Free Camps Hillston Rest Area – 1 night Cobar Old Reservoir – 1 night Bourke Boat Ramp – 1 night Wyandra Warrego River – 1 night Tambo Barcoo River – 1 night Qantas Founders Museum Carpark – 1 night Longreach Caravan car parking – 1 night Long Waterhole, Winton – 1 night Middleton Hotel – 1 night Eyre Creek, near Bedourie – 1 night Birdsville Common – 2 nights Bashville – 6 nights (included in the cost of Big Red Bash tickets) Boulia Racecourse Reserve – 1 night Quamby Rodeo Ground – 1 night Gregory Downs riverside – 1 night Julia Creek RV Park – 2 nights (free but made $10 donation) Sapphire riverside – 1 night Gindie roadside gravel pit – 1 night WWII Plane Crash site, Carnarvon Rd – 1 night Injune Rodeo Grounds – 1 night RV Park, Walgett – 1 night Wheogo Park, Forbes – 1 night
Low-cost Campgrounds Charleville CMCA RV Park – 1 night $6 Lara Wetlands Campground – 2 nights $50 Apex Riverside Park, Longreach – 1 night $5 Winton Showgrounds – 1 night $20 Oondooroo Station Farm Stay – 1 night $25 Lara Wetlands – 3 nights $75
Caravan Parks Longreach Tourist Caravan Park – 1 night powered $40 Argylla CP, Mt Isa – 2 nights powered $98.88 Adele’s Grove CP – 4 nights unpowered $160 (paid for 4 but only stayed for 3) Emerald Cabin & Caravan Park – 1 night powered $44 Takarakka Bush Retreat – 3 nights powered @$55 = $165 Ups & Downs Caravan Park, Roma – 1 night unpowered $20
Total Camping Costs Free Camps = 29 nights Cost = $0 Low-cost Campgrounds = 9 nights Cost = $181 Caravan Parks = 12 nights Cost =$527.88 Total = 50 nights Total Cost = $708.88
Wood Lara Wetlands – 2 x $15 = $30 Longreach – 2 x $10 = $20 Cloncurry – 1 x $15 Julia Creek – 1 x $14 Oondooroo Station Farm Stay – 1 x fire pit & wood $10 Emerald $26
Total Wood = $115
Gas Bourke $32 Longreach $23 Winton $34 (most expensive 4.5kg bottle of gas ever!) Birdsville $32 Julia Creek $14 Alpha $28 Emerald $18
Total Gas = $181
Sightseeing Back O’Bourke Exhibition = $42 Hotel Corones Tour = $56 Cosmos Centre = Free Royal Flying Doctor Visitor Centre = Free WWII Secret Base = $16 WWII Secret Base Tour = $66 Longreach Hall of Fame = $136 Qantas Museum Tour & Luminescent Longreach = $160 Longreach School of the Air = $20 Waltzing Matilda Centre = $50 Age of Dinosaurs Tour = $170 Dinosaur Stampede 3/4 day tour = $290 Big Red Bash (including 2 day early entry) = $1,380.25 Helicopter Flight at BRB = $585 Outback at Isa (including Riversleigh Fossil Tour, Isa Experience & Hard Times Mine Tour) = $176 Kronosuarus Korner, Richmond = $40 Flinders Discovery Centre, Hughenden = $5 Corfield Store, Winton = $2 Australian Workers Heritage Centre, Barcaldine = $16 Miners Heritage Mine Tour, Sapphire = $35 Australian Coal Mining Museum, Blackwater = $80 Big Rig Oil Patch Guided Tour, Roma = $34 Roma Saleyards Tour & Interpretive Centre= Free Helicopter flight at Moolyamber Gorge = $450
Lara Wetlands is situated 28km south of Barcaldine in Central Queensland. It is an oasis in the outback with lots of shady campsites, a large camp kitchen, and amenities blocks.
The road in is a good gravel road and our 8m motorhome had no trouble getting there, we just went slowly in some sections.
You arrive at the entrance near a Reception building that also houses a small shop and a book exchange. Check in is quick and efficient. You are told to find your own camp site however, if you are on the waters edge, you must park forwards or reversed and not sideways. This enables as more campers to get a waterfront site around the roughly circular wetlands.
