Author Archives: Dearne and Rod

We defied the odds on Thursday and made the journey from Moree to Narrabri without having to stay over anywhere. Although we made a few stops between the two towns to look at sights, nothing attracted us to an overnight stop. When we arrived a Narrabri the intention was to stay at the local showground for the night but we found the grounds were closed in preparation for the 2013 Australian Motorhome Association Rally.

Yarrie Lake at Sunset

After consulting our Camp 7 book and our Australian WickiCamps App, we discovered that approximately 50 km west of Narrabri an area called Yarrie Lake was said to offer excellent camping facilities. So off we headed in to the ‘opposite direction to what was originally planned’ but it was getting late in the day and we needed to find somewhere to park up.

“What a stunner of a place.”  Yarrie Lake is a 3km saucer shaped lake on the edge of the Pilliga Scrub and it is thought to have been formed by a falling meteor thousands of years ago. The local custodians of the lake have created a park like environment where there are a number of grass camping areas all around the lake and approximately 100 metres between one camp area and the next. All campsites are on the waters edge.

Parked up five metres from Yarrie Lake

We loved the place so much our one night stopover ended up a three-night stopover. Again because we are self-contained we were able to park in an area amongst the trees that gave us privacy, shade but enough sun to charge our batteries and only about 5 metres from the lakes edge. For those who needed fresh water there was plenty around and there were a limited number of powered sites if needed.

If there was any downside to the lake there was no telephone reception so we apologise to family for not being able to respond to telephone calls and emails. To our Australian followers – if you are in the region, Yarrie Lake comes with our recommendation and is certainly worth a visit.

Amongst the gum trees at Yarrie Lake

We departed the Lake this morning (reluctantly), and on the recommendation of a young aboriginal lass, we are heading further west toward Pilliga and the Pilliga Artesian Bore Baths. The baths were constructed in 1902 as a permanent town water supply after a severe draught and the bore itself has become a popular recreational spot for swimming.  The bore water is rich in minerals and is a constant 37 degrees.  According to local folk law, the water has medicinal properties and is a good healer for aches and pains.

It is our intention to over night at the bore and then drive east again tomorrow into Narrabri and then onwards to Tamworth. Our plan is to be in Tamworth by Wednesday or Thursday.

Just as a snippet of information for you – we are currently driving through the Pilliga forest in northern NSW and toward Wee Waa. Beneath the forest lies one of Australia’s largest onshore natural gas reserves. It is estimated that gas from this area alone could be sufficient to supply current levels of NSW gas demand for the next 50 years. The natural resources of the ‘lucky land’!

Being under no time pressure, our departure from Toowoomba on Sunday took us a little longer than was planned.  By the time we picked up groceries, said our goodbyes to Bruce and Lyn and made several stops on the road out of Toowoomba to look at different sights, it was well after lunch before we got onto the main road south.  The original plan was to make  Warwick by nightfall but by 3pm we decided we had had enough for the day so ended up stopping about 40km north of Warwick at a very small place called Spring Creek. We parked up, out came the camp chairs, rum and coke and wine (diet of course) and the ‘captain for the day’ called a management meeting to plan the next day.

Dearne and her new purchase

We forgot to mention that a small purchase that was made in Toowoomba. When we had the motorhome built we decided that it would be ‘over the top’ to have a washing machine installed. However, since being in Australia and with our preference for freedom camping, we were still having to make weekly visits to either Caravan Parks or laundromats to get our washing done and then having to hang around until it dry. The cost at a laundromat is $5 to $7 per load of washing and $4 for a load of drying. To go to a caravan park is approximately $30 per night and $4 for each load of washing. It’s not often Dearne gets excited over the purchase of a domestic appliance but I would have to say she is excited about her new RV washing machine.

Our advice on this – if you are getting a motorhome built, or are thinking of purchasing one, give some thought as to making a washing machine part of the deal. It will save you money and time in the end.  The model that we purchased can either operate off the mains or the inverter, is a compact twin tub and has a carry weight of only 12kg. If you want more information on the machine, flick Dearne a quick email.

