Home - Day 51

Darryl headed off to Elliott Heads for repairs he needed to do at our house. I knew he would be trying to get back early in time for us to head home, and that is what happened. After over 8,000km of travel we nearly lost the bikes 30km from Rocky, when part of the weld on the frame gave way, and they went over horizontal to the ground, just being held by the front of the weld and some occy straps. It was very lucky that they didn't hit the ground as there was no damage. After tying them securely we arrived home in the afternoon. I know it is wonderful to travel, but I really enjoy getting home.

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Crow's Nest - Nanango - Day 50

Rose early, 4:45am, to walk to the lookout, falls, and rockpools.

At the waterfall, (well, no waterfall as the creek wasn't flowing even after the heavy rain overnight), we could see platypus & turtles, (which I am sure you can't make out in this photo). 

 At the lookout over Diamond Valley we were greeted by one of the rare tiny Bursh-tailed Rock Wallabies. I was able to get photos and even some video before it hopped away. At the pools we saw another wallaby, and a large fish. I have to say, that apart from these animals this is the most disappointing National Park I have ever been in. I only saw one large gum tree, and the granite countryside was thirsty. 

We drove up through Yarraman, Nanango. At one point there was a tortoise on the side of the road. At Biggenden we stopped for lunch, then went for a tour to take photos of the various places of my childhood, when my family lived there in 1966.

Our house - the Methodist Manse at the time - in George Street - it still has the same fence

Biggenden State Primary School where I was in Grade 1

The front of Biggenden State Primary School

The Methodist Church where Dad was the Minister. To the left is the Church Hall where table-tennis was regularly played

We camped the night near our farm and there was a really spectacular sunset, as you can see.

Greenmount - Toowoomba - Crow's Nest - Day 49

Pretty much our destination today was Greenmount Cemetery, where some family are buried. We also did a detour at Stanthorpe to Pozieres to see if we could see the house that my grandfather Sid Anderson built on his Soldier Settlement block. We had no luck finding it. 

Further on the way we passed through Spring Creek and Kings Creek where nothing is left of the settlements. At Greenmount cemetery we found Ada Baldwin (nee Smith, nee Hargens) and her daughter and son-in-law's graves, but could not find her first two husbands and two other children.

Lunch was at Queen's park in Toowoomba, where we were 'entertained' by children in the electronic playground. We looked at Ravensbourne National Park as a potential camping spot, but rejected it as it was just a picnic spot on the main road, and then stopped at Crow's Nest National Park. 

There are bag showers, and smelly drop toilets. We chatted with a neighbour before the thunderstorm rolled in around 7:30pm. Darryl was snoring gently by 7:36! He really had a big day. The storm continued for a couple of hours, which was lovely to go to sleep to.

Warrumbungles - Day 48

Packed up and drove past Siding Springs Observatory, as well as White Gum Lookout with great views of the Mountains we had been admiring for the last few days. 

One of the rock formations just as you leave Mt Kaputar National Park

We found this amazing place along Killarney Gap Road, called Glacial Rocks. Along Rocky Creek are the most fabulous rock formations left from glacial activity. There was a free camp, but it was the wrong time of day for us to stop.

Through Coonabarabran, then Narrabri, then Inverell. We had been driving most of the day, and Darryl had initially wanted to get to Girraween, but I was pretty tired so suggested a camping spot just out of Inverell, called Joseph Willis Park. There were some locals there as we arrived but they soon disappeared. I had heard that you could find sapphires in the river so Darryl headed out to a sandbank to look. A few young guys turned up in a couple of cars to fish. We had a quiet night, and I slept well but Darryl didn't.