Bikes and kayaks are available and a soak in the hot artesian pool is a must-do.
It costs $25 per night for two and you can purchase a trolley load of wood for $15 to use in the many fire pits scattered around the campground.
Lara Wetlands is one of those places you can keep coming back to. It is especially beautiful at sunset with reflections on the water.
Sign at the main roadRoad into LaraFire pit & wood trolleyKayaks for guest useHomestead gatesOn the way back from a Homestead TourBore drain into the wetlandsThe thermal poolGorgeous sunsetsCamp kitchenCamp kitchenLara Yacht Club
The sandy banks of the fast-flowing Gregory River are a perfect spot to camp if you can manage to get a camp spot there. It is very popular so you feel lucky if you can get a spot.
The river is a wonderful place to cool off after the heat of an outback day. The clear water is cold and you can take a bogey board or pool noodle to float down the river amongst the cabbage palms, pandanas and tea trees.
It is just a track off to the left after crossing the bridge going out of town that leads down to the riverside. Locals would prefer people camp up on top at the free campground before the bridge where there are rubbish bins and potable water.
Bald Rock National Park is some 30km north of Tenterfield in far northern NSW, almost on the Queensland border. It is a tar road all the way.
The campground is set amongst beautiful forest. The camp sites are well marked out and quite separate from each other. Most camp sites have a fire pit and there is free wood available for campers use.
It is a tranquil spot in the bush and one of our favourites.
Brrr what a freezing cold night. Thank goodness for diesel heaters! Flannelette sheets and the microfibre blanket helped to keep us snug and warm overnight.
After breakfast we set off for the final leg of our journey. I’d updated our trip stats page and, wow, we’d done nearly 8,000 km on this trip. This had been the longest and the most number of days we’d been on a trip in our motorhome since we bought it way back in 2016.
Since we retired in 2020 we have been fortunate to have done three long trips, one exploring northern NSW for 6 weeks, another following the Murray River from Albury to the mouth of the Murray at Goolwa in SA. That took us 4 weeks and now this latest trip at just under 8 weeks. It has made such a difference to our travel now we don’t have a deadline to be back at work. The trip really does becomes a meander. If we like a place we can stay, if we feel we’ve seen everything in that place we can move on.
The very wet conditions along the Newell Highway
As we drove further south on the Newell Highway we reflected on the last 8 amazing weeks. We had left our home in Griffith, NSW on 16th June and traveled northwards though the NSW outback towns of Hillston, Cobar and Bourke. We had a tyre valve fixed and visited friends in Cobar. In Bourke we visited the Back O’ Bourke Exhibition, Fred Hollows Grave at the historic Bourke Cemetery, the historic weir, the wharf precinct, and the Back O’Bourke Gallery.
We crossed the border into Queensland on 19th June and visited the town of Cunnamulla where we saw the statue of the Cunnamulla Fella and visited the Visitors Centre & Museum. Next stop was Charleville where we spent a busy couple of days visiting the Historic House Museum, the Visitors Centre, the Royal Flying Doctor Service Visitor Centre, The Cosmos Observatory, did a guided tour of Hotel Corones, and did a tag along tour of the Secret WWII base. While in Charleville we stayed in a CMCA RV park for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed that experience.
Then it was on to Tambo where we visited the famous Tambo Teddies store and Blackall where we visited the historic Blackall Wool Scour and saw the sculpture of legendary shearer Jack Howe.
Before we got to Barcaldine we discovered one of our favourite camp spots at Lara Wetlands. What a fabulous spot and one I’m sure we will go back to. It was one of those places that just appealed to us. We went in for just one night and stayed for two.
Then we traveled further outback to Longreach. It was here that we first realised how crazy it was in Australia with so many people traveling in their RV’s. People couldn’t travel overseas so we think they’d decided to see Australia instead. RV’s of every description. We saw camper trailers, rooftop campers, caravans of all sizes, camper vans, motorhomes and even a few 5th wheelers. Longreach was inundated with travellers. To make matters worse it was raining and so the low-cost RV park at Apex Park alongside the Thomson River was just a sea of mud. The two caravan parks in Longreach were full to bursting and people were camping in the council caravan car parking spaces. It was here that we ‘stealth camped’ in the carpark of the Qantas Founders Museum. That was an experience to remember. Our motorhome looked so tiny parked under the wing of a giant 747.
