Moree December 2013

December 3^rd, We finished packing up and drove 123 Klms to Moree. A lot of Road Trains use that stretch of highway and thankfully there were a lot of straight sections where they could pass us without any trouble. As soon as we drove into Moree I started looking for a place that did Rego Inspections. Both the Caravan and the car were due for Registration on the 8^th December. I was directed to the NRMA Workshop and they did the Inspection on the Caravan while we waited. It passed, once I replaced the rear numberplate light  unit, and we then went to the Gwyder Carapark and booked in for a 12 night stay. We have stayed here before and this is the only Park that has a complex of 4 Artesian Pools and a 25 metre cold Lap Pool, in their Park. Val has been looking forward to coming back to this Park for ages, as she will spend all her spare time in that Artesian water. I did a bit of setting up, then at 3pm took the car back to the NRMA Workshop and, thankfully, it passed its Rego Inspection.

December 4^th, I changed from NRMA green slip Insurance to GIO and saved $60, then went to the RTA to lodge the Rego Papers, now we’re all good for the next 12 months! We went into Town and Val did some Millers Shopping, while I joined the local Library. Our caravan friends from Goondiwindi were at this Park, so we had a few afternoon drinks with them as they were leaving in the morning.

December 13^th, For a change, I decided to go to the local Art Gallery this morning, as the Information Centre had told me there wasn’t a Museum in Moree but the Art Gallery had a few Artifacts on display. What a disappointment, they were in the middle of a changeover, so most of the walls were bare. There were 2 small displays of Aboriginal Paintings and Artifacts which were very good. Upstairs there were some paintings hanging on the walls but it wasn’t a style of painting that I appreciated. The only savior for my visit to the upstairs area was a very good piece of Sculpture tucked into a corner. As I left the Art Gallery, my only thought was “that the most interesting thing here was the old Commercial Bank Building that housed the Gallery”.

December 14^th, This is our last day in Moree and apart from starting to pack up, my last trip into Town was to return my Library books and get my $11 Visitors deposit back. We have both enjoyed our stay here with all our days spent in the same way. Val has been dieting and exercising in the Hot Artesian Pools for 2 hours in the afternoon and again for 2 hours at night. The Pools are open till 10pm and Val has lost 6 kilos and is very happy about that. I did a lot of reading and had a 30 minute soak in the pool most afternoons. Tomorrow we leave for Gunnedah for an overnight stay.

Goondiwindi, November 2013

November 26^th, We finished packing up and headed for Goondiwindi. It was only a 203Klm trip but the road was very “Rock and Roll”, probably due to the large number of big trucks that use it. We didn’t book ahead, as it isn’t necessary at this time of year, so our first stop was the Information Centre to get a list of the local caravan Parks. We have found that not all Caravan Parks are listed in our NRMA or Queensland Caravan and Camping Books. We decided to have some lunch at the Victoria Hotel, browse through the Information we had and select a Park to stay at. Once again, the lunch special was very large and enjoyable meal. We booked into the Goondiwindi Tourist Park (Top Tourist) and got ourselves on our site. When we opened up the door to the Caravan, I couldn’t believe the mess! We had a cardboard box of vegetables all over the floor, a rock salt container had tipped over in a top cupboard and spilled onto the floor, the lid of the Slow Cooker had fallen from the top bunk (luckily didn’t break), sample jars of chutney in the fridge had broken and our “Porta Loo” was on its side. So, a big clean-up job before we can make a start on setting up on our site. We soon found out that there was a group of Newcastle School Students in the Park, who were set up (with their tents) around the big Camp Kitchen and this Park also is popular with the Truckie’s working in the area. After we finished setting up we went around the Park putting up Val’s condiment signs. After the Students came home from their days outing, a group of them appeared at our Van to try the “free samples”, as noted on Val’s sign. Val had her first sale when one of the boys bought a “Fiery Chilli Tomato Chutney” for his Dad. Around 6pm a group of “Truckie’s” came over to the BBQ area (next to our Van) and started cooking their dinner. Val promptly takes one of her product list over and came back with 2 orders to be filled in the next couple of days. Later on tonight another group of Students came wandering over for a tasting and were all impressed with Val’s Lemon Butter.

