K22/02/14 We finally said goodbye to our families and friends and headed off to start our trip to Western Australia. We meandered up the highway heading north then took a left heading towards Kilcoy then turned into to Esk for afternoon tea. We left Esk then heading to towards chinchilla with an overnight camp at the Fred buetel lookout. The lookout as it's name suggests is quite high up and then the weather closed in and we had a wet and misty night (16 degrees) which was quite a shock after the hot Brisbane weather we had become accustomed too. In the morning we had to chase around under the seats looking for some warmer cloths as we were both bloody cold anyway once we drove down off the mountain we soon warmed up.
23/02/14 we arrived in chinchilla and did a grocery shop then headed onto the weir to free camp for a few days. We were lucky as not many campers were at the weir so we were able to plug into free power so we could run the air cond as the day time temperatures were in the mid thirties so much for the cold spell up on the lookout. We could not believe how little water was in the weir as there were islands and tree trunks showing where speed boats and water skiers were going past the last time we were here just 6 months ago. Warren caught several carp which are classed as junk fish and you are not allowed to return them to the water once caught aas there is a significant fine if you are caught.
28/02/14 headed off to Texas to free camp on the river, so arrived later than we usually do so pulled over on the Qld side off the river for the first night then crossed over the bridge and setup camp on the NSW side more permanently for a few days. We met a lovely couple Barbara and Ron who were also in a motorhome and travelling around Australia as well so spent a good deal of our time yarning to them and then we all got together for happy hour. As it was hot 34-38 degrees we would wade out into the river with our chairs and sit on them with the water up to our waists to cool off and after a while we were joined by other campers so that must of looked quite comical all the grey nomads sitting in the middle of the river in the middle of nowhere especially for the traffic driving over the bridge.
03/03/14 heading south into a little whistle stop called "Yetman" where we planned to stay two nogts and recharge our house batteries before moving on again. Not much here except a pub, school, grocery general store and a servo workshop. Once again quite hot mid to high thirties.MIn was able to catch up with the washing as there were free washing machines here which is rather unusual as you normally pay $4 per wash.
05/03/14 headed onto Inverell and had another shop and decided to get two more solar panels fitted to the roof of the motorhome to allow better charging of the house batteries so we would be more self sufficient with regards to free camping. At the suggestion of the lady in the shop she recommended us camping at Copeton dam on the north side at $10 per night for a powered site that's good value so we headed in to the camp site and set up camp. Met a lovely couple again here, Tom and Donna in their 5th wheeler with the little dog. They had been camped here since November and were staying until after Easter so their camp site was well setup. Tom had an F250 7.3 litre turbo diesel as the tow vehicle, man this is sure one grunty machine. Tom also had a skinny tinny which was 4.3 metres long and about 1 metre wide and I went fishing with him on the dam one day and it's a bit like being in a canoe so you have to be careful how you move especially with two of you in it or it will tip over. We caught a couple of Redfin but they were too small so dumped them. What a great camping site Copeton dam is and it's water storage is sorely for irrigation. The dam storage capacity at full supply is 1,364,000 ML which is more than three times the size of Sydney Harbour. The people we met at Texas Ron and Barbarra came out to the dam and stayed a couple of days as we'll then they headed onto Bundarra and we said we would met them there. We spent several enjoyable days here and will return that's for sure.
15/03/14 we headed onto a road side stop at Bundarra not far south of Inverell where we met up with our friends Ron and Barb again. We were camped right next to the river and saw several of the elusive platypus playing in the river which is a rare event indeed. The first afternoon camped here saw two rather violent storms came over with really high winds and heavy rain and apparently in town 2 ks away a shed lost its roof. Ironically Min has a Facebook friend from the previous time we stayed in chinchilla in 2013 Ian and Carolyn and she had just messages min to say that they were camped at the Bundarra campsite and min replied so are we and when they both looked out their respective doors and found we were camped 100 metres away how funny is that. It was a long happy hour that afternoon for sure.
17/03/14 we moved onto Bendemere free camp near the New England Highway for a one nighter and after we set up camp we wandered down to the local pub for a meal.
18/03/14 headed away and went through the towns of Tamworth, Gunnedah, Coonabarabran,Gilgandra, Warren and an overnight stop in between the railway and the highway.
19/03/14 back on the road heading west towards SA, next stop Cobar then onto Wilcannia where the local indigenous we're laying around in the sunshine then into Broken hill for an over nighter. We went out to Silverton where they made the mad max movies and had a look around then back into town to camp at the local caravan park where we paid $30 for an unpowered site on tree bark anyway that's the way it is in some places. Spend the morning in town and after a coffee headed west again.
23/03/14 arrived in Petersborough and had a look around the tram museum and also through all the miniature trains and implements that were hand built by a local guy Eldon Zimmermann and his wife Mary made all the little people,not classed as dolls.
Eldon build a miniature train station after it had been knocked down by using the old stone bricks and cutting each the same size (photos)
We decided to have dinner in the local pub and then camped just over the road behind the information centre but sadly next to the train line which meant buggar all sleep.
Will that's all for now folks,till next time goodnight Min & Wassa
