Day 223 - Mt Isa - Boulia, QLD 07 September, 2024
We weren't in any hurry to get away this morning because, apart from knowing which direction we were going in, we had no idea how far we would go and where we would end up. Our general direction from now would be south, towards Boulia, Bedourie and Betoota.
Leaving camp we drove up to the Mt Isa lookout, where we had a wonderful view of the huge mine that dominates the town, and the surrounding area. There was some good silo art on the water tank up there that we go photos of.
Back down in the town we filled up with diesel, 130 litres @ $1.96 per litre, then drove out of town setting the cruise control at 80 km/h in an effort to conserve fuel, as the previous tank didn't take us as far as it would normally.
The sealed road, although only a single lane, was in good condition and the only issue we had while still close to the town was the number of road trains, and other vehicles, travelling in the opposite direction, that we had to pull right off the road to allow to pass.
The traffic thinned out after a while, and we mostly had the road to ourselves for long periods.
There was almost nothing to see or do along the way, until we stopped at a tree on the side of the road that was decorated with pushbikes (who knows why!) and had morning tea.
Having missed seeing wildlife on our recent journeys, we were pleased to see a herd of Camels just off the road, then shortly after a pair of Emus, also not far from the road.
After a leisurely lunch break we decided we might as well drive all the way to Boulia, seeing there was nothing else to do before then.
There was a large free camp on the banks of a river just outside Boulia, where we pulled into and got setup for the night. We had the bonus of good internet being so close to town.
Day 224 - Boulia - Cuttaburra Crossing Free Camp, QLD 08 September, 2024
Driving out of camp this morning we startled a large flock of Budgies, the first we’d seen since we were in the area on a previous trip.
After leaving our free camp, we drove into Boulia to visit the dump point and to do the only touristy thing we hadn’t done when visiting the town the previous year, which was to view the 3-D pedestrian crossing.
We then set out on the road to Bedourie, about 220 km further south. The road was mostly single-lane blacktop, but it was wide enough in most places that two vehicles could just pass each other without having to go off the side of the road.
We were surprised at the amount of traffic passing us going the other direction, almost all RVs, which must have numbered in the hundreds for the day. We discovered later on that it was race season in the area, with all major towns like Birdsville, Boulia, Bedourie and Betoota all holding race meetings around this time.
Our wildlife sightings for the day included Kangaroos, Brolgas and a lone Dingo in a wide-open area standing under the only tree around for a long way.
The countryside we passed through for most of the day was amazing. It was Channel Country, which is mostly flat, with a few small hills here and there, and with rocky ground that stretched as far as the eye could see in all directions. It seemed very inhospitable and surprised me that anything could live out there. The Channel Country comprises 14% of Queensland, so it is absolutely vast.
Partway along the route we stopped at a high lookout that gave us a bird’s eye view of this wonderful country. I put the drone up briefly to try and capture what we were seeing, but even it didn’t really do it justice. Some raptors started to take an interest in the drone, so I had to land it quickly.
After the lookout we stopped further along the road to try and get some drone footage of the area, which was between the Simpson Desert and Channel Country, and comprised a lot of dunes interspersed with sandy valleys. Unfortunately the drone was misbehaving and we didn’t capture this amazing landscape on camera.
We arrived in Bedourie around lunchtime and parked up on the main street to have lunch, while the queue at the servo dissipated.
After filling up with diesel, we visited the information centre to find out what there was to see in the area. Outside the centre there is a tribute to the Bedourie Camp Oven that originated in the town.
Next to the information centre there was an old mud hut that had been built in the 1880s and, while not still inhabited, it looked like it would still be standing in another hundred years.
The pub across the road was constructed in the same manner and about the same time and the mud hut, and had been licenced since 1888. We popped in there to get some takeaway wine, but they didn’t have much to offer.
Leaving Bedourie, we headed out on the Birdsville Road, stopping at the Cuttaburra Crossing free camp for the night. It was a nice little stop, beside a creek that we had read supported a lot of birdlife, but the flies were rabid making it unpleasant to sit outside, which we needed to do because the air temperature was 35 degrees.
Being 70 km out of Bedourie, we didn’t have any internet so we once again had to resort to old-school activities.
Later in the afternoon we were still sitting outside to keep cool, while battling flies, when the wind picked up into wild gusts that showered us and Mata, inside and outside, with layers of fine dust. We persevered for a while but were eventually forced to spend the rest of the day inside, rueing the amount of dust that covered every surface.
Day 225 - Cuttaburra Crossing Free Camp - Betoota, QLD 09 September, 2024
Leaving some of the previous night’s dust behind, we set out on the Birdsville Road, headed for Betoota.
There was a lookout we wanted to see not far from camp, 7 km according to the sign outside the camp, where we would hopefully get a view of Lake MacHattie, the largest lake in the area. Following the signs we turned off onto a road that took us past Lake MacHattie, but not really close enough to get a good look at it. The lake itself was on a private property, so we couldn’t get any closer to it, and the lookout we were hoping for never eventuated. We had read that the lake was a rookery that supported up to 50,000 Pelicans during breeding season, and that there wasn't enough food in the lake to support that many birds, so they had to catch fish in other bodies of water to feed their young.
After a while we tossed up whether to continue on that road, which would take us most of the way back to Bedourie, or turn back about 40 km to the Birdsville Road. That part of the drive so far took us through part of Cluny Station, a 5,500 SQ KM chunk of Channel Country.
We decided to continue on the road we were on and eventually turned onto the Diamantina Developmental Road towards Windorah.
All the roads we travelled on for the day were unsealed, but in very good condition, allowing us to travel at up to 80 km/h for most of the day. The landscape was very similar to the day before, being Channel Country.
While we didn’t see a lot of wildlife, we did see quite a few Kangaroos and a lone Emu, which we assumed was a female, being alone, as the male Emus take care of their young.
On our lunch stop we oriented Mata so that the two solar panels were in full sun to try and improve the power percentage, but the outgoings were more than the incomings for the rest of the day, meaning we would have to be careful with our power usage.
After turning off the Diamantina Developmental Road towards Betoota, there was a grid with a sign saying that we were entering private property and needed permission to continue. We ignored the sign as we were quite sure that it was a public road.
That road was, once again for this area, in good condition, and we arrived at Betoota before 3:00 P.M. At the pub we asked about camping there for the night and were told to pick a spot that suited us, and we also booked in for their dinner of the day, roast lamb and vegetables.
Dinner wasn’t until 7:00 P.M., so we had plenty of time to do what we could without internet, and to have a very welcome shower, our first for a few days.
Early evening we went to the pub, grabbed some drinks and chatted with other campers while waiting for the dinner bell to ring.
Dinner was fairly standard pub fare, but very well cooked and tasty, and a welcome treat not having to cook after a long day on the road.
Day 226 - Betoota - Innamincka Road Free Camp, QLD 10 September, 2024
We woke to a cooler morning and quite a strong wind blowing that forced us to close windows to keep warm. The temperature had dropped about ten degrees over the last couple of days.
Our mission for the day was to drive as far as we could towards Innamincka, not knowing the quality, of lack thereof, of the roads we’d be travelling on. Innamincka was about 350 km to the south-west, near the South Australian border.
The road out of Betoota was unsealed, but in good condition, so the day started off well.
A little way south of Betoota we pulled off the road and drove up to Deon’s Lookout, which gave us sweeping views of the channel country back towards Betoota.
Back on the Birdsville – Windorah Road, the condition deteriorated somewhat as we drove to where we turned off onto the Planet – Arrabury Road towards Innamincka. That road was in worse condition that the previous one, and slowed us down even more. It was a bit of a mixed bag really, not so much corrugations initially as very rocky, which had the same effect as corrugations.
Some way along that road we turned off towards Haddon Corner, where there is a marker for the South Australia – QLD border. That road was similar to what we’d been driving on all morning, until we got close to the border and were faced with a large red sand dune that we had to cross to continue. After driving to the top Meg got out and walked down the other side of the dune to make sure we could do it safely. It was a bit hairy, but we made is safely down, only to be faced by another such dune that was a similar height. We thought it prudent to engage low-range 4WD for that one and were pleased we did.
Having navigated both dunes we were at Haddon Corner, where we read the plaques on the two monuments that were enclosed inside a fenced-off area.
It was still a bit early for it, but we decided to have lunch seeing we were stopped anyway.
After lunch we drove the 15 km back out to the Innamincka Road and continued our battles with the road conditions, which got progressively worse. From that point we had stretches of road where we could do up to 70 km/h, but these became fewer and further between the more we drove.
