QI Tour - Mitchell to Home (Days 35-36)

Sunset at St George

Sue's back pain graduated - despite close attention to detail and the advantage of the 40C treatment in the Mitchell spa - sending nerve pain to her hip and down one leg, resulting in a dreadful night's sleep. We've been in this position before and the options were to continue on to Roma and spend three days seeing if things improved or cutting and running for home before things got worse. Past experience made the later the obvious choice, so with Sue largely incapacitated but starting anti-inflammatories to ease the inflammation, I got the business done and we were on the road by 8:30am and heading south.

Under such circumstances, road kms are interrupted every 100 kms so that Sue can get out and walk. It eases the pressure on the compression points in her spine, allowing oxygen to be pushed into the spinal discs and providing at least some easing of the worst of the pain. Unfortunately, there was no urban area between Mitchell and St George, so at about halfway in the day's drive, Sue got out and walked on the open road - largely deserted of traffic as it was - and I crawled along, keeping the rig behind her like a support vehicle!

By the time we reached St George and a bit over 200kms on the day, she had had enough, so instead of persevering, we checked into the really rather excellent Pelican Rest Tourist Park. Their heated pool gave Sue further relief and although not as warm as the Mitchell Artesian Spa, it gave her spine a chance to be without pressure. I managed to catch probably the best sunset of the now abbreviated tour.

Unfortunately, another uncomfortable night unfolded and by morning, Sue had reached her limits and just wanted to get home, rather than stick to the plan for the approximate 200km leg to Moree and then home. Leaving early and stopping often, we took all day to make the remaining 450kms to home. She walked in Mungindi, on the border, while I took a coffee break and again at the rather insalubrious lunch stop in the monstrous carpark of the Moree Caltex beside the airport. Cows moaned their fate and splattered the space between us and the neighbouring truck. Ah, touring in all its inglory.

The Namoi River

Worse awaited Sue in Narrabri. As we have often done, I stopped to allow her to alight and walk and then moved about 700 metres further to wait for her. During that short space, she misjudged a driveway and fell face first to the pavement, grazing her knees and palms. She was a wreck by the time she got to the rig, with me unaware and adjusting the large towing mirrors for the final home. Its a testament to her resilience that she could gather herself and insist on continuing for home. 

We made one further stop, this time at a roadside stop between Gunnedah and Carroll, where we were rewarded in viewing some small finches, a lone sulphur-crested cockatoo and a stunning but normally hidden view of the Namoi River.

Her long vigil ended about 5:00pm when she headed for her bed with heat packs and further medication.

To see today's photos
click here.

Over the next few days, possibly because we have had trips truncated before or mostly because we both try not to dwell on the myth of bad fortune or a hateful universe, we reflected on what had been a fun few weeks, with several real highlights and surprises. It certainly helped that the family would be together over the next few days and we now be able to join them. By the following morning us oldies, our sons and their wives, were being entertained at our favourite cafe by two of our delightful grandchildren.

Life is what you must insist on making it.

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.

Qld Outback Trip - The Last Day

St George - Mungindi - Moree - Warialda - Tamworth: 515kms

One more cup of coffee
for the road ...

The last day of the tour - well the last day of the sprint home, at least.

We had a few issues getting fuel in St George. Finding a place open at 7:00am was one issue and when we did, the attendant not only didn't know what octane the the different variations of unleaded were but he didn't know what octane was.

The first leg to Mungindi was only interrupted by another mob of cows and some more green splatter for the car and caravan. So looking forward to the job of removing it. We drove past the Two Mile Hotel on the Qld side of the border, where I had some interesting experiences when I was on a Black Dog gig a few years ago. In the bar, they had a big, hand painted signed ...

STATE OF ORGAN

MATE V STATES

N.S.W. V Q.L.D.

I particularly liked the last line.

My accommodation was in a partitioned section of a shipping container out the back of the pub. No window, just a steel door and an air conditioner. 

This trip, we stopped at the Daily Grind, just over the Barwon River and hence in NSW, for a delicious coffee, where for the first time since we left, we could get decaf and lactose free milk. I had a nice chat to two young ambos who were heading off duty and a young school teacher who was having an outing with her two young boys.

At Moree, Sue stretched her legs and importantly her back, while I topped up the fuel tank for the final time and made a few phone calls to sort out some issues for Dad.

At Warialda, we pulled up at the park on the edge of town and had sandwiches in the van until making the final run to Tamworth and home.

Click here to see today's photos

In Twenty days, we traveled nearly 2000kms to Cloncurry in far northwest Qld. In three, we returned. We had some new experiences, sorted out the last issues with the AVAN, traveled new ground to new places and had reached a state of total relaxation and peace.

It will happen again.

Qld Outback Tour - The Return Day 3

Augathella - Morven - Roma - St George ... 465kms

A shorter day in the saddle after making some adjustments to the rapid itinerary home. Yesterday's 611kms played merry hell with Sue's back and to be honest, problems I had been having before we left on this tour, were resurfacing for the first time.

Our night at Augathella was quiet, well apart from the double and triple semis roaring past us about seventy metres away. We dined in the trucker's cafe which was part of the road house, motel, caravan park cartel. The food was limited in range but well prepared and had a heavy accent on red meat. This was my third night of steak in a row and my colon was scream abuse at me from the moment my plate was put in front of me. The two ladies - I think sisters - who prepared the food, did a really good job. It my fussy and pampered diet that was the problem.

