Day 93 Friday 27/8/21 Theodore to Roma, sunny 25

A chilly morning and a quick flick of the diesel heater and we’re toastie and warm when suddenly, the power goes off. Never mind, the hair gets dried in front of the diesel heater again but we do need coffee. Woody goes out to check the power pole and so does El Prado. Both report that the switches are ok the local power must be out. We turn on the gas and make the coffee in the stove top pot. As we’re packing up our neighbour pops over and tells the boys that we’ve tripped the circuit breaker, reaches down and flicks the switch. Hmm, “I knew we should have done it” says Elle with a grin.

It’s a clear morning and after rough farmlands we cross the dramatic Isla Gorge and are surprised that we’ve never heard of this picturesque outcrop of range. The scenery quickly changes to heavily wooded forests of Murray pines and gums. It’s a good road but quiet.

We stretch our legs at Taroom which is also on the Dawson River and make a note of Ken’s Camp, a bush camp that sounds pretty good.

From Taroom we take the shortcut road to Roma. VeeWee had not sounded impressed with this road and we should have listened. It is a shocker, bumpy, narrow, no lines and with crumbled edges, then the car starts doing it’s over revving thing again. There are no places to pull over with a caravan until we’re 50kms from the end. Once the car has been turned off for a few minutes it’s fine. But stopping is worthwhile as we do see a black and white striped lizard and a fine pair of bustards. And before you say anything, that is not a colloquialism for Woody and El Prado!

The Roma Gun Club has doubled the size of it’s caravan parking and is now solar powered. Although it is busy, tawny frogmouths (owls) are nesting and asleep in the bottle trees.

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In Roma we buy the makings for a burger night dinner and stumble upon another gem that Elle has heard of. The Ace Drapers #2 is the most amazing shop selling all manner of goods that are stacked to the ceiling. It’s one of those places where you get the feeling that if he doesn’t have it then it’s not worth buying. We later learn a few snippets on the grapevine: that Ace Draper #1 is now a warehouse as it’s so packed with stock that it’s been deemed a fire hazard and that the present owner’s mother worked until she was 90 and requested that she be buried on a Sunday as that’s the only day that they are closed, and bus tours come out here from Brisbane just to see the shop.

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We cook our burgers while a blood red sun sets in the west and by 9:00pm a million stars light the sky.

We hear from VeeWee, it looks like we won’t be catching her as she’s home already! She was only required to show her license and border pass as she entered Victoria.

Accom: 25.00 (power, water, toilets, showers, dump point and a licensed bar)

Towing Kms: 263 tiring kms