It was freezing cold as we packed up camp at Cobar Old Reservoir. What a great camp spot it is. It’s a huge area with room for lots of rigs. There must have been about 30 RV’s of all types from camper trailers to pop-top vans and caravans and motorhomes of all sizes. Council provide rubbish bins but that’s all the facilities. That’s really all we needed anyway as we are self-contained with our own bathrooms and grey water tanks.

We all enjoyed sitting around the fire and discussing our fabulous last few weeks traveling. I asked everyone which was their favourite camp spot out of all the ones we’d stayed in and I was so surprised that the kids all chose Lara Wetlands and Charlotte Plains. They said it was a toss up between the two. Isn’t that an interesting result? We’d stayed in some fancy caravan parks with jumping pillows, playgrounds, water parks and pools etc and they chose camping in the bush with an artesian pool to soak in and a camp fire to sit around.

We’d ticked off a few bucket list items like the crocodile cruise, seeing Whitehaven Beach and Hill Inlet, snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef and following the Dinosaur Trail through outback Queensland.

It was a great night’s camp for our last night of the trip. In spite of the cold the boys were snug and warm in their swags and we really appreciated our deisel heater in the morning.

We set off from Cobar about 8.45am and headed towards Mt Hope and Hillston. The road is a good one and just like the day before there were goats, goats and more goats.

It was a gorgeous sunny day for our last day of travel on this amazing trip. We stopped for a lunch break in Hillston and Pa shouted everyone fish & chips for lunch from a great little cafe near the suspension bridge. We got take away and went to the lake and for a picnic.

Back in the vehicles and all too soon we were home. Now to unpack, wash and clean, and get the motorhome ready for the next adventure.

Goodbye Charlottes Plains. We really enjoyed our stay. The bore baths looked quite spooky in the early morning with the mist coming off the hot water.

Ben and Maddie had to say one last goodbye to the farm animals.

We followed Katie’s van on the way back into Cunnamulla and again we saw lots of emus. Back in Cunnamulla we used their Dump point, filled up with lovely artesian water. The potable water was hot and we assumed it was coming straight from the town bore. Next stop was the servo to buy a couple of bags of wood for our campfires for the next couple of nights and we needed a gas bottle.

After leaving Cunnamulla we headed southwards. We had a quick stop at the NSW/Queensland border and we were very disappointed to find there was no rest area on the NSW side. There is one as you enter Queensland so people can hop out to take photos but there is none as you enter NSW. We just had to pull off the road. Poor form NSW.

Stopped in Engonnia for a toilet break. What a fabulous town sign they have. It’s made out of steel and I’m sure lots of people stop to take a photo with the sign.

We were back in red dirt country and between Ennognia and Bourke we saw lots of goats. We even saw a huge dead pig on the side of the road.

We arrived in the outback town of Bourke and, after crossing the Dalring River, called in to check out the Visitors Centre.

We drove into town and pulled up for a lunch break at the Historic Wharf area where there is parking for long vehicles. Again I made toasties for everyone.

Everyone was still keen to get some more K’s done so we traveled on towards Cobar. The biggest hazard was goats. Goats, goats and more goats. They were grazing on the green pick alongside the road and were very casual about traffic. They really didn’t take much notice of traffic at all.

Surprisingly we only saw two goats as roadkill. Obviously the goats go and sleep under the trees at night and it’s the nocturnal kangaroos that get hit by trucks. There were lots of those as roadkill. We even saw a feral tabby cat chewing on one.

Arriving at Cobar we stopped for a photo with the town sign. We hadn’t seen that one before as we’d always come into town from the southern entrance. Well done Cobar for your fabulous town signs.

We’ve camped at Cobar many times and we drove directly out to our favourite spot at the Old Resevoir. This is a fabulous free camp next to the old reservoir and the road to get there is all tar until you arrive at the res. Then it becomes a red dirt track. Evidence of the recent rains was in the huge potholes and gutters so it was slow going getting in. Council have still not put any gravel in the huge pothole near a big tree and it was full of water so we had to go around a tree as we’ve had to do before. It’s a well worn track around the tree now.

We found a great spot to set up camp next to the tree line where we were a little perfected from the biting cold wind. The boys set up their swags next to the van and close to the trees where they had no wind at all. Rich got a fire going.

I messaged an old school friend of our son, Michael, as Andrew lives in Cobar with his young family. I was pleased to get a response to say he was coming out to see us. Not long after he arrived dressed in footy gear and explained he coaches an Under 10’s Aussie Rules team. It was great to see him and catch up on his family news. He couldn’t stay long as he had to get to training, coach can’t be late!

