Chinchilla-ed celebrations!

New setup for the New Year!  We had intended to take our "new" Spacevan away in November but wet weather foiled our plans, so we stayed in a budget cabin at Tin Can Bay instead.

We didn't receive our new car till early December, so this was the first trip for it and the 2015 Spacevan. 

There wasn't a lot of planning.  Our destination was only chosen when we stopped for lunch, 1.5 hours/120 km after leaving home!

We thought we'd just stay one night away, though decided on a second night soon after arrival.  

There was some synchronicity in going back to Chinchilla, which had been the final campsite for our previous Spacevan and Elmer the Gold, back in April (on the way home from our Carnarvon Gorge-ing).  Mr Dog was very excited to join us for this trip, though was not impressed with all the ants taking over his food bowl! 

We departed home on our 18th wedding anniversary.  After consulting the archives we realised it was our 28th camping adventure, in just over 15 years.  There have been various upgrades over that time, since hiring a soft floor camper in late 2008 then buying basic gear in very early 2009 (and needing two cars to carry us and everything else to a free camp fairly close to home)!  

Here's to many more happy adventures!

Chinchilla-ing!

We left Mitchell at 10:00am on ANZAC Day.  Although we'd been advised the baths would open at 12:00, we decided we'd enjoy them on another visit - so headed back to Roma (where many memorial bottle trees had ANZAC wreaths).

There was no need to re-fuel, so we made our way toward home.  We'd thought of staying overnight at Dalby but stopped at Chinchilla.  

Although we had stayed at Chinchilla Weir on another occasion, it was easier to have a powered site for the Spacevan, so we chose Charleys Creek Campgrounds.

As much as we'd loved Carnavon Gorge, we hadn't been so keen on the busy-ness of our caravan park there - so really appreciated some space around us and being right beside the creek.  

The caretaker suggested we buy a bag of firewood and have a fire, which was a splendid idea! 

Charleys Creek was lovely and we stayed another night - so had two fires! 

We rang the insurer to arrange a claim assessment - for the day after we returned home.  

Chinchilla Cactoblastis Monument

The Boonarga Cactoblastis Memorial Hall was built in 1936 by local farmers, to recognise the success of the moth in eradicating the prickly pear plague throughout rural Australia.  

You can read an excellent history of prickly pear, here).

We made a very quick stop at the Cactoblastis Memorial Hall on the way out to Miles.  It had been on my list since reading about it at Dalby in 2017, while visiting the cactoblastis monument.  

Usually we spot the hall as we zip past but we were more on-the-ball this time.

We detoured into Chinchilla on the way home, keen to view the "Bug Farm" replica shed, which was detailed in our "Explore Chinchilla" brochure.  

The two sites are quite separate from each other, about 17.5km apart.

It was such a great display and we were very happy to have made a visit.  

(And there was a geocache nearby also - which was another bonus, bringing our tally to 677 finds)!

"The cactoblastis moth and its larvae eradicated the nuisance plant, the "prickly pear" which covered much of Queensland's farm land in the early 1900s.  A monument and replica shed is located near the entrance to the property "The Shanti" on Clarkee's Road which operated as a Field Station to breed the moth in the early 1930s."

We hadn't previously visited Chinchilla, though we camped at the Weir on the way home from Roma in 2018.  We had a bit of a wander around the town after leaving the bug shed.  It seemed a good time to have lunch, so we did that under some trees near the art gallery - and then viewed the current exhibition when we finished our pastries.  I'm thinking we'll return to Chinchilla for a few days, hopefully soon - and have a better look around the area.

Chillin' out at Chinchilla ...

Di had sent pics of Chinchilla Weir when she stayed overnight a couple of weeks ago.  It looked a lovely place and I was pleased we would get to see it.

Soon after arrival we were all relaxing, enjoying the late afternoon light.  Nick and Vaughan played Magic.  Erin knitted and I sipped tea (from our Ace Drapers pot!) while catching up on my journaling, watching various birds by the water and in the nearby trees.  It was very pleasant.

When the light faded, Vaughan lit a small fire - and we used it along with our Cobb Cookers to chef sausages, baked potatoes and some frozen vegetables.

Our neighbour, Earl (a cheerful chap travelling around with his fat sausage dog, filling in time till he died), donated one of his small logs to feed our fire - and we returned more than half of it the next morning!

Everything was so still when we woke.  There were lots of reflections. Very pretty. I would have been quite happy to stay longer, had time allowed.  Perhaps another trip.

When first awake, Nick and I took a short drive back toward Chinchilla.

We bought milk for our morning cups of tea/coffee.  I was also able to get some cash, so as to leave a donation at the tourist info office (for our stay).

I'd pre-mixed pikelet ingredients before leaving home so we had a fine breakfast, keenly supervised by several blue-faced honeyeaters!

Apostle birds had also visited but they were more fond of bread.  As we sat around eating brekkie Erin and I spotted a new-to-us bird, which she later identified as a Striped Honeyeater - and we're fairly sure we saw a Little Friarbird, too.

We left Chinchilla right on 9:00am, after handing our donation to one of the staff members at the tourist office. (It was 270km to home and we encountered more roadworks along the way, before driving through our gate in the early afternoon).