However, driving so slowly gave us time to appreciate the stunning Channel Country we were passing through, which bordered the Sturt Stony Desert, and which was probably why the road was so rocky. While mostly flat, open country, there were many small hills dotted around the landscape that were a brilliant, bright orange colour.
Among the wildlife we spotted while driving, were Budgies, Wood Swallows, other smaller birds we couldn’t identify, Kangaroos and a flock of six Emus.
We had been hoping to take a detour of over 50 km into Cordilla Downs station to see the largest shearing shed in Australia, but we had miscalculated our fuel usage, not filling up in Betoota as we should have, and calculated that we couldn’t afford the extra 100+ km drive out of our way.
Having been on the road for most of the day, it was time to find a free camp not too far away, which we did shortly after, despite the road serving up the worst surface we’d experienced all day.
We set up outside to catch some breeze, even though the flies were particularly bad, as they had been right through this part of the country.
There was a reasonable amount of firewood lying around our little campsite, so we cobbled together a good fire in an attempt to smoke out the flies and any other insects that might try to bother us.
Day 227 - Innamincka Road Free Camp - Innamincka, QLD 11 September, 2024
Our aim today was to try to make it to Innamincka, SA, via the Burke & Wills Dig Tree, knowing that the roads would be bad. This would mean driving 150 km to Innamincka, with a 28 km side trip into the Dig Tree.
It was after 8:00 A.M. when we set out from our free camp, straight into some of the worst corrugations we’d ever seen, and that’s saying something!
This was one of those days when you question your sanity, or at least the decisions you make about travelling to godforsaken, fly-infested, hot places in the middle of nowhere with no internet.
We battled on all morning, swapping drivers to break the tedium and only taking short comfort stops.
The countryside we drove through was nice, but we didn’t really appreciate it because of the road conditions. Apart from a few flocks of brilliantly-coloured green Budgies, we mostly saw a lot of lizards of varying sizes, from very small to medium size.
It took us all morning to drive to the turnoff to the Dig Tree, about 100 km, and the road into the Dig Tree didn’t disappoint us either. An extra 28 km of corrugation hell!
Pulling into the Dig Tree Reserve we stopped at the entrance to pay the entrance fee of $20, and to read the screeds of information on all things Burke & Wills, and in particular about the Dig Tree’s origin, which wasn’t as most people thought for a long time.
With all that information on board, we had lunch parked beside Coopers Creek, where a party of men had waited over four months for Burke, Wills, King and Gray (who died on the way) to return from their expedition to the Gulf of Carpentaria.
After lunch we checked out the actual Dig Tree, and another that had been emblazoned by the leader of the party that had waited for Burke & Wills to return.
Back on the road out to the Innamincka Road, it was another hard slog driving on corrugations until we came out onto SEALED ROAD, which made the last part of the journey into Innamincka almost fun.
Innamincka is pretty much a one-horse town, with a trading post that sells fuel, groceries, camping supplies etc., a pub and a National Parks office. Our first stop was at the trading post to fill up with diesel and ask about camping there, filling an empty gas bottle which they could do the next morning, and also ask about road conditions for the next part of our journey.
Next up was the nearby dump point and to fill up with fresh water, however the pay machine for the water wouldn’t cooperate, so we had to give that a miss.
After stopping in at the pub for some wine, we read some information boards on the area, then drove the short distance to the Town Common, parked up for the night and attempted to sit outside among the millions of flies.
Although there was a nice breeze outside, the flies eventually wore us down to the point where we had to retreat inside for the rest of the day.
For a nice change we had internet coverage, so we spent quite some time catching up with our online tasks.
Day 228 - Innamincka - Cameron Corner, QLD 12 September, 2024
Our primary aim today was to drive, and get as close as possible to, Cameron Corner, where the borders of QLD, SA and NSW intersect.
Once again, road conditions were unknown and we were mentally prepared for the worst, not expecting to make it all the way to Cameron Corner in a day, as it was almost 300 km away.
After leaving camp we had a couple of chores to do in Innamincka, the first being to deal with the temperamental fresh water system that had foiled us the day before.
After some fiddling, we managed to get one 20 litre fill out of it before it went tits up again. While Meg was doing that I emptied the toilet cassette.
At the Trading Post we bought a few supplies and had our empty gas bottle refilled, before heading out of town towards the Strzelecki Track Road.
The first part of the drive was a doddle, on good sealed road for about 40 km, before the seal ran out and we were back to our old favourite, unsealed roads.
A few kilometres into the unsealed road we turned off onto the Strzelecki Track Road towards Cameron Corner. The only vehicles we passed to that point were Santos work vehicles. For that part of the drive we went past dozens of natural gas fields, owned by Santos, and that is why we thought the road was in reasonable condition, allowing us to make good time for about the first 150 km.
During the morning we passed from South Australia into Queensland, meaning another change of time zone, by half an hour.
The drive on the good stretches of road was quite pleasant, with a great variety of wildflowers and trees surrounding the road, with brilliant colours of white, yellow, purple, blue and many shades of green. There were also many varieties of birds, including dozens of huge flocks, some numbering in the hundreds, of bright green Budgies. As on a previous trip through the region, we vainly attempted to capture a photo of the Budgies, but they were way too fast for us.
We were also lucky to see a family of Emus, Dad and five young, cross the road very close in front of us.
Eventually, as always, the road turned to shit, slowing down our progress. Also, we were slowed down even more by a detour that took us on a circular path around a large dam that was heaving with birdlife. That road was a narrow red dirt track in rough condition.
During the afternoon, after a lunch stop, we were making reasonable progress, when we were turned off the good road we were on and onto another detour road. We knew from our Hema Maps book that the detour road wasn’t even classed as a road, so we didn’t have great expectations. At that point we decided to try to make all the way along the detour road, back out to the Cameron Corner Road, and find a camping spot somewhere, before doing the last 36 km the next day.
The country we passed through was a lot more lush than we’d expected. The dunes we crossed were populated by small trees, flowers and other plants. In between the dunes, the valley floors were covered in grasses, many flowering plants and small trees. It’s not quite what we expected from being on the edges of surrounding deserts.
Even though the road was quite bad in many places, we made better time than expected out to the crossroads, and thought we might as well carry on to Cameron Corner, where we arrived at 4:00 P.M.
At the Corner Store we paid for an unpowered site for one night, had a beer at the bar, found a good site close to the amenities and got setup for the night. With a strong wind blowing, and the ever-present flies, we didn’t bother setting up outside.
Unfortunately, being in such a remote area, this was another night we didn’t have any internet, but it was fairly late in the day and by the time we sorted dinner and had showers we were quite tuckered out anyway.
Day 229 - Cameron Corner - Tibooburra, NSW 13 September, 2024
Another day, another corrugated road to deal with!
We woke to a very cool morning, with a light but very cold wind blowing from the east, so we didn’t rush the morning routine.
Leaving camp, we drove across the road from the Corner Store, to the actual site of Cameron Corner, where the three borders of QLD, SA and NSW intersect. There were a lot of information boards to read, covering the history of the corner, the local area, flora and fauna, and the 5,400 km long Dingo fence, that provided a backdrop for Cameron Corner. On the underside of the information board shelter roof, there were dozens of mud bird nests that appeared to mostly Swallow nests, but there were also some Zebra Finches flitting in and out of them.
With a rough destination of Tibooburra in mind for the day, we set out, first having to pass through a gate in the Dingo fence into NSW. Through the gate there were more information boards to read, this time focused more on Sturt National Park, which we would be driving through during the day. There was also a large wire sculpture of a Greater Bilby, made using offcuts of netting fencing used to protect the Wild Deserts project area, where native animals are slowly being reintroduced.
Setting out towards Tibooburra on the Sand Dunes Scenic Drive, the road was pretty much as expected, a mixed bag of rock, red dirt, gravel and corrugations interspersed with reasonable patches.
Our first stop was at the Talpero Lookout, where there was another, even bigger wire sculpture, this time of a Western-Barred Bandicoot. Once again there were loads of information boards to read, which we did quite quickly because there was a very cold wind blowing, and we weren’t appropriately dressed for that.
The lookout itself was up a small hill, with more information boards to read, and which provided some good views of the surrounding desert country. The lookout shelter also had dozens of mud bird nests on the underside of the roof, with lots of Swallows and Zebra Finches flying around.
Carrying on for about another 40 kilometres through similar country to the day before, with dunes and valleys thriving with flora, we saw quite a few Kangaroos moving around on each side of the road. We were also disturbed by the number of roadkill Kangaroos littering the road. Even more disturbing was an Emu that had been killed by a passing vehicle.
