After our goodbyes to Jade, Declan and Lachlan we headed off for Boondooma Homestead for the night.  Boondooma Homestead and outbuildings are on the original site of Boondooma Station from 1847 when the Lawson brothers established the station.  It is now a place you can either day visit or stay either around the grounds or in cabin accommodation.  It is very well preserved and shows a good insight into the perseverance of the early settlers and how over time they developed their stations with the basic requirements similar to a small village.  The Stone Store at Boondooma was constructed between 1855 and 1858 and is believed to be one of Australia’s earliest buildings built to metric measurements.   They had a nice easy going afternoon fire each day with drinks and also a morning tea get together each day for a gold coin donation.

Cania Gorge was our next stopover.  When we arrived at the caravan park we quickly realised we had stayed here previously.  Its a very well laid our park with reasonably sized sites.  They have some good walks right next to the park which we also remembered doing and did again.  The caravan park we stayed at is at the beginning of the Cania Gorge National Park and the road in finishes up at Lake Cania that did have quite a good level of water in it.

We did the Fern Tree Pool walk which was only around a 6 kilometre round trip.  When we did this previously there was more water around.  This time none of the creeks were running at all.  There are some nice views along this walk.  When we actually got to Fern Tree Pool we were the only ones there and lucky enough to see plenty of Scarlet Honey Eaters around the pool.  The longer we sat there quietly the more that came down into the bush alongside the water.  It was a great display and only stopped when more people turned up and they flew away.

Lake Victoria was our next destination.  This is a free camping area on the A3 south of Dululu.  The lake is just off the highway on a pretty good gravel road in that they actually graded the day after we arrived.  There were about a dozen vans when we arrived but you are very well spread out and not very close to anyone if that’s what you like. 

The lake had quite a good level of water in it and also an abundance of birdlife including a few black swans.  If you wanted you could also catch cat fish in the lake as well.  We saw some pretty impressive carcasses when walking around the lake.  There were no toilets at the lake which I think helps keep some people away.  It was also nice to have a camp fire every night and we also did a camp oven cook up of roast lamb.  It came out very nice.  With a few walks around the lake and surrounds we had a very nice three days at the lake.  Definitely worth a stop over if your ever in the area.

We reluctantly packed up and left Lake Victoria and headed off for Dingo.  This is a very small town that is like a cross road town to either keep heading north on the inland highway or turn off and start to go towards the coast.   They have a nice little caravan park in town that fills up quite a bit by the end of the day.  The lady that runs the park gets her guitar out at night and sings a few songs around the communal fire.  Quite a good atmosphere and good for a one night stop over.

From Dingo we were heading towards Middlemount for a short stay.  This is a coal mining town and our Wiki Camps guide said you could stay at the back of the pub in town.  We checked this out and it didn’t look very appealing at all.  We had another look at the map and just around 20km out of town was Bundoora Dam.  This was a free camp area near the edge of the dam.  Well we were very glad we made the decision to stay out here.  What a great place.  There were around 30 vans there when we arrived but with plenty of room no problems. 

All along the edge of the dam were fireplaces that other campers had made and we just reversed up to a vacant fire spot and were ready to go.  There was grass all the way to the waters edge and you could reverse right up to the edge if you wanted.  Great views for everyone over the water.  With flushing toilets it felt just like a caravan park.  Definitely on the return list if were ever this way again.

Bundoora dam was a very hard place to leave.  With the great weather we are having at the moment this place was idyllic.  However the coast was calling and Nebo was our next stop.  This is quite a small town and we stayed at the Stay Awhile Caravan Park.  This was $10 p/n  with power and water.  The amenities weren’t the flashiest but they worked and were clean so you couldn’t complain at all.  As we were in area around a lot of coal mines all the towns in the area are heavily reliant on people from the towns working on these mines.  When coal mining eventually does stop these sort of places will really feel a lot of pain.

We went to the Nebo Hotel for a meal one night.  This hotel was very busy for a small town.  They have dongas out the back to accommodate mine workers and each night the hotel is very busy serving these guys as well the odd few tourists like ourselves.  It was a pretty good meal and you also got dessert included in the price as well as tea or coffee.  We did a day drive from Nebo to Mt Britton which is an old abandoned gold mining town.  This is situated in some very spectacular country side with amazing views.  You can also camp out here which looks as though it would be very nice.  There was only one camper out here when we arrived.  We had lunch under an old Moreton Bay Fig that was planted by the father of the first baby born in Mt Britton.  Mt Britton also had a cemetery with some of the best views we have seen for a cemetery.  You were quite lucky if you were buried here I think.

Collinsville was our next stop.  We were gradually getting closer to the coast.  In Collinsville we stayed at the showgrounds.  You are allowed to stay here for 72 hrs free of charge.  There is no power and you are able to fill up with water from the taps around the place.  When we arrived it was fairly crowded so we stayed just the other side of the buildings and away from everyone else.  Probably a bit snobby but a lot less crowded.

Collinsville really does have a coal mining heritage and there are a few displays around the town that show this off.  Collinsville also calls itself the Pit Pony capital of Australia.  Pit Ponies were the horses that worked underground hauling the coal wagons before they became mechanised.  We did the Coalface Experience tour that gave a good history of mining in the area with some good videos to watch throughout the exhibition.

On one of days in Collinsville we did a drive out to the Bowen River Hotel for lunch.  This is a old hotel that was originally built as a homestead in 1862 and later turned into a coaching inn.  It was fully restored in 1999 and has some very unique characteristics to it.  They hold the annual Bowen River Rodeo here and if your in the area it looks like it would be a great weekend.

