West towards Longreach

It was a nice leisurely start this morning, and with only 278 km to travel today we took our time in leaving our campsite. Temperature this morning was fourteen degrees with wonderful blue skies. We drove south for several kilometres before turning west onto the Dawson Highway and stopping for fuel at Calliope for $139.9 cpl. 
Just over 100 km later we arrived in Biloela after climbing several large mountains the highest at just 420 metres above sea level. Biloela, is a busy and prosperous town with a population of over 5000 people. You certainly know you're in Queensland when the local shire is known as the Banana Shire. The town grows crops like sorghum and wheat and has a large cattle industry.
We turned north onto the Burnett Highway passing through Dululu which has a small free camp along with a Pub and several houses before turning west onto the Capricorn Highway heading for Duaringa.
We passed through Duaringa several years ago, on our way to Bedford Weir just north of Blackwater and were very impressed with the facilities provided at the free camp on the eastern outskirts of this small town. So this is our camp for this evening. The site covers a very large area and there are showers, toilets and a dump point. Beautiful sites like this are few and far between, and even though the site is free, we stopped at the information centre and made a donation towards its upkeep. There were over sixty vans camped here for the evening and the lady at the information centre told us that only about 40% of people made a donation.

Today's drive of 379 km is our largest since leaving home. As we approached the small town of Dingo we could see off to our left in the distance the Blackdown Tableland National Park. Access to the campground and the plateau is via a very steep and winding road and not suitable for caravans.
We soon arrived in Blackwater which has a population of over 5000 people and most are employed in the coal industry with many open cut mines surrounding the town. Just over 70 km later we arrived in Emerald which also has large deposits of coal. The construction of Fairbairn Dam in the early 1970's also provided water for agriculture around the area. Lake Maraboon was formed as result of the dam and provides camping and fishing opportunities and is well known for its famous Red Claw Crayfish. 
After leaving Emerald we continued west passing the turnoff to the Sapphire and Rubyvale Gemfields. As we continued further west we climbed the Drummond Range before the country flattened out forming vast plains. 
Arriving in the small town of Alpha we stopped and viewed the many murals that surround the town. These murals were first painted by local residents, after devastating  floods nearly ruined the town in the early 1990's. 

After another 50 km we arrived in the small town of Jerico where we would spend the night. We are staying at another free camp on the eastern outskirts of town. The site is known as Redbank Park. As we entered the site we placed some money in their donation box to help with upkeep of the site which included toilets.

It is day six since leaving home and so far the coldest morning we have experienced. Just three degrees inside the van this morning before the diesel heater was turned on. We waited in bed until the temperature rose so that we could get changed. The extra heateroutlet in the ensuite makes getting changed even easier. Today's drive is just short of 200 km as we made our way to Longreach to stay in the caravan park. Here we can wash clothes, buy groceries and purchase fuel.