The Big Lap - Yay - Week 1

We left home mid March and travelled across Queensland to the Northern Territory on our ‘big lap’ of Australia. This was third time lucky for us – the first time was delayed due to our beautiful 4^th granddaughter being born; the second due to Covid – so third time lucky! We try not to travel far each day and usually stay about 2 -3 nights, but that might change the closer we get to WA. Travelling through Queensland we stayed at places we already knew and have often stayed before. We waited until the wet season was over to start our trip, and although there were still two cyclones hovering off the Western Australia Coast, we were keeping an eye on them. (They did terrible damage once they crossed the WA coast). We were delayed a week due to the flooding in South East Queensland and when we finally set off we headed to Bowenville Reserve, east of Dalby for a few days. We have been here a number of times, and have seen the improvements that have been made over time. This time we stayed down near the river. The reserve has a few covered picnic tables, a toilet block, and a small playground. It is quite a large area and is free! This few days gave us time to set up the van properly for the trip and to make a list of what we forgot :) . Peter played with his new drone and I did some sewing.

The second day we woke up and the river had risen. Lucky we had planned on two nights there as the road in and out was closed due to flooding.

The third day the river had dropped and we headed to Dalby for some ‘Peter’ coffee and some groceries. Next stop was Wallumbilla fo for a couple of nights. We stopped at Chinchilla for lunch and to see the new 'BIG Watermelon'.

We stayed at the showgrounds with power and water for a donation of $10. There are also toilets, shower and a dump point.

While there we walked around the old station. Peter and I have been there before and we wanted Jonnie to see it. The story of Harry Thompson was interesting. Local legend has it that Harry was actually Steve Hart of Ned Kelly Gang fame. History tells us that he died at Glenrowan, however the bodies pulled from the burnt out tavern were not able to be identified and were assumed to members of the Kelly gang.

We also did the ‘Tourist Route’ drive, which was ok, but not a lot of interesting history to see, only a lot 'this was the site of.....'. Nice countryside though. We did find a tortoise statue where we were going to have lunch but it was very overgrown so we went back to the van to eat.

We planned on staying at Morvan Recreation Oval next and stopped at the town of Mitchell to get bread rolls for lunch. We have never stopped here. What an interesting town. 

Named after the explorer Sir Thomas Mitchell who set up camp on the river he named Maraona in June 1846. He was on an expidetion to find an overland route from Sydney to The Gulf of Carpentaria. We explored the old court house and lovely garden walk that tells the history of the area.

When we pulled into Morvan, it was quite full so we continued onto Augathella. We visit Augathella each time we are out this way and this was the first time we stayed here. There are a number of donation camps around Augathella, we chose the one closest to town. 

The toilets were chained, maybe due to Covid, and not many rubbish bins. We left $5 donation, but probably wont stay there again. We did notice the town, which is famous for its wire sculptures, have a lot less sculptures than last trip. I wonder what’s going on there.

There was a new mural (and I love murals) on the water tower.

 The end of week one and a 3 day snap lock down was put in place for anyone who had been in Brisbane on certain dates. That included us, so we headed to Blackall for our three days isolation, and start of week 2.

See PetalliTravellers on YouTube.