Chinchilla to Longreach

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Travelled 3182 km’s since leaving Wollongong seeing the kids

1-6-09 Up early, had our last breakfast with Hayden foe a while. Packed up & said our teary goodbyes , Hayden was upset that we wont see him for probably 12 months & he wanted to go with us. We waved goodbye & looked at each other & said - here we go on the adventure of our life ( before dementure ) We had a good trip to Roma filling up with gas at Miles & Roma. We went shopping at Woolworths ( very exciting ) , Post Office, Chemist & Hardware store, Cheap shop & Filled up our Gas bottle on the van. First time in 4 years. We had parked the van in a parking lot & put the girls in the van , they were fine. After walking the main St ( & buying a pair of UG boots for me, feet are getting cold ) we looked at the Remembrance Walk of soldiers that had died & a street lined with big Bottle Trees. We then went back & had lunch in the van & we were on our way again . They had had a bit of rain out this way & things are greening up which is good to see. Off to Mitchell, The roads are fairly good, although “bouncy & rough” in parts & the speed limits vary from 100 to 110 kph depending on the road. Mitchell is a quaint little town as we drove through it we decided to go & get settled at our “free” camp area at the Neil Turner Weir about 3.5 k’s out of town no 604 in free camp book. We were surprised at the vans there already, we picked our spot & set up, then we took the dogs for a walk & left them in the van. We went into Mitchell & checked out the Hot Mineral Spa at the Information centre then went for a walk to see 15 hand painted murals under the bridge. They are very well done & depicts the history of Mitchell. Even found a mural of Cobb & Co . We then went looking for the Old court House that is now a pub, we found it, & what a great old building. We decided to have a couple of drinks in there & check it out, I could have spent all day there, they had old hats on the walls & all sorts of memorabilia ( A lot of maroon T-shirts hanging off the ceiling - Go the blues on wed ). We took our drinks outside & saw a Bull made out of all sorts of junk, it was unreal, Val I would have bought it for you , but it was $3,000. It had a Sewing machine, bike wheel & chain, tin snips , screw drivers, spanners, exhaust pipe, horse shoes, pedals, plough parts, coil & leaf springs, you name it , it had it, amazing. We dad a great hour there & walked the main street, which did not take long, we counted 5 Pubs all up, I think Den has found the perfect place to retire. We then went back to camp, took the girls for a long walk, Den put the generator on & we got tea & watched TV ( I was in bed by 7.30 ) It is not too cold, but it was fresh the next morning. We have travelled 272 Km today Off to Morven & Charleville tomorrow.

2-6-09 Left about 9.30am & stopped in Morvan to look at the town & the museum, there was a hut made out of Kerosene tins. When the depression hit & Wall St collapsed in 1929, many people in Australia lost there homes & made homes out of Kerosene tins, especially pensioners. Watch out Aus we may be making houses out of plastic fuel cans soon. It started to rain at Morven, so we did not hang around & headed for Charleville. On the way I updated the my journal as we bought an inverter foe the car that we can plug in 240 volt appliances & use them in the car. Which is good as the battery in the computer does not run out. We arrived at Chinchilla about lunch time & booked into “Bailey Bar Caravan Park” for 2 days, They squashed us in like sardines, it has rained all afternoon & we have caught up on bits & pieces & I have had a Nanna nap & then got tea. We will go sight seeing tomorrow & have a look around . The girls have been great so far. Well off to bed for us, will write some more tomorrow. Travelled 286 k’s today

3/6/09 We had a sleep in today 7.30am We did our washing & went to dry it in the dryer as it is raining, but dryer is slow so decided to go into town to the Laundromat after breaky. We dried our cloths & then went for a walk around Charleville, it’s a very old town with many historic buildings, we spent a couple of hours & bought a couple of things ( like gum boots for me & beer for Den) if I get a pair it will dry up & we wont need them. Found a nice bakery & bought some buns for lunch filled up with petrol. We then went to the visitors centre & the Cosmos Centre , very interesting. We then went to look at the old Vortex Gun , it was a gun shot into the atmosphere to make it rain in 1902, needless to say it did not work. We then came home , had some lunch & had a quiet afternoon ( getting ready for the state of origin ) GO THE BLUES !!!!! We looked at accommodation & free
spots for tomorrow night, & we are going to play it by ear as Blackall has had 2” of rain & we don’t know what the free camps will be like , we will see. Had our tea & we are settled in for the Origin . Will catch up tomorrow .

4/6/09 OK, Ok , all you Maroons, we will have to wait to the next game to see what happens. Us Blues have not given up yet. We started off about 8.30am the rain has stopped which is good, the road to Tambo is surprisingly good, but there is a lot of road kill on the road, poor Roo’s. What also amazes us is the changing landscape, from very flat to hilly, the road is bumpy but a lot better than we expected. We also noticed the lack of traffic, a few big road trains & caravans of course, but that’s about all, very quiet considering. We stopped at Tambo to look around & I wanted to see the “Teddy Shoppe”, they were lovely, but a bit out of my league, price wise. It took 15 mins to walk the 2 blocks, there are a lot of Heritage Buildings there, we had a cuppa & then pushed on to Blackall. We arrived about 1pm & the freebie where we were going to stay ( 525 Camps 4 book QLD ) was too boggy after the rain , so the Blackall Information Centre said w could camp at the truck stop behind the centre for $5 a night, so that did us. We pulled up & not long after another 4 vans pulled in. We set up & left the girls in the van & we went sight seeing. First stop “The Black Stump”, then we got Auto Gas ( up to 82.9 ) , stopped to admire the Bougainvillea , Visited the Jackie Howe Statue, saw heaps of pubs, lots of statues & the site of the shearers strike, it is a very interesting town, we decided to do the Wool Scourers Shed tomorrow. We went back to the van to give the girls a run, they were good , the couple beside us said they didn’t know they were there. We had Happy Hour with them - Roger & Ros, from Gunnedah Heading to Darwin. We had tea, Sausages & salad, then took the dogs for a long walk up the street, they were excellent. Went to bed early ( never had so many early nights in my life ).We travelled 323 Ks today .

5-6-09 We slept Ok , some of the trucks were a bit noisy, but was not too bad. I had a quick shower & we headed off to The Wool Scourers Shed , what an interesting place, It is the only one still standing & in semi working order. It is a steam driven wool washer that cleaned the wool for many years. Dennis was fascinated with all the machinery that had been restored to mint condition, but there is a long way to go, we hope they can continue the restoration. We had a great guide that was so knowledgeable & a real character , We headed back to the van & the girls & we hooked up & continued our journey to Barcaldine, where the girls & us went for a walk of the town , more old pubs & buildings, we saw the Tree of Knowledge , where the Labour Party began, there was lots of history here too. We had our lunch & coffee & headed off again. All the time the landscape is changing, it is getting drier, they have not dad as much rain here. It is quiet hilly (I know we are heading north & up the map, but the rise in the road seems never ending . We saw more road kill including a big black pig on the side of the road, emus in the paddocks, cattle & sheep, we saw the lot today. We arrived at Longreach & decided to find our free camp spot , as it was not very clear in the book - no 353 QLD Longreach Waterhole. We found it after a phone call & set up camp, must be 39 vans here. We ran into Rod & Ros again & arranged to have happy hour again with them. We went to get a few groceries & filled up with auto Gas ( gone up to 92.5 & petrol $1.20, it might be cheaper to use petrol, Den is going to work it out ) came back to have a drink & get tea, Den ran the generator for a few hours to watch the footy while I caught up on the blog. We did 240 k’s today. Sorry 2 pages of pics

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