There was lots to do in Longreach however and we visited the Qantas Founders Museum, the Longreach School of the Air, and the Stockmans Hall of Fame. It was in Longreach that our dear friends, Kevin & Sally caught up to us and we got to camp with them out at the RV park once it had dried out after the rain.
Continuing on we arrived in Winton where we visited the Waltzing Matilda Centre, toured the Australian Age of Dinosaurs and Lark Quarry to see the dinosaur footprints.
The excitement of going to the Big Red Bash in Birdsville was building when we left Winton and headed west towards Boulia. We camped with Kevin & Sally at the Middleton Hotel in the middle of nowhere and enjoyed a cold beer at the old pub.
Sadly the next day Kevin & Sally got their third puncture on their car and as they no longer had any spare tyres they made the decision to return to Winton. This was a sad time as it meant they would probably miss going to the Big Red Bash and we’d planned it for so long.
We continued on through Boulia and Bedourie and finally arrived at Birdsville on 2 July. It had taken just over 2 weeks to get there. It was here that we met up with the rest of our group of 14 that would be going to the Big Red Bash. We camped on the Birdsville Common for a couple of nights and it was great to catch up with everyone’s travels and how they’d got to Birdsville. Those couple of days were spent in preparation for our week out at ‘Bashville’. The challenge is that you have to take all your own water and make it last for the week and there is no dump point out there.
I remember being quite excited on the morning of our rollout AND our gas bottle ran out in the middle of the night! That meant we had to be up very early to get to the roadhouse and get in the queue to get it refilled. What a nuisance!
The others waited for us where the tar ended and the gravel road commenced and it was a convoy of 7 that made it to Bashville on Sunday 4 July. We had all bought 2 day Early Entry tickets. The next week was spent enjoying the great company of our friends, sitting around the campfire, enjoying the fabulous music, exploring the Simpson Desert and generally having the most fabulous time. Highlights of that week have to be listening to Paul Kelly play his set, the helicopter ride over the desert and the dust! OMG the dust! It got into everything! The motorhome had never been so dirty. Surprisingly we managed our water usage really well and still had water left over at the end of the week AND we both had showers every day (they were pretty quick ones). Also we didn’t have to use our second toilet cassette. We both used the BRB composting loos during the day and only used the motorhome loo at night. this meant we only had one full cassette after a whole week of camping!
Going to the Big Red Bash was another big tick off our bucket list.
Following the BRB we were off to Boodjamulla National Park but first we had to travel northwards to Boulia and Mt Isa, Cloncurry, Bourke & Wills Roadhouse and Gregory Downs. We had a couple of days in an awful caravan park in Mt Isa. It was awful because the sites were so small and we were crammed in like sardines in a tin. Our site was so small that we couldn’t even put out our awning! However a couple of days there enabled us to give the motorhome a good clean and do multiple loads of washing. It felt so good to get rid of the dust.
A highlight of our visit to Mt Isa was doing the Hard Times Mine Tour with our dear friends Mandie & Pete.
Camping alongside the gorgeous Gregory River was another highlight. We even had a swim! The water was cold and very fast flowing but it was crystal clear and it really is a little oasis down on the riverbank.
We spent the next few days camping at Adel’s Grove and visiting Boodjamulla National Park. Here we caught up with cousins Robert & Catie, Mandie & Pete, Brian & Helen and the two Judy’s (longtime friends of Catie’s). Paddling both the lower and upper gorges with Catie and Mandie & Pete was a highlight of our stay at this remote, incredibly beautiful location. Sadly we had to say farewell to Mandie & Pete as they needed to head for home to return to work and farewell to Robert & Catie and Brian & Helen as they were continuing northwards to the gulf. We’d had a great time together.
We really put our motorhome to the test by taking it to Birdsville and Boodjamulla NP. The road to Birdsville via Boulia and Bedourie was mostly tar but there was still some 50-60km of rough gravel road. Brian assured me that it was really a good gravel road but not in a motorhome with rigid truck suspension! The road to Adels Grove was much worse. It took us 3 1/2 hours to go 90km. We let the tyres down to 50psi and just had to go very slowly over the worst of corrugations. I was really impressed with how well the motorhome handled the rough roads. Nothing fell off in spite of the shaking!