Thankfully, we also saw many live and well Emus, most males with their young, and later in the day we were fortunate to see a male with eight young chicks cross the road in front of us, as we were stopped in the middle of the road to let them pass safely.
Our next stop was at the Fort Grey Campground, where there was the last of the large wire sculptures, this one a Western Quoll. There were also more information boards to read, this time mostly focused on the adventures of Charles Sturt, the great explorer who went looking for Australia’s inland sea, taking along a 22-foot whaling boat with them, just in case!
We did part of a 4-km walk, that took us to the ruins of the original Fort Grey Station homestead, which had been devastated by floods, and now was almost unrecognisable as a house.
Just past the ruins we could see Lake Pinnaroo, but by that time the ravenous flies had worn us down, so we headed back to the carpark and set out towards Tibooburra, about 100 km away.
From that point the road improved dramatically, allowing us to travel at up to 80 km/h for long periods, and we made it into Tibooburra a lot earlier than expected at lunchtime.
Our first priority was food, which we bought from a store/café/servo and ate inside there, hiding from the flies.
After lunch we checked out a small historical park that mostly had old, rusty farming equipment, and also had a replica of the boat Sturt had taken on his exploration of Central Australia.
After filling up with diesel we went to the roadhouse and checked into the campground for two nights, to give us some time to do some cleaning of Mata, inside and out.
Although the flies didn’t seem quite so rabid here, we staying inside for the afternoon, as there was still a cool wind blowing.
The good internet on offer allowed us to catch up with all our online activities.
Day 230 - Tibooburra, NSW 14 September, 2024
Although we were looking forward to a down day, there were quite a few chores to do.
First up we got a big load of laundry on the go while we had brekky, then started it drying. The dryer required a weird combination of 2 $1 coins and 3 20c pieces, which prompted a walk to the roadhouse to get some 20c pieces.
While we didn't rush into it, we eventually got into the cleaning we'd promised ourselves we'd do today, which was a horrible job because we'd been driving on dry, dusty unsealed roads for what seemed like weeks.
Although our campsite was unpowered, it did have fresh water, so we took the opportunity to fill up with water and plug into the mains at the same time.
A neighbouring camper kindly loaned us his ladder so that we could clean the solar panels, which hadn't been performing very well the last few days. After the clean the performance improved dramatically and the batteries power percentage was soon climbing into the 90s.
After a while we'd had enough of cleaning, which seemed to be somewhat pointless considering we'd driving over more unsealed roads in the coming days.
After lunch we walked the 500 metres to the shop to buy a few things we'd run out of, the across to the pub for a beer and to buy some wine to take away.
Back at camp we relaxed for the rest of the day.
Day 231 - Tibooburra - White Cliffs, NSW 15 September, 2024
We woke to another cool morning, with a very cold wind blowing, that prompted us to break out the long pants and jackets to keep warm.
On the way out of Tibooburra we diverted out to the rubbish dump to empty the toilet cassette, then headed out on the Silver City Highway towards Broken Hill.
Not far out of Tibooburra, we saw a man on the side of the road walking towards us, so we stopped to make sure he was okay and had everything he needed. He was okay and walked as a means of transport, pushing a wheeled cart of some kind to carry all of his belongings.
The road was sealed and in good condition, so it didn't take long to reach our first destination of Milparinka, where there was a heritage precinct we wanted to check out.
As it turns out, Milparinka really only consists of the hotel and the heritage precinct, and very little else, so we didn't have great expectations.
After taking some photos and reading information boards on the road into the township, we went into what was the old courthouse to pay for a self-guided tour of the precinct, which was a very reasonable $8 each.
Most of the tour was through what used to be the town's buildings, most of which had been constructed in the late 1880s of sandstone. Apart from the courthouse there was the old police station, lock up, post office, barracks and various other outbuildings.
All the buildings contained screeds of information on the history of the town, and the people who inhabited it, including many artefacts from the time.
As well as all the old original building, there were new buildings, one of which that was devoted to Charles Sturt's travels, and another focused on the life of Sir Sidney Kidman.
All in all, we were very pleased we stopped there and thought the precinct was very well done.
Still suffering from the cold once we finished our tour, we drove back to the pub and went inside for a coffee, and to warm ourselves in front of the blazing wood fire. The pub was another wonderful old building, constructed in 1882.
Back on the highway again, we decided to keep driving until the turnoff to White Cliffs, and stop there for lunch. On the way we stopped at the grave of Eliza Kennedy, a lady we'd read about at Milparinka, who's past was uncertain, particularly because she had what would have been an expensive grave for the time and she wasn't from a rich family.
During the drive we saw lots of Kangaroos, both dead and alive, some flocks of Emus, one of which was about 50-strong, some sheep which we hadn't seen since southern WA, and lots of goats, some of which were being farmed.
We stopped at the turnoff to the Henry Roberts Road, which would take us to White Cliff, took some photos the "Tool Trees", had lunch, then carried on with the drive.
Although the road was unsealed, it was in good condition, allowing us to make good time to White Cliffs, stopping along the way to take photos of three metal sculptures, one of a ballerina, the second a man sitting on a toilet, and the third a man with a dog. They were all very well done and mostly made out of old car parts, although the ballerinas breasts were made from power pole insulators.
In White Cliffs we stopped in at the visitor information centre to grab some info on what to see around the town, which turned out to be quite a lot, but because it was late enough in the day for us, we decided to do all the touristing the next day.
We checked into the campground for the night, and only setup inside as there was still a strong, cold wind blowing, and it was only 18 degrees.
Day 232 - White Cliffs - Emmdale Roadhouse, NSW 16 September, 2024
As forecast, the overnight temperature dropped to a chilly 5 degrees but, thankfully, the diesel heater came on at the preset time to warm the house up half an hour before we got out of bed.
There was a tour we wanted to do at 11:00 P.M., the White House Dugout tour, so we had to amuse ourselves until then with whatever White Cliffs had to offer.
After rugging up against the cold and leaving camp we looked for a place to reinflate our tyres, which had been deflated for the recent past while driving on all the unsealed roads. Not finding anywhere we drove to the nearby Historic Solar Power Station, the first such installation in the world. The station was built in 1981 by the Australian National University as a proof of concept, and it provided power for the local hospital. The fourteen sun-tracking dishes contained thousands of tiny mirrors, which generated temperatures up to 1,000 degrees to heat water that in turn ran a reciprocating steam engine that drove AC and DC generators to provide power.
With a lot of time still to kill before the White House tour, we drove very slowly around the self-drive tour of White Cliffs. The first part of tour took us around the lunar-like landscape of old and existing mines, peppered with piles of material that had been dug up in the past. There was a lookout of sorts partway around those diggings that gave us a bit of a look at White Cliffs, surrounding areas and other mining areas. Wanting to use up some more time we went to the Red Earth Café and Gallery to get a coffee, only to find that it was closed for the day.
The tour then took us to Turley’s Hill, where the local method of building houses was more evident, into the side of hills, with many only having the roof above ground. We stopped at the Aussie Southern Cross Opal Shop, where the owner told us about opals are formed, then we had a look at his shop with many examples of opal jewellery in various forms, and examples of unprocessed rock, some of which were the Opalised Pineapple, which are very rare, prized, very expensive, and only occur in the White Cliffs area. We were looking for a nice pair of earrings as a present for Mia, but most started at around $150, which we thought was a bit too much.
Next up we drove over to Smiths Hill, where the underground houses were also evident, and included an underground motel, which you could do a tour of. With time still to kill we pulled up there, only to discover that it didn’t open for another half an hour, so we pulled up in the car park and reinflated our tyres to use up some more time.
The only other thing we hadn’t done was to visit the Paroo-Darling NP visitors information centre, which was our next stop. There was a lot of information inside on several information boards, which kept us entertained for a while.
We eventually had to resort to sitting in Mata for half an hour before driving to the White House.
This was one of the more interesting tours we’ve ever done. The house is privately owned by a couple, Lindsay who has done all the building, assisted by his very artistic wife Cree.
The majority of the house is situated underground in an old opal mine, with rooms dug out of the wall of the mine. The temperature fluctuates between 20- and 26-degrees year-round in the underground part of the house.
Lindsay, the owner, started off the tour telling us about the construction of the above-ground parts of the house, which has been built completely with recycled materials. The walls, and any spare spaces, were covered with Cree’s amazing art work, one of which was a mounted wall hanging that was formed from the bones of roadkill animals – it had to be seen to be believed. There were many other original and spectacular art works, most made out of recycled materials, such as one made with old fencing wire found at the dump, formed into Egyptian hieroglyphics, which she called wieroglyphics.