It was Katie’s turn to cook and she cooked up a delicious chicken and mushroom casserole served with rice and we ate sitting around the little fire. We all talked about the last 6 weeks and what great adventures we’d had.

What a great sleep in! How relaxing is it when you know you don’t have a travel day and you can sleep in?

Later in the morning Rich and I took the kids down to the thermal pool for a soak. It was lovely soaking in the hot water. It comes out of the bore pipe at 42°.

Back at camp I got out my little camp oven and, using the hot coals from our fire the previous night, made a damper for morning tea. It was delicious.

It was a relaxing reading afternoon followed by another walk over to the thermal pool for another soak. It certainly was relaxing.

It was my turn to cook and we enjoyed a BBQ of steak and sausages cooked by Rich on the Biji-BBQ accompanied by a potato bake and a beetroot & feta salad. There was nothing left over! Ice cream in a cone was the usual dessert for the kids. Love that I can have ice cream in the freezer for them.

We had a chat around the campfire about the next few days and the kids surprised us by saying they were missing school and their friends. They were ready to go home. So we decided to have a big driving day the next day and see how far we could get towards home. We were still 825km from home though so it would probably take a couple of days to get there.

We enjoyed our short overnight stay at Charleville Bush Camp. It was $46 for a powered site. We found out that the park is now run by the son of the people who set up the park and as they have passed away the son inherited it. We felt that the park could do with some love as it was quite untidy but it has potential to be one of the better ones.

The amenities were nice and clean though.

We packed up and headed back into Charleville then southwards towards Cunnamulla.

30km southwest of Charleville we came to the the site of Australia’s most powerful explosion in transport history at Angellala Bridge. A truck carrying amonium nitrate crashed in 2014 and the resulting explosion was equivalent to 15 tonnes of TNT going off. The explosion measured 2.1 on the Richter scale and could be felt 30 km away. The explosion took out the road and rail bridges and sadly the rail bridge has never been rebuilt. You can no longer catch a train from Charleville to Cunnamulla, you have to go by bus.

Incredibly no one was killed in the accident, although 8 people sustained injuries. There is a memorial at the crash site. We pulled in to check it out. There is an area for cars and vans to pull into and info boards tell the story of the explosion. It is quite sobering. The remains of the railway bridge can be seen on the other side of the road bridge.

On the highway 120km from Cunnamulla there was water lying in large puddles on either side of the road . It looked like it had recently rained and the road had narrowed considerably. You wouldn’t want to drive off the road onto the muddy shoulder. You would sink!

Emus emus emus. We saw so many emus on the flat grassy plains. The children kept count and by the end of the day they’d counted 154 emus. That’s the most emus we’ve ever seen in one day!

We arrived in Cunnamulla, filled up with fuel then drove around to park near the VIC. I cooked toasties for lunch then we all walked down to the VIC passing under some trees that were full of white Corellas roosting. The branches were covered in Corellas.

We checked out the VIC and visited the statue of the Cunnamulla Fella. Of course we had to take a photo with him. Behind the VIC is the new Cunnamulla Hot Springs. We thought that would be worth a visit until we found out that it cost $45 per person for one visit. That would be a no from us.

We headed east towards Charlottes Plains. It is 50km from Cunnamulla to the turnoff to the Bore Camping Area. Lots of people make the mistake of taking the first road into Charlottes Plains however that road takes you to the homestead and the Shearer’s Campground where they have powered sites. Then you have to travel 8.5km back up to the Bore Camping Area Ground. If you wait and take the second road into Charlottes Plains it is only 4.5km of gravel road to the Bore Campground.

I’d seen the campground on so many social media posts I sort of knew what to expect. What I didn’t expect was the amount of campers. It was packed. Obviously the best spot to camp is along the bore drain however they were packed in like sardines along there so we drove right out the back and found a spot away from others. Much better!

We did a walk around the campfire until to check out the hot bore pool and it did look inviting. The water comes out of the bore at 42°. Scattered along the bore drain are bathtubs in sets of two. Anyone can hop in, fill up the tub and soak in the lovely hot artesian water.

Tyre tubes are available and you can hop into the bore drain and let the current carry you along. This is popular with kids.

Charlottes Plains have a pub on site and a merch shop. It’s all pretty cool.

There are fire drums scattered around the campground made from 44 gallon drums cut in half with legs welded on the bottom to raise them off the ground. There was one near our camp so we set that up and Rich got the fire going.

It was Katie’s turn to cook and dinner was tacos which everyone enjoys. We sat around the campfire until about 9ish.