The trip to home from Adels Grove (almost on the border with the Northern Territory) took us nearly three weeks. It’s a very long way from the gulf country of Queensland to the Riverina in NSW. Our route home included Julia Creek, Richmond and Hughenden, Winton and Longreach and another 3 night stay at Lara Wetlands. I think I’ve said it before, we love that place. On our way home we found that Richard’s cousins Ross & Jenny were also in Queensland and we arranged to catch up with them at Lara where we had a lovely few days relaxing and catching up.
Next it was on to Emerald then down to Carnarvon Gorge. There we stayed at the Takarakka Bush Retreat for 3 nights while we explored the gorge and did a walk each day. We both really enjoyed our stay in that lovely spot. A highlight there was doing a helicopter ride over the unexplored and remote Moolyamber Gorge. I wonder what treasures are to be found down there one day?
Then it was on to Roma, Dirranbandi, crossing the border at the tiny town of Hebel and back into NSW. Lightning Ridge, Walgett, Dubbo and Forbes and finally home again. 50 days and 8,051kms traveled. So many wonderful memories to cherish.
Like all of our trips though, the best part is coming home to our beautiful family. It was so good to see my 85 year old mum, our three children, their partners and our seven amazing grandchildren. Oh we miss them so when we are away. FaceTime is great but nothing compares to the reality of being hugged by those gorgeous little people. It’s safe to say they were very glad to see us too.
Now to clean the motorhome, get a new windscreen because we got hit by a stone and it has caused a big crack, do some minor repairs and get her ready for the next meander. I wonder where that will be?
Some of our group at The Big Red Bash (missing is Robert, Paul, Mandie & Pete)
A big thank you to Walgett for providing the RV Park at the Alex Trevallian Rotary Park on the southern edge of town. What a great spot. The park has lots of flat spaces to park, toilets, a dump point, potable water, BBQs and a lovely little lake with a fountain. There is a brand new concrete walking path to take you into town. Self contained travellers can camp for 24 hours. Well done Walgett.
Alex Trevallian Rotary Park – RV Park, Walgett NSW
After getting a load of washing done, using the dump point, and filling up with water we set off to continue our journey southwards to home. We were really starting to look forward to getting home after 7 weeks on the road.
Crops in the area looked amazing. They must have had such good rains. Vast fields of green crops, probably wheat, look so lush and healthy. Herds of cattle could only just be seen above the grass as the grass was so high. Again we saw emus.
The tiny town of Coonamble has a painted water tower and we pulled up so I could get pictures of that. The theme of this art work was galahs. I could see why. As we drove through this area we both noticed that there were lots of galahs.
The river in Coonamble was very full and we commented to each other how green the lawns were around the houses of this little town.
We arrived in the tiny town of Gulargambone and stopped to have a look at the fabulous bullock sculpture. The sculpture is the work of local Coonamble Brian Campbell who has created a bullock team pulling a wagon. the six individual bullocks are made from steel rod and recycled wire netting and the sculpture took 6 months to complete. It is really impressive.
Scattered around town are galah sculptures made from old corrugated iron. They are fabulous.
Artist John Murray, whose works we have seen before on painted water tanks, has painted the bus stop with his quirky bird paintings. Love them.
The water tower in Gulargambone is painted with a gorgeous painting of a Kingfisher. We went for a drive along the small main street and I loved the colourfully painted shop fronts. Gulargambone has a lovely big park next to the river.
Gulargambone Galahs
Painted bus shelter, Gulargambone NSW
Ghosts of Bullocks Past sculpture, Gulargambone NSW
The further south we went the colder it became. The sky became overcast and cloudy. Only 20km from Dubbo it started to sprinkle. We were traveling on the Newell Highway after passing through the town of Gilgandra. We’ve been through Gilgandra many times before so we didn’t stop at all. Along the Newell Highway we noticed that the wattle trees were in full flower. They looked so pretty with their bright yellow flowers against the green of the trees and shrubs.
It was hard to believe that we’d been in shorts and t-shirts for weeks and now we were back to Winter weather. Brrrr.
