Winter 2023 sort of heading home?

Wednesday 4th July

We left our friends place in Pomona this morning and set out a bit further north for a visit to Bundaberg, they have their practice (bellringing) on Thursday afternoon and we have asked to join them.

Pat has located what should be a pleasant little bush campsite called Iron Ridge Park, at a place called Goodwood, which is about halfway between Maryborough and Bundaberg. It is is not very far, around 160ks so we’re in no hurry and arrive just after lunch.

We get settled in and have some lunch and then sit in the sun with a cup of tea. That is until our neighbour arrives home and proceeds to join in what sounds like a prayer meeting! Unfortunately, not only is it loud but it is what sounds to me like Vietnamese which is a very harsh guttural language. Not wishing to be unsociable we put up with it for nearly an hour but then Roger has to go and speak with him. He is very apologetic and shuts the door of his ‘whizz bang’. This makes a bit of difference and prayer meeting stops but he seems to be on the phone for the rest of the evening!

Thursday 5th July

Today we are going to have a look round Bundaberg, a city with port on the river.

This is ‘cane’ country, sugar cane that is, it is grown extensively from here for about 500ks to the north.

All down the left-hand side of the road is sugar cane, on the right-hand side, bamboo is used to screen the avocado and mandarin crops.

Of course all that cane is used for something special, i.e. Bundy Rum.

We did the tour and the tasting, not being a rum drinker it was an interesting experience, in some ways the process is similar to making sugar. Part of the process involves yeast and they are very careful to keep to the same recipe and it is tested regularly at a Laboratory outside Norwich, Norfolk, UK. We found the various samples of the raw spirit remarkably smooth but in the end we decided on a salt and caramel liqueur rum which will go nicely poured over ice cream or any desert.

We took the opportunity to have a look round the town. The river makes it interesting in that there are numerous bridges to cross in going from one part of town to the other, dividing it into the four cardinal points.

This is Christ Church, Bundaberg, there are 6 bells here, the heaviest is about 14cwt.

The heaviest was hung on its own for full circle ringing and a well-known Sydney ringer thought there should be six and persuaded the church authorities to put some in. A campaign to raise the funds was very successful and a new six joined the list of Australian ringing towers. They ‘go’ very well (they are easy to ring).

The band had to be taught from scratch by ringers from Brisbane and nearby Maryborough.

This tower is ‘remote’ being about 100 ks from Maryborough and some 400 from Brisbane.

Our visit to the belltower went very well, we were made very welcome and it was an enjoyable practice, the ringers are very enthusiastic and it was a pleasure to see such a keen band. Also visiting was Ian McCulloch from Brisbane who we know well, he is actually running the Training Day at Maryborough on Saturday and Sunday and we have been invited to attend.

Friday 7th July

So, today we’re moving from Goodwood to the Showground at Maryborough, which will enable us to attend the Training Day at the weekend.

The other bonus is that the QLD school holidays finish this weekend, meaning there might be fewer caravans on the road.

We hadn’t intended to be here this weekend but hopefully we can be of some assistance to Ian.

Saturday and Sunday

The Training Day was held at St Paul’s Maryborough

St Paul’s Maryborough, this a ring of 8 bells, the heaviest being around around 21 cwt. However, since this is quite heavy, there is also another bell which allows a light six bells to be rung.

These bells were overhauled and rehung in 2012, they are a greatly improved. When we were last here in 2007 they were hard work!

The Training Days were considered a great success and Pat and I were thanked profusely for our support.

Saturday’s band.

We were quite tired after a full two days of ringing but pleased that we were able to help in what is a real uphill struggle for the local ringers.

Sunday’s band.

Monday 10th July

We packed up and were ready to leave by this morning and just got on the road when a warning message on the car’s dash screen advised that it was necessary to take the vehicle to a dealer. Roger rang the local dealership and spoke to a technician who was fairly sure what the problem was. We had to go back to the caravan park and drop the caravan off, then take the 300 into Toyota. The tech ‘scanned’ the car and confirmed his diagnosis. To fix it properly they needed spares that would take time to get in and then they would need the car for a while. However, there is a temporary fix which will allow us to get back to WA.

He went to see his boss and, incredibly, he said if i can get the car in by 0730 tomorrow, they will fix it as soon as they can!

This would be amazing, so we’re keeping everything crossed!

The car was there for 0730 as requested and was finally picked up at about 1730. They drove me back to the Showground and picked me up at 1700 to collect the 300.

This was an amazing service, especially considering the short notice, a very far cry from the interest I received from the people who sold me the 300 and the dealership in Port Augusta.

Wednesday 12th July

Today we set out again, this time we are really heading for WA, going sort of west but trying to avoid really steep climbs in the mountains ranges. Back on the the QLD roads is literally a pain in the @#$%, they are awful, its like being in a choppy sea!

However, the scenery compensates for that to some extent and it is a nice sunny ride through the back blocks. This is the sort of country we’re driving through.

Thursday & Friday are much the same, except that the scenery is changing. Thursday is mostly flat but we are on what are called the Central Highlands; on average around 350-400 metres.

A lunch stop by a weir and some friends in the toilet!

This is pretty common in this part of the world, they don’t bite!

Tonight we were going to try a free camp in the hills but when we got there we found it was surrounded by very tall trees and would have been freezing, so we settled for a free (donation) camp in Monto which was novel! It proved to be a good choice, a warmer night and so quiet.

Friday 14th July

Today we’re heading for Emerald and familiar territory having been here in 2014. Down from the Highlands and back onto the plains. We were planning to go to Longreach for the weekend to a caravan park so Pat could do some washing, unfortunately everywhere is full there. We book a site in Barcaldine over the weekend and we can have Pat’s birthday celebrations in town.

The caravan park is quite full but we have room to spread out and have time for a wind down shower and cup of tea.

It is on a main road but is reasonably quiet until about 0600 when the trucks start moving.

Saturday 15th July

Today is an important day in the calendar, Pat’s birthday and we are looking around for somewhere for dinner, sadly nothing exciting seems to exist in Barcaldine but we do find a place that will be nice for lunch called ‘Roses and Things – Tea Garden’, and after visiting it mid-morning we book for lunch.

Then we had to go to the bakery and grab a Bushman’s pie. This is not Roger’s normal fare but he was advised by a guy in Monto that these were the best pies in the whole of Australia! Not a pie expert but Roger declared it to be very tasty, having all sorts of stuff in it, beef, onion, bacon, cheese, tomato and may be other things? No gluten free version unfortunately but we did find a coffee shop who claimed to be roasters and certainly produced a very nice decaf cappuccino.

Barcaldine is the home of the historic Tree of Knowledge, which is famous for being the birthplace of the Australian Labour movement (a possible contradiction in terms!). The tree was poisoned in 2006, preserved and placed under an award-winning timber structure. It is now a place of inspiration, reflection and celebration.

These are quite big lumps of wood swaying around in the breeze above your head making and eerie sort of sound. I imagine that the safety checks are done fairly regularly……………….or perhaps not!

We had a very nice lunch accompanied by a Peel Rose (sorry couldn’t find the accent!).

Note, I’m wearing shorts for the first time this trip!!!!!

In the evening we had another nice meal at home! including a piece of homemade lemon cheesecake with liberal covering of Salt & Caramel Bundy Rum Liqueur. It’s tough out on the road!

Sunday 16th July

This morning we thought we would get another coffee like we had yesterday but everything is closed in town!

So went to have a look at a couple of alternative camping places, Lloyd Jones Weir (see below) and a place called ‘the overflow’ but whether its an overflow from the weir or the freecamp is not clear, anyway we couldn’t find either!