On Monday morning we made our way into Warwick and spent a few hours looking around the town. As we go further south we are getting into areas that have had more rain then their northern neighbours. Warwick reminded us very much of many New Zealand provincial towns in the spring.

Our Coolmunda Dam Stopover

After lunch, and after a quick visit to the local Information Centre, we drove towards our next overnight destination at Lake Coolmunda on the Coolmunda Dam.  Again because we are self-contained we are able to access to the best (and most quiet) parking places around the lake.  We were parked about 15 metres from the waters edge. Apart from the tiny midgie-like insects (non biting type) that are attracted by the millions to the motorhome lights at night, it was a stunning place to pause.  We ended up stopping over for two nights.

Wednesday morning we made our way to Goondiwindi on the MacIntyre River. The region of Goondiwindi has a population of 10720 and while it is an agricultural region, it is most famous for its cotton growing ability.  The regions cotton is highly sought after because of its superior quality.  We made a short stopover at Goondiwindi township to pick up fresh fruit and veges and for Dearne undertake a bit of pampering at the local beauty salon.

Rod picking cotton alongside the Newell Highway

Once outside of the township of Goondiwindi we crossed the border into New South Wales and made our way towards the township of Moree. It was a novelty driving along the Newell Highway where on both sides of the road there were thousands of hectares of cotton plantations in various stages of growth. At one point we pulled over to pick cotton from some of the rogue plants along the side of the road.

As usual we never quite made it to our intended destination and ended up spending Wednesday night at the Boolooroo Rest Area about 8km out of Moree. We felt quite safe as a few truckies had pulled in for the night and we made ourselves known to them.  We never worry about parking up on our own but in saying that we do our best to minimise any risk.

This morning we made our way into Moree for a fill of fresh water, diesel, a few groceries then are continuing our way south towards Narrabri. We know we will not get to Narrabri by 4pm (the time to be off the road) so we will be looking for a nice overnight stop somewhere on the way. We are journeying in this direction as we both want to visit Tamworth – the country music capital of Australia.

See ya’ll.

Our visit to Toowoomba has been very pleasant. While the point of our being here was to attend the festival, we were also able to enjoy many other aspects of the region. The city has approximately 130,000 people, is 700 metres above sea level and our temperature today is about 25 deg C.  It is also the sister city of our own Wanganui (or Whanganui depending on your ‘bent’).

An example of the flowers on show

If you enjoy good wine, good food, being entertained and appreciate the effort that goes in to preparing fantastic gardens and floral displays, make a point of putting the Toowoomba Carnival of Flowers on your bucket list. It is a vibrant agricultural area of Australia that deserves your attendance. We believe next years Carnival is being between Friday 19 September to Sunday 28 September 2014.

When we arrived on Friday we settled into our site at the city’s showground then headed off in the jeep to have a look around. Again the GPS is a godsend in these situations. We managed to work out the directions to get to town (the showground was 10km away from the central city), sorted out where we need to be on Saturday to attend the festivities and we had a bit of time left over to have a look around the local sites.

A parade float

On Saturday we left the motorhome at around 9am in the morning and made our way into city for the day’s entertainment.  There was plenty to do if you wanted to get around – markets, live bands, classic car displays, gardens to visit, floral displays, art exhibitions, wine tasting, locally grown food stalls and so on. The highlight of the day was the Grand Central Parade through the main street that to took some 90 minutes to complete. It was great to see that most businesses in the city took part in some way and a big emphasis was placed on children and community group’s participation.

We had a brilliant but very long day and are glad we made the effort to be here. There was stunning displays at the event that our photographs do not do justice. Have a look at the few more shots of our visit HERE .

We leave Toowoomba this afternoon on the next leg of our journey. We have decided to drive south towards Warwick and explore around that area.  Again, if you cannot get hold of us or hear nothing from us, we will have no communication. Last week we had nothing for the whole week so it is best we have no expectation.

