Friday 4th July
Hope all our friends across the pond will have a great day today.
We decided to go to Ipswich today to try and find a couple of things.
The route into Ipswich took us along the Cunningham Hwy, through The Scenic Rim which is a series of pointy bits, the remnants of volcanic activity, which form almost a complete circle round a plain area probably about 100 ks across. As usual it is almost impossible to photograph.
To get off this plateau and down to the coastal plain, you have to cross the range through and down Cunningham’s Gap, which means driving in second gear down some pretty steep sections for approximately 20ks. For the worst bits we were looking at the back of a truck which was, for obvious reasons, being very cautious. The view as we go down the pass is fantastic but the camera can’t do it justice (at least ours can’t!).
We found Ipswich no problem but the street signs weren’t particularly helpful, eg; Brisbane Rd is sometimes Brisbane St!
Having eventually got what we wanted, we decided to look for somewhere to grab some lunch. We located a likely looking township on the map but when we got there we discovered that it was wall to wall development and later that it is the largest development area in Australia. Very Milton Keynesish, all roundabouts and no real direction!
Lunch was finally taken at about 1530 at the first rest area we came across after eventually escaping from the maze of roads in that new township.
This evening Harry the Caretaker lit a fire and we sat swapping stories over a glass of red, with him and another couple until the fire started to burn down and it was time for dinner.
Saturday 5th July
No real plan today, as evidenced by us not getting up until 0830. Having finished the Times cryptic over breakfast it was time to do something.
I had been thinking that the diesel heater wasn’t working properly for a few days so decided to have a look at it this morning. Having followed the instructions and bled the fuel system and measured the fuel flow, well tried! It is supposed to be between 3.5 and 4.3 ml, not easy to measure. Anyway, having done all that without any success I more or less gave it away. However, reading the installation instructions (the manufacturers actually installed it), it said that the pump should be at an angle of greater than 15 degrees. It is installed almost horizontally! Having rectified that particular problem we tested the heater and it seems to be fine!
By that time it was almost past lunchtime!
So after a late lunch it was late afternoon before we set out to explore Kalbar, which turned out to be an interesting little place, that seems to be an active community, we counted 7 religious establishments if that’s anything to go by. An interesting old family (Wiss Bros) store is still being well used and the house next door (Wiss Cottage, c.1890), where presumably the owners lived, has been well maintained with the help of the National Trust.
There are quite a lot of older buildings, represented by the typical wooden ‘queenslander’, which are built up on legs to allow the breeze to flow underneath and create natural air conditioning.
Most new houses in QLD now seem to be of this conventional design and construction but it seems a pity that the old design couldn’t have been developed to use more modern materials.
Kalbar is not a particularly large place so it doesn’t take too long to get back to the Showground……….
…… and do something that we haven’t been able to do since leaving home……….
……sit outside and watch the sun go down over the western edge of The Rim. Most country towns have these showgrounds and with a steady flow of grey nomads passing through it is a way of raising revenue without too much outlay as the basic amenities are already there. For the visitor it is a great alternative to a regimented campsite and a lot cheaper, especially during school holidays. If you remember we also stayed at the racecourse in Broken Hill another alternative to campsites in big towns.
Sunday 6th July
Heading for Nambour today, we didn’t really want to go this far north but we have to get the satellite dish reprogrammed now and the people who installed it are there.
On the way out of Kalbar we tried to take some photos to show ‘The Rim’; from left to right they go from west to southeast, unfortunately the sun was in the wrong direction to do the other bit of the circle, though it is very similar. Probably the best way to see it would be from the air!
The sat nav took us through Brisbane city because, as we realised later, it was trying to avoid tolls! Anyway, after a fair bit of traffic driving we ended up at our campsite for Sunday and Monday. We discovered that there was a Tibetan restaurant in the grounds and decided to try it. We both chose goat dishes, strangely, all the way from WA, which, given the number of goats we saw between Broken Hill and Cobar…………………….!
Monday 7th July
Early start to catch the train to Brisbane, takes two and a half hours, stopping at every station, there is no express! Arriving more or less on time, we walk to South Bank, a fun area 10 mins walk from the city centre, with restaurants, constructed beaches, swimming pools, etc., not hotel or office block in sight. Perth City please take note!
We’ve arranged to meet Daphne, a lady we met on our first trip to Australia in 1987, in an amazing coincidence, which is worth paraphrasing. We had driven about 2,500 ks round the south west corner of WA and just happened to be in Kalgoorlie. We went out for dinner and randomly selected a restaurant. We gave our name and the lady said, “that’s strange, I’ve never seen the name before and tonight I have two in”. We knew that there were only two Lubbocks in the WA phone book, my brother and a Frank – the one in the restaurant was the Frank! We introduced ourselves and the rest, as they say is history.
