Aug 29-31 Narrabri, Coonabarabran, Mendooran

From Moree, we drove on to Narrabri and checked into the Showgrounds. Lots of space, away from main roads and powered site for only $14. Enjoyed a wander around the main street of Narrabri and thought it a nice town.

The Narrabri Showgrounds

The Australia Telescope Compact Array is located 23 km to the west of Narrabri. The following day we went for a visit. I found it quite interesting. Not so sure about Judith. I think she's looking forward to seeing the Dish at Parkes though in just a couple of days time.

Judith enjoys whispering to me about 20m away in front of another parabolic dish

Two of the six 22 metre dishes that move along a railway line to track radio wave emissions from deep space

A scale model to help one understand how the Compact Array set-up works

The telescope array is in the middle of almost nowhere. There was one place on the map nearby called Yarrie Lake so this became our destination for lunch. There was a camping ground but unfortunately dogs are not allowed. We thought it was a lovely spot for our lunch and a bit of a play.

The very pleasant Yarrie Lake, about 30kms west of Narrabri

Our lunch spot on the shores of Yarrie Lake

I found a rope in good condition and went for a swing. Not quite hot enough to let go over the water though...

We got confused (the GPS as well!) on the way back from Yarrie Lake and got stuck on about 20km of dirt tacks. Nothing too scary, but it did cause the shelf in the van to fall off the wall. (My fault for not putting it up properly in the first place.)

The next major town was Coonabarabran. The most notable difference for us was the blossom trees lining the streets. We haven't seen such trees for a long time; certainly not on our trip so far. After a shared coffee and apple turnover, we decided that we didn't want to stay in town and drove on further.

We stayed the night at a free camp site in a little town called Mendooran. We thought the town and the camp site was great, so we stayed for another day. No power, but with our new battery and solar we are fine.

The campsite by the river at Mendooran

Our morning view from the van

Our first night, in the shade of the beautiful trees

Second day, we moved into the sun - for warmth and solar charging

Mendooran is known as the mural town

Another mural on the side of an old shed

Aug 27-28 - Across the border to NSW

We know we are heading south because it's raining. Actually it was pouring! We drove through Condamine, which was flooded 6 months ago. The current rain was the first decent rain that they've had since. Good for them; bad timing for us.

The Big Cow Bell at Condamine - very wet!

The rain just got heavier as we made it to Goondoowindi. Too wet to get out of the car so we kept going into NSW and stayed at a van park at Boggabilla. Nothing special, in fact pretty run down. Woke up to a heavy mist in the morning, but cleared enough that we could go back have a look around Goondoowindi.

Brrr, waking up in Boggabilla NSW

The centre of Goondawindi

A good-looking hotel in the main street of Goondi

Nice art-deco buildings in Goondi

The only thing that Goondiwindi is famous for

Then we headed further south towards Moree. Stopped in Moree for a look around and then went on to find a camp spot about 20km out of town - Gum Flat Public Reserve. Not only was the site good, the weather cleared and we were the only campers there. The only downside was the rubbish left behing by previous campers. We lit a fire and collected a load rubbish for incineration. We could have stayed longer, but we did check out rather late the following day.

Our camp site at Gum Flat Reserve

Nice grassed area on the banks of a river

Interesting reflections on the river at dusk

Despite being the only campers, we were woken up by something rubbing against the back of the van

Aug 24-26 Inland to Chinchiila

We left our roadside stop early and went first to Miriam Vale for a coffee and then on to Gin Gin where we stopped for breakfast in our van. We stopped for lunch at Biggenden - a quintessential small country town. We enjoyed our stroll around the town.

Fancy sculpture in a park at Biggenden

We drove on to Murgon, another small country town and decided to stay in the council-run caravan park. Nothing special. The caretaker had an annoying dog called Coco who continually intimidated Princess.

The following day we were keen to check out Kingaroy, the home of Former Qld premier Joh Bjelke-Peterson. We were disappointed - not a statue to be found. No pumpkin scones anywhere either. They did name a dam after them though but that was about the extent of it. We spent some time at the Information Centre come Museum and learnt a bit about peanut growing. Had no idea where peanuts came from before that.

On the way to Kingaroy, we stopped at a small town called Wondai. We enjoyed the art gallery there as well as an art project around town called Blue Poles. Commissioned works of art were mounted on blue wooden posts. Clever! This was also the first place in all of Australia where we have been warned by a shire officer for having our dog off the leash. Princess, the criminal! He was quite nice about it though.

The old shire office at Kingaroy

And the more modern shire council building

We were on our way to Chinchilla when we found a camp spot about 5km out of town. After a nice quiet night, we decided to stay the next day and another night. No facilities so we roughed it - and enjoyed it. Back to lighting fires and digging toilet holes. The second night was punctuated with a visit from the local hoons who decided to use the nearby area for practicing their rally driving. They didn't last too long though.

A majestic old pub at Jandowe on the way to Chinchilla



We found a pretty and peaceful camp site just before Chinchilla

Our bush camp site