Dalby – OZ Camper Travels

Distance: 326 km
Fuel: 36 L

Woke up this morning to a blanket of fog however the sun soon burned it away.

Dalby Pioneer Museum

Opposite the caravan park there is the Dalby Pioneer Museum. I have generally stopped visiting country heritage museums because it is rather like visiting my grandmother’s house. This one looked a little bit different – it was many buildings on a large block and the advertising sign outside was intriguing.

They had a telephone exchange, fossils, a vast bottle collection, agricultural machinery, computers, adding machines, typewriters, record players, trucks, even the first and the last white painted Qld fire engines. They didn’t just have one or two of things they had dozens. It opened at 8am and I only left at 9.45 because I had to vacate the caravan site by 10am. Well worth a visit.

On the Road

Off again through the back roads – they are rough roads with few places to stop except in the towns on the way.

If you don’t stop at a town called Mundubbera where do you stop? Was able to park in the town centre by taking up two spaces and had a look around. The town obviously has a talented artist(s) because his/her murals were everywhere.

Unfortunately I changed a setting on my camera by mistake so the photos look odd Sad smile

Another 100 km to Monto where I decided to stay a night. Found the local caravan park and dropped off the camper before going into town for fuel, milk and other essentials. A massive main street with parking in the centre of the road as well as each side (room to turn a Bullock Team in?). Plenty of spaces to park and little traffic.

Rain is badly needed in this area, just before I made dinner about 5 drops of rain fell.

Fuel consumption rocketed today; the speed limit is 100kph which is fine towing the trailer. For a while today I was doing 113kph and it took me a while to notice – My excuse is that it was an open road and no traffic so I must have accidentally re-set the cruise control or something equally daft.

Distance: 344 km
Fuel: 34 L

The road from Warialda to Texas must be one of the worst in the state. It wasn’t that it was potholed or broken up it was just bumpy. I have driven on better dirt roads.

I am now in Foreign Parts.

Didn’t stop in Texas it is not that long since I stayed here. >>Click here for more about Texas<< >>And Here<<

I did stop at Inglewood for a break, a steak and kidney pie and a coffee at the bakery. The coffee was made in a machine but was surprisingly good. The machine ground the beans and treated the milk (not powdered) to produce a very respectable, hot cup of coffee with little waiting. Another job lost to automation.

The road improved but one of the problems of using back roads rather than the main highways is the lack of rest areas. The next stop was a small town called Cecil Plains only about 50km from Dalby.

Cotton harvesting seemed in full swing with massive bales waiting to be transported. Sometimes the road verges appear white with cotton but perhaps the bales are better because there was a lot less waste than I have seen on previous trips.

Dalby was unfortunately a bit of a nightmare with major roadworks happening along the length of the town. I got fuel on the way because the idea of driving back did not appeal to me. Funnily enough it was the cheapest fuel of the trip.

The caravan park was on off the main road but still affected by these roadworks – I am not kidding, the roadworks went for kms and affected the whole town. I suspect they will be great when they are finished but a major bottleneck at the moment.