You will recall on our last blog update we told you that we had experienced no rain since departing Brisbane at the end of June.  We should have known that by saying something like that, it is tempting fate.  After departing Amby on Monday morning we travelled about 200km and ended up staying at a free camping site just out of Chinchilla called the Chinchilla Weir. It is a dam site with plenty of ‘green’ grass and trees beside the water where self-contained vehicles can park up for a maximum of 48 hours.

Chinchilla Weir at sunset

We arrived at the site at about 5pm and by then the big black clouds had started rolling in from the west.  We made sure we were parked on solid ground and were facing the roadway for a quick exit if need be. By 6pm the rain started. Lightning was followed by thunder and deluge kept on for about 4 hours.  We decided to hang there until morning as the ground was so hard the water was just running off i.e. no chance for mud to form so no access or exit issues. Morning came and the weather was back to its normal hot sunshine self. We ended up staying at the Weir for two nights as a number of the people we had met in our previous stop overs were also there so it was social 48 hours.

As we had no intention of arriving at Toowoomba until Friday, a decision had to made as to where we were going to go after the Weir. Bruce and Lyn (our Bundaberg friends) had stopped at the Weir and were also attending the Toowoomba Flower Festival so we decided to travel there together. After a ‘round or two and much consultation’ we determined that we would drive to the Bunya Mountain National Park and spend a couple of nights there.  As we were heading east it seemed like a good choice.

View of Bunya Mountain from Pine Gorge Lookout

The National Park is approximately 120km in a direct line from Brisbane, is 11,700 hectares and is 1050 metres above sea level.  It was formed some 30 million years ago as a result of volcanic activity. As a result of the altitude we certainly noted a significant drop in day and night temperature.

In the late 1800’s it was a thriving timber area where a variety of rain forest species were milled.  The bunya tree is the signature tree of the area. The tallest bunya tree recorded in the milling days was 67 metres but it is thought that this was only the log measurement to the first branch!!

The conditions of staying at an Australian National Park are very similar to those of staying at a New Zealand National Park or Department of Conservation Parks i.e. inexpensive ($5.45 per night), no pets, take your rubbish back out with you, no fires, some have toilets but many do not, some have showers but many do not and so on. As in New Zealand, being self-contained is the best way to venture into National Parks.

Dearne and her friendly wallaby

Bunya Mountain National Park is teaming with all sorts of wildlife – our parking area was about 2 hectares of flat green grass and there were about 50 wallaby on the grounds at any one time.  We were also visited by cuckooburra, king parrots, crimson rosella, owls, bandicoots, bush turkey, scrub wrens, kerrawang to name a few.  The wildlife over here continues to amaze us.

A few more shots of our Bunya Mountain National Park visit HERE .

We departed the National Park this morning and arrived in Toowoomba mid afternoon. Because of the Flower Festival (and that we never book ahead) accommodation in the town was a little difficult to find.  We have ended up staying at the local show grounds for tonight and Saturday night. On Sunday we will be back on the road but in what direction, we are not quite sure yet. We will get out the charts in the next 24 hours and make a plan.

We will put a few pics up of our Toowoomba visit over the weekend.

The good weather continues to follow us and our time in Roma was no exception. Daytime temperatures are still around 30 to 35 degrees C each day with a slight cooling off in the evenings. On Friday we thought about the weather and our journey so far and we have not seen any rain since our departure from Brisbane in June. One cloud creates a bit of excitement nowadays!!

Roma is situated approximately 500 kilometres west of Brisbane on the Warrego Highway. Historically the region was cattle country but it is now seen as the cradle of Australia’s oil and gas industry. Every second vehicle on the road is a ‘company vehicle’.  It seems the growth in the Roma region has been at the expense of the growth in the Emerald region.

Our few days in Roma were spent mainly on domestics – giving the motorhome a good wash and clean out (red dusk get into the most unlikely places) and stocking up food and other essentials in readiness for the next leg of our journey.  We are doing far more freedom camping now than we were able to do in the first two months of travel so we are having to be more careful with our planning – especially in the management of our fresh water and diesel.

