30th June Winton to Charters Towers

We have done 2000 km so far.
And while we know this is the dinosaur trail - but they are all dead... So we left Winton, and forgot to get a picture in front of the Waltzing Matilda Centre... Headed up the Kennedy Dev Road.. lots of not much...

The CP owner told me that it was a bit skinny for the first 30 KM and there was 8-10km of roadworks 60km before Hughenden - right on.. fortunately we saw stuff all traffic - and they were all smaller so it was their problem to get of the road. All in all the road was a good trip... in spite of 15 km of this side track!

Pete G suggested Richmond was a good place to visit - but he was flying when he went there. By road it was via Cloncurry an extra 350km or a 240km diversion from Hughenden... We will/ plan to be back that way in a couple of months via Normanton Cloncurry, so the dinosaurs will wait... We do have a mission to be at Malanda before the 5th!

So Hughenden to Charters Towers to finish the day. We have decided to have Sunday off, sitting in chairs that don't move and reading - with a bit of exploration of CT...
Again a Caravan Park Found they were (almost) full when we got here... almost - so we are in for two nights...
So Tony and Helen - see you Monday or Tuesday...

29th June Barcaldine - Longreach - Winton

We again had a leisurely start from Barcaldine Showgrounds CP... after connecting the tow car lighting to the house 12VDC - a 4mm wire from the bedside power socket, thought the underbed bin, out the bin door, in the rear engine access panel (2cm of the wire outside the bus) and to the relay block. All works fine! Oh and paid the ranger person who came politely knocking at 7AM. I was already out with wire and pliers. Refuel and off to Longreach (110km).

But first you get to Ilfracombe.. famous for it line of old machinery along the highway. Had to stop and look at some of the weird and wonderful devices. Oh and the Highway crosses the Tropic of Capricorn about there!!! We are now in the (north Queensland dry) tropics!!!



Just about the first thing visible approaching Longreach from the east is the tail of the QANTAS 747 at the airport. We spent several hours in the QANTAS Founders museum - bought the T, well actually the golf, shirt etc. Checked out the original hangar.

Longreach from the East

The Q Founders Museum

How about this for a parking spot - and shade...

Took lots of HQ photos of the aircraft - 747, 707, DC3 and of course the new addition, the PBY.

De Havilland DH 60 replica in the original hangar

De Havilland DH 52

The shop had a QF Catalina ball cap so I had to have one.It even fits... but don't wear them much as they tend to look like a pimple on a pumpkin, on my big head.However a ball cap is handy driving into the sun in the bus - behind the 4 square metres of glass.

Eventually we went, literally, over the road to the Stockmans Hall of Fame. As we don't know many famous stockmen - and don't much like horses, we checked out the free bits and the shop... as it is $25 each for pensioners to get in... to whatever is in there...


So off to Winton (200km) the 'home' of Waltzing Matilda. The, let's call it MW Centre is $22 for us old farts so we again check out the shop etc. So we have again forked out for a CP as there are no suitable free spots we can find. That's fine.

We have disconnected the Vitara and had a drive around. Might check out the dinosaur tracks tomorrow... and/or head to Hughenden via (one of the) Kennedy Development Roads...

28th June Wyandra to Barcaldine

Well we have done 1100 km in 2 days – on the mission. AND this morning it was, well, not cold… A leisurely start with a shower in the bus, a relaxed breakfast – then off to Charleville etc.

Refuelled at CV and passed by the west of the town centre. Nice looking town… A few Km out of town were detoured (about 10k) around new bridge works.

Then we were soon at, or passing by Augathella, which is off the highway.

Next stop Tambo. Stopped at the start of town beside a/the lake, and had some lunch. Didn’t end up with a photo of it, but biggest 5^th wheeler was parked. Huge Kenworth prime mover and 3 axle partly 2 story, trailer home about 9-10m long!! Seemed to be about 5 kids and the parents – all in the cab…

The road about 50km either side of Tambo is the harshest so far with lots of close undulations, pitching the bus (and everybody else) terribly. Thank goodness for the new rear shockers… Long line of caravans, which were as slow as 70kph – with the road too rough for me to try passing… for many km. They mostly stopped at Tambo longer than us, so we got ahead.

Half an hour later we overtook a 3 unit road-train… It was doing about 85 and the last trailer moving about half a metre; timed it well on a better bit of road- and on CH40 UHF CB by now of course - essential. We had seen a few going the other way only one 4 unit pantech tho, mostly 3’s. But the road is still wide enough to NOT have to get off the bitumen. The tamac is only a metre wider than two vehicles just the same… We remember that it goes from 6 to 5 M wide further up!

Next Blackall. Home of famous hand shearer Jackie Howe – world records for shearing with hand blade shears (320 sheep in 7hr40min!!!) and his blade record stood for 60+ years until the 1950s when mechanical shears were common… Sounds like seriously hard and backbreaking work.

Finally Barcaldine; have decided to stop at the showgrounds rather than the highway lay-byes… Wandered around town and found it. Good place $25 p/n for power. Good facilities and convenient.

Discovered that the pedal end of the over-ride brake cable in the Vitara had come loose – so no braking from the toad today, didn’t notice. Easily fixed.

Had also discovered that the car light weren’t working, earlier, but as following vehicles can see the bus lights over the car, I ignored it for the day. As it turns out my cheap 24-12VDC converter had died – in short circuit so blew my convenient 30AMP fuse! I will tap into the house 12V tomorrow morning, although I want to keep bus (24V) and house (12V) electrics completely separate as a principle – later.

