On the way home...

As we got to the intersection on the Capricorn Hwy where the sign to turn south to Melbourne is, we all felt a strong sense of disappointment. We have made the decision to go home for my brother’s wedding and to meet my new baby nephew, but we all felt like we weren’t ready to leave Queensland yet. We will definatly be back here soon as Queensland still has so much to offer us. We have all fallen in love with this state. And so with regret, we turned right and headed south along the Landsborough Hwy.

This was the landscape for most of the way through central QLD and NSW

We stopped off at a campground in Blackall for the night. Once we had set up, Dan and I sat down with a cold beer and watched the kids burn some built up energy. They were running around kicking a ball when a couple came riding up in a carriage. The carriage was being pulled by a gorgeous little pony.

Will's fascination with horses encouraged him to go over and say hello. The man was very freindly and asked WIll if he would like to have a ride. Will jumped at the chance and hopped right on. After a while, he remembered his brothers and asked if they could hop in too. The man gently kicked his wife out and Sam and Zaccy joined them in the carriage! Not something the kids get to do everyday!

Will having a ride

Soon, all the kids were on board

Cowboy Will with his home-made lassoo

We had planned to stay at Charleville for a few days, but when we arrived there I changed our plans. We arrived there just as the sun was setting and we had a bit of trouble finding the campground. As we pulled into the carpark there was already another car there. It was a typical country ute - complete with loads of huge arials, covered in stickers and three big pig-hunting dogs tied up in the tray. I got a bit freaked out, especially when I saw all the empty beer bottles and fire pits all over the place. In truth, I think the guys had just come down here for a bit of fishing and were nice enough to leave with their dogs when we arrived. However, I thought the worst and decided that it wasn't a nice place to stay.

So we left the caravan hitched up (so we could make a quick getaway!) and left early the next morning. However, as we drove away we saw another bigger camp ground further down the street. It was filled with travellers and looked like a beautiful place to stay. We had obvioulsy mistaken the local drinking hole for the campground we were supposed to be staying at!!

Our "campsite" was very pretty but a bit too isolated for my liking!

The next day we went to the Cosmos Centre in Charleville. When Sam grows up he wants to become an astrophysicist , so he was really excited to visit the Cosmos Centre.

The Cosmos Centre has the only cinema in Charleville and we got to watch a short film called "Journey to Infinity", teaching us all about how our Solar System was created. Our guide told why Pluto has been taken out of the Planet Club and we got to hold space rock and meteorites in our hands! They have a wonderful Information Zone where the kids spent a long time playing games and watching films.

After our short visit to Charleville, we continued south to Mitchell where we stayed at the Neil Turner Weir. Named after an Austrailan politician, the weir has a free campground with plenty of open space. We only stayed for one night before continuing our journey towards home.

Sunset over the Neil Turner Wier

Crossing over the border into New South Wales we were excited to stay at Lightning Ridge. Lightning Ridge area is a world epicentre of the mining of black opals and other opal gemstones. Lightning Ridge has the largest known deposits of black opals in the world.

Our poor old Patrol was really stuggling with all the hard driving we were doing, and she kept overheating. We had to stop every hundred kilometers or so, to fill up with coolant, and we were going through a lot of fuel. We were putting most of our money into the fuel tank so we had to free camp all the way home.

My Dad had told me of a good free camp about 5km out town, and we planned to stay there after filling our tanks with water in town.

We usually go to the local Visitor Information Centre and ask them where we can fill up with water. Most of the time they let us fill up from the Info Centre. Unfortunatly, the taps at the Info Centre in Ligtning Ridge all had signs on them saying that the water in the whole shire had been affected by E. Coli.

It was getting dark, and we had no water so we had no choice but to check into a caravan park. We thought we could stay for one night, fill our tanks and free-camp out of town for the rest of the week. I was having a much needed cool shower when I realised that the water was leaving a slimy residue on my skin. We suspected that the town had treated the water with something to overcome the E. Coli problem. We didn't like the idea of putting slimy water into our tanks, so our visit to Lightning Ridge was cut short!

Before we went to bed we did pay a visit to the local artisian hot bath. The caravan park was walking distance to the hot baths so we all walked down there in our bathers with our towels and our torches. The mineral-rich water is naturally hot, forced up from a kilometer underground from the Great Artesian Basin.

We really loved Lightning Ridge and have made the decision to come back here next year.



One of the many huge road trains we passed.



This is how Zaccy passed the many hours in the car.

This little fellow was on the side of the road

He got a bit defensive and 'puffed up' to make himself bigger when we approached.

Our next stop was at Terramungamine Reserve, north of Dubbo. Terramungamine Reserve area was part of the traditional country of the Tubbagah People of the Wiradjuri Nation and an important gathering area for tribes throughout the region. The reserve is now open to the public as a free campground.

While we were in Dubbo, there was a caravan and camping show on in town. We spent an afternoon at the show looking at a few things we are considering buying before we head off on our next trip. We are looking at getting a generator so we can still free camp and be able to re-charge our batteries when we dont get enough solar power. We want to get a drinks fridge for the back of the car. After the 'water issue' we had in Lightning Ridge, we want to get water filters for our caravan. We have also decided that our poor old Patrol can't tow our heavy caravan, so we spent a bit of time in Dubbo visiting car dealerships.

Zaccy 'helping' Will with a school project

Terramungamine Campground

So from Dubbo, we are now heading back home to Melbourne. I have a new nephew to meet, a wonderful sister-in-law to welcome into the family, and lots of friends to catch up with.

We have also decided to start our own business, buy a new car and make some changes to our caravan. My sister-in-law and her family are moving out of our house so we need to find new tennants too. I think the next few months with be very busy for us and I am already tired just thinking about it!

Our travelling days are definatly not over and we will be back on the road again soon. Until then - happy travelling and hope you have all enjoyed this blog so far!!