Wing-it wanderings!

Some of our trips are particularly well thought out, with various preparation and forethought.  Not this one! There's been a lot happening behind the scenes lately, so neither of us felt motivated for packing/organising. 

When Plan A failed (due to lack of site availability), we decided to "wing it".  

Some family members weren't convinced Nick would cope with such a laissez faire approach!

We took one Engel with us, running as a fridge, with a few frozen meals stacked on the bottom.  You might be able to spot an esky in the back of Elmer.  We had a few frozen bits in there, to defrost en route (for a planned cheese platter on our first night).

I was up very early to do the last of the packing.  I also put a large piece of corned beef in the thermal cooker, to cook as we traveled.  

Our Gladstone bags and my beauty case sat on the back seat.  Nick's guitar tucked in there also.  (We fine-tuned the arrangement while "on tour"). 

On departure day we exited the driveway before 9:00am - and started heading is a West-ish direction.

I knew the corned beef wouldn't be ready by lunchtime, so we bought very nice hamburgers at Dalby and ate them in a little park just up the road.  There was a big storm after that, which made for some short-lived excitement and we were glad when we passed out of it's range.  

We reached Roma in the late afternoon and set up camp at the Roma Gun Club, next to a bottle tree.  The bar opens for a couple of hours each afternoon and we sat on the verandah enjoying our bargain drinks before returning to the camper trailer.

Our camping chairs have arms, which aren't great for guitar playing but Nick found a stool in the back of Elmer and used that for a few songs.  Later in the evening we enjoyed our cheese platter dinner under the stars. A great start to the adventure!

Day 1 = 455 kilometres.

Dalby dallying ...

Nick's been looking forward to using his Gladstone bag and toiletries case, so appreciated a chance to road-trip out to Dalby!  

We took our time getting organised on Thursday morning and arrived around lunchtime.  After a very nice cafe lunch, we checked in to our motel room and then spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening with lovely new friends.

Nick and Ann met online via a song-writing group but it was great to meet in person.  We were treated to afternoon tea and then they played guitar.  Both sang some of their original songs.  And then we picked lots of mulberries, still chatting all the time.

We checked out on Friday morning, had a huge brekkie at a nearby cafe (where we'd lunched on Thursday) and then looked at all the op-shops in town.  As usual, we found a few bargains.  I was happy with some remnants - including a $1.00 linen tea-toweling piece. 

Although we have visited Dalby a couple of times, we hadn't seen much of the larger township so drove around a bit (and found a cache) before heading back toward home.

There were a couple of detours along the way.  Oakey was a longer stop, cos their op-shops were also open - happy days!

We enjoyed a late lunch cheese platter in the park, where we've stopped previously.  

There was a cool breeze and we could see a little of the creek, so we lingered for a while before packing up and driving the last stretch back home.

Glad to Get Away!

We've done some daytrips since last September and we had an over-night backyard stay in our camper trailer - but mostly we stayed at home.  Covid-19 has obviously impacted in recent months but sometimes it's just tricky to organise time away.

Our Young Master is now a teenager and prefers not to venture too far from his room.  (The extended stint of caravan living also scarred him somewhat)!  Erin suffers motion sickness, even on shorter drives - so she offered to hold the fort at home, to give Nick and I a chance for a short break.  Given restrictions in Queensland had only just eased to allow unlimited interstate travel, our first choice of beach-side accommodation didn't work out.  Instead we opted for a budget cabin further inland.  There were a few other guests but we felt as if we had the place to ourselves - and really appreciated the quiet.

We booked a two-night stay and I was finally able to us my rejuvenated carry-all!  (I still haven't attempted to restore the tarnished metal clasps but my efforts to remove the musty smell paid off.  I found a large lavender sachet my mum made and that now lives in the bag).  Di gifted me the smaller, hand-crafted bag for Mothers Day and I used that for some other bits.  I really like how they look together and am seriously considering re-lining the leather one with similar happy yellow fabric to make them even more of a pair.