NSW and into Qld

Moree area (Gwydir River)

Once again, we've revised our plans just a little and made our way to nearby Moree. We headed east from Moree for ~25km and found a quiet spot a couple of k's off the road, alongside the Gwydir River. A couple of locals stopped on their way back from a successful fishing arvo and other than them, we were alone in the world – besides the 40 million cockatoos who were constantly reporting on every move John made. Made him get all nostalgic, thinking how similar it was to work some days when he was out in the field (the guys at work will know that would have been a good joke, if it wasn't so true -still worth a giggle).

There were a few cows wandering around, absolutely no reminder of work though. There were only wonderful quality ladies at work! 

We took the opportunity to remember what housework was like and gave the little washing machine a hell of a workout. That leaves us with nothing to do for the next week or two, bugger, more relaxing to come!

We had a convoy (ok, a van and a camper) go past and head right down to the river flat area. We met the owners later in the arvo, old timers who used to live around Moree. Got talked at for over an hour, Jane got to literally say “Jane” and, hard to believe, John got barely ten words in. But they did have lot’s of really interesting knowledge and suggestions of where to travel and stay in the area east (Inverell etc) which we’ll follow up on a trip through there in the future. 

Toobeah

We decided to head to a little pub in the township of Toobeah just past Goondiwindi. The town doesn't consist of much, in fact it only has a small pub and a couple of houses. A young couple have bought it and are trying to make a go of it. They do OK when the seasonal workers are around, but are struggling again now. So they offer “no charge camping”, access to showers etc in return for you buying a meal. We were happy with the deal and they got over $100 out of us between meals and drinks. It’s a great little pub and was a nice break from free camping. Hot showers, cooked meals and Stage of Origin playing was a little slice of luxury. There were even some Blues supporters in the lounge. 

Check out the baby goat, it was so cute. It was a week old, already has a huge personality, especially when it was let loose in the beer garden. The little boy wasn't quite so adorable - "I don't smile" was his grumpy reply to John's encouragement to participate in a happy snap. 

We struck up a friendship with the other two couples also in vans staying for the night. One of the guys is 73 and plans to retire in two years. Problem is he’s been planning to retire in two years for quite a while. To help him take the plunge, they bought a big 5^th wheeler caravan to travel the country in …. this was it’s first outing and was only for a couple of weeks, even though they had purchased it well over a year ago. His wife is trying, without success, to get him to retire, but he is a determined (and genuinely great) guy. So the same old “John” message – don’t work a day longer than you have to, no matter how much you love it. Life is simply too short to not be exploring this amazing world in which we live.

Nindigully Pub

We made it this time. What a fun place to spend an arvo and night. Bit of a dust bowl, but full of character. Had dinner with the two couples from Toobeah Pub who stopped here too. With so many places to see, this one was worth fitting in. So this was night two of our two night pub crawl. The hidden ragers in us were let loose but are now back in check.  

Surat – generator  city – not this year though

We stayed a night in Surat last trip and refused to join the roster to run our generator (well it seemed everyone was on a roster that year). We were also packed in. So we arrived this year prepared to not stop, only to find the free camp all but deserted on “our” side of the road and only a couple of generators quietly ticking over on the other side.

When we first arrived and before crossing the bridge, we had to stop and wait whilst a large herd of cattle were being brought across the bridge. Apparently they have already traveled 1,500km on foot/hoof and the scene had drawn a large crowd of onlookers. The first half (some 500 head) came across without problem, as the drovers and working dogs really knew what they were doing. The second half, well that was a different matter and after a couple of hours of the cows steadfastly refusing to go across that “scary cattle run” of a bridge, the 2^nd team of drovers took them the long way around via a weir crossing in the bush. Watching the two teams operate was a reminder of how easy things are when you really know what you are doing ….. and conversely when you don’t. Fortunately, the very young girl on horseback was with the first group, otherwise her vocabulary would have been considerably enhanced.  

Whereas our stop last year was punctuated with “hurry up and get the TV on, The Voice is about to start” this year we were blessed to be in town when “The Old Fella” was doing his comedy show. We've never watched the TV show "Australia's got talent", he came 4^th. If he is doing a show and you can get to see him, do so, as he is a funny bloke. His performance was part of a program aimed at bringing the farming community together as they are doing it tough with sadly some of the more isolated farmers making some sad and irreversible decisions when they aren't coping. So getting folks in to town where they can network and simply socialise has been saving lives. Now that is a great outcome, and one their local Council should be very proud of as they have fought for and gain grant funding ($50K) for a rolling program of re-connecting folks socially for support networks.  

So after wondering why we’d bother to travel through Surat again, we ended up staying 3 nights, helped in part by the company of a really nice couple from Tumut.

Roma

An arvo in Roma and overnight at the showgrounds was enough of an opportunity to replenish supplies and have a gander around. Next morning, we headed off to the stockyards to watch a cattle auction. The holding yards go on forever, so many brown eyes staring pleadingly at us to rescue them from whatever was about to happen to them. Having been to car auctions where there is no “passion” invested in the sale of the vehicles, there was even less in the sale of live cattle. A “local” was kind enough to give us a better glimpse of the industry. Among the things he pointed out, the price of meat has not risen much in the last umpteen years and yet costs have continued to rise. So this really is a commodity market and not one in which people now make better than a basic living at best.

Where to next? 

Our next stop worth mentioning was Carnarvon Gorge which is an awe-inspiring place. The next blog will be about it "sometime soon". Until then, hope whatever you are doing is bringing you joy. 

Cheers,

J&J