On Saturday afternoon we spent a relaxing few hours at Roma’s Fire and Food Festival. It was similar to our Wine and Food Festivals at home with local wines and food being freely available. We wondered what the ‘fire’ bit was all about until we saw that all the food was being prepared on the bar-b-que.  A very pleasant way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

We departed Roma this morning and made our way to Amby to catch up with young Laurie Coggins. Laurie and Rod joined the Navy together in January 1966 and have kept in touch over the years. Laurie moved to Australia in 1993 and has lived and worked mostly Queensland area. We had a great 24 hours with Laurie and Dale on their home turf, swapped ‘historical memories’ and experienced a little of the  ‘swinging of the lantern’.

While in Amby we spent an hour or so at one of the local fossicking areas and came away with a couple of nices pieces of ‘petrified wood’. We plan to have them polished up as home treasures.

Tomorrow morning we are back on the road and making our way towards Toowoomba and the flower festival next weekend. There are quite a few places of interest on the way to Toowoomba so we are not planning to get there until this Friday sometime.

We will try and update the blog as we go this week but if you hear nothing from us you will know we have no communications.

We arrived at the Higher Ground Homestay on Sunday afternoon and ended up staying for two nights instead of the one as planned. As said in our last blog update, the Homestay is on a private block of land of approximately 50 acres. For the princely sum of $6 per night per van, parking is allowed just about anywhere as long as you can safely get your vehicle to your selected park. We managed to weave the motorhome through the trees to a lovely site and with just enough sun getting through to be able to charge the batteries via the solar panels.  A couple we met at our Jericho stop, Lyn and Bruce from Bundaberg, had also stopped over at the site so it ended up a very social two days.

Rod still persisting with the red claw

In the river running beside the property Rod tried his luck at red claw trapping (again).  Unfortunately (as we were informed on the day we left the river), the red claw do not start moving until ‘the weather warms’ in mid October. All was not lost. We managed (unintentionally) to trap a nice little catfish in one of the yabbie pots. Rod has not been put off by the challenge of red claw trapping  – “another day, another river” was his positive response.

On Monday afternoon Bruce and Rod headed off to the Fairburn Dam to try their luck at a bit of fishing from the edge of the dam. Without going into too many details and with having experienced previous disappointments, we had fortunately taken a meal out of the freezer in anticipation of lean pickings. It was indeed the leanest of the lean!!!!

A few more shots of our Higher Ground stay are HERE.

With the evening setting in and ego’s stroked, it was time to sit back, pour the wine and contemplate what could have been if the fish were more cooperative.

We left Higher Ground on Tuesday morning on our next leg of our journey to nowhere. We were not due in Roma until Thursday and we had no stopover plan.  Bruce and Lyn were going in the same direction so we decided that it would be a good idea if we travelled in ‘convoy’.  The problem with travelling ‘in convoy’, and having UHF radios onboard, the girls were in constant communication and we ended up stopping at every ‘tiny’ town fossicking in antique stores, art stores and curio stores. Springsure and Rolleston both profited by our passing through.

As a result of the casualness of our travel plan it was 4.30pm and we still did not have a place to park up for the night. As we have said previously, to be on the road around this time is courting disaster. At about this time of the day the local animal life come out to feed and most have absolutely no road sense at all. The possibility of colliding with a kangaroo/wallaby/emu/pig/wombat and a variety of other wildlife is quite high.

Relaxing after arrival at our side road stopover

After a bit of exploring, and about 150km north of Roma, we managed to find a newly sealed road (Nuga Nuga Road if you want to search for it on a map) and we headed up the road to find a place where the contractors would have stored their vehicles and roading material. This type of site is always flat and normally well out of everyone’s way. We lucked in and about 500 metres up the side road we found a great flat spot and parked up for the night. Once settled, out came the wine, Coruba and snax and the travellers relaxed. A couple more shots of our side road stopover HERE .

We left Nuga Nuga Road at about 7.30am this morning as we had been told the day before that there was a free camping area in a town called Surat (about 80km south of Roma) and right beside the Balonne River. It is reputed to be the best free camping spot in Australia. Historically Surat was the site of a Cobb and Co Changing Station. The original station has been preserved as a tourist attraction.

