Ah, the next adventure, and what an adventure it was. Somewhat after the fact, but here it is all the same.
Tuesday 3rd of September saw us pack up and head out of Toowoomba for what I believe was the best part of our trip yet. After saying a sad goodbye to our new friends Glenn and Sue as they were to move on from Toowoomba whilst we were away, we turned Trevor and Cara west and headed inland. We spent the better part of the day at the Jondaryan Woolshed Complex. A working farm / museum / camp ground / event site. After exploring the historical parts of the farm, including the heritage listed and largest working woolshed in Queensland, the dairy, the machinery sheds, blacksmith, school room, hall, cottages etc. we headed on over to the animal nursery. The kids, T included, were really excited about holding some two hour old baby chicks. They had in fact only emerged from their shells while we had been at the farm! And after that we all had a go helping to bottle feed some goat kids. Trying to extract E from the animal nursery was near on impossible by this stage. She was determined to take home a baby goat!!
Finally we managed to remove her and made tracks for our first camp site. The Bowenville Reserve. (Thanks Willy for the recommendation). It was a lovely free camp on the banks of a nice creek line and all of about 50kms away from Toowoomba!! Huge first day of travelling!!
We spent the next day relaxing at our camp. The kids tried out the new yabby nets, with no success, and even forced Dad into getting the kayak wet when they snagged the nets while trying to pull them up. Yay for Dad who managed to retrieve them without damage. They also created some interesting ant farms (because we have to have pets), by collecting specimens of all the different types of ants they could find. From memory they had about 5 or 6 different species. As has become the norm, E made friends with the other kids in the camp. There was a group of about three families who all live at the reserve permanently in tents. They couldn't play for most of the day though as they were all home schooled by their mothers. R and I had an interesting chat with a fellow south aussie. He was ex-police so had some interesting stories to tell. Pa would have loved listening to his stories of car restoration too. He had certainly had some adventures down that line of hobby.
Thursday dawned another beautiful sunny day, and coincidentally my birthday. R cooked up a storm for me, pancakes with cream, maple syrup and sliced strawberries. Yum! After that we went for a drive into Dalby to have a look around. We did a spot of shopping, had lunch and went to the playground before returning to camp and spending the evening chatting around the campfire with another camper. It was an awesome way to spend my birthday.
The following day we decided was time to move along, so we packed up again and headed back to the highway, and might I add in record time. We were on the road by 8.30! Our travels on this day took us through St George, where we stopped for lunch and a play. E scaled a tree in the playground to retrieve some fruit to try. The screwed up look on her face told us it wasn't particularly nice. LOL. It took some research to find out that the fruit in question was the Burdekin Plum. It was very bitter straight from the tree, but information suggested that if we let it sit for a few days it would become sweeter. Pfft!! It didn't!! While we were in St George we also went for a look at a very unique museum. It was entirely carved emu eggs. The man who does these amazing carvings is a Greek immigrant and has been perfecting his art for over 50 years. His work was unbelievable. I would love to have spent a bit longer looking at them but the kids weren't really interested and the highway was beckoning us again. A couple of hours later we arrived at our camp, in a teeny, tiny town called Bollon. We were all astounded to be met in the main street by some Emu's having dinner on the grass of the civic centre. We all thought it was hilarious. After picking our site and setting up on the banks of the Wallam Creek we headed over to the pub for a drink. I can't say I had ever been to a pub that just opens the doors and hoses it's concrete floors off to clean, but now I have. The other patrons were amused by the kids climbing up the verandah poles and lying on the ground with a local dog, but the publican was not amused by the cattle truck driver who pulled up outside - phew wee!!
The free camp was edged on the opposite side to the creek by open farm land and the town cemetery. You can imagine the fright I had when on leaving the toilet (after dark) I heard something move not too far away, and when I turned my headlamp around to find the source I was confronted with a white headstone and the reflection of two eyes!!! Turned out to be a kangaroo, one of many, but it sure did startle me. The cemetery turned out to be a source of interest to E the following morning too. It seems she shares my interest in wandering around old cemeteries, reading about the people in them, and trying to imagine their lives. E was very thoughtful and walked around standing up all the fallen vases, putting flowers back in place and even putting new ones on the graves of children that didn't have any. Death was about to become a big part of our learning while on this trip.
The following day, which happened to be election day, was also moving day. R and I had already voted before we left Toowoomba. As we were in no hurry we had a slow morning, took a walk along the creek, watched some horses on the opposite bank go for a swim, and had a discussion with E about her wanting to be an aboriginal so she could live on the land. At the last minute we decided on a change of plans for our destination. We decided we would try and call ahead to a private station that offered camping, instead of going directly to Cunnamulla. This was by far, in my opinion, the best change of plans we could possibly have made.............
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