Saturday 31 August 2019 - Toorbul

Very slow start today.  We had less than 1 hour to travel and couldn't get into the Caravan Park until after 11.00.    We left just after 10 and travelled towards Toorbul stopping for fuel and coffee on the way.  Toorbul is on the coast of Queensland abutting the estuary between it and Bribie Island.  The estuary is about 1 km wide so we can easily see Bribie Island but to get there we have to drive about 35km to the bridge to cross over onto Bribie.   We arrived at the park and set up.  There is one house block and a road between us and the walkway along the estuary.  When we had finished setting up I realised I had lost the magnetic card to open the boom gate so we could enter and exit the park.  I knew I had opened the boom gate for Ian to drive through but couldn't remember what I had done with it from then.  I knew I didn't have it when getting the levellers out of the boot.  I checked my pockets but couldn't find it.  So then I walked to the boom gate and back looking for the card on the ground in case I had dropped it.  I searched the car 3 times with no luck and also the boot of the van where I got the levellers out of.  Only thing left was to go to the owner of the park to say I had lost it.  I them remembered I had walked over to the laundry and amenities to check them out so retraced my steps.  Still no luck.  Walking back to the van I searched my pockets again no luck.  For some reason I then realised I had back pockets on my pants and checked them to find the card.  I had probably spent 1 hour looking for it.  Still I am glad I found it.   Spent most of the afternoon at the van before walking along the path running beside the estuary.  Unfortunately there is no sandy beach to walk along.  The tide was out so there was 100 metres or so of mud before the water started.  This is to be our base for the next few days.

Friday 30th August 2019 - Woodford

After a cold night woke to a beautiful day.  Had a slow start to the day as we didn't have far to travel.  Todays driving was over the Bunya Mountains so it was a windy and up and down trip.  An easy trip though.  As we are getting nearer to Brisbane and the coast the traffic has picked up considerably.  Our destination was a free camp in Kilcoy but when we pulled up there were 4 vans and 3 cars already there.  It may have held a couple more vans but the ones already there turned us off it so we decided to move to the showgrounds.  Headed up there but it was quite full and we couldn't easily see a spot so pushed on to a free camp 3km west of Woodford.  There are currently 3 motorhomes, us and 2 guys in a car.  It is fairly noisy as we are in a park just off the highway.  Hopefully the noise will lessen during the night.   It is currently mid afternoon and now that the blog is up to date time to get a book out.  

Thursday 29 August 2019 - Dalby - Kiamkillinbun

Back on the road today and reached Dalby in time for lunch.  We parked a couple of blocks from the city centre (nearest we could get with van in tow) and strolled around.  Quite a good array of stores.  After we had had our fill of shops (probably 10 minutes worth!) we had some lunch and then went to the supermarket to stock up.  Lugged the shopping back to the van and stowed it away before heading about 20 km out of town to a caravan park in Kiamkillinbun.  We were the only travellers there.   They have about 20 permanent vans but only 2 were occupied while we were there.   In the township there is a pub and about 4 houses with the caravan park.   We walked down to the pub which was 2 houses away and ate our evening meal there.  There were 4 locals sitting at the bar and 2 others playing pool.  They all spoke to us while we were ordering our meal but we then sat in the dining room to eat while the 3 children of the woman working in the kitchen watched tv.  Strolled back to the van where we decided it had cooled down enough to warrant winter pyjamas.  During the night I had to get up and get an extra blanket out and we even had to turn the heater on the next morning to warm the van up before venturing out of bed.  Not used to the cold we had been sleeping with just the sheet and pulling the doona up overnight.

Wednesday 28 August 2019 - St George

Woken up a couple of times through the night from either the thunder or the rain falling on the roof.  It only ended up being 2 mm but always sounds more in the van.  Today was cloudy all day so kept the temperature down.  I had intended to go for a swim but decided it was too cool.  The day was filled in with some housework and washing with lots of relaxing going on in between.  We also packed up as much as we could before heading off tomorrow.

Tuesday 27 August 2019 - St George - Nindigully - Thallon

Today we decided to do a tour of the area and set off driving to Thallon to visit the painted silos.  We parked the car at a free camp and strolled up to the viewing platform.  You have to stay on this dirt platform as the silos are still being used by GrainCorp.  They were very good - some people are talented.  I can't even draw or paint on a small scale, let alone on that large a one.

