Sunshine Coast to Thargomindah

We left the Bushtracker factory at 16:00 today after our service and planned modifications to the van. We continued through Beerwah and Peachester, climbing the Great Divide before setting up camp at Cruice Park. It’s listed in the Camps 6 book as camp #512. It's 21 kilometres east of Kilcoy.

Friday and Saturday 30th September, 1st October:
After a leisurely start, we continued further west, passing through Yarraman and Quinalow before stopping at Dalby for lunch and refuelling. We then camped at Lake Broadwater Conservation Park, which is located about 30 kilometres south-east of Dalby. This is our second time camping there. The park has two camping areas, and the on-site caretaker collects fees each afternoon. A small fee covers the cost of showers and flushing toilets. The campsite offers a lovely view of the lake, but unfortunately, there were no Magpie Geese present this time. It may have something to do with the full lake and the water skiing happening nearby. Camp #628.

Sunday 2nd October: 

Today's drive covers 197 kilometres. We are camping at the fishing club in Surat on the Ballone River. Camp #866.

  

Monday 3rd October: 

We travel through Roma and Mitchell before camping at Morven for the night. We are staying at the Morven recreation ground, and a gold coin donation is appreciated for an overnight stay. We typically camp at Neil Turner Weir at Mitchell, but the extra mileage today allows us to explore Quilpie. The distance is 335 kilometres. Camp #664.

Tuesday 4th October:

Leaving Morven, we continued towards Charlivelle. Our only stop was to collect some disused sleepers beside the railway line. They make lovely coals, especially good for camp oven roasting. We ended the day at Lake Houdraman, camp #671. Today's distance: 306 kilometres. 

Wednesday and Thursday, 5th and 6th October. We had planned to drive through Adavale to Blackall and then onto Welford National Park, but some road closures put a stop to that plan, so we went west. We passed through Eromanga, which claims to be the furthest town from the sea. The town has a refinery that handles oil from local oil fields and then ships the oil by tanker to various parts of the country. Diesel was cheap at $1.53 per litre.

Tonight's destination was the Noccundra waterhole on the Wilson River. Spent two lovely days camped here and were amazed by the antics of the several hundred pelicans in residence. Three times a day, they herded fish into the shallows before gorging themselves. The publican said there were normally only a dozen at any one time, but this number of birds was affecting their fishing. Distance for today: 285 kilometres. Camp#842

Noccundra pub, built in 1882 from sandstone quarried at Mount Poole in NSW and transported over 200 kilometres by camel trains.