Day 39 - Sat 11 May: Wondai to Home

Temp: 5-23 degC

Drive: 195km; toital towed: 4950km (total distance driven: 5198km)

After a restless sleep due to the incessant wind (Sue and Mark must have sent it up our way - thank for that!), we left Wondai just after 7am and after stopping once at Curra for fuel, we arrived home just before 9:30am.

After a quick inspection of the house, we set up the van (we are going to live in while we are home) and had breakfast and mornos before getting stuck into washing, etc.

As it is Saturday, we are going out to our Local (Miners Arms Hotel) for dinner.

Doesn't really show how everything has grown, but everything needs a haircut!

Dinner at the Miners Arms in Torbanlea - Miners Arms Schnitzel (mushies, bacon, cheese) with mash and vege, and 200g steak with chips and salad - all for the sum of $31. This is by far the best pub meal we've had in 5.5 weeks for 2/3 of the price. Simply scrumptious and truly amazing for the $. Well done Miners Arms.

Day 38 - Fri 10 May: Roma to Wondai

Temp: 11-27 degC

Drive: 351km; total towed: 4735km

Walk: 2.5km

An early wake up just because we couldn't sleep. We were up and having our coffee not long after.  After a chat with G&Y while they had breakfast, we left Roma at 8am. We stopped at The Heritage Village at Miles to have breakfast and mornos, fully intending to have a stroll through the village. After eating, we decided we should just keep going. We stopped again at Chinchilla for some groceries so that we would have some stuff to eat until we can get into Hervey Bay on Monday.

We chose a minor road from Chinchilla to Wondai and it was very lumpy indeed. It was really, really good in some places, but downright abysmal in others. We arrived in Wondai just before 2:30pm so took 6.5 hours to travel not even 400km. Maybe we were driving too conservatively however, we were in no hurry. We will probably not venture out on this road again; rather go via Dalby even though it is slightly longer.

After setting up in the Wondai Rest Area, a free camp set up by the Town Council with toilets and free showers. Not that we need either however, there are some that do and most then support the town by eating at the pub, etc. We just free-loaded and made our own dinner.

Just after we tuned the TV in so we could watch the Broncos play, the rain came down and stuffed up the reception. The weather app says it will only last 30 mins.

It was great to catch up with G&Y and hope they have a wonderful trip to wherever they go.

We will be home tomorrow, a little over 5 weeks since we left.

Old pub in Chinchilla

In Coronation Park, Wondai

As above

Outside the Visitor Info Centre, Wondai

Anglican Church, Wondai

Wondai

A really old building, Wondai

Coronation Park, Wondai

Wondai

Wondai Cenotaph

Wondai

Wondai free camp

As above

As above

Day 37 - Thu 9 May: Roma

Temp: 6-25 degC

Walk (Greg): 3km

Ride/Walk: 27km

First order of business today was to find a suitable establishment to break our fasts at and we did this at the Bakearoma Bakery & Coffee Lounge. Having re-charged our batteries we were able to continue the ride around Roma to see the sights.

We did St Pauls Church again, Cenotaph, RSL, 3D mural  at the Cultural Centre, rode on the Adungadoo Pathway past Shady's Lagoon to The Big Bottle Tree, and onto the Big Rig where we learned about the story of oil in this area, how it was made and how it was taken out of the ground and is still being taken out of the ground. We also learned all about how Santos is helping the region with it's mining. It was then time to feed the worms again.

We did the Roma Art Gallery and Bush Gardens before heading home. The gardens were nothing to write home about however, the art in the gallery was quite good and many photos were taken (sorry).

The Southern Cross Windmill was on the way home. It is the largest commercially operational windmill manufactured by Southern Cross.

After our pre-dinner drinks at the vans, we ate at the clubhouse - rissoles or steak burgers. We also watched the clay pigeon shooting which was very interesting. No pictures unfortunately.

Gun club van park early this morning

Taken from inside the van

Galahs

Roma Railway Station

Outside the Church - had to take this one and the next one just as a laugh!

See above

St Pauls

As above

An ex-Army old Qld SES truck

Cenotaph

3D mural

Shady's Lagoon

Another one of the Big Bottle Tree

Adungadoo Pathway

An old 16-cylinder English electric generator

The Driller

An early model oil rig

A newer, more mobile rig with seismic truck

Art gallery 

Roma and District Heritage Quilt

The Travellers  winners of the 2009 Santos Sculpture Award

Roma Bush Gardens

Southern Cross Windmill. It was built in 1950, is 15m high and has a 9m diameter.

Our ride/walk route

Day 36 - Wed 8 May: Charleville to Roma

Temp: 7-25 degC, fine and sunny

Drive: 273km; total towed: 4384km

Ride/walk: 12km

Quite fresh this morning but we resisted the temptation to turn on the heater. Instead we got up and got mobile. We were on the road before 7:30am and whilst it was 273km to drive, it was quite an easy distance compared to some of our days and we wanted to take it easy and maybe stop at Morven and Mitchell. We think we will come back to this area for a week away sometime to do these small towns. We did stop in Mitchell but only for breakfast/mornos combined. We stopped beside a historical museum and were going to go inside but after eating we decided to push on to our final stop of Roma.

We refuelled before setting up at the Roma Gun Club in their car park. We are in an un-powered and no water site for $15. It is no different to a free camp somewhere however, this is more secure.

The drive today was lumpy to very lump in places, and very smooth in others.

After lunch we went for a ride into town. On our return, Gunther and Yvonne had arrived so we chatted for a while and made a plan to meet up again for pre-dinner drinks. Over drinks we chatted for a long time, so much so that it became quite fresh and we all (including Gunther) had to retire to our vans. Dinner was had, then blog, teeth and bed.

Some old cows at the museum at Mitchell

Mornos stop at Mitchell

We are staying at the Roma Gun Club with Clay Pigeon shooting. This is on the amenities block, not sure why it is there, perhaps it means something??

Roma Gun Club, powered sites on the right, we are on the left

The other end of the car park, mostly powered sites

Roma

An old pub at Roma

Interesting Clock Tower, Roma

Avenue of Heroes, Roma - each Bottle Tree has a plaque with a soldier's name on it and the inscription Lest we Forget

St Pauls Anglican Church, Roma

As above

The organ in St Pauls

The old Roma State School re-purposed as the South West Hospital and Health Service

Roma's largest Bottle Tree, over 100 years old and has a girth of approx 9.5m

The flower from the Bottle Tree - very pretty

Our ride today

Gunther, Yvonne, Greg and Wendy at Roma

Early sunset at the Gun Club Roma

Roma sunset

Sunset; taken 10 minutes after the picture two above