29 June - 1 July Blackall

On Tuesday after a 3.5 hour drive with a lunch stop at Augathella, we arrived at Blackall greeted by a swarm of locusts. We set up our van by the Barcoo River, which is a 3 minute walk to town. A lot of the shops were shut down or said "back in 10 minutes", but nobody came back. The population is only 1,600, compared with 6,000 some years ago. The attractions here are the Jackie Howe memorial, The Black Stump, The Wool Scour, Petrified Wood, Memorial Parks to name a few. A fantastic skate park has kept the boys happy (if you like bruises and blood) as well as catching fish off a bridge with their legs dangling on the main road - very quiet road thank goodness. Jamie and the boys had a swim in the Artesian pool, very warm water with sulphate. Matty reckons the water here smells and tastes like rotten egg. As with all our campsites, there has always been that special person who has made a great impression on us and will always remind us of our time in whatever part of Qld we were in. In Blackall, there were 2. The first a local, Stewart(60 y.o) born and bred here, drove his tractor, horse or ute up to the camp ground every day for a chat and delivered firewood. He was so interesting, so down to earth and such a nice bloke and his country lingo made every sentence into an exciting account of just ordinary things. The second, a "bikie" pushbike that is. Sandy pedalled up to our campfire with every supply needed for his journey around Qld strapped to his bike. He has ridden 3000kms since Easter and still has a long way to go. He set up his swag near our vans, shared our campfire, cooked his lamb chops, polished off a bottle of red, told stories, jokes and answered all of our questions about his journey. For him this is a personal endeavour - a dream since he was a very young boy. I so admire his spirit, strength of character(semis flying past him on the highway, sleeping under the stars in all weather conditions)and the will to follow his dream. A wife and children await him at home. He was incredible and rode off singing a song about Raylene and Rhonda! We are having the time of our life!!!! Oh yes, the opal shop was a hit with the boys, sorting through rough sawn rock to reveal different coloured opals.

26 - 28 June Charleville

We have just spent 3 wonderful days in Charleville at The Evening Star Tourist Park which is part of a 33,000 acre property. How many kangaroos did we see on the way - 100's (of dead ones that is) poor things. The crows have an absolute banquet laid on out here. The landscape has changed from brown dirt to a lovely red, which is just such a beautiful contrast to the greenery and the blue sky. Every night here was party night with Saturday and Sunday nights drinks @ 5pm followed by live country music. (Jamie and I will need a good detox when we get back!) The weather was a fingernail aching 0 degrees of a morning, but the days were glorious. We spent our days fishing with the local kids, watched as a weather balloon was released into the sky at the bureau of meteorology, seeing the monuments of the town , relaxing and shovelling stuff from the van to car, car to van, where is the toilet paper, where is my ..... Charleville is the home of the cosmos and the bilby, but our kids were happy to roam the property, feed the horses, dig up kangaroo skeletons and one guess, which kid put his hand on the stinging nettles! Poor little Christopher is an accident waiting to happen! His other injuries include, raw skin on the back of his legs from his gym boots, a scraped and bruised neck from running around logs near the fire and a soaked body - yes he fell into the creek. On the night before we left we were graced with this magnificent sunset. Our next stop - Blackall.

24 - 25 June Roma

We arrived at Roma, yesterday lunch time and have settled into Roma Aussie Tourist Park for 2 nights. It is very dry here, even though the town flooded in March this year. I was bathing Christopher and Riley, but when Chrissy heard of the free sausage sizzle put on by the park owners, he was out of the shower cubicle like a shot. We went to see "The Big Rig" night show and learned of the history of gas and oil in this area. It was a very good presentation for all ages. The town is noted for bottle trees and 138 have been planted as a tribute to the lives lost in WW1. The largest has a girth of 8.9 m. We saw the Roma mural at the cultural centre and had to visit the 'must see' shop - Ace Drapers No 1, the most untidy, dangerous (1000s of rolls of fabric and wool teetering on the edge of a 10 foot drop) scariest drapery we had ever, ever seen... there was literally mountains of 'stuff'. Jamie reckons there were dead bodies laying beneath the depths of the fabric. The 6 of us were in absolute hysterics as we mountaineered our way isle by isle. Mum, Dad and I went to the Romaville Vineyards (Old Bassett Winery) the first winery in Qld. We taste tested - very enjoyable (won't need drinks when we get back) and made some purchases. We went see where dad lived when he was 7, his school, wheat sheds were he used to play and St Pauls Anglican church which is noted for its beautiful leadlights. There use to be 23 pubs in this little town!! Mum and Dad have gone off to see John Williamson tonight and we stayed around the campfire and shared dinner with the campers. Our kids cleaned up every scone in sight. They have had heaps of fun on their scooters, playing with walkie talkies and generally annoying each other. Our aim at present is not to let our van turn out to be Ace Drapers No 2. This has been a fun memorable town. Tommorrow we are headed for Charleville.

21 - 23 June Chinchilla

After a rocky drive and lots of lollipop men along the Warrego highway, we arrived at Chinchilla yesterday at 3pm and have set up camp at a great spot by the Condamine River near the Chinchilla Weir. 13 minutes to set up the Jayco Hawk and straight down to throw the crab pot in the river. We have caught 1 yabby to date ,which then actually escaped from the net. We made a campfire and settled in early to watch, yes, "Skippy the Bush Kangaroo". Today we awoke to the sound of geese and a chilly 5 degrees. We met a lovely couple in their 70's, Yvonne (a real character) and Murray. They must have taken at least 20 photos of us (with their own camera), taught the boys how to bait their rods with earthworms and how to start their own worm farm. They came into our lives, had us in stitches, took their teeth out to show the boys what happens if you eat too many sweets, played soccer and handball and then left in their 69 Combi van bound for home - Kingaroy. They were very entertaining. Mum and Dad arrived late this afternoon (they will be travelling part of the journey with us )and we all got to shower in their ensuited van. No one is willing to use that porta potty yet - Jamie calls it my throne! When travelling, it takes pride of place on the roof racks - lovely! Having real troubles with the internet and uploading pictures, hopefully next location will be easier.