We decided not to risk getting stuck so we headed back to the main road and went north towards Hebel Gate. At Wirrawa we turned off to Cumborah to once again stick with the back roads and this was going well until we hit a massive lake that wasn't marked on any of the maps.
The marked detour took us through the quite odd little opal mining community of Grawin/Glengarry. The first time we realised that there was anyone living along this road was from the signs (painted on old car doors) indicating quite a few different drinking establishments. Then we got to the community and found it was a mix of all the mine shafts you see around places like Coober Pedy but in amongst the trees and it had a range of caravans, tents, lean-tos, shacks, etc. that were obviously where the opal miners spent their time when they weren't mining or drinking. We continued on the detour to Cumborah and then headed into Lightning Ridge, which looked much more like Coober Pedy with the open mine shafts all around the place.
We had a bite to eat and must have just missed the Rutes and their travelling grey nomad caravan show as they were headed show to SA and we were headed north to Qld. We continued on to Collarenebri and since neither of us particularly likes Moree we went north to Mungindi and continued along the road to Goodiwindi. It was starting to get a bit late so we were looking for a camp site and ended turning north at Boomi and finding a great spot on the Boomi river a couple of kms past the town. Having the maps on the iPads as we drove made it so much easier to spot places like this as we could see where a decent sized stream crossed the road. We got the fire going and I ended up cooking up whatever was left in the Waeco, as this would our last night away. The other bonus of this spot was that as it wasn't that far from town we had great 3G reception for the iPads.
We slept in a little the following morning as it was pretty chilly, but we ended up being packed and away by 8 am. We drove into Goondiwindi and had breakfast at the bakery in the main street. Once again the food was pretty good and we planned that we wouldn't just drive straight home but take the scenic route along the Qld/NSW border. We refuelled for the last time and headed off along the border. There was some very beautiful spots along the various rivers that make up the border here, however the maps weren't too accurate and we ended up doing a bit of exploring and backtracking. This involved driving across one section of water a few times to try and remove some of the dust from the trip.
We dropped into Texas for a look and continued along the scenic route. At one stage we had to reluctantly cross back onto the NSW side of the border when the track we were following turned into a mine site, which prohibited any unauthorised vehicles from continuing. Then we travelled trough some more back roads to Stanthorpe before getting back onto the main road to Warwick. A bit north of Stanthorpe, Brett introduced me to the wonders of Vincenzo's Deli. They had some great produce and foods that you simply don't see in the supermarkets. I picked up some great ham and bacon and a few nibblies for the rest of the trip home. I think Brett purchased half of the store, especially after he had to phone up his wife and find out what he had forgotten the first time.
From there it was a pretty boring drive back through Warwick, down through Cunningham's Gap before I peeled off to the Gold Coast just north of Aratula while Brett continued onto to Brissy. As usual the drive back through Boonah, Beaudesert and Canungra on a Sunday afternoon was tedious with the day trippers and tourists out and about in full force. I got home about 6'ish, unpacked the car and then had a very long hot shower before polishing off the ham, cheese and bread rolls I had picked up at Vincenzos for dinner. The B Trip meter on the car read exactly 5,800 km for the trip.
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