What a cold night it was at Augathella RV Park. The boys even had frost on their swags. They said they were nice and cosy warm inside though.

We got away around 9.30am to head further south to Charleville. Katie had a quick stop at the servo to top up her diesel tank on the caravan as she might need it again to run the diesel heater over the next few nights.

We’d booked into Charleville Bush Camp for the night so we could have access to power & water and a laundry after free camping for the last three nights.

We duly arrived in Charleville and, as it was still quite early and our Bilby Experience wasnt until 1pm, we drove directly out to the Cosmos Centre. We left Katie and the kids there so they could check it out and Rich and I went back into town.

After parking the motorhome in the Main Street Rich and I wandered along checking out the stores. You know I can’t resist a good pie so we stopped at the bakery for a coffee and a meat pie. They were delicious.

As we were walking back towards the motorhome we came across katie and the kids. They’d had a great time at the Cosmos Centre learning about the solar system, our galaxy and the universe and were heading to the bakery for some lunch. We arranged to meet at the Visitor Information Centre.

The VIC in Charleville is inside the railway station. It is probably unique in that it is still a working railway station. Two trains a week come to Charleville. Sadly you can no longer take a train to Cunnamulla because part of the line south of Charleville was destroyed in an explosion many years ago. I guess the line is not viable enough to repair the bridge.

We were checked in by a lovely lady at the VIC who would be our guide to see the Bilbies. Katie and the kids arrived and we were all checked in. Promptly at 1pm we were called to follow the lady out onto the platform and further along we entered another door into a darkened room where chairs were set up. We all found a spot to sit and for the next half an hours we learnt about Australia’s dreadful record of animal extinctions since white people came to our land. It was shocking. Bilbies are one of those mammals that faced extinction except for some dedicated people who devoted their working lives to saving the Bilby.

We learnt about the Save the Bilby Fund and some of their great fundraising ideas such as convincing the chocolatier Darryl Lea to make chocolate Bilbies at Easter instead of Easter Bunnies.

We learnt about the feral animal safe enclosures that have been built and how well the protected animals inside the enclosures are doing. The cute little Bilby may be saved yet!

Next we were shown into the nocturnal house where a male Bilby and his two girlfriends reside. They are so cute with their bodies like a tiny kangaroo but grey and fluffy with long black and white tails. The male was about the size of a small cat, one of their deadly predators.

What’s that saying? ‘The best cat is a dead cat’. I’m sure the Bilby population would think so as their numbers have been decimated by feral cats and foxes and their habitats taken over by rabbits.

It was a great experience made better by the enthusiasm of our guide for the little creatures.

We left the VIC and headed to the hardware store to see if they sold wood and sure enough they did. We picked up a couple of bags of wood and a box of kindling.

It was time to find our camp for the night and headed westward out of town to Charleville Bush Camp.

The bush camp is set on a farm and has lots of powered and unpowered camp spots. Many of them are drive through. There’s an amenities block for females and one for males and a central laundry. There were lots of trees and it did feel like bush camping. The sites are large and people were quite spread out.

The owner told us at check in that he expects everyone to joint him at the communal fire pit from 4.30pm. Rich did ask if we could have our own fire and was told yes so we did that instead.

It was good to have power and water so we could get lots of washing done however Katie discovered there was no drier at the laundry only two washing machines. She was a little disappointed at that as it’s hard to get lots of washing dry when we are on the road each day.

It was my turn to cook dinner so I made a ginger cake to have for dessert with ice cream and maple syrup. Then I made a chicken, bacon & mushroom creamy sauce with spaghetii. The kids all went back for seconds and declared it a 10/10 dinner. I was happy with that!

As we were able to have a fire pit we sat around it to eat our dinner.

Farewell Lara. We’ll be back because we love it so much! We left Lara at 9.30am and it took about 30 minutes to drive out to meet the main road. It was a gorgeous sunny day.

Due to our batteries being low because they didn’t charge the day before because it was so overcast, we both had showers over at the amenities block. The donkey engine had been fired up early and the water was piping hot in the showers. The donkey keeps the water hot for about 4 hours and then donkey is relit again about 3pm in the afternoon.

The road out of Lara had dried up considerably in the two days we’d been there. There was only a couple of spots where water and mud was right across the road.

Back on the Matilda Highway we headed southwards towards Tambo.

We had a stop in Blackall to check out the monument for Jackie Howe the gun shearer who shore 321 sheep in 7 hours 40 minutes in 1892. And he did that feat using blade shears. Amazing!