Victory is New Zealand’s

As it turned out the information provided was spot on. The area was all grass with plenty of trees for shade and was directly beside the river. Once settled we walked into the town of Surat, had lunch and a beer at the local hotel then returned to the motorhome for Rod and Bruce to do a bit of fishing.  It was a Bledisloe Cup type of event with Australia coming second ‘again’. Only one fish was caught but that was all that was needed for the victory.

A few more shots of our Surat visit HERE .

We leave here tomorrow morning and head to Roma to attend the weekends Food and Fire Festival. Bruce and Lyn have friends in Roma so are staying with them and we have booked a site close to the Festival venue. We will probably catch up with them again in Toowoomba as we are both attending the Flower Festival the following weekend.

We depart Roma on Sunday and will be going west to Amby to meet up with a friend of Rod’s who joined the Navy in the same intake as him.

We will update the blog again before leaving Roma.

Main Street Emerald

We departed Emerald this morning after a very relaxing couple of days. While we love the freedom camping bit, it is also quite nice to get into a fully serviced Park to be able to do catch up on the chores and have a land based shower. We are currently doing about four or five days freedom camping and two days in a Park each week.

Emerald is a traditional mining town that is a bit down on its luck at the moment.  The mining industry on Australia’s east coast is struggling and that in turn affects the prosperity of smaller towns such as Emerald.  We did our best to support the town by socialising at the local golf club and dining out last night with friends.

On leaving Emerald this morning we were not sure whether to stay at Sapphire or at Rubyvale – each one about 70km from Emerald. Either would have done the job as our plan today was to do a bit of gem fossicking in the area.  In the end Sapphire won out as we discovered that the RSL in Sapphire had a camping area attached to it at $5 per night per van.

Rod searching for Dearne’s new jewellery

Once parked up at the RSL we unhitched the jeep and drove inland until we found a fossicking opportunity. Unfortunately it is not just a matter of heading into the country and start digging as most of the land has formal mining claims against it. We managed to find a mine that operated on a Saturday where you could buy an $8 bucket of earth and wash and sieve it for gems.  We bought two buckets and came away with twelve sapphires that we intend getting made into jewellery.  It was another new experience for both of us.

Back at the motorhome we had a quick clean up (mining is a dusty experience) and headed over to the RSL (about 20 metres from the motorhome) for a few drinks and dinner.  Like our RSA’s in New Zealand, socialising in an RSL is relatively inexpensive – dinner was ten dollars each and a glass of wine and a schooner of beer were six dollars.

The Sapphire RSL

We are now back at the motorhome and about to watch the Australia vs South Africa game as the big game on the RSL’s TV is the AFL semi final.  We are unable get the AB’s v’s Argentina game.

Tomorrow morning we will support the local Sunday markets and then start our journey south on the Dawson Highway toward Roma. Our stop tomorrow night will be at Higher Ground Homestay, about 80km from our current location. It is a privately owned camping facility close to the Fairbairn Dam and on a river.  I have been told that there are red claw in the river and the dam but I have heard that story quite a few times since arriving here!!

Our plan is to get to Roma on Friday.

We have been told that telephone and data reception is very average between here to Roma so we may not be able to update the blog again until our arrival in Roma.

Getting away from Longreach on Monday took us a bit longer than expected. By the time we had finished had our stagecoach experience, grabbed a coffee, got back to the motorhome, topped up with diesel and did all the preps for departure, it was after 2pm. We were conscious of the fact that we needed to be settled at Barcaldine prior to dusk.  We do not like being on the road after about 4pm as kangaroos, wallabies and the like all come out and feed at around that time and unfortunately they struggle to foresee the dangers of wandering around the main highways.  The consequences, should you collide with one, can be quite expensive as well as being mildly upsetting.

We arrived at Barcaldine around 4.30pm and ended up settling for the night at a free rest area about 2km east of the township and beside the local cemetery. By sunset there were about five other travellers at the site so it was quite social. The standout for us was that the local Council made sure the cemetery grounds were well watered so the grass was lush and green. This in turn attracted the local wildlife – kangaroo, wallaby and many variety of birdlife. It surprised us that we were able to get so close to them – sometimes within a metre. The novelty of the ‘different’ wildlife over here still amazes us.

