Surat

I saw a poster advertising the ten things not to miss, I think it was just in Queensland, one was the Cobb and Co Museum at Surat. It was the last coach run done in Queensland in 1924 and the last coach itself was there. As it was only seventy ks south of Roma, we deviated to pay a visit.

This was the restored coach.

The museum was well laid out and they had used things from the bush for display purposes.

Such as photos on windmill blades and a post and rail gate.

This is how the coach would have been hitched up with seven horses, the coach was licensed to carry 14 passengers.No women were allowed to ride next to the driver, maybe because they may have been a distraction if the wind blew their skirts! When the coaches were in full swing Cobb and Co used 6000 horses every day in their operations, I dont know how many routes they did or the cost I couldnt find that info.

Aside from the museum which just asked for a donation, in another room was a display of photographs from the Surat shooters. Such brilliant work, could have bought a framed photograph for $150. I did consider it but opted to buy a couple of postcards using scenes from the town. The population is only 500.

After the best coffee we have had on this trip, usually coffees are served too strong for my liking and need to add 2 or 3 sugars to make it palpable, this coffee was the best, we took a quick river walk and pied this town map with bronze animals around it.

The road across to Toowoomba wasn't the best, very up and down but it was bitumen and far better than the road to Carnavan Gorge.

Farm Stay at Roma

We had not done a farm stay before but this one came highly recommended via people on Wikicamps and they had two sites available so we went there.It was only five kilometres out of Roma and there was a roaring camp fire each night, it was quite cold when we were there.

Warren was suffering a cold and he stayed in bed while the other boys took in a movie and Sheridan and checked out the sights of Roma.

We visited the largest bottle tree in Australia with a circumverice of 9.5 metres! (Damn, cant spell this and google is not helpful, but the roundy bit of the tree was 9.5 ms). It was a big tree and very healthy looking. Just have to take my word as although we got out and walked around it, I didnt take any photos, too keen to get back in the car as it was freezing, coldest day recorded in several years and we are not used to the cold nor as we terribly prepared for it.(Still cold today and even though I am sitting outside in the sun, I know it is cold as my rings are running around on my fingers as I type)

We went to a couple of parks and walked around the Bush Garden, it was/had been a dam that the trains used to get water for when the line run steam trains. The sun had come out then so not so cold and a nice concrete path around it. The old train station lunch and then we hit the shops for last few items needed (like a long sleeved shirt, got a flanny for Warren).

Not sure if he had a name but he did like apples.

Owner's dog and there was a llama wandering around and several pea hens.

A fuel tank was being painted, I talked with the painter and he was retired and just doing it in his spare, it looked great. On the other side were horses and jockeys but this side was my favourite.

Carnarvan Gorge

For the last years Warren has wanted to visit here and has mentioned it often. It was too far away for our shake down trips because with me still working three days a week, four days wasn't long enough to get out there. Travelling south we came quite close to it and we scheduled in to stay at the Gorge for two nights to give some decent time to do some of the walks.

When we remembered that it was school holidays, we thought that we should book, ahh! they were booked out. Plan B was to stay at Rolleston which is the closest town, 100k away and drop in for a couple of hours before continuing on to Roma.

It was 60k down the main highway and then 40k or so to the west. We left about 8 am and even at that hour did have to look out for kangaroos, one pair Warren had to brake quite hard to avoid hitting the second on and they are bigger in this area.

The road got narrow after we turned to the West and after about fifteen kms we lost the bitumen and it became the worst gravel road we have travelled on and we have been on quire a bit of gravel in our time.

It was up hill and down, thru water crossings, thankfully not deep. The road was getting worse and we were worried about the caravans. Finally we got to the turn to the caravan park, the entrance to the gorge was another ten kms further on, Chris and Sheri were waiting for us as we had had pull over to  let a van go thru, had a quick debrief and decided that we didnt want to go any further so we turned around and went back over the horrible road again with Warren saying that he could not beleive that a major tourist place would have such a bad road to it.

We followed three vans out,

The eighty kilometers off the highway took two hours to drive, sometimes we were down to 20 kms an hour.

Warren said that we would leave it for another time, my comment was like never and he agreed.

The highway when we got back to it was very much appreciated.

Rolleston

We were going to stay at Carnavan Gorge, a place Warren has had on his bucket list for quite a while. When we rang to book after realising that we are in school holidays, they were full, this required a new plan.

Instead of staying there (At Carnavan Gorge) we thought that we would go to Rolleston, the closest town and  visit Carnavan Gorge on the way to Roma. First plan was to stay at CG for two days and walk some of the tracks.

The Rolleston caravan park were thrilled to have so many people stay and it was a nice park esp for $26 and no extra charge  for the kids.

All drive thrus, this photo was taken at 7 am. Had to wipe the windscreens before we left, we were looking for warmer clothes in the morning.

Help!

A drive on the country roads ended up in a quick phone call.

A bit damp underneath and a soft spot.

Bogged!

Warren grabbed the car keys and off we went. I thought that we would be helping to push out but no, Warren had packed a small tow rope. Apparently it had been in my car for some years and he put it "just in case". It is the first time it has been used.

Well, "just in case" came in handy and he had Chris out in a few minutes. Ah, travelling together does have benefits that's for sure.

Morning visits

One morning at Sapphire we were outside having breakfast, Sheridan was visiting for coffee and crumpets when one of the parrot jumped/flew onto her shoulder. It nearly had her piece of crumpet out of her hand but Warren went and got some bread and ended up feeding all of these.We counted twenty six altogether.

Sapphire

We are currently in the small township of Sapphire, nearby is Rubyvale and Anikie with Emerald being the larger regional centre forty kilometres away. It is a gem fields area.

A large pick, shovel and sieving pan stands outside the caravan park.

We all went fossicking for guess what, sapphires yesterday. I think we are dragging home a couple of buckets of sand (or stuff) from the river bank.

This is apparently  the only miners common left in Australia.

Jordan amused himself by climbing on the roots of a tree in the river bed while Sheridan and I took ourselves off to Rubyvale to suss it out, it was a little bigger but not much. great area to spend a few days.