2023 - CQ Winter Escape

Fri 30 Jun 23 -  Gladstone  Weather: 10 feeling like 5 Deg and slightly overcast this morning with some blustering winds overnight. The day cleared and reached a modest 21 Deg, but the sneaky SW breeze kept it cool all day. Still, it was much more pleasant than the current temperatures at home in Canberra. With the occasional loud car and a freight train passing at the back of the park during the night, we had some broken sleep and stepped out of bed a little bit later than usual this morning. We were alright after having a strong plunger coffee to get us going, then I set off for an early morning visit to Mum followed by a very pleasant walk around town. Meanwhile, Noel stayed behind and did some washing and housework, and later went shopping to buy a new electric jug. We then spent most of the day with Mum, and had visits from my brothers, before I escaped for a late afternoon ride on the bike around the harbour and marina. Dinner was at Mum's again tonight, after which we w...

Thu 29 Jun 23 - Taroom to Gladstone (Towed 325km)  Weather: It was very mild overnight with the wind increasing. We woke to 11 Deg and overcast in Taroom, reaching 29 Deg and humid in Gladstone. We drove away from Taroom at 0745, along mostly very good road towards Gladstone along the Leichhardt Highway. Having never been through Theodore, 97km from Taroom, which we normally bypass on the way to Gladstone, we decided to take a short detour through the main town to see what was on offer, and while it looked worthwhile visiting, we decided to save Theodore for another day. The Showground campground located on the way into town was packed with caravans and motorhomes, and while there was plenty of room, we were happy with our decision to stay at Taroom last night. We will eventually return to Theodore sometime for a look around and stay.  Continuing on our way, the highway to Banana was quite rough, but at least there was very little traffic in both directions, making it very ple...

Wed 28 Jun 23 - Goondiwindi to Taroom (Towed 355km)  Weather:  A very pleasant 8 Deg this morning at Goondiwindi, climbing to a very Qld summer-like 31 Deg at Taroom.  It was a beautiful morning after a rare good night sleep. Getting back into the swing of unpacking and packing again, we got away at 0745. Thankfully we did get away early as it was slow going along a quiet (traffic wise), but very rough and bumpy Leichardt Highway. As rough as it was, it was stress free driving without much traffic and the warm sunshine beaming through the windscreen. We drove about 145km before stopping at 0940 at The Gums for our morning coffee. We were back on the road again shortly after, arriving at our next stop Miles at 1110, only briefly though to buy some bread for lunch. We continued to Wandoan and parked at a rest area outside the swimming pool where we had lunch. It's a very small town that looks nothing like when I last saw it more than 20 years ago.  Its a very neat...

Tue 27 Jun 23 - Eumungerie to Goondiwindi (Towed 468km) Weather: -4 at Eumungerie this morning, clear sky and no wind all day, warming to a lovely 21 Deg in Goondiwindi.  We turned the heater off when we went to bed last night, but it became uncomfortably cold by midnight, so we turned it back on again until after breakfast. Unfortunately, we haven't escaped the cold just yet. I eventually ventured outside and had a horrible time packing away the frozen hoses and power cord. We eventually got away by 0825 and the traffic was already steady, but it was thankfully mostly southbound. There were a lot more caravans on the road today but also many more road trains too. Little wonder the roads are in such poor condition. Including a couple of short breaks, our 468km drive today took us eight hours because of the countless stop and go roadworks. We also had to slow down often just to navigate large potholes and badly rutted roads.  We drove through Coonabarabran, stopping for co...

Mon 26 Jun 23 - Home to Eumungerie (Towed 425 km) Weather: A bitter 4 Deg (felt like -2), overcast and drizzly morning at home in Canberra, to a very pleasant 15 Deg, clear sky and sunny afternoon at Eumungerie. After 8 weeks at home, we are on the road again for another 10 weeks, this time we're heading north to Central Qld for some warmer weather, and to visit family of course. It has been bitterly cold in Canberra the past few weeks and we are hoping the warm weather in Qld holds out for our visit. This trip will involve fewer stops but longer stays. At the moment we have planned one week in Gladstone and three weeks in Yeppoon, after which we have no firm plans. We may venture up to Mackay again before eventually returning home by mid September.  It seems like we only got settled back at home after our trip to SA, but we managed to get a lot done in that short time. Noel got her garden looking great again, did lots of cooking and knitting, while I kept myself busy with a lot of...