Comm Games Getaway, Day 10.

Had a very slow start this morning and didn't get on the road until about 9:30 am. Then it was south towards Goondiwindi via a few backroads. I dropped to see Caliguel lagoon camping area which looked pretty nice.  Talking to one of the caravaners there who said it had been pretty noisy with ski boats the previous day, so might be a spot for week day camping.

 I had lunch in a shady spot  by the road just past Westmar and then coffee in Goondiwindi.

 

Then it was south on the Bruxner Highway for awhile before taking a few back roads to a spot just outside the small town of Ashford. It's called Wells Crossing and is a nice little spot beside a creek. I set up camp around 4:30 pm with about 8 caravans but I've got a quiet spot out of the way at the back of the camping area. I went for a walk around the creek before relaxing and cooking up some dinner. 

Then it was off to bed for some reading, relatively early. 

Sent from my iPhone

Comm Games Getaway, Day 9.

Well it was time to pack up and head home. Greg and Debbie got their camper trailer packed up and left early. The rest of us had a more sedate pack up as there had been a little bit of overnight rain that had wet the tents and gazebos, so they needed a little drying out first. We hit the track out at about 8:30 am and headed into Taroom. While the others headed onto Miles and then home, I stayed for morning coffee at about the only store open in Taroom. 

Then it was onto Miles where I refueled the car and had a bite to eat. I wasn't feeling like driving too far so pulled into a free camp site about 6 km outside of Miles. It's the Gil Weir rest area and it's a pretty nice little spot. 

I set up camp and had an afternoon snooze and did some reading before cooking dinner and having an early night in bed. 

Sent from my iPhone

Comm Games Getaway, Day 8

Once again we had a bit of a sleep in and then cooked up some brekkie. We all got ready and went off for a drive out to the Spotted Gum site on the top end of the park, nothing too hard but a nice little drive. We then tried to find a spot called Ruined Castle and had a choice of a 20 km drive along the well formed gravel road or a short cut of 10 km along a track that may no longer exist. 

We chose the track and had a great little drive through the State Forest. We had to move a few fallen trees off the track and find the track every now and then when it disappeared but the GPS's kept us on track. We ended up popping out at a farm house much to the surprise of the farmer. He was quite good about it and said that the ruined castle was just a dirt mound and nowhere near where it was supposed to be. Then it was back to camp for more cheese, dips and biscuits. 

I started up the fire again and we sat around chatting before we had the other half of the shared curries for dinner. We then finished off all the fire wood before retiring for the evening. We would be packing up in the morning and heading out of the park. 

Sent from my iPhone

Comm Games Getaway, Day 7.

We all slept in a bit and then after cooking brekkie, Josh and I wandered around the creek and caves for a look. 

The rangers arrived and thoroughly checked everyone's permits.  We then went for a walk down to the gorge, about 2 km each way, fairly spectacular looking out over Gorge, although there was only a little bit of water. I flew the drone around to get a few photos. 

Back at camp we rehydrated and then had a spot of lunch. I cooked up my beef massaman curry in the thermal pot so it would be ready for the evenings shared meal. 

We had a lazy afternoon until about 3'ish when we went for a short drive (about 6 Kms all up) to the cattle dip to recharge the car and auxiliary batteries. Back at camp we got the cheese, dips and crackers out, sitting around in the shade to keep cool. When the shade covered the fire pit area I started the fire up and we moved there for further drinkies. An executive decision was made that we would only bring out half the shared meals as we had way too much food. The rest would be consumed the following evening. This proved to be a good idea as there was plenty of food. Then it was back to the fireplace for more chatting, before heading off to bed around 10 pm. 

Sent from my iPhone

Comm Games Getaway, Day 6

Had a bit of a sleep in and then cooked brekkie and packed up and hit the road by 8:30 am. Followed the road and signs to the Starkvale camp ground in the expedition national park. I was surprised that there was phone signal for most of the way but none at the camp site. I set up and marked out the spot for our group to camp and then relaxed for awhile. 

Greg and Debbie turned up around noon and set up their camper trailer and then we had some lunch. It was pretty hot so we spent the afternoon sitting in the shade and catching up. The others arrived just on 4 pm and set up in the shady section. Then it was cheese and biscuits and chatting for while until the sun started to go down. I got the fire going and after dinner we spent awhile sitting around and chatting before heading off to bed. 

Sent from my iPhone

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.

Sent from my iPhone

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. 

Sent from my iPhone