Down the other end of the town was the town park with a giant sculpture of the endangered Northern Hairy Nosed Wombat together with information about the wombat and how they are trying to set up a breeding program.  On one side of the wombat are climbing handholds and footholds so of course Ian had to climb up on the back of the wombat.  Getting down was not as easy and in the end he jumped off.  I, on the other hand stayed firmly on the ground.   While we were walking back to the car we turned to see a lady climbing up on the wombat.  Ian and I were laughing as we watched her try to get down.  In the end she had to slide down the wombat's nose with her husband trying to hold her up.

Back in the car and off to Nindigully.  The "Gully" as it is known to the locals has 4 houses and a pub.  Built on the banks of the Moonie River in 1864 the pub is the longest continually licensed pub in Queensland.  The movie Paperback Hero was filmed here.  (I have never heard of it but didn't tell them that!).   Memorabilia is scattered around the pub.  We sat of the verandah enjoying a cup of coffee.  There is also a free camp here and there would have been 10 vans. 

Back to the van to catch up with the blog. (Note to self, do it daily !!)  Now to relax.

Monday 26 August 2019 - St George

Left this morning and had an uneventful drive to St. George.  Set up in the caravan park and after lunch headed into town.  We strolled around the town and visited the Information Centre before heading to "The Unique Egg".  This is the world's only illuminated display of emu eggs that have been handcrafted by Steve Margaritis over a period of 60 years.   He has now retired and his daughter is continuing to carve the eggs.  One of the eggs was gifted to the White House.

They were well worth the visit.

Returned to the caravan park to find that the people with the Kokoda at Lightning Ridge were now our neighbours here.  There are also 2 other Kokodas here as well.  

 

Sunday 25 August 2019 - Lightning Ridge

Today we set off for the market held at the information centre.  There were about 20 stalls and 15 of them were selling opals or rocks with traces of opal through them.  Took us all of 10 minutes to complete the market before heading back to the van.

The artesian baths were about 200 metres from the caravan park but as the temperature fluctuated between 38 to 41 degrees we felt it too hot for us so we went for a dip in the pool at the caravan park.

Rest of the day was spent reading and talking to a fellow Kokoda (our caravan make) owner.

Saturday Evening 24 August 2019 - Ligthning Ridge

Set off on the final car door tour - the green car door.  If you were not going to see the sunset then I don't think it necessary to do this one.  As with the other tours you are driving through opal mines with squats.  You are travelling up Nebia Hill.  At the top of the hill is Nettleton's first Shaft Lookout.  This was the first shaft opal mine in Lightning Ridge.  After a stroll around we placed our chairs in a good position and followed the sun until it set.   There were about 15 to 20 cars and a few of the people had brought drinks and nibbles with them.

Saturday 24 August 2019 - Lightning Ridge

Set off this morning to the Chambers of the Black Hand.  This attraction has been voted 2nd most unmissable attraction in outback Australia and Winner of the NSW Hidden Jewel Award 2008.  This was an opal mine that was unproductive with gems so the owner started doing mine tours for tourists to try and make some money to live on.  While waiting for tourist, and to have a break from mining, to fill in his time he started doing carvings in the sandstone.  He has spent 20 years producing the 800 or so carvings which include a 10ft Buddha, Angels, Jungel Cats, Politicians and an Eyptian Chamber.  He has also drawn "where's Wally" throughout the tunnels for the kids to find.

Upon arrival you go 12m underground and then can wander freely through the tunnels spending as much time as you like looking at the carvings.  The artist is now retired, being around 80 but still returns every couple of months to do repairs.  They also have a theatre with a DVD running on opal mining.  As an extra you can do a tour in the actual mine which is on a lower level to the carvings.  We elected not to do that as I was ready to return to the surface and fresh air.  We spent about 2 hours there.

We drove back to town and walked the main street.  Apart from opal shops and coffee shops not much there.

