Bourke was our last stop in NSW and our next stop was not far over the Queensland border and into Cunnamulla.  Cunnamulla is a neat little town that has a pretty rich history with early grazing and also for the Slim Dusty song Cunnamulla Fella.   There is a large bronze statue that was commissioned in 2004 to personify the Cunnamulla Fella and also the Slim Dusty song.

We booked into the Cunnamulla Tourist Park for a few days.  This was a neat little park that the owners are making a pretty good effort of trying to keep it looking appealing.

We did a couple of walks around the town and also the sand hills walking tracks that were not quite what we expected.  A short drive to the Allan Tannock Weir on the Warrego River was worth it as there was water flowing quite fast over the wall.   Most of the locals were quite happy with the rain they had recently had and were hopeful of more to come.

Our next stop from Cunnamulla was only a short drive of about 45 kilometres east along the Balonne Highway to Charlotte Plains Station.  They have some hot artesian bores that they have set up with bathtubs that you can sit in and “enjoy the experience”.  We weren’t sure if we would be able to get out there as some of the roads we still wet.  Luckily for us though we were able to get through quite easily.

When we arrived there were only two other vans out there so room wasn’t a problem.  The next day they both left as the weather forecast was for more rain so they decided to scamper.  As we weren’t in a hurry we decided to stay and had the whole place to ourselves for the next few days.  It did rain and we did have to stay a day longer that planned.  Luckily the wine supply was good so we were able to hunker down and tough it out. 

The setup with the baths is quite well done and with the bores running continuously you don’t run out of water.  With saying that you can only spend around 15 to 20 minutes in the baths anyhow before you start to get to hot and also start to look a bit prune like.  The borehead was first tapped in 1892 and has been flowing continuously since then.  It has slowed down some since it was first completed but still flows at around 1,000,000 litres a day.

The drive out of Charlotte Plains wasn’t too bad.  We only had one spot on the dirt track that was a bit slippery and we did only just get through it.  A heavy van on the back does make life interesting on mud tracks.

Our next stop was an overnighter at Wallam Creek in Bollon.  This is a free camp on the edge of town that was well set up and had plenty of room.  There were probably around 20 of us there for the night and no-one was to close to us.  We did a walk through some bush and along the creek for a bit of exercise before going to the local for a meal that night.  If you are ever in Bollon the pub meals are excellent, and huge.  Probably to large but you definitely get your monies worth.

St George was next after a Bollon.  Food was getting low and the dirty clothes were starting to fill the cupboard a bit much so it was time for Kaye to do some domestics.  We booked into the Kamarooka Tourist Park.  It was quite a nice park though a bit tight with the bigger van but well run and presented.

We did a few drives around the area of St George.  A stop for lunch at the Nindigully Hotel was a nice treat.  At the Nindigully Hotel you can purchase an $80 Burger that comes with 5.5kg of beef patties if your game to try it.   There is a lot of cotton grown in the district and the irrigation channels run all through the area.  Being so dry over here at the moment most of the channels were dry and the cotton harvest has been well down on previous years.  St George is on the  Ballonne River and has a nice river walk in the town that was nice for a couple of walks.

We had a nice stay in St George.  I think more also that we both enjoy being back in Queensland, seems to have something special about it when you are here.  Mungindi was our next place, just a short 120km down the road right on the NSW border.  On our drive to Mungindi we passed through Thallon.  They have some magnificent silo art there to see.  It would be about the best we have seen.  Well worth a stop to look at.   They also have a statue of a giant wombat in the local park that we saw being opened in an episode of Back Roads on ABC TV a few years ago. 

 We stayed at a free camp just on the Queensland side of the border.  Mungindi is where the straight line of the border separating NSW and Queensland stops and then goes all twisty following the rivers to the ocean on the east coast.

Just out of Mungindi is One Ton Post that was erected by the surveyor JB Cameron in 1881 that marks the start of the straight section of the border.  There was a similar post at Cameron Corner but this has disappeared and is now only a cement maker.  Mungindi also has a hot artesian pool and we thought that would be a good afternoon of relaxing.  Unfortunately it is only open in the mornings so that was our afternoons plans in the wash.

Goondiwindi was our next stop before our final destination of Stanthorpe.  We had been to Goondiwindi previously so didn’t really anything much planned while here.  Mothers  Day was also came while in Goondiwindi so that was one night of entertainment planned. We went to the Victoria Hotel in the main street for dinner,  that has a very impressive looking façade.  During our drive to Goondiwindi from Mungindi we saw our first cotton harvester working.  We had seen plenty of harvested crops and lots of cotton bales but no-one working in the fields.

We stayed again at the showgrounds in Goondiwindi.  They are pretty good value for power and water plus they weren’t overly busy which was good for us.  Goondiwindi also sits on the border with NSW and seems to be a fairly major centre for the district both sides of the border.  Goondiwindi’s most famous resident was probably Gunsynd the racehorse back in the early 1970’s.   The Macintyre River also runs through the town as the border between the two states.

After surviving Mothers day in Goondiwindi it was off to Stanthorpe and catch up with Wayne and Julie.  They have a great property about 12km out of town and we had arranged to leave our caravan with them for a couple of weeks while we fly off to Vanuatu.  Last time we came to Stanthorpe they weren’t here so it was going to be good to catch up with them at home.  We also had a few small jobs to do on the caravan so a few days in Stanthorpe was what we needed.

We didn’t get up to too much while in Stanthorpe, we ticked off a fair bit when we were here last time.  The weather had warmed up a bit for us as well.  They had been having a few zero’s and minuses before we arrived.  We went for a day  trip out to Girraween National Park and did a 8 kilometre hike and climbed Pyramid Rock, walked to The Granite Arch then onto The Junction.  The Junction was where two creeks joined but unfortunately they were dry.  A couple walks in Stanthorpe around the river was a nice way to fill in some days when in town shopping as well.  Stanthorpe is a nice town that has most of everything you need and is only a couple of hundred kilometres from Brisbane.

Well the blog goes international again next time.  We are going to Vanuatu for a short break and to celebrate someone’s special birthday.  Also catching up with Anika and Renae while there also so that makes it even more special. Plus I think we need a holiday from all this travelling, its a tough road we travel.