The road to Dalby from Murwillumbah is standard expressway for most of the distance. Only after Toowoomba does it start to get interesting. The early part of the journey goes via the Gold Coast, a much over-rated tourist region of high-rise hotels and enormous houses on artificial canals created by real estate developers in order to separate Victorian retirees from their money (for the geographically challenged, Victoria is a southern state of Australia). Shortly before reaching Brisbane, the road west turns off from the main highway and starts to meander its way across the Brisbane basin towards the Darling Downs. As British people know, all true Downs are really up. Toowoomba, at the edge of the Darling Downs, is 400 metres straight up from the Lockyer Valley. It is the last major town before the road
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