Rangeville

Lovely night sleep, Jasper sneaking in early to snuggle up against Grandma and catching a few more hours before we all got up for lively morning coffee and quality time chatting and playing soccer with the Bula-Ball Time passed too quickly, and we suddenly realised we needed to head off.

First stop, town, for 'comfort essentials' (alcohol....oh, and fuel), watched some dude checking car doors so Brett stood guard on the truck whilst Jen sourced goodies. Headed West took a while to get out of town, Toowoomba must be the indigenous translation for 'place of slow changing traffic lights'

Very good road heading west through the Western Downs region. Passed through Oakey, then on to Dalby, the gateway to many different local attractions such as Bunya Mountains, Tara, etc, but alas, we were on a mission (behind time just a little). So, it was off to Chinchilla via Archers Crossing (at least we think it was) on the Condamine River for our first roadside cuppa. Real excitement, the Butane cannister caught alight creating a Granny-jig type dance and scramble to shut down the inferno...cause - really old and rusted out butane cannister. A quick replacement with an up-to-date model ensured a safe completion of the cuppa making task.

Back on the road, into Chinchilla, where we were fortunate to get the obligatory tourist photos, in front of the Big Watermelon (they have watermelon festivals here) and a chance 'royal' photo.

Next target Miles for stop-over. Whoops! Booked out - apparently, some big local Rugby match booked out all accommodation in town. Too late in the day to test our proficiency in setting up camp, bee-lined it to Roma whereby just west of Wallumbilla we entered Maranoa Country, the official start of Outback Queensland. After a further nervous half-hour drive in dusk and night conditions, no live wildlife encountered. However, we counted 9 dead roos and one dead wild pig. We made it to Roma safely to the comforts of The Overlander Motel.

Roma is a town renowned for Arthur Beetson and those gas fields. Hope to do our homework tonight and check out what else is on offer here.Read more