After spending five days camping on the Town Common, we left Birdsville to ensure that our run to Betoota would be without mishaps from people driving too quickly, kicking up stones, and damaging our Chev.
This is the same route we took in 2019 after our last Bash visit, and we were surprised this time by just how good the road condition was. In 2019, the conditions were so bad that we reverted to driving outside the road markers to escape the constant corrugations. This time, the only problem we had to deal with was flooded causeways from the recent rains.
We planned to camp at Betoota, but after making such a good time, we decided to drive another couple of hundred kilometres and camp in Windorah. The remaining gravel section was in as good condition as we had experienced to Betoota, so a brief stop at Betoota for pies and a T-shirt for me before moving on.
It's amazing how the country comes alive after rain, including the Sturt Stony Desert we passed through with a lovely green tinge showing through the gibber stones.
Ros needed a hot wash, so we took an unpowered site at the Windorah Caravan Park. Besides, camping at Cooper Creek could be dicey after the rain.
Our next day's drive was just one hundred and thirty kilometres to the Swan Vale Rest Area, where we had previously camped. Last time, it was hectic, but this time, we had the place to ourselves, although two vans did stop in for lunch before heading off. The rest area sits on top of an escarpment, and two lookouts face the west, so usually, if it's been a cloudy day, the sunsets are amazing. Unfortunately, we experienced a cloudless day, but it was still lovely anyway.
The road surface from Swan Vale to Longreach is a real shocker. It's mainly single-lane bitumen, and the cattle grids are bone-crunching, and you can undoubtedly damage the truck and van unless you slow right down.
We left pretty early on our way to Longreach, where we hadn't organized any accommodation, and we were totally blown away by the number of caravans with all the parks full to the brim. We wouldn't have stayed in a park, especially since the vans almost touched each other.
Our only option was to stay at Apex Park, several kilometres outside town and beside the Thompson River. That may sound nice, but it's a dust bowl, and everything is covered when the wind blows. It's $5 per night, with rubbish bins and potable water. We needed to top up with groceries, fuel and other odds and sods before heading out after two days.
We did, however, find an area to camp away from the main area with parched grass behind our van that helped control the dust, but the prickles were horrendous.
Whenever we stay in Longreach, we love to lunch at the Merino Bakery as they make the best salad sandwiches, so of course, that was lunch taken care of for the two days. On the first day, we ate at the bakery with an iced coffee but took our sandwiches home on the second and enjoyed them with a freezing Cooper's Pale Ale.
To say we were glad to leave Longreach would be an understatement; however, we spent $1425.19 with our purchases, including fuel and $30, at the local car wash facility to keep "Betty" clean as she is accustomed to.
We camped our next three evenings at Redbank Park outside Jerico, 190 kilometres east of Longreach. We arrived early and secured a site with grass on either side of us, so it's been very relaxing.
Our next evening was spent in a gravel pit west of Comet and two hundred and fifty kilometres west of Jerico, which I read about on Wiki. It had two entrances and was far enough away from the road that we didn't hear passing traffic during the evening. It's now a favourite for future travel through this area.
Another shortish day today of just one hundred and thirty-three kilometres to a town with a nice camping area. We've camped in Duaringa on several occasions over the years. We are happy to pay the $10 donation even though we don't use the facilities. We had planned to spend two evenings here, but the road noise during the night changed that to just one, and we will now bypass this site in the future.
Our next two nights were to be spent at the Heritage Park at Biloela, but as we passed, it was hectic, with the vans lined up just like a caravan park, and the site was on dirt, so it certainly didn't appeal to us. So we drove another thirty-seven kilometres south to another site that allowed seventy-two hours of camping.
The site is called Lawgi Dawes Hall and has toilets, potable water, cold showers, and rubbish bins. And last night, sixteen vans camped here without feeling hemmed in; it's our preferred type of camping. It's so relaxing here with no road noise at night, so we've decided to spend the seventy-two hours here at just $5 per night.
With just sixty-five kilometres to drive today, we headed further south through hilly country on our way to Monto. A self-contained stopover is almost in the town centre, so we spent the night here and enjoyed our lunch and beers at the Grand Hotel.
The following day, we continued onto the Heritage Railway site at Gayndah, where one day turned into a two-day stay.
We've mentioned the shocking state of Queensland roads before, but we just can't get our heads around how bad these are, as it's no pleasure driving on them, let alone trying to keep the vehicle and van on the road.
Another short drive today of just over one hundred kilometres to a free camp in the small town of Kilkivan. There's not much to be said about this town except for the fantastic butcher in the main street, where we bought four packs of their delicious smoked bacon. It's impossible to buy 100% Australian bacon at any supermarket anywhere. The best percentage of Australian bacon on the packs ranges from eighteen to around forty per cent Australian content.
Days later, we found that people drove considerable distances to purchase meat from this butcher, and we were coming back this way in a few days, so we would definitely be stopping to buy more meat.
We spent the next three evenings camped on the southern outskirts of Gympie. A site on Wiki known as The Top Paddock is a huge mowed area with potable water available at $15 per night per couple. This was an excellent stopover as we met family for lunch on one of our days, and I caught up with a dear friend whom I went to boarding school in Brisbane from 1967 to 1970.
Our van was booked into Bushtracker on Monday, so we drove to camp outside the factory in Kunda Park on Sunday.
Our awning was repaired along with a few niggling problems, and we also purchased an anti-flap kit and an extra pump as a spare should we experience any future issues.
We were on the road again just after lunch and returned to The Top Paddock at Gympie for one more evening.
