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| Bush Tucker Road House |
It was a lazy driving day today along the mostly straight, always flat Mitchell Highway. The last two trips have proved to be well below my expectation with fuel consumption. The lifetime average for both AVAN's behind the Forester has been 12.7L/100kms (22.2 mpg in old money). From Burren Junction to Bourke it was 11.4L/100km and today, 11.0 (that's 25.7mpg). Not bad for a 2.5 litre petrol engine. Mind you, its been like rolling a ball on a billiard table.
Technical stuff out of the way, Sue had her first drive of the trip. Whilst I'll drive the vast majority, its best for her to be able to take over in the case of an emergency when I am incapacitated or in case of an argument when she leaves me behind.
Road kill was her greatest impediment ... lots and lots of road kill. There were times when the Mitchell Highway looked like the Afganistan of highways. Roos, emus, pigs and lots more lining up for their turn. The emus were prolific by the roadside, often moving in herds of twenty or more.
We stopped on a whim at the Bush Tucker Inn and Caravan Park - think red dirt and corrugated iron and you just about have the picture. What a hoot. The two ladies who were running the joint and their friend who had joined them for a coffee, were great characters. We made ourselves a cuppa tea for $3 and joined them out the front under the shade of "the verandah" and had a fun half hour discussing all sorts of topics. They were great company as they watched big cars with bigger vans pull in and guessed at the drinks orders and argued over whose turn it was to make them. We were really glad we called in.
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| The Cunnamulla Fella |
Pushing on, we reached Cunnamulla about 12:45pm and booked into Cunnamulla Tourist Park to a warm welcome, a grassed site in sight of the Cunnamulla sand dunes and power and water. With our discount, a cheap night.
During the afternoon we visited the famous Robber's Tree - that's what the sign said - where bank robber Joseph Wells was caught hiding from the police in 1880, after robbing the Qld National Bank and then crashing his horse during the getaway. He was found by tracker dogs, not as I suggested, in the Autumn and was tried and sentence to be hung. The Branch Manager and his assistant who had been injured during the robbery, argued against the sentence and made petitions on his behalf. On the 22nd March 1880, he was sent to the gallows and is the last person to receive the death penalty in Qld for "robbery under arms".
We also went out to the Allan Tannock Weir which holds back the Warrego River. The construction was completed in 1991 and is most interesting and allows you to stand at eye level behind the restrained water, while the spillway operates just 15 metres away. There is a boat ramp and indications that this is a popular spot for water sports.
Back in town, we met the Cunnamulla Fella, a double life size statue by Archie St Clair, depicting the bloke sung about by Slim Dusty in a song written by Stan Coster. Its a pretty impressive likeness of a bush bloke having a spell, sitting on his swag and enjoying a cup of tea from his pannikin. We also had a wander around the shops which were all shut being a Sunday afternoon.
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