Cree took over from that point and gave us the full tour of the underground rooms and spaces, once again all covered with her art works. While there were lights on at the time, there is usually enough light coming in from vents up to ground level to see without turning on lights.
Climbing up a set of stairs we came out onto the roof, where there was an old truck parked, and a lot of other machinery and bits and pieces. That part, and one or two other areas were still a work in progress, but the house as it is, is absolutely amazing.
That had taken us up until lunchtime, so it was off to the pub for a burger and chips lunch, enjoyed with a cold beer.
All that was left to do for the day was to drive 200 km, through Wilcannia, to the Emmdale Roadhouse, where the campsites cost $10 and included access to toilets and showers.
It was still a bit cold, and the flies were quite bad, so we didn’t sit outside once again.
Unfortunately, and weirdly because we’d had mobile coverage for the last part of the drive to Emmdale, there was no coverage at our campsite.
Day 233 - Emmdale Roadhouse - Cobar, NSW 17 September, 2024
We woke to another cool morning this morning, but thankfully the diesel heater did its job and warmed the place up before we had to get out of bed. It was actually that cold that we turned the heater on for another half an hour to reduce the chill factor.
Heading for Cobar, we had a diversion planned into Grenfell NP, the turnoff for which was about 40 km short of Cobar.
The drive was an easy one, on good sealed road, with an ever-changing landscape, seemingly every few kilometres.
Although we did see a couple of cattle, a couple of sheep and quite a few Emus, the wildlife count was dominated by hundreds upon hundreds of goats, mostly roaming free on the roadsides, and a smaller number contained behind goat fences, obviously being farmed.
The 30 km road into Grenfell NP had recently been sealed, despite the sign at the start of the road saying it was unsealed, so it didn’t take us long to reach the carpark.
After reading the information boards we set out on the short 700-metre walk to the three Aboriginal Rock Art sites. The walk was an easy one, mostly flat and over a few rocks, which didn’t challenge us at all.
The three rock art sites were very impressive, with a large number of paintings covering each of the sheltered caves. The caves were blocked off with netting fencing to protect the artwork, which made them a little harder to photograph, but they were still easy to see.
Once we were done there, it was back on the road for the 70 km drive into Cobar, where we had a number of things to see, and a number of chores to do.
On the way into town we filled up with diesel, stocked up on wine after finally finding a civilised bottle shop that sold our 2-litre casks, not being able to remember the last time we’d been able to do that.
Next up was the bakery to get a pie for lunch, which we ate up at the Fort Bourke Lookout, that looks out over the enormous hole in the ground that is the New Cobar Opencut Mine.
Back in town Meg visited the information centre while I dealt with the dump point and fresh water across the road. Adjacent to there we visited the Miners Memorial, that honours the dozens of miners who have died since the mines started operation in the late 1870s.
On the way out of town we stopped briefly at the old, disused railway station, before driving out to the Old Reservoir Free Camp for the night.
While it was a nice sunny day, the temperature was only 21 degrees, and there was a cold wind blowing so we were reluctant to sit outside, but I gave it a go anyway while catching up with the blog.
I could position myself mostly out of the wind, with a bit of sun to keep warm, but wherever I was the flies still hounded me, making it unpleasant to sit out there.
We had good internet, so managed to catch up with everything we’d missed out on doing the previous day.
Day 234 - Cobar - Trangie, NSW 18 September, 2024
We didn't have a clear destination in mind for today, but started driving towards Nyngan after another cold start to the day.
We had to pass back through Cobar, so we took the opportunity to visit the dump point again, before heading out of town.
The countryside we passed through during the day was starting to morph into more sheep, cattle, grain and cotton farms.
The drive towards Nyngan was uneventful and we only spotted a small number of Emus and Kangaroos along the way.
About 10 km out of Nyngan, we turned off the highway onto a short unsealed road to the Nyngan Solar Plant, the largest solar installation in Australia, where there is a viewing platform from which you can see the 1.3 million solar panels that generate 102 megawatts of power, enough to power 20,000 homes. However, the gate into the viewing platform was closed, and we couldn't see any way of contacting anybody to get it opened.
We had to give up on that plan and carry on into Nyngan.
In Nyngan we parked in the main street to have a look at a historical display that included a horse-drawn wool cart and a Cobb & Co coach, and also the Big Bogan statue (Nyngan is in Bogan Shire), then we went into the cafe next door for a coffee and sticky bun.
A little further along the road we checked out the Iroquois helicopter on display, and to read the story behind it, which was partly about it being used in the Vietnam War, and partly about how the townspeople were choppered out after the 1990 flood.
Back on the road we continued on to Nevertire, stopping to take a photo of some wall art on the Nevertire Hotel, then onto the water tower where there was some more silo art.
Driving a little further along the road, we stopped at Warren for lunch. We parked up beside the Macquarie River, deciding during lunch to carry on to Trangie for the night. Before leaving town we first went to check out the Tiger Bay Wetlands, where we had a short walk before deciding that we weren't prepared for a longer walk and to give it a miss this time.
Driving to Trangie took us out onto the backroads that we love, however one short 5 km section was unsealed and really rough. Driving out of Nevertire earlier we had passed a huge cotton gin, and this part of our drive took us past the just as large Namoi cotton gin.
In Trangie we went straight to the Trangie Caravan Park and booked into an unpowered site for the night.
For the first time in many days, we were able to sit comfortably outside in relatively nice temperatures and with very few flies.
Day 235 - Trangie - Mumbil, NSW 19 September, 2024
Today started off with not too much planned but, as the day wore on, it became quite a busy touristing day.
Although we weren't planning on driving too far for the day, we happened to be up and on the road by 8:00 A.M.
After stocking up on a few supplies at the local Friendly Grocer, and taking a photo of the well-preserved 1918 Garford fire engine next door to the shop, we drove to Narromine where we had a brief stop to take a photo of the Glen McGrath statue.
Carrying on towards Dubbo, we took a diversion to the Terramungamine Reserve, where there was a historical Aboriginal grinding grooves site beside the Macquarie River. The information board at the site was very informative on how the stones were used to sharpen tools and grind seeds.
On the way into Dubbo we detoured once again, past the very smelly abattoirs to get a photo of some wall art.
In Dubbo we parked up and walked to the old gaol for a self-guided tour. We were, however, just in time for their 11:00 A.M tour that talked about notable escapes, and escape attempts, and moved through the rest of the gaol. We cut out of that tour after a short time and explored the rest of the gaol by ourselves. The building were very well preserved, all with screeds of information on the prisoners that were incarcerated there, and with many exhibits on the life and times of all things gaol-related.
On the way back to the car park we went to a shop to buy me some more orthotic thongs, as mine were close to blowing out.
Driving through Dubbo, we came to an industrial estate, that was where our lunch destination was located, the Devils Hollow Brewery. We had a beer-tasting paddle for drinks and shared a very tasty chilli prawn pizza.
All Dubboed out, we drove to Wellington, where our first stop was the site of the last duel in Australia - not sure how one could prove that, but.... Close by was the iconic Lion of Waterloo Hotel, which used to be a Cobb & Co staging post back in the day. The hotel is believed to be the oldest licensed establishment west of the Blue Mountains, built in 1841 and first licensed in 1842.
In the township, we drove through Fong Lees Lane, which is also rich in history, and was once a thriving Chinese-run general store.
On the way out of Wellington, we drove up to the Mt Arthur Lookout, before heading out of town towards Mumbil.
Before going to our camp for the night, we drove out to the Burrendong Dam to view the lake and get some photos of the dam wall.
In nearby Mumbil, we called into the Burrendong Hotel, where they offer free camping behind the pub. Once setup we had a drink in the pub before settling in for the night.
Day 236 - Mumbil - O'Connell, NSW 20 September, 2024
Today was another day where we didn't have much planned at the start of the day, but ended up doing quite a lot.
Heading towards Bathurst, we stopped off in Millthorpe for a comfort break, and stumbled upon a meeting of vintage Vauxhall cars at the showgrounds.
Passing through Orange, we only stopped to use their dump point, before continuing on to Blaney, which is between Orange and Bathurst.
Driving then into Blaney, we had seen that there was a truck wash in the town, and Mata was still very dirty from months of travelling on unsealed roads, so we pulled in there and attempted to clean off as much dirt as possible. It was freezing cold, but we carried on anyway, giving Mata a pre-soak, a rinse, another soak with piles of detergent, then another rinse. She was much cleaner after that, but still needed quite a lot of work to do the job properly, which we hoped we could do while staying with family around Sydney.
