From the dry to the water

We left Roma early on Thursday morning, heading south-east along the Carnarvon Highway. We stopped briefly in Surat, where the Cobb and Co festival was about to start. Surat to Yuleba was the last Cobb and Co route to run, and they celebrate with an annual get together, with coach rides, displays and other celebratory things. If only we'd known, we may have stopped a night, but we'd already booked our night's accommodation further south, in St George. We arrived at Kamarooka Tourist Park just after 11am and were warmly greeted by the owners, who helped us into our spot and invited us to afternoon drinks and nibbles! We enjoyed our lunch in the shade of a large tree, then took a walk into town, along the riverbank and past the shops, stopping to admire the baker's Model T Ford and hearing all about his adventures in the car; he'd been on roads we would be wary to attempt in our 4WD! Returning to camp we enjoyed a swim in the spa pool, then showered and got ready for "Happy hour", where we met many fellow travellers and enjoyed the cheesy pizza provided by our hosts.

Nindigully Pub

Thallon silo art

Friday morning was a short drive to a "free" camp, so we took our time with another walk along the river before packing up and heading off. We had heard great reports about the pub at Nindigully, 48km southeast of St George, and we weren't disappointed. There is little else to Nindigully except the pub, on the banks of the Moonie River, which is currently little more than algae-covered water holes surrounded by dusty paddocks, but would be lovely if there was some more rain. After choosing our spot amongst many other vans and tents, we unhitched and headed off to Thallon, 30km away. This was a place we had learned of watching "Backroads", and we were keen to see what the town, and the pub, was like. Once again it was a small place, struggling through the drought, but the painted silos and the lovely old pub get travellers visiting. We enjoyed lunch and a drink before returning to Nindigully for a quiet afternoon. Late in the afternoon, the music started in the pub and we found ourselves a seat nearby to enjoy a couple of drinks before a delicious dinner in the pub's dining room.

Gunsynd

On Saturday we continued southeast, along the Barwon Highway, bound for Goondiwindi, home of the famous "Gunsynd". A statue on the riverbank commemorates the Goondiwindi Grey. The town is lovely, with big old buildings and wide, tree-lined streets. After setting up in the nearby caravan park, we walked along the riverbank to Customs House, now a very interesting historical museum. We spent at least an hour there learning the history of Goondiwindi and surrounds. It started as a supply post for three large properties, located right on the border with NSW, and grew as wool, then cattle, then cotton industries flourished. We did some shopping in the local Co-op, then returned to the van for lunch. Another walk after lunch showed us what a Queensland country town is like on Saturday afternoon - dead!! Even the pub was quiet, everyone was at the "away" game of footy.

Riverbank art, Goondiwindi

On Sunday morning we walked along the riverbank again, all the way to the boat ramp and jetty, passing a quirky mechanical pelican statue on the way. As with all of the Darling Downs, the water level is very low. After breakfast we packed up and continued travelling, stopping just 8km from Warwick, at the Sandy Creek Pub. This had also been recommended to us as a great stopping point, and it didn't disappoint; a lovely big paddock to park the van in, close to the pub, where we enjoyed burgers for lunch - camping is free if you patronise the pub and we made sure we obeyed the "rule". The publican, Kevin, greeted us warmly; he even turned the TV to AFL during half-time in the rugby league - much to the disgust of a couple of locals!

Sandy Creek Pub

On Monday we took a short walk to check out the "Sandy" creek - currently dry, of course, then packed up the van and continued, through Warwick and on just 16km to Killarney, a beautiful little town in the foothills of the Great Dividing Range. We stopped at Killarney Sunset Tourist Park (and Motel), where the owners, Ray and Leeonie, made us extremely welcome. We unhooked the van and put our washing on, then proceeded to clean the van ready for its return to storage. Before lunch we took a walk into town to buy a couple of things from the local co-op. Everyone was very friendly! After lunch we took a drive up into the mountains, stopping at all the lookouts and visiting Queen Mary Falls where we enjoyed a lovely 2km walk from the top to the bottom and back again. Water was coming over the falls, which was a lovely surprise. Returning to Killarney, we visited the butcher to check out what we might buy tomorrow, then stopped at the pub for a drink before returning to the caravan park, where Leeonie and Ray had organised nibbles for late afternoon drinks. They are lovely people, and I hope their new venture is successful once the drought breaks and tourists return to the area.

Queen Mary Falls

We started Tuesday morning with our exercises, before having breakfast and packing the van for the last time this trip. We farewelled Leeonie and Ray, then drove out and visited the butcher, where we bought some steaks for dinner and his famous Cabanossi, then headed out of town. The day's drive was across the Great Dividing Range along the Mt Lindesay Highway, and is quite a hilly windy drive. We took it easy, driving to the road's conditions, as many signs warned us to. With a triple-bogey log truck in front of us, it was a slow trip, but the scenery more than made up for it with volcanic rock formations and beautiful winding valleys. We arrived at Ashmore Caravan Storage just after 12, unhooked the van and continued on to Bayview Marina, where Manookatoo awaited us! We will spend a week in the boat, enjoying the water, before we return to Melbourne in early September.