Comm Games Getaway, Day 5.

I had a lazy pack up as I was aiming to get to the Mitchell Bakery around 8 am for brekkie. At about 7:30 am a couple with a large van pulled in and set up on the top section of the camping area and then about 10 mins later he has the whipper snipper out clearing the long grass around his van. Very organized. I had a bacon and egg roll at the bakery and then headed east to Roma where I refueled the car and stretched my legs a bit in the park. Then it was north east to Taroom. 

I got there just after midday and couldn't find a bakery so I had to have a Ned Kelly burger at the coffee shop. Not too bad. I sat in the shade in the local park and caught up on some email and internet things and booked the evenings camp site at Lake Murphy Conservation Park. There were two other bookings for the night but no one else has showed up. The camp site is great, green grass nicely mowed, well defined sites with a toilet and a shelter shed in the day use area. Some shade trees around the outside as well. 

I went for the walk to see the lake, it ended up that the scratchy grass and prickles defeated my crocs, so I continued on the longer walk around the park area but there wasn't a lot to see and the temperature was in the mid thirties. 

So I headed back to the car and had several options, 1. Put the walking boots on and try and make it to the lake to see if there was any water, 2. Get my comfy chair out and have a cold drink or 3. Get the drone out and fly it over the lake for a look. I combined 2 and 3 and got the comfy chair and cool drink and then flew the drone over the lake. It's more impressive from the air.

As there was still no one around I decided on having a shower, so I got some water from the rain water tank, heated it up a little and cleansed myself of several days of accumulated dirt and grime. 

As it's still quite warm I decided on cold meat and salad for dinner and went off to bed to read when it got dark. A car and caravan turned up in the dark around 7:30 pm.

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Comm Games Getaway, Day 4

Had a quick brekkie and pack up and hit the road around 8 am QLD time, heading north. Stopped in at the little town of Thallon which has a giant wombat in their park, as well as some quite nice art on their silos. 

Then it was west to Dirranbandi where I had a great sausage roll and a so so cappuccino at the local bakery. I turned north towards St George and continued on. The Balonne River at St George was quite high and I had a quick break in the park beside the river. 

As it was not quite time for lunch I headed north again towards what would be my final destination for the day - Mitchell. I stopped for lunch after about an hour at a truck pull off. It was quite hot out in the sun and I had to race the flies when making my chicken wrap as they were trying to get themselves wrapped up in it. Then back on what is a pretty boring road to drive on until I got to Mitchell around 2'ish. 

I had a look at the free camping spot near the weir but it wasn't very shady so continued out of town to the camping area at Fishermans Rest. Very quiet here, one caravan that is locked up and another with people around. Setup the camper and then had a restful afternoon reading and dozing off in my chair.  

I had a quick dinner of Tom Yum soup with noodles and some left over chicken and went to bed early to dodge the mozzies that started to show up as the sun went down. 

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Comm Games Getaway, Day 3.

With day light savings the sun doesn't get up very early and I saw no reason why I should. After a lazy brekkie and pack up I hit the road towards Texas and then Goondiwindi.  About 50 or so Kms before Goondiwindi there were 4 camping reserves that backed onto the the river and provided free camping for up to 14 days. 

There was no facilities but there were tons of shady spots and very few people using them. I stopped in to look at each one along the way and would definitely spend a couple of days simply chilling out. 

In Goondiwindi I returned to form, with lunch at the bakery and then refueled the car, before heading west. This is a fairly boring drive but I was trying to stay as close to the border as possible. At Talwood I turned south and crossed the border/river again and lost an hour of my life, again. Following some back roads I came to Mungindi situated right on the border/river. There is tons of room on the QLD bank of the Barwon river for camping, so after checking it out, I went for a drive out to see the One Ton Post. 

This post was used to mark out where the QLD/NSW Border went from the crinkly one where it followed rivers and ridge lines to the dead straight line that heads west to Cameron Corner. It's only a couple of Kms out of town and well sign posted. 

Back on the Barwon river I set up camp and relaxed. Very pleasant view and the internet speed is pretty good for a change. 

I now need to plan where I'll be heading tomorrow but it's probably north towards Mitchell. 