 

November 27^th, I went into Town to join the Library and had a look at the Gunsynd Museum, the famous “Goondiwindi Grey”. This is Goondiwindi’s claim to fame, aside from being a great Cotton Growing area. The Museum is in the same building as the Library. It’s interesting to find out that this famous racehorse was not born from famous sires and was never expected to do any better than win a few local races. We joined the Truckie’s and the Park Owner (Peter), at the BBQ area, for dinner and had a very entertaining evening.

November 28^th, I went into Town and had a browse through The Custom House Museum. it isn't a large Museum but it still had plenty of local artefacts and was worth the time. i enjoyed it! It was a scorcher today with the temperature getting up to 37deg. Late in the afternoon, Val was very excited when she spotted a family of Tawny Frog Mouth Owls up in a tree behind our Caravan.

November 29^th, Today started off being very overcast and just before lunch brought the rain with it. Late afternoon it developed into a thunder storm for an hour then continued with heavy rain for the rest of the night. This has been the most rain we have encountered in many many months. It was so heavy at times, that we did get a few drops inside the Van but nothing to be concerned about.

December 1^st, We met with Jacq and Bill, Thelma and Allen, in the BBQ Area for “Happy Hour” drinks. Jacq and Bill are leaving in the morning, Thelma and Allen and ourselves, leave the following day. We had a good time, enjoyed a few drinks and said our goodbyes.

December 2^nd, We did our packing up this afternoon, ready to leave in the morning for Moree. Around 6pm we gathered in the BBQ Area, for drinks and a BBQ with the Truckie friends, that we have met during our stay here at this Park. Val made a Potato Bake and a Rice Salad and Tiny (Tony Small) BBQ’d some lamb heart pieces for an entrée. We all tried some heart and thought it wasn’t too bad. The Potato bake and salad were a hit with everyone. Tiny and Paul took a doggy pack of rice salad for their lunch tomorrow.

Dalby November 2013

 November 19^th, We finished packing up and drove down to Dalby. We called into the Information Centre to check on the Caravan Parks in this Town and to pick up some brochures on the sights. There was only one Caravan Park listed in our NRMA Book but the Information Centre put us onto another, just on the edge of Town, called “Pioneer Village Caravan Park”. We drove out to the Park and went in to check on their price for a week’s stay and it was $55 cheaper, so we booked in. They only had a drive through site available, which isn’t a problem, so we got ourselves set up. What we soon discovered is that this park has Workers Accommodation out the back for 150 people, with their own facilities including a Restaurant and a Gym. Most of those workers would be in the Gas Mining Industry. The Caravan Park side is full of permanent/semi permanent people who are also working in this area. After Dinner I went onto the Centrelink Site to put in my change of address, because my Pension Number has a few 8’s in it, I wasn’t able to log on no matter what I tried ( No. 8 is one of the keys not working on my keypad). In frustration I gave up!

November 20^th, It was very hot today and we were happy to go to the Shopping Centre to escape the heat and restock our larder. I had noticed yesterday, that there was a Computer Shop in the main street, so I went in to see if they could repair my Laptop keypad problem. They didn’t think they could get it done in my timeframe but suggested that the cheapest way to overcome my problem was to use a “plug-in” keypad. This had also been suggested at the last 2 places, where I had asked about repairs, but I was now at the stage where I couldn’t take it anymore, so I bought a $30 keypad, Yippee!

