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.