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Comm Games Getaway, Day 2.

It got cooler overnight, probably around 18 deg, making it very pleasant sleeping conditions. Got up and cooked brekkie and cleaned up, leaving around 8:30 NSW time. I had planned traveling some back roads around New Koreelah but as always happens, roads that show on the map don't always exist in real life. Instead I continued west on the Mount Lindsay Highway until turning off on Cullendore road which lead me to the road through Maryland National Park. This road runs alongside the Border fence, built to keep the wild dogs and wascally wabbits out. The road was supposed to cross the border after leaving the national park but the gate was locked, so after talking to a local farmer I continued on what was a public road, traveling through several properties and coming out at the back of Applethorpe. This little stretch of road had me opening and closing around 10 gates. 

Then it was morning tea at Vincenzo's on the highway, this place used to have a big deli and local produce section but that seems to have mainly disappeared to be replaced by the cafe/restaurant and bar with wine tastings. I stopped briefly in Stanthorpe to drop into Woolies to pick up a few groceries.  After Stanthorpe I headed west on some back roads to drop into the northernmost part of Sundown National Park, Nundubbermere Falls. There were three more gates on the way to open and close which meant another three on the way out. 

I got there about lunch time and there was one person setup camping there so I wandered over to the edge of the drop off to see if I could see the Falls but no such luck. I continued on down the side of the hill which was quite steep and shaley making my knees ache. I kept going just one more section at a time as the water wasn't quite visible, anyway I ended up at the bottom so wandered around the water hole and found quite a small set of Falls, which I assume are the Nundubbermere Falls. 

The way up was much easier on the knees but harder on the lungs and when I got to the top I really couldn't be bothered making lunch, so I rehydrated and had an apple. 

I headed out of the park opening and closing the three gates and turned west to have a look at the western section of Sundown. At the western edge of the property was another bloody gate, the seventeenth for the day and I believe my personal best for number of gates travelled through in a day. 

I dropped into the Broadwater camp ground at the western edge of Sundown and there was absolutely no one there. Then it was back out to the main road and off to see Glenlyon Dam. 

I had a quick stop here for a drink and a photo or two before heading west towards Texas. A few light rain showers passed over but they disappeared very quickly and I continued onto Bonshaw Weir where I am going to spend the night. 

There was only one set of other people here in a caravan, so hopefully it won't get too crowded as the night sets in. It was quite warm when arrived, just over 30 degs but is cooling off a bit as the sun sets.

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Comm Games Getaway, Day 1

I had most of the car packed the previous night, I just had to throw in clothes and the cold stuff for the fridge. I slept in a little bit and had brekkie and a shower before hitting the road around 8:30 am. Then it was north on the M1 to fuel up at Mudgeeraba, not a lot of traffic, so I had an easy run. Turned off at Nerang and headed out through Canungra and then onto Beaudesert where I had some morning tea. 

I then headed south through Rathdowney before turning off towards Boonah and then Lake Maroon. Along here I turned off on Waterfall Creek Road, according to the Hema I thought it should loop around and back onto the main road. This however didn't eventuate. 

It did however lead to nice little camping and day use area, supposed to contact the council before camping. I continued on and the road became quite steep and a bit washed out in places, nothing to too difficult but a bit challenging. It lead through a farm to a lookout in the Mount Barney National Park. This is where a walk to the Lower Portals starts from, I just walked a hundred metres or so uphill to the lookout. 

This is where the road stops as there is a closed gate and private property ahead, so it was back down the same way and back to the main road. I continued west on Carney's Creek and then White Swap road before stopping for a late lunch at Koreelah National Park.

After a quick walk to the Falls and a look at the map, I decided I would head to Tooloom Falls for the evening, as I had visited a couple of times but never camped there. I had forgotten that crossing the NSW border had stolen an hour of my life away but I setup camp anyway (around 4 pm local time) and wandered down to look at the Falls. 

There are about half a dozen other campers here but I've set up back away from them. It's a nice little place with lots of black cockatoos around. I relaxed around camp for awhile, cooked dinner and then went to bed to read and plan where to head the following day.

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