Next stop was the Art and Craft Shop.  This is run by local artists of the area who sell their work and also run work shops.  When we visited the locals were Wally & Kevin.  Wally did sketches and paintings.  Not sure what Kevin did.  There was an array of different craft but the highlight (for me) were the 7 weaving displays.  They were produced by a local woman working with the 2 local elders of the area.  They represented different aboriginal stories and the workmanship on them was incredible.  They have been displayed around Australia.  Much to my surprise we spent 1 hour there.  When we first walked in I thought we would be out in 10 minutes but the locals were very friendly and the work deserved a second look.

Spent the rest of the day getting the washing up todate and doing the blog.  We are going to do the final car door tour ending with a sunset viewing this evening but will do a separate post for that so I can publish this now leaving you with some more carvings.

Friday 23 August 2019 – Lightning Ridge

Set off just after 8 this morning and boy the traffic. Just chaotic. We drove from Nyngan to Walgett in just under 3 hours and passed 10 vehicles who were travelling back south.  After filling up with fuel we continued on to Lighntning Ridge and set up in the caravan park. After a late lunch we went down to the Information Centre and picked up the maps for the car door tours. We completed the red, blue and yellow tours. They are just three different tracks that you follow and come across old car doors painted the appropriate colour with a number on them that corresponds to your map. You essentially drive through the mining sites with old tin shacks or old caravans to live in. The area is so derelict. No electricity and they have to come into town to collect water.   No way I could live there!  Some of the points of interest were :-

1. Various old rusted mining machinery scattered over the dirt;
2. Corrugated Iron Church purpose built for the film “Goddess of 1967” (never heard of it myself);
3. Ridge Castle made from stone and flagons;
4. Amigo’s Castle, a private home single handedly built from Ironstone. Started in 1981 the scaffolding consisted of 44 gallon drums, with planks arranged one above the other;
5. Bottle House, a house made from bricks and bottles;
6. Bevan’s Cactus Nursery has 2300 species. Largest collection of cacti in the Southern Hemisphere.

They were the main attractions and driving over the dirt road to view them took us a couple of hours.

Back to the van for a quiet evening after being in the car for the last two days.

Amigo's Castle

Iron Church

Mining Claims

Thursday 22 August 2019 - Nyngan

Up this morning and off we drive still over places we had travelled previously. We stopped at Hillston for fuel. As we had previously been here we continued on. We pulled up at a roadside stop just out of Nymagee for lunch. We know we are in outback NSW as there were more cows and sheep on the road than other vehicles. We also saw old man emu with 3 chicks and a few kangaroos. Tonight we are staying at a free camp right in the centre of Nyngan next to the railway line. We pulled up and went for a walk. From the free camp you cross the railway line via a bridge and find yourself in a park with a helicopter on display. This is one of the types of helicopters that were used in April 1990 to evacuate almost the entire population of Nyngan following the worst flooding since being settled.  

We continued down the main street where we spotted a sign for the big bogan and realised Heather from ABC’s Country Roads had visited here. We found the big bogan and as Heather had said you should take a photo of yourself with it did so.

After wandering around the town doing a few blockies decided there was not much more for us to see and returned to the van until it was time to wander down to the RSL for our evening meal. The meal was tasty and huge so we waddled back to the van to retire for the night. It had been mentioned on Wiki Camps that possibly one or two trains could pass through during the night. We only noticed one so not sure if there were more and we slept through them or it was just the one. You actually could feel it coming before it went past. Other than the train a quiet night shared with another caravan and a motorhome.

Wednesday 21 August 2019 - Goolgowi

Well we finally leave, all be it a week and a half late. First the element in the caravan fridge decided to blow. I suppose I should be happy it did it before we left and could take it to our own repairer but that took a week for the element to arrive and be installed. Ready to leave on the Monday but both of us come down with a case of gastro Sunday night.

Today,  Wednesday was to be a day of driving. We stopped at Hay for lunch and fuel. We were going to stay the night in the free camp at Hay but as we had stayed there previously decided to push on a further 100 km. We spent the night at Goolgowi rest area which is about 5 km out of Goolgowi township. There was a little bit of traffic noise but wasn’t really a problem. We shared the camp with 5 other vans, 1 camper trailer and 1 tent on the roof of the car.