We stopped for fuel in Dubbo then tried to find a park in the CBD. This wasn’t easy as most of the streets in Dubbo’s CBD have angle parking. That’s no good for our 8m long motorhome! We eventually found a parallel parking space opposite St Andrews Chapel and walked a couple of blocks to meet up with our cousin Fiona at the Commercial Hotel in Dubbo. We were so pleased she was able to meet us for lunch. We really enjoyed seeing her and hearing all her news.
It was such a miserable rainy day and cold. It was only 11 degrees after lunch. We had to park a couple of blocks from the pub and it was miserable walking back to the motorhome. As we crossed the big bridge over the Macquarie River in Dubbo we saw the river was very full. Major roadworks were being done to the intersection of the Newell and Mitchell Highways so it was slow going getting around the corner.
We continued on in the miserable afternoon and arrived in Forbes about 5pm. That was far enough for one day. Forbes has a free camp at Wheogo Park for self-contained travellers and we have stayed there many times so we headed straight there and were a bit surprised that there was no one else there already. We’d only just got set up when there was a knock on the door and we found a couple of council rangers there wanting to know if we’d checked in using the QR code. As we hadn’t done that we were able to do it with them.
It was so cold we put the diesel heater on, put on our PJ’s and got into bed to watch a movie. What else do you do on a cold night? We were both looking forward to getting home the next day.
It rained softly during the night. I love hearing the sound of the rain when we are snuggled up inside our warm little house on wheels.
We had to be up bright and early as we wanted to do the tour at the Roma Saleyards and it starts at 8.30am every Tuesday. You need to be outside the Saleyards Interpretive Centre by 8.15.
At the saleyards there is a large carpark for visitors with specially marked long bays for parking of caravans, motorhomes and vehicles towing a trailer. How annoying is it to get there and find single vehicles parked in those spots? Especially when there are still lots of single car spaces still available. We got the last of the long bays though.
I was surprised to see how many people were waiting outside the Interpretive Centre. There must have been at least 50 people ready to do the tour.
We were split up into groups and allocated to a guide. All the guides are volunteers and most of them are retired farmers or stock & station agents. Our guide was a very tall retired farmer named Jim. He was a wealth of knowledge as he had been a cattle farmer and his family are still involved in the industry.
Roma Saleyards is the largest cattle selling centre in Australia and 300,000 – 400,000 cattle are sold there each year. The Maranoa area around Roma has a long history of beef production however cattle sold at Roma can come from as far away as the Northern Territory and even Western Australia.
Every Tuesday is a sale day and the price set at the Roma Saleyards sets the benchmark for the rest of the country. Cattle are usually sold by cents per kilogram of their live weight but in some cases such as small weaners, pregnant cows or cows with calves they can be sold at dollars per head.
8,230 cattle were to be sold on the day we visited but the Saleyards can cope with up to 12,000 on any one day.
Roma Saleyards also hold regular bull sales and these are held in an especially built bull sale arena. This arena is a semi-circle shape with tiered seating around the arena for the buyers. The bull being sold is paraded in the ring at the bottom.
Jim informed us that the bull sale arena is also used for other events such as musical performances.
Jim explained how the yards worked and how each beast has to have a National Identification tag on its ear. This has a chip that can be read by a reader and all details of that animal can be found on the National Database. You can find out how old it is, where it was bred, who it’s parents were etc. A beast can live up to 25 years and can change ownership a few times. All of that is recorded.
It was fascinating watching the auctioneer standing up on top of the pens with his support crew alongside and listening to his patter as he sells the pen of cattle to the buyers down below. I couldn’t understand a word the auctioneer said! It sounded like gibberish to me!
Once the pen of cattle are sold they are moved along the lanes and into the weighing scales. Roma has two scales, one big one and one small for smaller pens of cattle. The cattle are herded into the scale where the gate closes behind them then the entire pen is weighed and the average weight and average price per beast is shown on the electronic board based on the cents per kilo that the buyer earlier agreed to.
I though it was interesting that most of the yard workers, including the ones on horseback, that are responsible for moving the cattle from pen to lane to scales and back out to pens are women. Apparently cattle react more calmly to women yard workers than they do to men and to minimise stress for the animals women are employed for this job.