So the 29^th is a detour to Longreach for the QANTAS museum and Stockman Hall of Fame. Will have to break out the real camera (Olympus E-3) From there we plan to go to Winton and the Kennedy Dev Road (sealed…) to Hughenden and Charters Towers rather than east via Emerald – It’s shorter…

27th June Gilgunnia to Wyandra

Well it was a crisp and foggy morning today in the middle of NSW... Finally kicked off the covers at 7 AM - well slid out actually... Made coffee, albuted the dog, and us, spent ages demising the windows inside and out (wish I had got around to installing the diesel heater - well it will only be a couple of cool nights... Set course at 8AM.

We are 40km ahead of Plan A so that's good as the mission is to bolt north to warmth. Next Cobar 110km might find a B&E Mcmuffin for Maz... Nope, no Maccas. Did a lap of the town nonetheless. Still plenty of fuel so press on for Burke.

What a depressing place - like Brewarrina and Walgett . All surviving shops are concrete with serious roller shutters - not roller doors... dogs wandering everywhere. Many of the houses are grilled or barred... Filled up and left!


Next place of interest Barringun and the Bush Tucker place we stopped at last year - 11.5 months ago. Daryl and Shantelle are away driving trucks around Dubbo... Daryls mum tempted Maz with the Bacon and Egg ROLL that she missed earlier... most expensive one on the border tho.


Most data including Tom Tom's have Barringun about 12-15km further north - in QLD, but it's not! There is nothing at the QLD coords!!!

At 1330 we crossed the NSW/QLD border (again). 900+km down and heading for the tropics - via Cunamulla next. Refuelled again and kept north figuring the next 100km to Wyandra would do us.

It has. Excellent free park behind the State School (well away from the Highway noise) Lots of caravans. Look like convoys as they are parked very close and a few coasters... actually one looks like a little Hino, better have a closer look.


Oh and the Vitara is still there. Check out the drivers view... lots of stuff all...


But for now it's beer o'clock again...

26th June: Mulwala to Gilgunnia...

We departed Mulwala at 10 this morning, a little leisurely… Checked on the toad 65 km along at Berrigan - all good.

Pressed on to Merriwagga, and stopped for (our) coffee and sandwich lunch, next to the ' first' Black Stump along our way - the Kidman Way. The Merriwagga Black Stump is so named from 'legend' that local farmer came home to his wife burned to death… and noted she looked like a black stump… well that's the story. Here's a picture of us, the Stump and of course the Pub.

The towed car is magic, just sits there in the rear view camera. I can just see the roof and the white CB antenna in the mirror. On the flat - which is where we are, you wouldn't know it was there - so I am leaving the camera on to check… and remind me. We have actually passed a couple of caravans along there way. 6m caravans behind  4 litre,V8 Landcruisers. So it's impressive that our 3.8 turbo, inter cooled can accelerate from 95 to 110 (redline) to overtake in a reasonable distance.


On north throughout Griffith to Hillston. We will see how the fuel consumption turns out, were not topped up leaving home and filled up at Hillston. Kept on through the planned stop at Mount Hope for another 45 minutes to Gilgunnia and a roadside stop.

There were three other motorhomes already stopped and into a beer. Two of them towing cars and one of those with a Suzuki on a Hitch'n'Go A-Frame. Said hi! A couple of caravanners stopped for the night at about dusk, so a secure... little community

So it's beer o'clock for us, Schnitzel and salad for dinner - watching the satellite news!!!

Tomorrow we aim for at least Barringun which is 12km south of where half the data puts it. It's actually in NSW not QLD!

Pre Take Off checks...

We still had a few things to do today so mid-morning decided to depart Tuesday 26th... which is fine.
I still have to pack clothes, and Maz has whittled it down to, a manageable shortlist... but the important things are done.
And have even tidied up around the place! BM and VW in the shed - well, almost doors are open and the back of the VW tarped and tied!.

Finally hooked up the toad to the bus - everything works !!!! and the A-frame is near as dammit to horizontal (which is optimal).
Here is the setup:-

So tomorrow we will see how we go with the new experience of towing a car...

Pre-Departure checks...

The bus has its new front springs, new rear shockers ( at $800 each) and newly Thermashield painted roof. AND the solar panels are finally on (after the painting). They are keeping the fridge going and the batteries topped up. As long as we don't watch too much TV they should match the usage pretty well.

The awnings are (back) on. The new one with the electric motor is on the kerb side and is great!!! Having the re-built (after the mishap at Cooktown) original awning on the driver's side will also be great for shade and keeping any rain out of the open windows... and it can double as a carport, being 5 x 2.5 m.

The original dual front passenger seat has been re-covered with the leather from the Prado rear seats of the interior we bought - very salubrious lounge now. And the bus has finally had a wash!

We are planning to hit the road next Monday 25th.
Part 1 - Plan A is below... but it's just a plan... with a few days up our sleeve, to be in Malanda by July 5th.

Date			Depart	Arrive	km
June	26		Mulwala	Mt Hope	430
	27		Mt Hope	Barringun	470
				900
	28		Barringun	Augathela	390
	29		Augathela	Tambo	115
	29		Tambo	Longreach	315
				820
July	1		Longreach	Emerald	417
	2		Emerald	Chrtrs Twrs	477
				894
	3		Chrtrs Twrs	Greenvale	190
	3		Greenvale	Malanda	280
				470
					3084

Our 'TOAD"- as in towed

Have Vitara will tow.
Bought a 94 Suzuki Vitara soft top from a friend of Jeremy. It has been completely serviced and a Hitch'n'Go A frame fitted, light wired up etc. Shouted it a new softop and a snorkel. Of course the bus need to supply 12VDC for towing (from the 24VDC bus system). All the lights are switched by relays from the bus rear lighting loom.