We wanted to check out the Beekeepers Inn in Blaney, that had a primary focus on honey, and honey-related products, but also sold craft beers, cider and mead drinks. As it was close to lunchtime we ordered meals and drinks, and enjoyed some food that wasn't standard pub fare, beef pot pie, which was very welcome on a cold day. We'd been forced to abandon the shorts and thongs on the way in there, and resort to the winter clothing of long pants, shoes and socks and jackets to keep warm.
On the way out we bought a few items from their shop to share with family and to enjoy ourselves.
Next up was a visit to Abercrombie House at Stewart's Mount, near Bathurst. The house was described as Scottish Baronial Mansion, and it certainly lived up to that description. The house was built in the 1870s by the Stewart family who were Bathurst pioneers. We paid the entrance fee and did a self-guided tour of the huge mansion, that was absolutely brimming with period furniture, paintings, artefacts and various random collections. It would have been easy to get lost in the many rooms, if not for the signs directing us around. The house is still lived in by the family who have owned it for over forty years.
After a walk around the extensive gardens, reading many more information boards, we set out on the road again, this time to Mount Panorama.
At the iconic racing circuit we lined up on the starting grid, then took off on a lap of the track that we'd seen many times on TV, stopping at the highest point for photos.
Our last drive for the day was to the historic village of O'Connell, which was established in the early 1800s. At the beautiful old pub that was built in 1865, we checked in with the owner, who showed us to our free camp for the night, in a large paddock beside the pub.
Later on in the afternoon we went over to the pub for a drink to pay our dues for the free camp, which included toilets and a shower.
Day 237 - O'Connell - Mount Wilson, NSW 21 September, 2024
After waking up to another very cold morning, we set out on what would be our last touristing day before spending time with family, starting in Sydney.
After a pleasant drive through nice countryside, we arrived at our first stop of the day, Mayfield Gardens, which is a large 65 hectare estate, most of it covered in gardens, and which is open to the public.
We thought the entrance fee of $71 for both of us was a bit steep, but carried on anyway. With map in hand that showed just how much walking we'd have to do to cover even half the gardens, we set out into a howling gale that left us cowering and scampering for some sort of cover in the gardens.
There were many themed areas of garden, including the water garden, which we walked through first. It was all done on a grand scale and the water garden had a large bridge, waterfall and many other water features.
The obelisk feature was impressive, with a large fountain surrounding it, and dozens of large trees like Macrocarpas surrounding about half of the fountain. There was also a huge amphitheatre surrounded by similar trees, in a similar fashion, later in our walk.
We walked through and around features such as the Birch Valley, Viburnum Walk, Lake Boardwalk, Heath and Heather gardens, Grotto, croquet court, and many more. Well into our walk we were heading for the stumpery and aviary, when we were swooped by a Magpie for the third time that morning, which prompted us, not wanting to be attacked any more, to begin the long walk back to the cafe for a welcome hot drink and sticky bun.
Carrying on driving in the general direction of Sydney, we turned off to the Hartley Historic Village next, where we wandered around reading the information boards and looking at the old buildings. Up quite a steep hill, we checked out the Magic of Metal Talisman Gallery, where the creator, Ron Fitzpatrick has a showcase of many of his amazing metal sculptures in many shapes and forms, as well as impressive array of jewellery, much of it including opals.
After having lunch in Mata, we carried on with our drive towards our camp for the night at Mount Wilson. That part of the drive took us across part of the Blue Mountains, and over Mount Victoria, on winding roads with many steep sections that offered beautiful views of the valley, over 1000 metres below.
The Cathedral Reserve free camp at Mount Wilson had a large grassy area in the middle, where we chose to set up for the night, but not outside as it was only 16 degrees with a very cold wind blowing.
Revived after a cuppa, we ventured out on a short walk into the bush to the Cathedral of Ferns, where there is a large old gum tree that was struck by lightning in 2008. The ferns around the tree were large and very dense so, with the surrounding trees, made the place seem quite gloomy.
Being pretty much in the middle of nowhere, we were surprised to have the bonus of good internet to do our usual online things.
Day 238 - Mount Wilson - Rouse Hill, NSW 22 September, 2024
With only a short drive today we were in no hurry to leave camp this morning.
Once underway, we drove over more steep, windy roads, across the Blue Mountains, to Mt Tomah, where we pulled into the Blue Mountains Botanic Gardens car park. It was still quite cold, and we would be walking around outside, so we dug out the beanies and gloves to keep warm.
The botanic gardens are extensive in both size and variety of flora. Being the start of spring, many plants were in various stages of flowering, some just coming out, some in full flower and some that had finished flowering already.
We spent some time wandering around admiring the thousands of flowers, shrubs, trees and birds, eventually walking far enough to start removing some of our cold-weather clothing.
Back at the entrance to the gardens we called into the cafe for a coffee and sticky bun to finish off our experience, sitting outside admiring the spectacular views from 1000 metres up.
Back out on the mountain roads, we drove to a caravan park to empty our toilet cassette, paying them the princely sum of $15 for the pleasure.
Hitting the outer Sydney traffic, we arrived at Lilli and Andrew's place in Rouse Hill, and got settled in for a couple of nights.
Days 239-241 - Rouse Hill - Maitland, NSW 23-25 September, 2024
Mostly this time relaxing and spending time with Lilly and Andrew.
On our first night we went out to the Ettamogah Pub in nearby Kellyville Ridge for dinner.
The following day we did a tour around local shopping centres because I wanted to buy a Starlink Mini so that we would have internet anywhere we travelled. Our first stop at JB Hi-Fi in Marsden Park came up blank, but they did say that their Blacktown store had four in stock.
Initially disappointed because there were no minis on the shelf, I eventually got the attention of a staff member who got one from out the back.
Now all I needed to do was to find a way of powering the mini via 12 volt, from both outside and inside the cab.
Apart from relaxing and cooking dinner, looking for 12V power options for the mini consumed most of my time.
Leaving Rouse Hill to do battle with the morning traffic, we drove to Gosford on the Central Coast, via the back roads Pacific Highway, to first fill up with diesel at the cheapest place we could find, and secondly to have lunch with Anne, at the Box Restaurant in the very picturesque Ettalong Bay.
Sticking to the back roads again as much as possible, we drove to the Newcastle suburb of Cardiff to spend the night with Joe and Di.
We had a great catch up, a few beers and wines, and a very nice dinner of salmon and roast vegetables.
The next morning we set out early to a nearby shopping centre and lined up at a hairdressers just as the door was opening. We'd been trying to get haircuts for some time, so we wanted to be early and not miss out this time.
Suitably coiffured, we returned to Joe and Di's place, then Di took us out for a drive to Lake Macquarie, to show us around and to take their two adopted dogs for a walk. We grabbed some lunch from a cafe there before returning to home base, saying goodbye and driving the short distance to Zac and Hana's place in nearby Maitland.
We were a little wary of going into the house as Zac and Hana were at work, and their two Greyhounds had the run of the back yard, where we could go inside if we wanted to.
We needn't have worried though, as the dogs welcomed us with open paws, and we got settled in for the next few days.
Days 241-245 - Maitland, NSW 25-29 September, 2024
We spent whatever time we could with Zac and Hana, but they were both working for most of the time we were there.
Rain had set in for a few days, but despite that we did as much cleaning of Mata has we were able in between showers, going over inside and outside to remove the red dust and dirt that covered every surface.
On the Saturday, for Meg's birthday, we went out to the Restaurant Kawul in the Hunter Valley for lunch. The platters of food were excellent, but way too much for us to finish, and the wines were great too.
Enjoying the wine so much, we stopped off at the Irongate Winery after leaving the restaurant for more wine tasting.
Thankfully Zac was driving, enabling the rest of us to have as much wine as we wanted. On the way home we did a tour around the Hunter Valley, through a few small towns and up to the Sugarloaf Lookout for a great view of the region.
Days 250-256 - Gunnedah, NSW 30 September - 5 October, 2024
Leaving Newcastle to head to Gunnedah, we started out driving on busy highways and, not really enjoying the experience, we turned off at Aberdeen onto the back roads.
The drive was very scenic, taking us through rolling hills and over winding roads, past many horse studs, cattle farms, sheep farms and grain farms.
We stopped for morning tea at Glenbawn Dam, then carried on driving through Singleton, Scone and Timor Road, before stopping in Murrurundi for lunch.
