We left home this morning, heading to Queensland. Usually, we break the journey and stay overnight at the Yelgun rest area north of Ballina, but this time we decided to drive straight through to Eumundi on the Sunshine Coast.
Camping is permitted near their famous markets, and at $15 per night for an unpowered site, it makes for a great overnight stop. The fee includes access to toilets, showers, non-potable water, and there's even a dump point on-site. A limited number of powered sites are available at £20, with a maximum stay of two nights.
Deb and Hank, who live in Tewantin, are joining us for a two-week trip as far as St George, with some time spent around the New England area north of Tenterfield, including Stanthorpe in South East Queensland. Our plan is then to camp at several locations before returning home to Sawtell.
After leaving Eumundi, we continued south along the Bruce Highway and took the Landsborough turnoff. At Beerwah, we headed west towards Peachester before joining the D'Aguilar Highway just east of Kilcoy.
We passed through Kilcoy and Moore before stopping at Blackbutt for morning tea. I have it on good authority from two pie enthusiasts that the bakery here is hard to beat. A selection of pies and other goodies was purchased, some of which were consumed then, and some were saved for later.
At Yarraman, we joined the New England Highway and followed it south for 33 kilometres before taking the turnoff to Dalby and Cooyar at Wutul. This minor road is rough and narrow in places, but thankfully doesn't carry much traffic. We stopped briefly in Dalby before continuing along the Moonie Highway for 17 km, then turning towards Lake Broadwater Conservation Park, a further 10 km away.
We have camped here on numerous occasions, and your $6 per person per night fee includes flushing toilets and hot showers. The campground overlooks the lake, and with water levels currently low, our time here was peaceful and quiet, without the hum of jet skis or ski boats disturbing the serenity.
We experienced relatively high temperatures, exceeding 38 degrees, while we were here, and the locals came down every afternoon to cool off.
Unbeknownst to us, the Chinchilla bi-annual watermelon festival was taking place while we were there, so on our second day we headed 100 km west of Dalby to check out the action. On Saturday morning, we joined the steady flow of traffic along the Warrego Highway towards Chinchilla. The day's temperature peaked at 38.7 degrees, so after browsing some of the stalls, we found a shady spot and watched the passing parade and watermelon races.
On our way back, we took a minor road through the small town of Kogan. We popped into the local pub for a few beers and a hearty serving of hot chips with gravy. Camping is permitted at the Kogan Memorial Hall, with power available for $15 or without power for $10.
A sculpture in the park beside the hall depicts Hugh Sawrey, a renowned Australian painter who, along with RM Williams, founded the Stockman's Hall of Fame in Longreach. He was a close friend of a former owner of the hotel in Kogan, who was responsible for commissioning the sculpture. We have an association with Hugh Sawrey as well, as we possess a couple of his original paintings.
After two days camped at Lake Broadwater, we rejoined the Moonie Highway and soon passed through the small town of Moonie. It was the site of Australia's first oil field and remains in operation today, producing approximately 35 kiloliters each day. Several hours later, and 187 km had us stopping in St George for lunch and several beers.
Then we continued on towards the Nindigully Pub, a further 44 km away. The Gully sits beside the Moonie River, and camping is free; a gold coin donation will get you a shower.
Hank received a book for Christmas titled 'Australian Bush Pubs' and wants to tick as many of the list as he can, so this pub is his first. We also celebrated his birthday while camped here, so on our second evening, we enjoyed happy hour before dining at the pub.
This particular burger is the smallest on the menu, weighing in at 5.5 kg. Of course, we were unable to do it justice, but the resident dogs were more than happy to assist in devouring what we couldn't.