On Tuesday morning had a delayed start as we had a small technical difficulty with our onboard battery charger. The problem was that when on mains we could not get power to the charger to top up the house batteries. I mentioned my problem to the guy in the next door motorhome and as luck would have it he was an electrician. Between Traillite and our ‘new friend’, it was all sorted in a couple of hours and we were on our way. Many thanks Tony.

Redbank Park Free Camping Area, Jericho

Repairs complete, our Tuesday drive was a total of 85 km. We settled at Redbank Park close the town of Jericho. Redbank Park is a free camp area on the banks of the Jordan River.  It is a very popular free spot for travellers so we were a wee bit concerned we may have left our run too late to get a place. However when we arrived we slotted into a space right beside the river.  We ended up by staying at the site for two nights and as usual met some great people who we will no doubt run across again in our travels.

Tomorrow morning (Thursday) morning we are making our way to Emerald for two nights at a pay site to get the domestics done. We are down to a quarter of a tank of fresh water, washing needs doing, the motorhome and the jeep need a good hose down and because we have been parked under trees, our house batteries need a good charge. We could turn the generator on but that may upset the neighbours who park at ‘free camp areas’ for the piece and quiet. Far be it for a couple of Kiwi nomads to upset the natives.

Relaxing beside the Jordan River at Jericho

Our plan is to leave Emerald on Saturday morning and head back to the Sapphire and Rubyvale areas to do a few days of gemstone ‘fossicking’. From Sapphire it is our intention to jump onto the Dawson Highway and head down to Roma for the “Food and Fire Festival” on the weekend of the 14 and 15 September. So decadent when your life is guided by social occasions.

Just heard on the news that there are extreme fire warnings in our area for tomorrow. While we always listen to local advice, it cannot be any more nerve wracking than the tornado we experienced the other morning. It passed us by about 800 metres and was ripping up everything in its path. Concentrated driving and complete silence was the key to the moment.

We are loving the challenges over here.

We are certainly finding ‘outback Australia’ intriguing. The small towns have developed a way of turning their life style and history into tourist attractions. That is not a criticism but an appreciation of tenacity in the face of sometimes very challenging conditions.

Longreach, population 2900 and locally known as the Gateway to the Outback, is no different. The town is some 1200km from Brisbane, 700km from Mt Isa and 700km from Townsville.  During our three days here temperatures were 33 to 37 degs C during the day and dropping to around 25 degs C at night (and this is winter). The area has been in drought for months, green grass is a rarity, the ground is red and dusty and yet the people are the most hospitable you will ever meet. We have thoroughly enjoyed our stay here.

Australian Stockman’s Hall of Fame

Australia’s famous Stockman’s Hall of Fame and Outback Heritage Centre is in Longreach. The Centre was created as a memorial to the pioneers of the Australian Outback (including the Flying Doctor Service) and to preserve the outback’s cultural heritage. It was certainly tough times in the outback in the early days. We spent a very informative two hours at the Centre.

Longreach is also the birthplace of Qantas, Australia’s major airline. The airline has a very large and informative museum at Longreach’s airport.

Another little snippet of information about Longreach you may not know – every street in the town is named after a bird. Yep – the whole town. There is Thrush Street, Emu Street, Owl Street, Eagle Street and so on. The water bird streets go in an east/west direction while land birds go in north/south direction. We could not find out how the street names originated but were told that many outback towns have their streets named after a theme.

Our Fathers Day Dinner Venue – The Woolshed

With yesterday being Fathers Day we went out to dinner last night at a local restaurant – The Woolshed.  It was a corrugated iron and bare board shed with the local ‘Slim Dusty’ entertaining diners with his outback songs and stories.  It was a lovely meal and a very entertaining evening.

Before we departing Longreach this afternoon we took a ride on an original Cobb and Co Stagecoach drawn by four rather large horses. The total ride was about 3 km and 500 metres of it at a fast gallop. While the short ride was a novelty, travelling a 100km inside one would give the ol’ hips a bit of a bashing. Still the opportunity to ride on a bit of history was a must do.

