A Day trip to the Bunya Mountains from Jandowae

We did a day trip from Jandowae, to Jimbour,  the Dingo Fence, the town of Bell, up through the Bunya Mountians from the south to the north, and back to Jandowae via Niagara Road and the Coopers Gap Wind Farm, approximately 200km.

We started the day heading south from Jandowae to the small village of Jimbour to see the Jimbour Tractor. This is located on the south side of town and has a toilet block, picnic tables and a rain water tank. Nice place for lunch or a snack if passing through.

We back tracked about 15 km and turned right heading to Jimbour House. Jimbour House on Jimbour Station was closed due to Covid 19 restrictions so we will go back another time. Built in 1876 and heritage listed, the house is a private residence and and only open for special events. The gardens however, are usually open during the day for a living history walk that takes one through the gardens with sight and sound displays.

Backtracking again back to the main road and turning right at the Dingo Fence sign and following the signs to the tourist section of the Dingo Fence. We came here a number of years ago and enjoyed the trip, but we must have had a better map as this time we only traveled along one section of fence. It is not sign-posted very well, so we were a little disappointed we couldn't visit the same locations again. The longest man made structure in the world is the Great Wall of China, and the Dingo fence is said to be the second. Originally constructed in the early 1880's and completed in 1885 as a rabbit fence to protect livestock in the southern states.The fence stretches 5,614km through Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia. At one stage it stretched over 8,000km. Originally constructed of wooden posts, today it is a combination of posts, and star pickets. The fence was to be maintained by landowners, and often fell into disrepair. In 1948 the Dingo Fence Scheme was proposed and the fence became known as the Dog Fence. Today the fence is much shorter and maintained mostly by the government. Here at this 'photo' location is a picnic table and information board.

We followed the track running alongside the dingo fence up  until there were no more signs and we ended up back on  a main road, so we headed south towards Bell, a lovely little town. Named after Joshua Bell, owner of Jimbour Station, and was originally a railway terminus. The town grew around the railway and the streets are named after workers on Jimbour Station. There is a beautiful church, that we didn't visit today, but have previously. Our Lady Help of Christians Catholic Church has a lovely garden with trees and plants mentioned in the Bible. Well worth a visit.

From Bell we headed to the southern end of the Bunya Mountains.The higher we got the cooler it got.

There are some picnic areas and a lookout.

Being part of the Great Dividing Range, the highest section is 1100m above sea level. Historically, the mountains were used by Aboriginal people as a meeting place to feast on the bunya nuts every three years. Dandabah is the only village in the National Park and has a couple of cafes and picnic areas. There is also some historical building located behind one of the cafes. They were closed due to Covid19.

Walkers would love this area. There are many walks of different distances and ability levels and camp grounds and picnic areas. We did see a could of small caravans at the Dandabah campgrounds, but the roads are narrow and steep and windy in places, we would not take a van up there.

Heading back to Jandowae via Niagara Road, we went past the Coopers Gap Wind Farm. With 123 turbines, we have not seen a larger wind farm in our travels. Completed in 2019, this road is an alternative route to Jandowae from Kingaroy.

We had a leisurely trip, but one could do it in less time, or much more time.

Jandowae, Queensland

Jandowae is a small rural town in the Wambo Shire, surrounded by rich alluvial soil and has been known by many names. Rich soils have lead to pastures of sorghum, oats, and sunflowers. We also saw dairy and beef cattle, but no sheep, which were in the district in the past. The area was first known as Jindoweie, an Aboriginal name for waterhole. This name was first used by Europeans in 1862 when the settlement was proclaimed. Like many country towns, a rest area was established by John Dowaie on the bank of the creek where he had a grain storage shed, and it was known as Jondowaie Camp. John Dowaie had established a store in settlement to provide provisions to travellers and the nearby stations. When the railway came in 1914, the name was considered to close to Jondaryan so the name was changed to Jandowae to avoid confusion. With the coming of the railway the town grew.

The first European settlers arrived in the area in the 1860’s and the first white child, Henry Bateman, was born in 1866. 

There are a few old buildings in the town, including three pubs – the top pub, middle pub and bottom pub. The top pub, The Club Hotel, was built by Mulholland in 1912 and was the first pub in Jandowae and was a two storey pub. The Queensland National Bank traded from one of the pub rooms until the bank was built nearby. It was painted pink about 1992. It is now private residences.

The middle pub – The Exchange Hotel, 

and the bottom pub – Jandowae Hotel still operate as pubs.

The National Queensland Bank, that originally operated out of the The Club Hotel, was built in 1913 and is now a private residence. There is a great webpage about the National Queensland Bank that became the National Australia Bank. The old NAB bank http://www.oldnab.com/early-jandowae/

At the top of town, near the bottom pub??/top pub is historic Athlone Cottage, built about 1890. 

This is a lovely restored slab cottage with a beautiful small old fashioned garden at front and a working widmill water pump. This hut was originally located near Jandowae Dam and was occupied up to the 1970’s, and then used for storage. It was moved in 2001 to its present position and opened as part of the biannual festival if Timbertown in 2004. This is a lovely area to visit and walk around. There is a viewing platform on the river, an old dairy building, a shearers quarters, and an old school building.

Along George St and Main St are painted poles depicting the history of the area, some outside the dwellings depicting what they were originally used for. This one is outside the Jandowae Pharmacy (pictured above).

There are also a few murals around town.

Located on the main street, on the corner of George and High Streets is a large 2 metre sculpture of a dingo that represents the northern end of the dingo fence – The Longest Fence in the World. Made by Scottish sculptor Andy Scott and made of galvanised steel bits, the statue is surrounded by a replica of the fence as it was in 1948.