After arriving in Gunnedah we called into Woolies to top up supplies, visited Helen for a while, then drove out to Fran and Phil's place, where we parked up in a paddock beside the house.
The first day there we didn't have to move, so we spent the time doing more cleaning, including the e-bikes, which were disgustingly filthy despite being covered, and we also discovered that they were both damaged enough that we could only use one of them.
As well as cleaning, I also setup the Starlink Mini we'd bought in Blacktown, creating a new account and confirming that it all worked correctly, albeit only on 240V at that point.
The second day we took Mata into an auto electrician in Gunnedah to have a plug fitted that would allow us to power the Mini via 12V from the house lithium batteries. That took quite a lot longer than we expected, and we didn't get back to our campsite until after lunchtime.
While waiting to get Mata back we killed some time by visiting Pensioners Hill, not far from the auto electrician. For some reason we hadn't known about it on our many previous visits to Gunnedah and we were surprised how nice it was. There were a number of stone sculptures, including one of the Red Chief, a local Aboriginal from the Kamilaroi tribe. Another impressive sculpture was of a large, metal eagle. The gardens were well laid out, with most trees having small information boards describing each tree, and the views across the town to the distant hills were great.
On the third day it was back into Gunnedah again, this time for a Toyota service in the morning, a wheel alignment in the afternoon, and lunch with Helen in between.
The time in Gunnedah turned into a gastronomic break, lunching out at a cafe on the Friday with a couple of Meg's school friends, then having lunch again with Helen, and also Fran and Phil, at the Curlewis pub on Saturday.
Most evenings we socialised with Fran and Phil when they finished work, and we shared a couple of meals together.
As Fran was going to spend a couple of days of what was the long weekend in Orange, leaving on the Sunday, we decided we would hit the road again too the next day.
Day 257 - Gunnedah - Baradine, NSW 6 October, 2024
Because of the time change to daylight saving overnight, it was a bit later than normal when we drove back into Gunnedah to fill up with diesel and fresh water, and to visit the dump point, before heading out of town on the Coonabarabran Road.
With only 150 km to travel we went into potter mode, driving at 80 km/h, to improve our fuel efficiency.
Arriving in Coonabarabran late morning, we popped into Woolies for a few bits and pieces, then grabbed a pie for lunch from the bakery.
From there it was a short distance to Baradine, where our first stop was the Pilliga Discovery Centre to check on local road conditions, grab some brochures and look around the centre itself that had loads of information on all things local.
The centre closed for lunch so we had to leave before finishing our reading, and drove to the nearby showgrounds where we booked into an unpowered site for two nights.
Day 258 - Baradine, NSW 7 October, 2024
We had a down day today because the next campground we wanted to stay at to explore Pilliga wasn't available until the next day.
After a big sleep-in, probably due to the change to daylight saving pushing sunrise back an hour, we had a leisurely start to the day.
After putting on a load of washing we did some more cleaning of red dust, this time mostly in the shower, which was absolutely disgusting, made worse because we'd been using it for storage since we left home, and some of the items in there had marked the walls and floor badly.
We'd forgotten to replace the TPMS modules on the wheels after the service in Gunnedah, so that was another job done for the day.
We had a battle with the washing machine I'd chosen to do the laundry, and that ended up taking about four hours before we could hang it out on the line, hoping there'd be enough drying time left in the day.
Apart from a walk into town to top up supplies for the coming days, we enjoyed the nice setting of our campsite amongst the trees, being entertained by the many birds in residence.
Day 259 - Baradine - Pilliga Scrub, NSW 8 October, 2024
With less than 35 km to drive for the day, we were in no hurry to leave our lovely campsite in Baradine.
Before leaving town we stopped off at the IGA to get a couple of things we'd forgotten about the day before, then set out towards Pilliga Scrub.
The first ten kilometres or so of roads were rough, but sealed, then the seal ran out and we were back to our old favourite, unsealed, rough, corrugated roads. Luckily we didn't have far to go, but it still took about an hour an half to cover the 33 km.
After not having seen much wildlife recently, we were pleased to see a couple of Emus in a paddock we were passing, and a couple of Kangaroos crossing the road in front of us while driving through the state forest.
At our destination, the Sculptures in the Scrub national parks campground, we got setup on a large, tree-surrounded, sandy site for the night.
The reason for our visit to this place was to do the 3 km Sculptures in the Scrub trail walk, so we got kitted out with shoes, fly nets (the flies were quite rabid), fly whackers and water, and set out on the walk.
After reading the information boards, we decided to do a clockwise loop of the trail, that would take us past the sculptures in the first half of the walk.
The initial part of the walk climbed up to the top of the Dandry Gorge, where we soon encountered the start of the sculptures. Although climbing, the trail was in good condition and wasn't too demanding.
Each of the sculptures had an information board explaining about the people who created the sculptures, what the meaning of the sculptures was and information on the local Gamilaroi Aboriginal people.
Once past the last of the sculptures, the trail took us down into the Dandry Gorge and back to the campground.
Because the roads in had been so rough, and we had more similar roads to drive in the next few days, we reduced the tyre pressures to make the ride a little more comfortable.
After lunch we braved the fly invasion and sat outside to catch some breeze on what had become a hot afternoon, and once again enjoyed our surroundings in the state forest.
During the afternoon I went on a scouting expedition and found enough firewood nearby to have a great fire later in the day.
Day 260 - Pilliga Scrub - Salt Caves, NSW 9 October, 2024
This was another day where we didn't have very far to drive, only about 30 km, albeit on unsealed roads to the Salt Caves campground.
The first part of the drive took us back along the road we'd travelled the day before, for about 11 km, to where we turned off onto a fire trail track that was shorter than going all the way back out to the main road.
We were a bit hesitant about the track, but thought we could always turn around if it got too bad. Turns out, although the track was quite narrow, it was in way better condition than the road we'd turned off, and it didn't take us long to reach the end of the road, where it was only another 5 km to the campground. Part way along that track, we were surprised to see two large goats crossing the road in front of us.
After grabbing the campsite we wanted and parking up, we walked the short distance to the salt caves and the firewatch tower, that allowed public entry up to the top of the tower.
The 360-degree views from the top of the tower were amazing, all the way out west to the Warrumbungles, east to Mount Kaputar, and everywhere in between. It was quite cool up there so we didn't linger too long.
On the way back to our campsite we checked out the salt caves, which had mostly collapsed over the years, but apparently had been extensive in past decades.
Back at camp it was still early so we set out on the 2 km return walk to Salt Caves Dam, in the hope of seeing some of the local birdlife.
The walk was really easy and there were lots of wildflowers to see along the way. The dam itself wasn't very impressive, being a manmade dam to store water for fighting bush fires.
We then walked back along the road we'd driven in on, picking up some good pieces of firewood along the way for a fire later on in the afternoon.
After lunch we sat outside trying to identify the dozens of varieties of birds that visited our campsite, that seemed to have a particular interest in the firepit adjacent to the site.
The afternoon was a bit cooler than the day before, so we cranked up the fire early before it got too late and to attempt to drive away some of the flies.
Day 261 - Salt Caves - Pilliga, NSW 10 October, 2024
With another easy driving day in front of us, to Pilliga, we took our time with the morning routine.
This next stage of our journey was all about visiting as many artesian spas as we could manage without going too far out of our way north towards home.
Expecting the roads to be bad, we were surprised that they were mostly in very good condition, apart from the last 10 km. The drive took us through many forestry roads and we were thankful we had a hardcopy map of the area for navigation, as there were dozens of roads criss-crossing the forest, not all signposted.
We saw a few Kangaroos crossing the road as we approached, which were mostly large grey Kangaroos.
At Pilliga we checked out the camping area behind the artesian spa and decided we would camp there for the night, but first we went into Pilliga to get some lunch and pay for a campsite.
After lunch at the Pilliga Hotel, we went across the road to pay for camping, and ended up doing that online after spotting a poster on the wall with instructions for doing that.
Back at the artesian spa campsite we got set up for the night, then went for a dip in the 37-degree spring water, which was very relaxing and soothing for our sore muscles from the walks we'd done recently.
We had set up outside when we arrived at the campsite, but once back there we decided that we didn't have the energy to fight the hordes of flies again for hours, so sat inside relaxing for most of the afternoon.
Later in the afternoon we overheard fellow campers talking about barrowloads of firewood, and didn't know what they were talking about until I took some rubbish to the bins and noticed the firewood in barrows for $20. That included a bag of kindling and a firestarter, which I thought was a bargain, and grabbed one of them.