Bowen was our next stop.  We had finally got to the coast.  It seems to have taken us a lot of travel to get this far north and to the coast.  We are in Bowen for a week so it will be nice to chill out for a while and have a break from travelling for a while.

We have been to Bowen previously and this time decided to try a different place to stay.  We chose Wangaratta at the Beach.  Its quite a nice park, very full with most caravaners seeming to be ones that come and stay here for around 4 months before heading back south.   The sites are quite large with enough room to have your awning out and your car down the other side.

Bowen is home to the Big Mango.  Seems a lot of towns around here try and promote something they feel they are famous for.  During World War 2 Bowen was base to a large force of Catalina’s and on the foreshore they still have the hard stand area where they were removed from the water for maintenance and the like.  They have a good visual display that at high tide looks as though the Catalina’s are landing on the water.  We also did  visit the local markets.  We haven’t been to any markets for quite a while so it was good to walk around and look.  We managed to buy some very nice pineapple which made us really feel like we were in the tropics.

A day drive to Dingo Beach was nice.  This is about 80km from Bowen on the way to Arlie Beach.  Its a nice little spot that has a beautiful white sand beach and with a couple of islands not far off the shoreline is very idyllic in its outlook.  Mullers Lagoon in Bowen is a great water feature that supports a huge range of birdlife around it.  The walk around the lagoon is very relaxing nice.  We were thinking of doing a day trip to the Whitsunday’s again while here but you can only do them from Airlie Beach.  We really didn’t feel like driving that far to this, so will save it for another time.

We have had a very nice week in Bowen.  It seems to have gone a bit quicker than we would have liked.  Townsville is our next stop for a couple of nights then its Mission Beach for 4 weeks.  We really enjoyed Mission Beach last time we were there so hopefully this time is the same.  We are staying in a different caravan park this time so fingers crossed we have made a good decision. 

Anyway its our last night in Bowen so its off to the pub for a night off from cooking for both of us…….

Jade and the boys arrived in Goondiwindi after our second night at the show grounds.  They didn’t arrive till around 6pm and it was getting quite dark by then.  After all our hellos it was set up the van and get the boys fed.  The next morning we were heading off to Bretims Farm for a few days and some camping.  The weather was still quite cool in Goondiwindi so we were hoping that our farm stay was going to be sunny and a bit warmer.

They had been setting up for a polo cross carnival at the showgrounds while we were there and when we woke the next morning the event was getting underway very early. This was going to be a two day event with both seniors and juniors competing.  The juniors were on the oval next to us so we watched them for a while before heading off on our trip to Bretims Farm.

As much as we were enjoying watching the polocrosse players it was on the road to our farm stay for a few days.  The weather was nice and sunny so things were looking good for us.  We stopped for morning tea along the way at Welarbon and saw some nice silo art.  Queensland and a lot of the eastern states are really embracing the idea of painting there silos and town water tanks which helps turn some ugly eye sores into nice art pieces.  Most reflect the pioneering history of the town or district and are very impressive as well.

We arrived at Bretims Farm Stay and at first weren’t to sure if we had made a great decision.  We were expecting something that was a bit better set up with a few more facilities.  The camping area is huge  with a lot of flat ground and choices between sunny spots that we wanted or in the shade of trees.  We chose a spot out in the open and set our selves up for a few days.  There was plenty of firewood available and they supplied us with a fire pit as well.

There was a family staying at the campground permanently and they also had a couple of children and that gave Declan and Lachlan some play mates while we were there.  Bretims was a combination of Brenda and Tim’s names and they were great hosts.  We found out the farm stay hadn’t been going all that long and they were trying very hard to get it more developed  Their biggest problem like all people find when trying to set up something is the red tape involved.  They have a few sheep on the property and they made a special day for the boys to help with rounding them up and assisting with the ear tagging .

We did a day trip into Toowoomba and visited the Cobb & Co Museum.  They have a great collection of old carriages on display as well as an interactive display area that the boys liked a lot.  They also have a vintage trade workshop area where you can learn blacksmithing skills, wheelwrighting skills and create your own twelve spoke wagon wheel as well as leather making and stained glass lead lighting courses.  A great initiative that seemed to be quite popular.    

 After our stay at BRETIMS  we would probably go back again if ever in the area.  They really did try hard to make our stay enjoyable and if they can slowly improve their facilities it will only get better.

We had a great stay at Bretims but it was time to leave and Dalby was our next stop.  We stayed at the Dalby Pioneer Caravan Park.  It wasn’t to bad with quite reasonable facilities.  We all did a bit of shopping and also some washing.  After staying in the nice big open spaces of the farm the boys were finding the caravan park a bit more restrictive but adjusted well.

We only had one more night with Jade after Dalby and decided to stay just out of town at Lake Broadwater Conservation Park.  The drought is really starting to hit hard all over Queensland and unfortunately the lake was dry.  Apparently the water finally disappeared in February this year.  Its a nice big camp area with excellent facilities and plenty of room.  It probably would have been a lot more crowded if there was still water in the lake.  We still enjoyed the stay and there was plenty of room for the boys to ride there bikes around.

It was time for Jade to pack up and head back down to Canberra and the cold weather again.  We had a great week and the boys seemed to really enjoy the travelling around and looking at a few different places.  We were very lucky with the weather as well which was good for Jade and the boys.  We were gong to stay an extra night at Lake Broadwater after Jade had gone but with no water in the lake we decided that we would also hit the road as well and continue our slow trip further north and towards the coast.