November 21^st, I walked over the road, from our Caravan Park, to the Pioneer Park Museum and filled in 3 hours wandering around. It is a collection of 22 buildings, relocated to that site and manned by the local Historical Society and they have an amazing collection of local items. A lot of the buildings house collections, donated or on loan from local people. This is the sort of thing I like to browse through, when we stop at country Towns, while Val is happy to browse the Shops. We drove into Town for a look around; it was 37deg. so we needed to escape the heat. I parked in the Coles carpark and sat in the car with the motor off but with the air conditioner still running. When Val came back to the car, it wouldn’t start. There was a loud clicking noise coming from the starter motor and the fan belt was barley moving on each clicking sound!  There was nothing I could do, other than look at the engine compartment like I had some idea that I might be able to find the problem and tell all the passing shoppers what my problem was. I rang the NRMA Roadside Service number and was surprised to be answered by the RACQ Operator. I asked her “how come” and she informed me that if you called from Queensland it automatically switched the call to the RACQ, that’s progress for you! After getting my details she said we will have a service van there within the hour. I sent Val off to the Woolworths Centre, in the main street, to do her thing while I waited for the RACQ. About 50 minutes later the RACQ Service Guy came and checked the battery and said it was down slightly, the alternator was putting charge into the battery and asked had I been using the auxiliary power, which I had in running the air con. He hooked up his booster cables to the battery and “lo and Behold, a Miracle” the car started up. What I hadn’t realized was that as well as running the air con. I had the headlights “ON” as well, as I have them set on “Auto” and I was in the shade! So my options were to put in a new battery at $175 or run the engine for ½ hour and see how the battery goes. You can guess which option I went with! I picked up Val and we went to the RSL for a needed Chardy and a flutter, in the cool.

November 22^nd, I drove into Town to get Val some ingredients for her lemon butter, so I took the opportunity to get a few photos and check out the Creek that runs through Town. It had plenty of water in it and some nice parkland areas along its banks, so I was thinking it would probably have fish in it. No fishing rod with me so I went home for lunch and to help Val with the Lemon Butter production.

November 25^th, We went into Town to do a bit of shopping and had a very nice lunch at one of the Pubs in Town. I had the $9 steak special, which was a typical country pub sized meal, so I didn’t need much for tea tonight. We started packing up to leave, in the morning, for Goondiwindi.

Kingaroy November 2013

November 12^th, Finished packing up at Poona and headed off to Kingaroy, with a stop at Kilkivan for lunch at “the Left Bank” Café. We both had the Ploughmans Lunch which was excellent. We booked into the Big4 Kingaroy Holiday Park and got set up in time to experience our first big electrical storm, in a long time, which then settled down to steady rain for most of the night.

November 13^th, We went into Town and I put my paperwork in at Centrelink while Val got started on the Shopping at the Supa IGA. We drove around the CBD just to familiarize ourselves with the place and went to the RSL Club for lunch and a Chardy. The storm paid us a visit again tonight but it split in two and went around us so we only had a nice shower of rain.

November 14^th, We had another storm this morning that didn’t last too long and then it was hot. We went to the Information Centre after lunch, to pick up some brochures, and found it housed an Art Gallery and Museum, as well. The Art Gallery was the old Council Chambers and we were very impressed with the quality of the local Art. The Museum I will have to go through on another day but we did go in to watch a very interesting video of the Peanut Industry in its early years and it was very back breaking work then.

November 16^th, I went back to the Museum this morning to look at all the displays that Val isn’t interested in and had an enjoyable couple of hours, just browsing.

 ^th, We called in to the Museum again, this morning, and watched the 2^nd, latest version of the Peanut story. This video showed the latest equipment, now in use on the Farms, and included a tour through the Processing Factory, which is just across the road from the Information Centre. It was very informative and educational. We then drove out to a Peanut Farm, only 7 Klms north of Town, where we were told that we could buy peanut products much cheaper than in Town, at the Peanut Van. When we got there and Val had selected what she wanted to buy, we were informed that they don’t do EFPOS and we had no cash, bugger! We drove back home and I started packing up to leave in the morning for Dalby.

November 18