Moving day is upon us , time to get up the road a bit further . Our week in Canungra has been great , with many new places visited & experienced , but it’s time to move on .
Todays destination was to be Kingaroy , Peanut capital of Australia - we were going to Dalby , but decided to tackle another area instead .
It was turning out to be a windy day , so it was going to be a good test for us - we were going to have cross winds , headwinds , and cross tail / headwinds . The first part was easy as the wind was behind us till we turned to Beaudesert , when it turned into a cross headwind - it didn’t seem to affect us at all , with the RV not moving much - I certainly wasn’t having to put any extra input into steering , until we came to the top of a ridge and were exposed to stronger winds , even then it was only a little bit of a push - much the same a when you get overtaken by a semi trailer .
The road took us through some lovely country , and some small villages - one of which had about 30 brand new houses , all empty , and have been sitting there like that for many months - must be expecting a population explosion ?? the remainder of the village was about 10 houses , all of which were more than 50 years old . The queenslander style of building became more & more common today - houses built up off the ground on stumps / poles , to allow a breezeway underneath .
We programmed the gps to take us to Esk as we were driving toward Ipswich , and as we approached Ipswich , it was sending us toward Brisbane - gut instinct told me it wasn’t right , so we headed straight ahead into Ipswich -( apparently there is another Esk , but it is in NSW , on the north coast ) .We stopped & reprogrammed the gps and away we went again , this time the right way - until we hit the motorway ( the gps isn’t quite up to date with the new road works !!) , it was telling us to keep on the motorway , when clearly the turnoff we wanted was off to our left , we went with common sense again - finally the gps caught up .
We stopped at the visitor info centre at Ferndale for a driver / loo break and to get a map that was readable , and could be followed !!! something can be said for old fashioned technology !!! Lyn started her drive and for most of the trip we seemed to be climbing - there were some downhills as well .
Wivenhoe Dam was full - a stark contrast from when we saw it in 2008 - at 15% !!
Arriving at Esk , we noticed changes there also . There seemed to be more shops - coffee shops mainly - and seemed to be a popular place to be on a Sunday . Continuing on , we stopped at Blackbutt for lunch , it was still windy and cool - we had to wear a JUMPER !! - so the stop wasn’t long . A change in destination was called for when we got to Kingaroy - we were going to stay at the showground , but the show is on 2nd & 3rd of May - this weekend coming - so they had closed the camping part down for a fortnight . Back to Plan A or was that B or maybe C ???? We continued up the road toward Murgon , where the caravan park had closed but the local council still allow camping , ( water but no power ) , for free - yes you read correctly - FREE for maximum stays of 48 hours . You can rent a key for $10 to get access to the showers & toilets from the information centre in town - it’s refundable when you give the key back . Lyn reversed the RV into place in one go & we unhitched & set up - there was a broad smile when I said “ it’s where it needs to be !!! “
We then decided to go for a drive out to Bjelke Petersen Dam for a look and maybe a paddle tomorrow if the wind backs off a lot . The dam certainly wasn’t as full as Wivenhoe , and hadn’t been for quite a while given the amount of grass that had been growing between the waterline and the full level markings .
There was some parrots - like a rosella but had more of a white head than others we have seen - a long lost relative of the ones at Moss Vale perhaps ??
We headed back in and prepared for another cool night - forecast for 6 degrees !!
Today we have gone from about 50m above sea level to 520m asl , then back to about 430m where we are . There was a variety of soil colours from sandstone , grey , black and red - bright red - and that’s where all the peanuts & corn were growing - and there was quite a lot of that too !!!
The sun was at the right angle to illuminate the grass seed.
Here’s todays map link :- you may get it tomorrow as the internet here is painfully slow !!!
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