We eventually went outside, put up with flies, got a good fire going, then sat outside until well after dark to check out the night sky.
Day 262 - Pilliga - Rowena, NSW 11 October, 2024
When setting out this morning we were aiming for Collarenebri, which was only about 80 km away.
However, during the drive we decided to check out the small town of Rowena, which reportedly had a great pub. Arriving there mid-morning, it was way too early for the pub lunch we'd planned, so we had a coffee and wandered around the pub looking at all the cartoons, old photos and memorabilia on the walls.
While having coffee we thought we might as well stay behind the pub for the night so that we could have a nice lunch, so we got set up near a large firepit full of wood, and chilled until it was time for lunch.
Lunch was great, as were the drinks that accompanied it, and we retired back to our campsite for the afternoon feeling replete.
It was quite a hot afternoon so we attempted to sit outside later in the afternoon, but the flies drove us back inside after a short time.
When deciding we'd stay behind the pub for the night we had forgotten it was a Friday night, and that all the locals would be going to the pub to celebrate the weekend.
The loud music continued until midnight, then we had the drunken revellers coming out of the pub very noisily after that, talking loudly and leaving in their vehicles, so we didn't have a very good sleep.
But then, you get what you pay for, and considering we paid nothing, we couldn't really complain.
Day 263 - Rowena - Collarenebri, NSW 12 October, 2024
After our rough sleep we attempted to stay in bed longer this morning, but some other people who'd stayed behind the pub were up early and noisily packing up before leaving.
With only about 60 km to drive to Collarenebri for the day, we pottered along at 70 km/h to keep the fuel usage as low as possible. The roads were all sealed, but in very poor condition for most of the way so we were pleased there was no hurry.
On the way into town we stopped off at the dump point, then parked up in the main street outside the new bore baths facility.
Before indulging in the artesian spa baths, we popped into the shop across the road to stock up on supplies, put them all away in Mata, got our swimmers on, then got into the 38-degree baths for a nice relaxing soak.
Having only just opened the previous month, the baths were really clean, well-designed, wheelchair friendly, and didn't have the slime around the walls that older installations usually have.
Once we got to looking like prunes we got out, redressed and drove to the local bowling club, where there was a free camp behind the clubhouse. We didn't really like the look of that site, so we drove back out of town a short distance, across the river, to a free camp on the banks of the Barwon River.
After setting up I checked out the river for some potential fishing, but the water was a very dirty brown colour, and some other campers nearby said they hadn't seen anybody catch anything significant.
We had lunch, gathered some firewood for later in the day, and spent the afternoon relaxing outside, where there were flies, but not so bad as they had been in previous days.
Once the sun started to go down we got the fire going and sat outside into the evening.
Day 264 - Collarenebri - Mungindi, NSW/QLD Border 13 October, 2024
We had another chilled start to the day, with only about 90 km to drive to Mungindi for the day.
After a visit to the dump point on the way out of town, we headed towards Mungindi at a leisurely 70 km/h. The roads were a mixture of sealed and unsealed, but were mostly in reasonable condition.
Apart from spotting some Kangaroos early in the journey, we also saw a flock of around six Emus when we were closer to Mungindi.
Our first stop in Mungindi was at a rest area beside the Barwon River, where we filled up with fresh water. Our second stop was going to be at the town bore baths, but the outside temperature was only in the low twenties, and there was a strong, cool wind blowing, so we didn't fancy getting undressed in those conditions to put our swimmers on.
Instead, we went straight to the Mungindi Van Park, got an unpowered site and got setup.
It was still too early for lunch, so we donned shoes and hats and set out on a 3.5 km walk around the Mungindi Sculpture Trail.
The trail is an open-air art gallery that crosses the Queensland/New South Wales border, featuring ten sculptures by local artist Tony ‘Nicko’ McMillan, and was donated to the Mungindi community by Nicko’s family after he passed away in 2016.
The sculptures are accompanied by interpretative signage and QR code-accessible videos explaining their stories.
We managed to find all the sculptures except one, which was in a public park. As we were approaching the park a brown snake slithered across the footpath in front of us and into the park, so we thought that, discretion being the better part of valour, we would skip that sculpture.
After lunch we wandered over to the Historic Park, which wasn't up to much really, and was mostly rusty old farm machinery. However, the original schoolhouse from 1893 was quite interesting, with old school desks and many old books to browse through, as well as other information and photos on the town's history.
Although there was a strong wind blowing, we sat outside during the afternoon, thankful that at least the wind kept the ever-present flies at bay.
At happy hour time we went over to the common area and had a drink with the park owners and one other lady who was camping near us.
Day 265 - Mungindi - Toobeah, QLD 14 October, 2024
Our original plan was to start the day with a soak in the Mungindi bore baths, but the day dawned cold, wet and windy, so we flagged that part of the plan.
A point of interest we'd missed on the way into Mungindi was the One Ton Post, so we made that our first stop for the day. The One Ton Post is a monument erected by JB Cameron to mark the end of the arduous two-year task of surveying the straight section of the Queensland/New South Wales border, from Cameron Corner to the Barwon River. The post was placed on the west bank of the Barwon River near Mungindi to mark the end of the survey of the 29th parallel (degree of latitude) in October 1881.
Back in town we visited the pharmacy to refill a script, then continued on out of town towards Goondiwindi.
We hadn't decided at that point how far we'd go for the day, maybe to Boomi, or maybe all the way to Goondiwindi.
We stopped in Boomi to check out some historical information in a park along the main street, then called into the Co-Op shop for some bread, before deciding to carry on as it was too early in the day to stop for the night.
The drive was easy enough at our usual slow pace, but a little boring as most of it was through grain and cotton growing country, so there was no wildlife to see, until we were just out of Toobeah where we saw a family of Emus in a grain paddock.
We'd decided to stop at Toobeah for the night, in a nice grassed area free camp out the back of the pub.
After checking in at the pub we go set up and had lunch inhouse, before relaxing for the afternoon. The day was overcast and cool with passing showers, so we didn't bother setting up outside.
Day 266 - Toobeah - Goondiwindi, QLD 15 October, 2024
This was probably our shortest driving day ever, only 50 km to Goondiwindi.
The day started out dull and overcast and looking at the sky it looked like there would be more rain than the decent fall we'd had overnight.
After a 15-minute delay at road works just outside Toobeah, it was a fairly boring drive to Goondiwindi, where our first stop was a supermarket to replenish supplies.
We had a couple of other shopping stops before going to check out the Gunsynd statue, which was a racehorse from Goondiwindi that had a prolific winning record during the 1970s.
Nearby there we admired the old bridge across the McIntyre River, the knowledge tree, a 1956 flood memorial and some wall art on a water tank.
With nothing else we wanted to see for the day, it was a short drive to the Rivergums Caravan Park where we booked into an unpowered site for the night.
After getting a load of washing on and having lunch, we relaxed for a while sitting outside waiting for the approaching storms to hit.
Feeling the need for some exercise, we went for a walk along the river levee bank towards town, reading a few information boards along the way. On the way we spied a milk bar and thought we could indulge in a milkshake on the way back. We popped into Supercheap Auto for a couple of things, then started heading back towards the information centre when it started raining lightly. We sheltered in the information centre for a short time, then went back out into the rain, which was becoming heavier by the minute, and decided to skip the milkshake and get back to the campground to rescue all our outside stuff from a soaking.
The rain continued off and on during the afternoon and into the evening.
Day 267 - Goondiwindi - The Gums, QLD 16 October, 2024
We woke to overcast skies and light rain, so we weren't inspired to move anywhere in a hurry.
We filled up with diesel on the way out of town, feeling pleased that we'd driven 770 km on the tank, and there was still 50 litres left in the tank before filling it up.
The 150 km drive to The Gums was uneventful, broken only by a morning tea stop on the side of the road, and having to stop to let a small Wallaby and her baby cross the road in front of us at one point.
At The Gums we went to the Cricket and Golf Club, which provided cheap campsites out the back of the clubhouse. We were supposed to pay the caretaker, but there was no sign of him, so we found a nice spot and got setup anyway.
There was rain again off and on, but we sat outside anyway to catch some breeze on the warm afternoon.
Later on the caretaker, Max, and his dog Hollie came to see us for the $10 to camp there the night. A little while later he came back again with a chair and had a couple of drinks with us.
Day 268 - The Gums - Jandowae, QLD 17 October, 2024
We were roughly aiming for Warra today, which was only about 90 km away.
