TOD Tour 2.0 Days 4 & 5 - Surat

28/7/19 - Castlereagh Highway

Hebel Pub

We left Lightning Ridge about 10:15am, with very low expectations about the drive ahead. Just a driving day.

The surprise packet was the first stop at Hebel, just over the border into Qld. I had expected to do no more than slow down to take the corner but the old pub caught my eye and a photo seemed in order but as I moved to turn the rig around in front of the Hebel General Store, the sight of a few locals sitting having a coffee and conversation was too much temptation. We stopped and we were both so glad we did.

As a general rule, we break the drive in small places. There are so many stories there and so many characters. So it proved in Hebel.

Hebel General Store

Our host, barista (perhaps an exaggeration) and chief story teller was Gadget - as in Go Go Gadget, which describes her go-getter attitude. She bought into the store when it was a dump and just about closed down. Opposite the pub, it is a very accurate description to say these are the only two public buildings in Hebel. Apart from about four houses, they ARE the only buildings. Relying on a passing trade which often slows at the corner and goes on, this hasn't deterred Gadget, who has planted flowers in old tea pots and rusty wheelbarrows out the front of the shop and has made tables from planks and barrels. Inside, she has created a welcome, tidy and very appealing cafe space and sells an eclectic mix of items. Along one shelf (in order) were sanitary pads, a beer tasting kit, the game of Twister, a candle lantern, something with Santa on the cover and a Happy 21st birthday beer mug. She runs a small caravan park at the back of the shop but her pride and joy is the dinning room she has created for evening meals. It actually was very tastefully decorated and the available wines were reasonable selections. The ceiling was covered in woolpacks with local station bands.

This is why we stop. Had we swept around the bend, we would have missed it. We had our coffee, took some pictures and left Gadget to her aspirations.

Dirambandi was about 70kms further. We drove through but the reason for mentioning it is to create the geographical location of the worst section of roadkill I've ever see. It was kangaroo carnage! For perhaps ten kilometres, both sides of the road were thick with carcasses in various states of dispatch. By thick, I mean six or seven bodies for every hundred metres. Why this particular stretch, I have know idea but it was extraordinary. I am not normally affected by road kill - its a hazard of the intersection of large, fast trucks and soft, furry, curious animals - but the sheer volume of death was taxing.

Peter by the Balonne
in Surat

On to St George for lunch and as man do, we stopped by the Balonne River, at a very pleasant, very long park high on its southern bank. It was a nostalgic sandwich, as we had stopped here with the children on the way to our first visit to Carnarvon Gorge and a meeting with Gog and Pa. It was early in the Australia Under Canvas Tour of Central Australia we had taken them on in 1995. Some warm memories there.

A relatively long after lunch session of 117kms took us to Surat and a couple of nights by the same Balonne River. Once set up, we went down to the river, which passes by the caravan park and enjoyed the last half hour of sunlight.

29/7/19

We had a quiet day in Surat. A really excellent coffee at The Timber Crate, a coffee shop which is an adjunct of the only pub in town was followed by a repair to the van door latch. It was only a small job but it gave me the opportunity to get the tools out. Sue went for a walk along the riverside footpath which would have been perfect for the bike we decided to leave at home.

We visited the Cobb & Co Staging Post Museum which is part of the town library/art gallery complex. Again, it was a surprise to see this very modern museum retelling the history of the town, in particular the role Surat played as a changing station for horses on the Cobb and Co stagecoach line. Just the right mix of displays and information. Also part of the building is a modern library and a small art space, which on this occasion had a textile exhibition. Perhaps the most unusual part of the building was a 5x5 metre aquarium which housed a Murray Cod and other fish which can be found in the Balonne River. I can report that Murray was in da house!

I did a load of washing and in the mid afternoon we visited a replica of the Mundy family shelter which is outside of town and near the river. An aboriginal grandmother lived there with family, under the tin and local timber construction.

Click for today's photos

We also passed by a free camp on the other side of the river that was full of oldies who would prefer to save money. We returned to our quiet little caravan park.

On to Roma tomorrow.