We had to walk past a bakery and who can resist. I couldn’t, so we bought a couple of pies for morning tea and they were delicious.

I checked out the lovely Memorial Park across the road from where we were parked and found a couple of fabulous statues.

One is of Major Edgar Thomas Towner, one of Australia’s Victoria Cross recipients. He was born at Glencoe Station near Blackall in 1890. He enlisted in 1915 and by March 1916 was on the battlefields of Belgium and France. In 1918 he was awarded the Military Cross and in September he distinguished himself and was awarded the Victoria Cross. He left the army in 1919 and returned to the land. He reenlisted at the outbreak of war again in 1939 and was given the rank of Major. He retired from the military in 1942.

He went on to become an expert in the Lake Eyre Basin and the exploits of explorer Major Sir Thomas Mitchell. In 1955 his efforts were recognised by the James Park Thomson gold medal and a fellowship from the Royal Geographical Society of Australasia. He died at Longreach aged 82 and was buried with Anglican rites and full military honours.

The other is of a nurse from WWI.

Of course we had to stop just out of town for a photo of the iconic Blackall sign.

Out of Blackall we crossed a grid in the Dingo Fence. We last saw the Dingo Fence at Coober Pedy in South Australia. The fence is 5,614 km long and was designed to keep dingos north of the fence and out of sheep country to the south.

The countryside all around was vast black soil plains with hardly any trees because of the black soil. Trees only survive along creek or channel beds where their roots can get a hold in the soil. The mown grass on either side of the road still showed a tinge of green. It was amazing to see so much grass

We pulled up in Tambo so I could check out Tambo Teddies, the famous shop. Tambo is also famous for Ben’s Chicken Races held each night at the pub.

After a brief chat we decided to continue on to Augathella. Augathella is a tiny town of some 330 people. It is situated in grazing country. What a neat and tidy little town it is too.

We found a good spot at the donation camp beside the Warrego River. We love that these little towns encourage campers to stay by providing these great camp spots. We were more than happy to put our $10 in the donation box. Well done Augathella!

While Pa stayed at camp the rest of us went for a walk along the paved levee bank. Ben and Maddie rode their scooters and we left them having fun at the skate park.

We walked to the end of the camping area and at the end nearest the pub is an amenities block and the campers were packed in there. We prefererred the quieter part of the camping area. We checked out the pub and sat outside in the sun to enjoy a couple of beers while Riley sipped on a Solo!

Across the road from the pub was a butcher. I checked it out and bought some steak and sausages. Further long the Main Street we stopped at the little supermarket and picked up a couple of things.

I do like to support these little towns that make campers feel so welcome.

In the park where the skate park is there is another big thing, The Big Meat Ant. I hope I never get to meet an ant of that size! The kids had fun at the skate park.

Further along the street is the painted water tower

Back at camp we enjoyed dinner of lasagne, salad made by Maddie and slightly burnt garlic bread! Thanks Katie!

Everyone retired early as it became very cold and the little fire pit wasn’t keeping us warm. We really needed a big fire like we usually have at Mikala, our mountain place.

We decided to stay an extra day as I was able to change our Bilby Experience Tour in Charleville from Friday to Saturday. This meant we could stay for another night at Lara. It really is one of our favourite camp spots. I think I might have said that before!

Brian & Helen and Carol & David left in the morning to head off on further travels. The rest of us walked down to reception to pay for another day. It seems to happen each time we’ve been to Lara. We always extend our stay!

Robert then moved his van into the gap left by the departed vans and it was closer to Katie’s van. He then set up his fire pit in the middle.

Pa had a soak at the thermal pool with Ben in the morning. Maddie went kayaking with Aunty Catie again, Riley and Ben went off to the thermal pool. Ben is happy to go to the thermal pool with anyone.

In the late morning I made a batch of scones in our oven. I forgot to put the chopped dates in the mix so I had to add them on top. They still tasted OK.

It became quite cold and Robert got the little fire pit going. As we sat around the fire everyone moved closer and closer until we were almost on top of it. It had become bitterly cold.

Riley, Ben & Maddie went off to play mini golf and then later Ben and Maddie rode by on bikes. They were having fun.

It was my turn to cook and I prepared a pork rolled roast and veggies to cook in my little oven. Yum.

What a cold and overcast day it had been. We all sat around Robert’s little fire pit rugged up in our jackets and beanies to keep warm.

Our batteries were struggling as they hadn’t had a good chance to top up due to the cloud cover all day. No diesel heater for us! Not enough power to run it. We seriously need to look at upgrading our solar panels to ones with more watts!