The caravan park section is not a place where people do more than spend a night in transit. Power and water, a hot shower in dilapidated show blocks. Dirt sites, no slabs and of course the passing parade of Macks and Louivilles. There was a nice covered area - imagine a big shed with no sides - which had bar-b-qs, a washing up sink and tables. A redeeming feature was shower cubicle doors which open outwards. Anyone who has stayed in caravan parks will know what I mean when they stop and think about it.

Anyway. Anyway.

On the road at 8:00am and an hour later we stopped for old times sake at Morven. Ten years ago, Morven was the first stop we made on the second day of our big adventure to Western Australia and short though the stop was, it was memorable because of the shop there and its owner, Jill.

Sadly, the shop is no more, replaced by the Pick A Box Motel: so called because each room is a separated corrugated iron clad "box" and when you check in by calling the mobile number on the sign, you pick your box. Even more sadly, Jill passed away last year. We got the low down at the new shop and the Post Office, where the post master made us a cup of tea and provided a biscuit. Ah Qld. I shall miss you.

Across the road is a shed constructed entirely of flattened kerosene tins. In the Depression, five of were constructed and arranged in a circle, with one tap placed in the centre of the circle. They prided homes for the homeless and men traveling through looking for work.

The next stretch was a solid two hours to Roma and lunch at the well known Big Rig. No sightseeing - no time - just lunch and moving on. Alas, not even time to go and see Bottle Tree Lane. After listening to Rod Stewart during the led to Roma at Sue's request, I was no mood to be generous with time. I was as though part of my life that I won't get back had just been eaten by ballads designed to seduce teenage girls.

Click to see today's photos

Soon outside of Roma we tuned south for the remaining two hundred or so kilometres to St George.

Lots of trees again, paddocks and more than one cow per forty hectares.

The outback was long behind us.

A Little Further North to 1770

An early start and a quick finish - travelled from Burnett Heads to 1770 in under two hours.

Went for a drive to one of the surf clubs and the inlet to the north. Very pretty.

Back to the camp to set up by lunch and then off to Agnes Water for Sue to have a swim after lunch. I hate the beach which is a bit of a problem as it is Sue's favourite environment. Had a nice coffee and I caught up with changes afoot at my cricket club in Tamworth, whilst Sue explored the information centre.

Dragons Premiers 2010

The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to those wonderful Dragons, who won their first premiership for 31 years. My boys have finally experienced what it feels like to follow the Premiers. Great game, especially the second half where the Roosters were blotted out by fabulous attacking football in wet-weather conditions.

More usual activities tomorrow when the tour guide has activities planned to show us the best of 1770. Our overnight stop has already become two nights and may well become three.

AUC 1995 - Roma

Roma (Qld)
Moree, Munglindi, St George, Surat, Roma (Carnarvon Highway) 436 kms

After our wonderful evening with the Richardson's, we took our leave - with difficulty - and headed to the shops to stock up for our time ahead in Carnarvon Gorge NP.

This was to be one of our longest days on the road for the entire journey and was necessitated by the desire to put some of the long stretches leading to the places we wanted to see, behind us. Our path took us roughly north, through the border town of Mungindi and over our first real dirt road of the
trip. The car was already showing the legacy of road works on the southern outskirts of Moree: a fact that was made the more galling by the cleaning I had given it the day before departure.

Mungindi nestles on the Barwon River and looks like "just a place". I had heard many tales about it, but the fact that a colleague had once taught there seemed to be more than it deserved in terms of a reputation and we passed through without giving it as much space in our day as this paragraph.

Lunch was had beside the Balonne River - fittingly we had processed cold meat on our sandwiches - in the namesake of my favourite football team, St George. The town is the centre of a rich cotton growing district, as the roadside litter would indicate. On the southern approach, the large cotton gin was an intriguing sight, with the yards liberally littered with the large "bales" of cotton that are collected in bins and road transported to the gin. The extensive irrigation system surrounding St George has led to this success with cotton, but other crops such as wheat, barley, oats and sunflowers are also important cash crops from the locals. With sheep and cattle also having important roles to play in the local economy, the area has many similarities - in land use only - with Tambar Springs.

The children were excited to see signs indicating the bag limits allowed when fishing in the Balonne, but those wise sages among us saw too close a relationship with the sign, to the implied nature of the river, as indicated by its name. We passed on, without serious temptation to dangle the lines !

After our lunch break, it was on to Surat, where we had a stretch of the legs and then put the head down for the final leg to Roma.

Our overnight camp was at Roma Villa Caravan Park. Our powered sight was $3 cheaper than expected because the proprietor declined to charge for all of the children. He commented that costs sky rocketed when travelling with kids and as he had done it when he was younger, he liked to help families out who were staying together and seeing their country. Thoroughly decent of him, really. I guess it just goes to show that you don't have to be a pensioner to get the odd discount!

We pitched the overnight dome and each busied ourselves with chores towards the common good.

Our evening meal was a very palatable stew courtesy of Sam and Sue. Each of the children began their journals, as did I and we settled off to sleep as the cool of the evening descended upon us. The only bummer of the evening was my tardiness in turning on the phone, which meant I missed a call from Dad by about five minutes. The switch-on was accompanied by an immediate page from the electronic mail box and a message from Dad complaining that he had wasted his eighty cents in an attempt to do us a good deed!

The very pleasing aspect of the two days driving had been the fuel consumption, which appeared to be much less than on previous trips with the trailer. We have previously found that our range was only about 400 km, but we traveled well in excess of that on this day and still have not reached the final 10L warning light. Tomorrow's fill up will tell a story, but the change to a higher tow ball seems to have the car sitting in a more balanced posture .