Once the pen of cattle are weighed they are then moved forward out of the weighing scales and placed in pens to await loading onto transport. The sale starts at 8.00am and sometimes does not finish until 6-7pm so it’s a long day for all involved. Sometimes if the cattle are not to be transported immediately they can be placed in large yards and fed and watered until they are ready to be collected. The saleyards sit on 123 acres so there is plenty of space.
What a fascinating tour. I wasn’t really expecting it to be very interesting. Oh yeah I thought. A cattle sale. Boring! However it was really interesting and we thoroughly enjoyed the tour. Without a guide it would have been a little hard to understand as it all looked like organised chaos but once Jim explained how it all worked it made sense.
We finally left about 10.30 and got on the road heading south.
Pens of cattle ready to be sold
Lovely bull
Auctioneer at work
Buyers down below
Weigh scales
Loading
Truck wash
Our first stop along the way was in the next little town called Surat. We stopped to have a look at the Cobb & Co Changing Station Museum. This building was originally one of the Cobb & Co Changing Stations and is now home to the Visitors Centre, a museum, Art Gallery and the Library. It is a Gold Coin donation entry fee for the Museum and we were fascinated by the huge 250,000 litre freshwater aquarium in the foyer. It held lots of fish that are native to the Balonne River such as Murray Cod, Catfish, Silver Perch and Yellow Belly.
The excellent museum houses original artefacts and memorabilia from the area and even has a replica Cobb & Co Stagecoach. Residents of Surat district were still receiving their mail by Cobb & Co Coach right up until 1921. The last Cobb & Co Coach made its run in 1924.
We had an early lunch in the coffee shop across the road from the Cobb & Co Changing Station before setting off again to head further south.
Check out the beautifully restored Shire Hall in Surat. Isn’t it gorgeous?
Surat, Qld
We crossed the border into NSW just after the tiny town of Hebel. At the edge of town Queensland Police had a roadblock set up checking all vehicles entering Queensland from NSW. There was no one on the NSW side of the border but we had already filled in the online Travel Pass so we were ready if we were stopped.
I was reading about the Hebel Pub the other day and, because of Covid, they have gone from serving over 80 meals a night to just a few. How do these remote places keep going?
Hebel, Qld
We stopped for some fuel in Lightning Ridge and had to quickly duck into the hardware store across the road to purchase some disposable face masks as mask wearing is now compulsory in NSW. The hardware store had packets of 50 for $25 so we were all set.
When I went in to purchase the packet of face masks, which were on a table out the front of the store, the cashier looked at met askance but I explained that we’d just entered NSW from Queensland and needed to buy some masks. He was OK with that and let me purchase them however while he was serving me a lady came into the store and she gave me a filthy look because I was not wearing a mask. Something we will have to get used to.
Lightning Ridge, NSW
Between Lightning Ridge and Walgett we saw lots of emus. We hadn’t seen emus for a very long time. We also saw a couple of wild pigs. As we approached Walgett we were surprised to see the billabongs overflowing and then we crossed the Namoi River and it is in flood. There must have been some serious rain in the area lately.
Walgett has a very nice RV Park for travellers. There were about 12 campers set up when we arrived and a couple more came in after us. The Alex Trevallion Park has a dump point, BBQs, toilets and drinking water and self contained vehicles can camp for free for 24 hours. Mr Have-a-chat was off chatting to the neighbours while I typed up this post. It had been a long day from our early start and then putting 486km behind us.
We are on the home stretch now. Only 688km to go and we’ll be home.
After a good overnight stay at Injune Rodeo Grounds we continued our journey south and into the town of Roma.
Neither of us knew much about the town of Roma and were surprised to see how large and affluent it was. The town had a really nice feel about it. Roma has a population of about 7,000 people and a large central shopping district.
Our first stop in Roma was to check out Roma’s Big Bottle Tree. It is enormous. It has a height of 6m and a crown of 20m and the trunk is 9.51m in diameter. Bottle trees are planted all around Roma. They are not to be confused with Boab trees, although both get called bottle trees. They are different species. Australia has 12 species of Bottle trees however there is only 1 Boab. The Boab is only found in the remote Kimberley region in the northern part of Western Australia. Boabs are one of the oldest living things in Australia and in the rest of the world. The bottle trees planted around Roma are Queensland Bottle Trees or Narrow-leafed Bottle Trees and as they age the trunk becomes fatter and ‘bottle’ shaped’. The trees are not hollow and the swelling is due to water being held in the fibrous truck. They are very long lived trees and can live naturally for over 200 years. Roma’s Big bottle Tree was transplanted from a local property in 1927 and is over 100 years old.
