Day 6 – Scarborough to Mundubbera

We left Scarborough at 0800 to meet up with friends Greg and Anne Ison at a truckstop south of Gympie for brunch.  I haven’t had a “Big Breakfast” for years and truckstop breakfasts are the best.  So I ordered one and it was delicious.  Helen had a boring ham and cheese toasted sandwich.  We had a great chat catching up and after about an hour or so we departed and headed to Mundubbera via Gayndah.  The road was bloody awful.  Parts of it were single lane with on-coming traffic requiring you to drop your left wheels in the dirt.  No fun with a 3 ton caravan.  The rest of the road was just plain rough, typical of Queensland country roads.  The freeway driving to Gympie was easy, but after over 3 hours of this rough country road stuff I was looking forward to stopping.

We arrived in Mundubbera mid afternoon and checked into this lovely caravan park.  It’s just small but very clean and neat, and the people were just so pleasant.  At night they have a firepit gathering to meet other campers and socialise.  The fun part of country caravan parks.

The fire pit is a great concrete pit and we all sat around the fire.  It got a bit cold as the sun went down and we met some very nice people around the fire.  The couple on the site next to us live out western Queensland but travel in their caravan and current model F250 pickup truck (nice rig).  They’ve been here in Mundubbera for a couple of nights before we got here and just travelling where they feel like going.  We also met a guy who is semi retired but is currently contracted to do some roadside spraying around the local area.  Over the last couple of nights here, there was a contingent of ex-military guys who gathered for ANZAC Day and left Mundubbera this morning.  Apparently they consumed a good stock of Bundaberg Rum, even for breakfast.  After a couple of hours around the fire, we went back to the caravan for dinner.  Tomorrow we’re off to Emerald.

Helen’s Highlights/Minnie’s Musings

Actually, it’s not so much a highlight as much as an interesting observation. When we parked there was a couple sitting outside their van opposite us. The male; probably husband; was sitting with his feet up on the wife’s legs. She was scrubbing his feet with a file and then rubbing cream onto them……I have made it quite clear to Michael that that is NEVER EVER going to happen to him!!!!!!!!!

I went for a lovely walk into the town and came across some great artwork on a water tower. Hopefully, we will see lots more on our travels.

Day 7 – Mundubbera to Emerald

Departed the caravan park and turned left to what I thought was the right direction for Emerald.  Turns out the GPS had taken us that way because I had confused it by turning left instead of right.  Once we understood we were actually heading south instead of north we were then on the right track (folks are dumb where I come from!!!).  Just south of Monto we unexpectedly came across some silo art outside the town.  A place called Three Moon Cave.  Beautiful.  How they do it on a curved surface is beyond me.

The road is still shitty out here.  Bloody rough and bumpy.  We occasionally come across a sign saying “Rough Surface” but in reality it’s the same as the rest of the highway.  We stopped for a break at a roadside stop for a refresh as the driving was strenuous.

In Biloela we saw a Foodworks Supermarket with a coffee shop and bakery next to it.  Had to have a coffee.  We got some snacks too and I had the most delicious apple pie I can remember.  So I had to have another to take away with us.

Onwards to Emerald on the last 170km leg.  This is coal country and we drove alongside the coal railway line.  Quite a busy line with very long coal trains.  We counted 100 coal trucks on one train with two engines up front and one in the middle.  This line is electrified so the engines are electric, not diesel/electric.

Blackall has a large sign saying “The Coal Capital of Queensland.”  There are a number of open cut coal mines visible from the road and these look huge.  Big mountains of coal.  We passed a train being loaded but unfortunately the picture was blurred, so no photo.

We pulled into Emerald about 4pm and checked in to the caravan park.  We then went and topped up with fuel and did some grocery shopping.  Helen then called Adam Jarvis, the son of a friend we spent time with at the Gold Coast a few days earlier.  Had a great evening with Adam and his wife Trish and we sunk a few beers catching up on old times again.  Now just finishing off this blog and tomorrow we leave for Winton.

Helen’s Highlights/Minnie’s Musings

One of the highlights today was that I actually stayed awake for the entire trip. Normally I doze off along the way and miss lots of the great scenery but not today ….. because it was too damn rough to sleep.

But definitely the best part was catching up with Adam and Trish and their 2 gorgeous dogs. A lovely family and we will make sure we continue to stay in touch.