Annie Oakley and Wyatt Earp just before boarding their coach

We had a couple of technical issues to sort out while in Longreach. I would have to say that the ‘man of the van’ is getting quite adept at our technical problem solving – assisted very ably by Andy at Traillite in New Zealand. Many thanks Andy for your support and advice.

We are now on a journey eastward to a small town called Barcaldine and then on to Emerald and the ruby fields. We have quite a few river stopovers on the way but will keep you updated as reception allows.

Keep well everyone.

Our journey from Mt Isa to Longreach was relaxing and more learning – it was the first time we have experienced emu’s keeping pace with the motorhome along the highway. The total travelling kilometres were 575 kilometres and we did it in a ‘relaxingly’ in three jumps – Mt Isa to Kynuna, Kynuna to Crawfords Creek and Crawfords Creek to Longreach.

We left Mt Isa last Wednesday morning after trying to solve an air conditioning problem. We were not sure quite what was wrong but it seemed we were pulling more hot air into the motorhome than cold air. Unfortunately Mt Isa was not willing to attempt to solve the problem as our aircon unit was not familiar to them. We should have really checked the unit more thoroughly before we left New Zealand but because aircon is not really a necessity at home, we were a little blasé’ about it. Unfortunately for us, when we needed the system it let us down. We could do nothing so it was a problem for another time.

Blue Heeler Hotel, Kynuna

Our next overnight stop was at the Blue Heeler Hotel in Kynuna (164 kms from Isa).  It was very similar to our Prairie Hotel stop in that the overnighter was behind the hotel, almost free and we had the ‘run’of the place. The Blue Heeler has been in existence since 1870 and was initially a ‘Cobb and Co’ stop in the Australian stagecoach days. We ended up having ‘one or two’ with other travellers and a few locals and partaking in a delicious ‘in house’ mixed grill dinner. Gee we love this life!!!

Thursday morning we set off from Kynuna with no real ‘next stop’ plan. As we have said before we are not very good at long distances so there was never expectation we would get to Longreach that day. As it turned out we did the princely total of 140 kms and ended up at the rest area called Crawfords Creek.

For those unfamiliar with rest areas in Australia, they are normally one to three hectare parking areas (with toilets and water) beside main highways where travellers are encouraged to stop and ‘rest’ for anywhere from 24 to 72 hours. Some are excellent, some good and some mean we pass right by.  However we have to say, and without prejudice, at least these small Australian towns encourage travellers to stop and participate (and spend) in their community. They recognise the spending (and voting) power of the growing international ‘grey nomad’ community. In our hometown of Whangamata in New Zealand, motorhomer’s are permitted to ‘overnight’ beside the estuary but must be gone by 7am.!!!!  Give me a break – even the smallest brain could advise the local Council that if the ‘traveller’ were encouraged to stay in the area longer, they would spend in restaurants, hotels, supermarkets, local clubs, retail outlets etc. etc.

Enough of the obvious and back to our journey.

5 o’clockers at Crawford’s Creek

At Crawford’s Creek we met four other traveller groups who were all undertaking a similar journey to ourselves. Two were Australian couples discovering their own country, one was a lone Australian traveller who was just about to embark on a journey around Australia in a ‘chuck’ wagon drawen by two draught horses and then there was a young Austrian couple (and their eleven month old baby) who were doing their ‘international’ journey. They leave for New Zealand in November so we were pleased to be able to advise them with their New Zealand travel programme. A few wines, a couple of beers and ‘a’ rum and it was a very pleasant evening in the middle of nowhere.

This morning we headed away from Crawford’s Creek to Longreach with the sole purpose of getting our air conditioning sorted and arranging for Dearne to ‘hitch’ a ride on the local Cobb and Co stage coach. We made telephone contact with a local aircon company, Rocket Air Conditioning, and they had us sorted in about two hours. Many thanks Brendon – we will certainly recommend your services to all our travelling friends. Dearne’s stagecoach ride is sorted for Monday.

We will update the blog on our Longreach visit over the next few days.