Roma’s Largest Bottle Tree
Our next stop was the Big Rig Visitors Centre. I had thought that Big Rig must have referred to trucks however we discovered that Roma is at the heart of Queensland’s oils and gas industry. Big Rig refers to the the drilling rigs they use to drill for the oil and gas. Well who knew that!
The centre has a guided tour each day at 2pm of their outdoor display called ‘The Oil Patch” so we thought that would be good to do later. We used the time in the meantime to go and get some fuel, groceries, wine and we stopped beside the Big Bottle Tree to have some lunch. There is a lovely park that runs along the Bungil Creek so it was a nice spot for lunch.
Back at The Big Rig Centre we arrived in time for the 2pm tour. The outdoor displays are very good and begin with an acknowledgement of the Marandanji people, the traditional custodians of the land around Roma.
Oil and gas were discovered in the 1920’s when drillers were looking for water for the town. They didn’t find water but they did find coal seam oil and gas. Our guide explained the process used for drilling for oil and gas and showed us the equipment that has been used over time. They do have a very good display of mining equipment. The centre is in the process of having a huge metal construction built. It is being built to resemble a drilling rig. It will have stairs and a lift to access the platform at the top and there is going to be a bridge going out over the Bungil Creek. It looks like it will be a fantastic addition to the museum. Mining makes a large contribution to the economy in Roma and many businesses support the mining industry.
Big Rig Visitors Centre, Roma Qld
After the informative tour we drove out of town to the Roma Saleyards to visit their Interpretive Centre. This fabulous centre houses a world class interactive display of the development of cattle production in Australia and it is free for visitors. The Interpretive Centre is part of new additions to the Saleyards that include the Interpretive Centre, Public Toilets, a Cafe, offices and the new Bull Sale Arena. There is a very large carpark alongside with especially marked spaces for caravans, motorhomes and vehicles with trailers. We spent a couple of hours at the centre and decided we would go back the next morning to do the guided Saleyard Tour. The tours run every Tuesday and Thursday (on cattle sale days) at 8.30am. I recommend a visit to the Interpretive Centre to any visitors to Roma.
We camped the night at a farmstay we found on WikiCamps called Ups & Downs Farmstay. This is a small caravan park about 6km out of town on a 200 acre working farm. They’ve turned their front paddock into a small caravan park with 10 powered sites and 14 unpowered sites. They also have a donga with three rooms and a shared bathroom. There is a rustic camp kitchen and another donga set up near the camp kitchen with 3 unisex bathrooms and a laundry. The place was almost full when we arrived and were greeted by the resident caretaker. It cost $20 for an unpowered site but each site has access to a water tap.
It was a quirky place and the whole farm has old machinery on display as well as lots of quirky displays of other odd stuff.
The caretaker lights the fire at 5pm each night so that people can gather and chat around the fire. We enjoyed a couple of hours around the communal campfire meeting the other guests.
We both got a lovely surprise in the morning. Tony called over with a small gift for us. It was a lovely card with a few sentences thanking us for our company and especially to the ‘master’ (Richard) for showing Tony how to light a campfire. How thoughtful. What a lovely young couple.
We packed up and left the lovely Takarakka Bush Retreat and headed into the NP again for a last walk in Carnarvon Gorge. This time we wanted to make it to Moss Garden.
It was very cool and overcast when we set off on the walk but by the time we returned a few hours later the sun had come out and it was quite hot.
We made it to Moss Garden and it was worth the walk. It is just a beautiful spot. The permanent creek tumbles over a little waterfall and water constantly drips from the limestone above making it a perfect spot for moss and ferns to grow. It is a very peaceful spot. We met another lovely couple on the boardwalk in Moss Garden and quickly discovered they are fellow motorhomers.
On the way back we came across a gorgeous python wriggling his way across the track and up the hillside. What a stunning creature.
Earlier we’d seen a couple of wallabies bounding away up the hillside.
