101 Days

100 Nights

8752 Kms

Fuel $1565.18 ($15.50 per day or 18 cents per km)

Accommodation: $3240.95 ($32.41 per night)

Breakages: Apart from the TV dying there were no major issues. That’s a first!

Route:

Tocumwal, 7 nights ‘under Covid stay in place rule’ Caravan Park

Darlington Point, 1 night, CP

Lake Cargelligo, 1 night, CP

Trundle, 1 night, Showgrounds

Ballimore, 1 night, Hair of the Dog Inn Pub Stay

Narrabri, 1 night, CP

Casino, 3 nights (waiting out the weather), CP

Tallebudgera Creek, 2 nights, CP

Somerset Park, 4 nights, Campgrounds

Kenilworth, 6 nights, Showgrounds

Kandanga, 3 nights, Bowls Club

Woodgate, 5 nights, CP

Tannum Sands, 9 nights, CP

Rockhampton, 3 nights, CP

Mulambin, 42 nights, CP

Moura, 1night, Rotary Park free camp

Theodore, 1 night, Showgrounds

Roma, 3 nights, Gun Club

Morven, 1 night, Recreation Reserve free camp

Charleville, 2 nights, Farm Stay CP

Wyandra, 1 night, Campground

Barringun, 1 night, Rest Area

Hillston, 1 night, Rest Area

The memorable moments? Quite possibly the biggest surprise of the trip was how much we enjoyed the first week in Tocumwal. We have stayed in the Tocumwal region camping on the river more times than we can count, yet this enforced stay due to NSW Covid rules meant that we could just forget about rushing north and relax and enjoy the place. The Utes in the Paddock display at Condobolin, bush art at it’s best. Trundle and Theodore showgrounds were a credit to the communities. The hospitality at Ballimore was so good that we ate far too much. The serenity of Somerset Dam campground through rain and fog and sunshine, it was heavenly. Finding the tiny towns of Esk and Toogoolawah with its quaint Bavarian church and the Coronation Hall in Somerset named in honour of a coronation that never happened. Finding donuts in Kenilworth and crumpets in Kandanga. Mulambin and the Yeppoon region of course. Great Keppel Island with mates C & W was fascinating. The starry skies of Western Qld.

The characters? Well we found relatives both distant (ours and VeeWees) and close El Prado’s but he has so many relatives. And the funny buggers? The bloke in Trundle who insisted on sharing the details of his prostate illness. The blokes in Kenilworth pub having schnitty nite and asking their mate the vet to wash his arm before dinner because they all knew what he’d been doing with cows. John the caretaker at Kandanga Bowls Club who always makes everyone welcome. Craig at Evening Star who is a wealth of information about this land and his Mum who runs the show when she’s not ‘catching a flight’ and Mary at the Wyandra pub and her rather blue, pink galah and many others.

Some may ask why we chose to come home, but frankly our winter trips are usually 3 to 3 and a half months. This year we felt more tired and ready to come home and that was probably caused by the constant worry both last winter and this winter about where covid was and how to best avoid it and whether we would be able to get home when we were ready to return.

On the Covid front: NSW cases peaked and are now reducing, Sydney has opened up though metropolitan residents can’t visit the regions yet as vaccinations aren’t high enough. Most of country Victoria is open but daily cases are just below 2000. The city of Melbourne is starting to gingerly open. The case numbers here in Australia may seem meagre compared to elsewhere but we can be thankful for being an island nation. Like them or not our politicians too have worked hard to keep us safe. Although Melbourne has just cracked the record for being the most locked down city in the world we can be grateful that we’ve been able to slip out legally both in 2020 and 2021 and enjoy two 3 month breaks in Covid free environments and hopefully boost those economies with our consumption of pots, parmies and pies.

Of Covid shots and friendly emus and a bunch of great mates, it’s been a crazy winter. Will the next trip be titled “Travels with my air fryer”?