I think it’s fair to say that Daphne has had to do it tough, to use the local venacular, and it was great to hear how well her family are doing – a credit to her strength of character. We had a very nice lunch overlooking the Brisbane river and caught up with each other’s news and put the world to rights before walking back across the river to the City centre where we had coffee. It was late in the afternoon before we had to part company, hopefully it will not be so long before we meet again.
We had a wander round and had an early tea before walking up to the Cathedral for some bellringing. It was a good practice but we had to leave in time to catch the train back to Nambour, getting back to the van at about 11!
Tuesday 8th July
An even earlier start today as we have to have the van in Nambour for 0800 to have the satellite dish fixed. We nipped round the corner for a bacon and egg banjo while they were fixing it. All done and we can now get moving out west.
At first it is pretty hilly as we pass through several ranges in the foothills of the Great Dividing Range and to the west of the Glass House Mts, which are a series of volcanic plugs and look quite spectacular, if you can find a spot to photograph them! The road goes in and out of rainforest, although it is not quite what we expected as rainforest, hopefully we’ll be more satisfied further north.
Some recent roadworks through the ranges have resulted in an interesting way of retaining the banks.
Once out the hills we’re travelling across fairly flat country for a while which is not very exciting and the road itself is really bad. It is used by an almost incessant stream of trucks, many of them road trains, that cause deep troughs in the road which the caravan runs up and down making driving really hard work. As a result we are really quite relieved to turn off the main drag to find a place to stay tonight. We end up at Possum Park, the site of a WW2 ex RAAF (Royal Amateur Air Force – sorry Janine!) base, where the underground bomb dumps have been turned into accommodation for travellers. We parked above ground – troglodytes we are not! Apparently the base was built here because it was beyond the range of Japanes aircraft based in Indonesia. We parked opposite an old Viking plane that was in the process of being done up but never to fly.
Normally if we are grilling anything big like lamb or pork chops we use the site bbqs or our own. Tonight pat decided to do them in our nice new grill. Sometime later we realised that the heat from the grill had caused the brass gas tap spindles to expand and split the PLASTIC knobs! Pliers to the rescue.
A very quiet night out in the bush.
Wednesday 9th July
Today we have a couple of hours run into Roma where we are meeting our friends from Sydney. It’s a warm day and we have both discarded a layer or two – comfortable at last. The road is very bumpy and follows the railway line that connects ‘the bins’. Apart from the bin there maybe 2 houses in the ‘town’. It’s just like you see in the Wheat belt of WA.
On one stretch of the road it seems strange to see prickly pears growing in amongst the native plants.
Before we go to the camp site we go to find out when the diesel heater part will be delivered – tomorrow! We also try to get something to replace the cooker knobs but without success. So we find ourselves spending an hour or so at the town tip, searching for scrap cookers, or in fact, anything with knobs on it! We did find a collection of knobs – miscellaneous, which we hope will fit.
At the campsite we catch up with Peter and Lorraine who we haven’t seen since we travelled through the Great Central Road with them in 2012, so we have lots to catch up on over a glass or two.
Thursday 10th July
The diesel heater part was not apparently due until 3 0’clock this afternoon so we have had to spend another night here in Roma. As we had time to spare I decided to adjust the brakes on the caravan. A call to say the long awaited part had arrived came at 11 o’clock, so we could have left today after all! Anyway the brakes did need doing and we did have a little shopping to do. Having collected the spare part we had to strip the heater almost completely to change the part, not bad thing as it certainly needed replacing. However, having finished putting back together and then re-installing it in the dark, it still doesn’t work properly! Fortunately we are moving further north so hopefully we won’t need it!
What’s Roma got going for it, well not a lot really, though apparently the Saleyards are quite interesting on a Tuesday with many herds of cattle in the nearby paddocks!
However, something we have never seen before are Bottle Trees and the main streets in Roma are lined with them. In one street these trees have been planted in memoriam of soldiers from Roma who died in the first world war. They are Queensland Bottle trees because they look like bottles and they hold a lot of water. We thought they were Boabs but apparently that’s a different plant species which is larger and only grows in northern WA and NT.
Funny sort of day, tried to book site at Carnarvon Gorge Bush park but couldn’t get in ’til Saturday, so we’ll head for Rolleston tomorrow.
Alloveroz 