Biloela to Mackay

Rockhampton
beef capital.


An interesting little place is Biloela. An obvious stop over or a base for the mining industry workers to locate themselves. We ducked across the road to the local tavern for a nice dinner then an early'ish night.
Once again up early, breakfast then pack the car and off to Mackay. Our first stop was Rockhampton for a cool drink and some fuel. We took the roof off for the rest of the journey to Mackay to try and get a bit more air flow through the car as the temperature at Rocky hit 40 degrees!!. Whilst is was hot, the car coped well with engine temperatures staying within normal operating range.

There is not much to see along the way from Rockhampton to Mackay. The Bruce Hwy however is in quite good condition with 110km/h speed limit.

We arrived at our accommodation in Mackay and the both of us were feeling a little hot and bothered, so we cooled off in the air conditioned room before deciding to go for a walk and grab some dinner. Jacinta had a quick look online to see if there was any new years eve events that might take our fancy, but it all looked a bit dull so we decided to stay in. Wowsers.

Chased by the storms

We experienced the edge of the massive storm that swept throught the south east corner of Queensland last evening. The storm smashed Bogabilla and Goondiwindi before sweeping through to the Gold Coast. We were lucky that the worst of the storm passed to the south of us and that we wern't caught up in it.

picture of the storm passing through Toowoomba.

The next morning we woke up to not a cloud in the sky with predictions is was going to be a stinking hot day.

We passed though the townships of Blackbut, Nanango, Gayndah, Mundubberah, Eidsvold, Minto and pulled into Biloela at about 3pm - hot and sweaty. It was 36C when we pulled into the motel :(

No trip through Gayndah is complete without a picture of the giant orange.

There were more storms in the south east corner this evening but they are all to the south of us now so all we can look forward to is more very hot days!

Moree to Toowoomba - Queensland or bust.

Ah, Queensland, beautiful one day, perfect the next.

We couldnt get away quick enough. The accommodation we chose to stay at in Moree was bloody awful. Anyway, up early, pack the car and back into town to grab some breakky, get some fuel and we are off again.

We arrive at Goondiwindi and slip across the border into Queensland. We continue on northwards on the Gore Hwy, passing through a few small towns and eventually arrive at Toowoomba. Wow, its a bit bigger than I first thought. Well, we locate our motel, (right in the centre of town) and had the hotel staff involved in a guessing competition as to what type of car had just arrived. With that soon sorted, we went up to our room, unpacked and then out for some lunch.

After lunch, we took a stroll through the centre of town then back to the room to cool down a bit and relax before our next and biggest leg of our journey, Toowoomba to Biloela.

Dubbo to Moree

Historic Dubbo Gaol


Well, that was the most boring part of the journey so far. Boring, boring, nothing to see, just plain old scrub country.

Anyway, our stay in Dubbo was quite nice. Our accommodation at the RSL motel, which is of course directly opposite the Dubbo RSL, was very comfortable.

We took a short walk to the Dubbo Gaol and paid our entry to have a look. Well worth the visit if ever in Dubbo.

We headed of early in the morning for Moree. We pulled up at the nearest servo for fuel and the usual checks, water, tyres, oil etc, and whilst doing all of that, the console operator (a young male) was trying to take photos of the car through the servo window, sooo, Jacinta kindly offered to take a few happy snaps for him as he was unable to leave his post.

So the journey to Moree begins. Well, it was boring, (have I already mentioned that), uneventful and without incident we finally arrive at Moree and check into our accommodation and settle in for a rest before our next leg of the trip.

Nothing exciting to see here

Fun Filled - West Wyalong to Dubbo Leg

Our schedule had us only covering 255km today but I think we took the longest time on record to cover that distance due to frequent stops.

We started with breakfast at one of the local bakeries at West Wyalong and an "up-down-and-around" through the town to have a bit of a look about and take a few photos.

We then headed out of town towards Forbes where we discovered that the new motor museum had opened recently. McFeeters Motor Museum is a fantastic stop off and has an excellent display of both classic and historic cars.

Some of the display at McFeeters Motor Museum.

The display kept us busy for quite a while and it's well put together with something to charm everyone. Robert was delighted to see a Pontiac Transam GTA (1987) included in the display along with a good selection of rare and historic vehicles. The museum's owners have a particular interest in British marques and there was a stunning display of vehicles of that genre. This spot is highly recommended for a stop over.

Stop by the McFeeters Motor Museum.

We then motored onto Parkes and enjoyed a lunch stop at the Radio Telescope visitor centre. This was also a great place to spend some time and we enjoyed a very good lunch. Of course there was the need to take some more photos.

The dish (and car)

We passed through Peak Hill and stopped by the old Holden dealership there. It wasn't open but there was some interesting sights to be seen through the windows.

Finally we have arrived in Dubbo, we have had a walk down town and have enjoyed a tour throught the Old Dubbo Gaol.

On the Road Again

Today we are on the road again and our schedule has us travelling from Echuca to West Wyalong.

We were pulled over by the police at Deneliquin and they had a lot of questions - none of which related to their police duties. They were interested in how much fuel the car chewed through and how the registration process worked for a car like ours. Oh, they did ask Robert to blow in the breathalyser and to check his licence but really that was only an afterthought!

After Denni there is a whole lot of very wide open spaces to drive through. The surrounding farm land is very flat.

Flat and hot!

Hot! Hot! Hot and it just kept getting hotter - at 5pm at West Wyalong it was 36C. The car didn't seem to have a problem with the heat at all and we made it to West Wyalong by early afternoon.

old homestead

more wide open spaces!

Christmas Day - Echuca

Down at the "port"

Parked near a paddle steamer

Picnic lunch for Christmas

Woke to breakfast being delivered to the door, mmm nice, bacon and eggs, yoghurt, juice and fresh coffee. Then time to open a few presents. We then decided to go for a "cruise" around town and look for a good place to have xmas lunch. We also ventured across the border into NSW and had a quick look around Moama.

Found a nice quiet street and couldnt help myself and gave the black beast a squirt or two throwing us back into our seats and leaving behind just a little rubber...hoooon...

Shortly after 11.30am we returned to the motel room and packed our picnic lunch and headed off to a nice little park area near the port of Echuca that had sufficient shade to keep us cool in the 33 degree heat. We enjoyed a lovely lunch and a little red wine and just chilled.

About 3pm, we packed up and returned to the motel to have a little rest before contemplating dinner.

The paddle-steamer EmmyLou on the Murray River.