The incredibly beautiful Moss Garden, Carnarvon Gorge Qld
After a 12km walk we were hot and sweaty by the time we arrived back at the motorhome. Time for a cool shower and change before driving back to the Wilderness Lodge to have some lunch. We’d heard that they have a French chef and the food was good. We were not disappointed. The food was good, the beer was cold and the French pastries were scrumptious. I definitely recommend a stop at this spot if you are in the area. Even just for coffee and a pastry.
Check out those French pastries!
We set off after our delicious lunch and our first stop was to drive into Sandstone Park to check out the camp area. Sandstone Park is a large private campground set on top of a ridge with 360 degree views. There is a loop road along the top with well marked out sites on either side. All the sites have amazing views. There is a dump point, rubbish bins and portaloos. John & Robyn that we’d met at Moss Garden were camped right on the end of the ridge with a fantastic view across to Moolyamber Gorge. We stopped for a chat and swapped phone details. We were very happy to be shown though their very lovely Latitude 27 motorhome.
We left the Carnarvon area and headed south again. The road is a wide tar road and there was quite a bit of traffic and a lot of road trains. The road surface is a bit of a roller coaster probably due to those huge heavy vehicles using it all the time. A little while later I received a message from Robyn including a picture she’d taken of our motorhome as we left Sandstone. How cool!
We arrived in the tiny town of Injune, We found the dump point near a huge truck stop. There was a huge paved area where road trains can park and manoeuvre to change trailers. I find that fascinating to watch.
We found a camp at the Injune Rodeo Grounds. This is a free camp and has a large area for campers to park and also has access to potable water. Injune also has a caravan park and low cost camping is available at the Showgrounds.
Every now and then you need to have a ‘down’ day. One of those days where you just do jobs around the motorhome, clean stuff, read a book and generally have a relaxing day.
That was our day at the lovely Takarakka Bush Retreat. I spent most of the morning washing everything. It was time to change the sheets and towels etc. Richard just doesn’t ‘get’ why I love my little washing machine so much!
Once everything I could wash had been washed it was time for some maintenance. A cover strip was coming off the laminate in the bathroom so that had to be glued. The screen door was becoming hard to keep closed so that needed attending to. The electric step is playing up so Rich got underneath and sprayed all the fittings with Silicon spray to see if that helped. The floors got washed.
How good are MukMats? Have you got one? We have three. We bought a large one to put on the ground at our doorway and I am amazed how much sand, dirt and leaves are trapped on the mat and no longer make their way inside. I was forever sweeping the floor inside but no longer have to do it as often. We loved out big mat so much we bought two small ones to use as car mats in the cab of our motorhome. They make brilliant car mats and trap dirt, grass and leaves from our shoes BEFORE we move inside the motorhome and take those things with us. A quick shake of the mat and it’s all clean again.
‘Down’ day at Takarakka Bush Retreat
In the late afternoon we both went for a wander around the lovely park. I did the walk along the creek but I didn’t see any platypus.
While we were sitting outside reading our books one of our neighbours that we’d sat next to at the bar the other night, Tony, came over to see if we had any matches. He had never made a camp fire before and wanted to give it a try. Richard asked if he wanted some help so off they went to organise a camp fire. At Takarakka you can have a camp fire but only in their designated fire pits. Tony chose the fire pit that was closest to the bar area and around 5pm we took our chairs and some drinks and nibbles across and set up around the fire pit.
Richard showed Tony how to stack the small twigs and then the bigger twigs so that the fire would draw. He used a small piece of fire lighter and lit them up with our gas lighter. Tony was so pleased to have ‘made a fire’. Tony and Clare set up their tripod so it was all recorded on video. The four of us then sat around the lovely little fire for the next few hours and shared stories. We heard more about life in Taiwan and what it was like to move to Australia having only school English. Clare told very funny stories of going to language school and how she got her first job in Australia. They have both traveled a lot and we loved hearing about Tony and Clare’s world travels.
We were later joined by another young couple Al and Kat who were camping in their tent not far away. We both love meeting people on our travels and hearing their stories. Kat is originally from Austria and came to Australia seeking adventure. When I asked them how they had met they replied ‘Tinder’. That is such a common way that young people meet these days. What a lovely young couple. They are both software engineers and live in Brisbane.
What a lovely relaxing day with a perfect finish sitting around a campfire sharing stories.
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