Because of the lack of daylight saving, the sun was up early and so were we, and on the road by 8:00 A.M.
The drive was easy, although the sealed roads were quite rough in many places, as they would often be under water.
In Warra we stopped first just outside town at the miner's memorial, honouring the people who worked in the coal mine, which ran from 1915 to 1919 and was eventually closed due to industrial unrest.
Nearby, we checked out an old church bell, that had been mounted as a memorial to the Catholic Church it came from.
Back in town we parked up and spent some time walking around their historic village that contained some old farm machinery, the old school house, a large windmill, the old railway station building and information boards to provide more detail on the history of the town.
We had hoped to buy some wine at the lovely old Warra Hotel, but found it closed. Having a coffee at a cart outside the pub, we discovered that it didn't open until 4:00 P.M., so we decided to keep driving to Jandowae.
That drive took us onto some gravel roads and past Trumpeters Corner, a memorial to the returned soldiers from both world wars, who took up farm leases in the area.
In Jandowae we visited a couple of old buildings, the original school house from 1899, and Athlone Cottage that was built in 1890.
After a visit to the bottle shop, and stopping briefly to look at a Dingo statue on a street corner, we went to the showgrounds camping area where we settled in for the rest of the day.
During the afternoon I collected a pile of firewood from around the campground and when the sun started to go down we got a roaring fire going.
Day 269 - Jandowae - Bunya Mountains NP, QLD 18 October, 2024
Heading for the Bunya Mountains NP today, we detoured after leaving camp to check out the start of the dingo fence at Jimbour East.
The fence was originally 5,600 km long, and travelled all the way to South Australia, from this point. Over the years the fence had been reduced to less than 2,500 km long.
Leaving the start of the fence, we travelled part of the Dingo Fence Tourist Drive, before turning off towards the Bunyas.
We passed through the pretty little town of Bell, with Jacaranda Tree-lined streets, at morning tea time, so thought it would be good to support the local economy at the Pips and Cherries cafe. We had coffee and a very nice carrot cake served with coulis, cream and decorated with a Nasturtium flower.
After that, the roads were mostly narrow, winding and hilly as we climbed up to the Bunyas. We stopped at one lookout walk and decided we didn't want to walk that far, so drove along the road a little way and pulled into the Westcliff Lookout carpark. There was a 2.5 km loop walk, but we walked just far enough along it to get a good view of the surrounding area.
From there it wasn't far to the Bunya Mountains NP campground, where we'd booked in for two nights.
The campground was quite full, but we ended up with a reasonable spot, with nice long, lush grass for a change, rather than the dust and dirt we'd been used to for many months.
After lunch we went for a short walk around the facilities nearby, mostly to check out the food options for the following day, and any walks we may want to do.
Day 270 - Bunya Mountains NP, QLD 19 October, 2024
Our only mission for today was to do one of the bush walks around the national park.
After brekky we got shoes on, slathered ourselves in insect repellent (there were signs in the toilet blocks warning of ticks), donned hats, prepared the backpack with some snacks and set out.
We chose a 4 km loop walk that was an easy grade 3. Soon after starting out on the track, we realised that we'd done that walk the last time we were here, about two years previously, on our way back from Cape York. None of the other walks appealed to us so we carried on as planned.
This time it was a lot warmer and not as wet as the previous time we'd done the walk. A couple of hundred metres into the walk we came to an abrupt halt because there was a metre-long snake lying across the track sunning itself in a patch of filtered sunlight. It didn't seem to register our presence, as snakes usually do before making themselves scarce, and we wondered whether it was injured or dead. The track was too narrow to go around it, and it didn't show any signs of moving, so we threw some small sticks in its direction to get it moving. That didn't work either until one of the sticks made a direct hit, which woke it up and it went slithering very quickly into the bush on the side of the track.
The trees were just as amazing as the last time, the waterfalls running lightly, and the many birds we saw and heard accompanied us along the way. Whip birds called around us all the way, wrens and other small birds flitted around us, and the weird sounding Cat Bird could be heard for most of the time.
Back at the campground we were all tuckered out, not having done exercise recently, and spent the rest of the day relaxing.
Later in the afternoon we were surprised to hear the sound of horse hooves coming up the road towards us. It turned out to be two draught horses pulling a brightly-painted wagon. It stopped at the shop next to our camp, picked up a load of people and headed back in the direction it had come from. After a while it came back with that load of people and picked up another load.
Day 271 - Bunya Mountains NP - Linville, QLD 20 October, 2024
With another short driving day in front of us today, about 100 km, we were in no hurry to leave camp this morning. It was also quite cool, which didn't inspire us to move very quickly.
Leaving camp, we started heading down the mountain to Maidenwell, where we had a brief stop at their dump point.
Carrying on we drove to Nanango, where we stopped at the Peanut Hut to buy some fresh peanuts for ourselves, and for Liz and Mark who would be hosting us for the next couple of weeks.
The last part of the day's drive took us along the D'Aguilar Highway to the Linville turnoff, then into the small township of Linville, our destination for the next two nights.
We found a spot in the donation camp across the road from the pub, got setup, then wandered over to the hotel for lunch.
It was a beautiful sunny Sunday, so the pub was busy, but we got a drink and got our lunch order in quickly. It was very pleasant sitting outside on the deck, catching some breeze and listening to the talented young man who was the entertainment for the day.
After eating way too much we staggered back to our campsite and relaxed, waiting for the food coma to pass.
Once it started to cool down later in the afternoon we got the firepit out and sat outside for the evening checking out the night sky.
Day 272 - Linville, QLD 21 October, 2024
On our last day on the road before heading home the following day, we planned to mostly relax and try to get into an appropriate frame of mind for dealing with life in suburbia.
One job we'd been putting off was to get the e-bikes off the bike rack and see if they were still in working order. They'd had a hard life on the back of Mata since January, and were both damaged to some degree.
My bike, although now missing the bike stand and with some damage to other areas, was up and running fairly quickly. Meg's bike was another matter, as we'd discovered the previous time we'd wanted to use them that the seat/battery wouldn't tighten to secure it, after being slightly damaged. We worked on it for some time before figuring a way to get the clamp closed securely.
As we were right beside the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail, we thought we might as well test the bikes by riding some of the trail. What should have been a nice ride to get some fresh air and exercise turned into a bit of a disaster.
Just after setting out we realised the tyres needed to be pumped up, so it was back to camp to do that and, seeing we had all the compressor gear out, we took the opportunity to reinflate the car tyres that been lowered for a couple of weeks while we were travelling on unsealed roads.
With that done, we set out again in one direction along the trail, but before too long realised that we hadn't locked the door, so it was back to camp again to do that. Going back we almost crashed into each other as we tried to avoid a small snake on the path, that looked like a Brown Snake, so we didn't want to go anywhere near it.
After locking the door we then carried on in the other direction along the trail. The ride was pleasant enough and easy going, until we were both swooped by a rabid Magpie several times.
Not much further along there was a steep hill with a cattle grid at the bottom, that required getting off the bikes and walking across it. Meg lost her balance getting off her bike, fell on the loose gravel surface and tore a large chunk out of her knee, as well as hurting a toe that felt like it might be broken.
That was the end of our outing and, once patched up enough to keep the flies off her wound, we turned around and faced the rabid Magpie again on the return journey back to camp.
First aid was the first job after getting back, then it was putting the bikes back on the rack, having lunch and resting up for the afternoon.
Quite late in the afternoon another Explorer pulled into the campsite. Having a chat after they were organised, we discovered that it was Heather and Graham, #616TP from Chapel Hill. We chatted for quite a while before they went back to their site for the night.
Day 273 - Linville - Home, QLD 22 October, 2024
Feeling a bit sad that this was our last day on the road since January, we said goodbye to Heather and Graham and headed out to the D'Aguilar Highway and towards Morayfield.
On the way we stopped off at the Kilcoy Showgrounds to use their dump point, then stopped in a park to have morning tea.
Arriving in Morayfield late morning, we started on our list of jobs that we wanted to do, and to kill some time as we couldn't go to Liz and Mark's place until after 2:00 P.M.
First up was a visit to the early voting centre to cast our votes for the QLD election that was on the following Saturday.
In BCF we filled up our empty gas bottle and bought a new kettle, because our existing one was looking very sad after over three years of travelling.
After a visit to the bottle shop we parked up in the sports centre to have lunch and do whatever online chores we could to use up some more time.
And that's the end of this epic journey!
Over nine months (273 days) we travelled about 33,000 km, and had countless amazing experiences along the way.
Now, to start thinking about the next big trip.....
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