Our first rain

On the road from Charleville to Thargomindah today via Cunnamulla we had our first decent rain. The truck didn't leak which it used to do so that made us very happy and of course the rain would have made the farmers happy so smiles all round. Cunnamulla is a pleasant little town and I took a few snaps of the main street, post office and some other interesting sites so until I learn to label my photos I will explain what they are in the blog. There are flocks of emus along the road all through this area and I tried to get a snap of some today but they are very shy. Thargominda is our last main town. May be at the Dig Tree tomorrow night and will be out of phone range for quite a few days. Just think Burke and Wills took 3 months to get to it from Melbourne and to end in such tragedy. Also included a couple of shots of setting up camp - we are getting quicker and not sick of it yet - 4 months of it may test us though!

Further west

After leaving Meadowbank we turned the cruiser in the only direction it is going to know for quite a while - West! We travelled through various small towns on the way to Charleville where did some last time fruit shopping as opportunities for this are dwindling. One of the towns we went through was Morven which had some happy memories for us as it had a hot shower in the community park area which we used to avail ourselves of when we were driving from Karumba to Brisbane all those years ago when we were first married.  They have a cute museum there now and I have included some pics. We are in a terrific park 7km from Charleville on the Cunnamulla road. Open fires, great amenities and so quiet.

Meadowbank Farm Museum

Yesterday after emerging reluctantly from the forest, we travelled through Miles and Yuleba and planned to spend the night at Roma but all parks were full. We have a trusty RACQ camp book with lots of free camps and some other interesting cheap alternative stays and found Meadowbank in it. It was just what we needed clean shower and flat grassy ground on a working cattle property. I could wash my hair and feel squeaky clean. It was very interesting with old ploughs, vehicles and other old farm machinery.

Barakula

Kerry's mum, Molly was born near Chinchilla at Barakula so we found out some info from the Tourist Office and set off heading north to what is now forestry reserve. It wasa timber settlement back in the 1920s providing sleepers for the railway tracks. On the guide we had it directed us past old brickworks and a couple of old schools long since closed down. As we walked around them we could hear the ghosts of childrens laughter and play resounding in the playgrounds. We saw signs to Dogwood Creek camp so followed them and landed in the best camp site. We are right beside Dogwood Creek with a beautiful grassy spot to put up the tent. The birds are many and in fine voice and someone thoughtfully has cut some Cypress pine logs so plenty of wood for the camp oven veges and fire drum which is so efficient and warming. The smell of Cypress pine burning is an aroma  that stays in your memory of smells for ever as it is such a pleasant and earthy smell. We needed to find a place like this to sort out all our things and know how we want it all to work. It has provided us with just that. We stayed 2 nights here and besides the roar of distant chain saws and the arrival and departure of the logging trucks to pick up these logs we heard nothing but birds and the wind in the trees and saw noone for the whole time.

Fay and Allan

Fay and Allan Head (Alison's aunt and uncle) live in Chinchilla and were our next stop. We arrived around 3pm and had the best time. It is so good to catch up with family tthat you haven't seen for ages. We reminiced about old times and family long gone and our families today and what the future holds. They are both in their 80s but in fine form and lots of laughing and happy times were shared. We again stayed the night and left round 9 on Monday.

The adventure begins

The Dawson Simpson Desert/Kimberley adventure begins.  We left on Saturday 13th July about a month later than what we had originally planned but many things had to be done and a trip like this doesn't happen without a great deal of preplanning. The most important decision was to keep our 25yr old Landcruiser instead of buying a new one and bring it up to "speed" with new gearbox, fuel tank, springs, brakes, windscreen, front wheel bearings and hubs, tie rod ends and or course painting and rewelding to make it look "spivvy". We also added a 60L water tank underneath and annexes both side for eating and sleeping. It now runs really well and looks ok!
Our first stop was in Toowoomba at Liz's place. Her friend Win was also there and their gorgeous dog Sophie. Liz had dinner for us and we stayed the night there. Plenty of music was played and Liz was rueing her sore finger tips from not enough guitar practice. Liz went on a 100km bike ride on Sundau morning and we left early to do a spot of car shopping (filters etc) and then onto Chinchilla via the back roads thus avoiding loads of road work on the Dalby road.