A short drive from Jandowae one can see a section of the fence. We drove down to follow a section of the fence that we had followed some years ago, only to find most of the track we previously followed is now ‘behind a fence’ and not accessible. Originally built as a rabbit fence to stop the plague of rabbits invading the rich fertile growing areas of the now Darling Downs. Finished in 1885, and 5614 km long, it was at one stage over 8000km and stretched from Queensland through the north-west of New South Wales down to South Australia. It was unsuccessful keeping rabbits out, and in 1914 it was converted into a wild dog fence.

We stayed at the Showgrounds for two nights, and would recommend it. There is a free camp just out of town at the Jandowae Dam, and the Golf Club north of town offers sites for self contained vans. The town has the pubs, bowls club and cafes for meals, coffees etc., and there is a butcher, chemist, SPAR supermarket, and other services one may want. Most were open with restrictions now that COVID is hopefully under control in Queensland.

Markets are held the fourth Sunday of every month, and the Jandowae Timbertown Festival is held June every two years, so we may well go back next June.

A lovely town, friendly people, and well worth a visit.

Road Trip 3 - opal country

Needing a break after being home for some 6 weeks, and with Peter working renovating, and me still sorting out books and school stuff, we headed off in the direction of Lightning Ridge, N.S.W. We arranged on our first 2017 Road Trip to Tamworth, to catch up with friends of almost 30 years, Steph and Eddie. They were doing a Graham Rogers Country Music Tour that ended in Lightning Ridge.

We only had planned about 10 days away, before needing to be home again for other commitments, so the first few days were long 3 – 4 hour drives and overnighters. After a few last minute house tasks we headed off.

First stop was Warwick for lunch and petrol. Next was Inglewood in Queensland for overnight. This is a free site provided by the town and it is well looked after, even providing free firewood for the barbecue. There are no toilets or water available, and one must be fully self-contained, but on the other side of the highway there are toilets, potable water and a dump point. The town has a few cafes and a pub, and a great pizza shop. We stocked up on milk, bread, and ham … and Peter had his coffee -$4.50 - 7/10 and he was happy.

We next stopped at Yelabon to look at the remains of the old dingo fence, which was interesting.

We stopped at Goondiwindi for petrol and continued along the Cunningham Highway to the Barwon Highway. We saw lots of cotton on the side of the road, so it must be harvesting time. 

Our next overnight stop was Nindigully Pub. We have been here before and obviously got here a little late as there would have been about 40-50 vans already here. We camped along side the Mooney River, across from the pub. There is a short walk along the river that has information boards about the history of the area.

The pub has a happy hour at 4.30pm and a bell is rung to let all the campers know. Drinks are $1 of a middy and house wine. Dinner menu is a little expensive, but if one can get there for lunch the prices are reasonable. We (as in Peter) had a few beers in the beer garden and watched as the camp fire was lit. They do not have moscato or sweet wines, so I drank water. It is a very interesting pub and well worth a look. Walking back to the van we could hear the cows mooing across the river as they were herded back to where-ever.

The next day we took a different road, the Thallon-Dirranbandi Road, which was much better, to Lightning Ridge. We checked in to the Opal Caravan Park and found Steph and Eddie. This is a lovely caravan park, although a little expensive. It has much better facilities than last time we were here, and although it is a fair distance from town, it is close to the hot artesian baths.

We like Lightning Ridge, and have been here a few times. Just so much to see and do. This time we chose to do the Green Car door tour again up to Nettleton's First Shaft. This was built in 1902 by Charles Nettleton, and although he found no opals at first, he did in future shafts. There is a labyrinth there that was built about 2011, no one is sure by who, it just appeared. One walks around the maze and contemplates good thoughts. Also at the site is an old house made of mostly cans. It has been added to since the last time we were up here and now coloured bottles form a part of the structure.

One of the great things at Lightning Ridge is the duo – Mel and Susie. We first saw them in Winton, and have been following them (maybe stalking) on FaceBook. They are very good story tellers, and are now based at Lightning Ridge and perform 6 afternoons a week at the Opal Caravan Park. 

As we were meeting up with friends on their last leg of a country music tag along, we were happy to see some new artists that we did really like. Trevor Tolton is a young performer that has a voice that reminded me of Mark Lindsay – anyone remember him?? Here Trevor (right) is performing with Alan Percy (left).

Here is the star of the Tag-along Graham Rogers. We enjoyed the concerts.

After a great 3 days at Lightning Ridge, 4 vans with 8 of us headed north to St George. We stopped at Hebel, just over the border on the Queensland side. There is not a lot there. A general store (with terrible coffee) and a pub. It is believed the Kelly gang frequented back in the day.

There is a free camp north of St George, off the Carnarvon Highway before one gets to Beardmore Dam and along the banks of Lake Kajarabie. There is room for a few vans right beside the lake, and room for many more just up on a flat part of the camp. We set up, keeping in mind the large overhanging trees, and stayed two nights, simply relaxing. We also were able to have a fire, so we got to use our new fire pit. It was great.

We had a great catch up with Steph and Eddie, but the next day we parted ways as we headed further north-east, and they headed south. 

We had planned on staying the night at Westmar camp, but the toilets were closed and it was a little exposed to the highway, so we continued on to Dalby. We can upon Bowenville Reserve. How have we not been here before?!?!? It is a large open grassed area on the banks of Oakey Creek. There are so many places for vans. The only down side is there is one small toilet block, so one really needs to be self-contained. We liked it so much we stayed an extra night before heading home.

So home again for a few weeks and then another road trip - woo hoo!