! Did a few walks through the rainforest and a tree top walk. Some great views though a bit hazy in the valleys. A good bit cooler which was a bonus as temperatures in the low 30’s. Had a nice cooling swim in the stream at our camp.

Danger on the tree top walk

Hazy views from Lamington National Park

Spring Gully camp

Great swimming hole

17 September: Spent a night at “The Woolshed” at Jondaryan. Had a nice little spot by a stream and had grass underfoot. It happened to be an open weekend while we were there so a few activities on – historic buildings scattered around including a huge woodshed, a smithy and homesteads and lots of old machinery and windmills. There was even a wedding!

Santa the Blacksmith

The wedding party

Next day headed off to Brisbane via Toowoomba which was on top of an escarpment, a good steep drive down into the valley from there. Good to catch up with Jenny, Ron and family again- they looked after us very well.

Took the caravan in for remedial work and kangaroo damage repair and arranged to get the car windscreen replaced and did a few chores and a bit of shopping.

14 September: Meandered along side roads to Broadwater Conservation Park by a lake which actually has water in it! Park is in the heart of a crop growing area. Massive fields, as far as the eye could see and hardly a fence in sight but numerous silos.

Went for a couple of walks around the lake area, good to stretch the legs and took a trip into Dalby to get a diesel filter fitted. Had a campfire one night and cooked in the camp oven – still need a bit of fine tuning to get it right but casserole didn’t taste too bad.

Cotton field

Lake Broadwater

Camp oven cooking

12 September: Fairly short trip today, drove to another farm stay just outside of Roma. A change n landscape with the area looking more fertile and various crops growing as well as cattle and a few sheep. Not as good as Bonus Downs, very dry and quite a bit of wind to stir it up. Decided to move on next day to another camp at Roma, the Roma Gun Club, hot and dry again. Lots of people there as there was a competition about to start. Learnt a bit about skeet shooting from a competitor.

Had a bit of a look around Roma, lots of large bottle trees around – what Roma is famous for! along with huge cattle sale yards (also has a “big rig” as there are quite a few gas fields in the vicinity).

Farmstay

Bottle tree

10 September: on high alert when driving to our farm stay at Bouns Downs as there was a large number of wildlife active along the road – kangaroos, emus, goats and pigs – no close encounters!

Countryside very dry, lots of trees but very little grass and dams very low. Learnt about the history of the station and how it was being restored. Had visits from friendly farm dogs, one of which liked to collect jandels and shoes, and little poddy calves. Danger spent time refining his bread baking with very tasty results.

Drove to see the ancient Ooline trees on the property, quite a rarity and have been around for 1.6 million years with their origin in rainforests. It was a very peaceful place for a wander around.

Picnic in the Ooline forest

Dave feeds a horse AND bakes bread!

8 September: Uneventful travelling! Stayed at Bailey Bar Caravan Park (for the campoven dinner of course – yum). Rushed off to the Comos centre for some amazing star gazing – Saturn, globular cluster, ‘the jewel box, and double stars. Saw and heard about the cute litttle Bilbies.

5 September: Left Boulia around eight and started meeting traffic coming from Birdsville (yearly races have just been held). Could see in the distance a grey haze and found out later that it was very windy in Birdsville and the haze was dust. Further down the road we had stones flung at us by a passing camper van and got a cracked windscreen. Saw a few flocks of brightly coloured parrots and lots of eagles. On to Bedourie for the night and then cut the corner and went on a bumpy road to Windorah. Area known as the channel country, vast expanses of dry river channels, some red sand dunes and various grasses and trees.

Another drama today when got a warning light on indicating we had an issue with fuel and needed to rectify promptly. Luckily we weren’t too far from Windorah and were able to get it checked there (arranged by roadside assist).

After the check up drove on to one next stop of Quilpie. They say bad things happen in threes and today we have to agree – we hit a kangaroo. No damage to the car but it was flung into the caravan so now have a dent in the front!

Quilpie is a nice little place with a very good information centre and various museums. Danger had his photo taken a the “End of the Railway Line”. We did the walk along the Bulloo River, visited Lake Houdraman and then climbed up to Baldy Top ( the highest point in SW QLD) which had good views including that of a Willy-willy.

Bedourie pub

Steam engine for no3 bore (1890s)

Coopers Creek

Channel country

Emus at the lake

A willy-willy!

1 September: A long drive today but very quiet on the road, lucky if we saw a dozen vehicles. Stopped for lunch at the Middleton Hotel which was once one of the Cobb and Co changing stations and is the only one left standing. Lester the publican was a character and filled us in with local information. A movie, “Goldstone” had been filmed in the locality and we happened upon an old hut which was part of the movie set.

Further towards Boulia the scenery was spectacular, walked to a lookout at Cawn Pore and had wonderful 360 degree views. Our photos don’t do it justice.

Boulia was a little town on the banks of the almost dry Burke River. Visited a few sites including a stand of Waddi trees – rare trees only found in three places in Australia, they are very hard and difficult to burn.

Driving into Mesa country

31 August: Journeying west through Winton and on to Bladenburg National Park. A change in landscape, drove through the river flood plains which thankfully for us were dry and dusty. We camped at the Bough Shed Hole which according to brochures is a popular swimming hole. No water to be seen! Campsite was nice and peaceful, saw a bit of wildlife and cooked our tea on a campfire.

28 August:

A short drive today to Ilfracombe a few kilometres out of Longreach. Campground good and entertaining happy hour shows put on by the husband and wife camp owners ( remember to ask about the original Irish fax machine!). Once again very small, original pub, 120 years old along with the general store and Post Office. Ilfracombe also has the “Machinery Mile”, which is a display of historic machinery and farm equipment and the Romani Hall which is dedicated to Australia’s Light Horsemen ( a local filled us in on some of the history). Looked around the Wellshot Centre which told the story of the Wellshot Station which was one of Australia’s largest early sheep and wool producers. In its heyday 400,000 sheep were shorn each year.

Visited the QANTAS Founders Museum which told the story of the founding years of Qantas and had a Catalina, a DC 3, the first Qantas 707 and a 747 on display. Next day went to the Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame which paid tribute to pioneering stockmen and women. Yet again went to a hardware store to get items to make modifications to the caravan.

The only good cane toad is a dead one

25 August:

Drove back through Hughenden, another visit to the FJ Holden cafe, and then on to Muttaburra. Lots of dirt road today, at times looked more like a farm track than the secondary road it was. Danger decided to do some road testing today and sat in the caravan for a bit to see what happens when we are on the move. This was on the gravel road and was partly to check out how lower tyre pressures effected the vibrations. The driver made sure she drove very carefully so not to damage the precious cargo! Danger made some interesting observations, including the toilet lid jiggling up and down which he packed out with our hand towel! We made some changes to how to pack for moving.

The road to Muttaborough

Stayed overnight at Muttaburra which is the town closest to the centre of Queensland and also home to the Muttaburraussaurus Langdoni – a land living plant eating dinosaur from a 100 million years ago. Has a huge population of 100! Also a number of metal sculptures which seem to be popular around this area.

Next day on to Barcaldine and then bush camping for a few nights at the Lara Wetlands on Lara Station. Lots of bird life, colourful sunsets and good campfires. Drove back into Barcaldine and had a look around. Visited the Tree of Knowledge (the meeting place for the 1891 Shearers Strike and the formation of the Australian Labour Party) and then the Australian Workers Heritage Centre which was packed with displays and information. Drove past the Masonic Lodge which is painted to look like brick. Lots of different coloured bougainvilleas around.