Pick Nick stop?!

We still didn't have a plan, so driving out of Roma was in a West-ish direction - with prickly pear appreciation along the way.  Yes, I know it's a pest species and has caused huge issues throughout history but I was interested to see yellow as well as red flowers, so we pulled over for a close look.

Please take note of beaming woman in new hat, proudly displaying her "half a road train sign" cos that find plays a crucial part in the adventure further down the track!

Even driving at our moderate pace, we overshot the turn-off to the Old Injune Coal Mine.  There had been a small sign quite close to the turn, which meant little advance warning of the heritage site.  

In any case, Nick turned around and we decided to take advantage of the shaded shelters for our picnic lunch.  What was for lunch?  Corned beef sandwiches!  (We actually had corned beef sandwiches for lunch all but the first and last days of our trip).

It was a very interesting spot.  I read one side of the billboard while seated and then read the other side after lunch. We spent some time wandering around the site, matching up what we could see with a couple of historical photos on the board.  

Can you see the pick heads used as supports in the apex of the picnic shelter roof?  Pretty neat, eh?!

Ace Roma-ing!

We woke early, which set the pattern for our time away.  Brightening sky is obvious through the canvas and we are very aware of bird noise also - which is a pleasant way to start the day.  

As we sat with our morning cuppas we saw that a crested pigeon was sitting on a nest in the bottle tree beside us.  That was a nice surprise cos of all the birds we had heard during the night and earlier hours, our closest neighbour wasn't one of them!

There wasn't enough milk for cereal, so we packed up to drive into town - driving to the Largest Bottle Tree first.  (We'd visited in 2018 as part of my birthday bottle tree trip).

Next stop was a return visit to Ace Drapers.  It became obvious that morning that we hadn't packed bath towels.  We could have continued to improvise but really I liked the thought of having another chance to marvel over all the stock available in what the locals refer to as the "overflow" store!

We found bath towels and a hat for me, before picking up milk and other basics (at a grocery shop around the corner).  

I was well and truly ready for my belated breakfast by then, so ate my sultana bran under a bottle tree in a little grassed area beside our parking spot.  Once we'd rinsed the dishes and stowed all the provisions, it was time to head out of town and continue our travels.

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.

Jam appreciation picnic!

I made six large jars of pretty mulberry jam yesterday.  The lid of one jar didn't seal properly, so it was destined to be opened first for proper sampling.

Today seemed a perfect day for a jam appreciation picnic.  I made a batch of scones before leaving home and then we set off - with Bandit.

I hadn't planned a destination but was pleased when we arrived at Moogerah Dam, particularly as we had this large picnic pavillion to ourselves in spite of the many cars parked nearby.

Well, not quite to ourselves.  As I set the table and Nick organised our little stove, he spotted a possum in one corner of the roof.  It was curled up at first but seemed to start moving about when I opened the jam - and it then was obvious that we were sharing the shelter with two possums, a mum and youngster.

How was the jam?  Excellent!  And the scones - well, they weren't bad either!

The $1.00 op-shop remnant I bought in Dalby was enough to make three smaller size tea-towels, which I've packed into our various picnic cases.  

One tea towel came with us today, for it's first trip out.  (We generally rinse our mugs with leftover hot water from the kettle, to be used again on longer outings.  They are washed properly once home again).

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.

As the crow flies ...

Nick and I really enjoyed seeing all the displays at last year's Carnival of Flowers. I suggested to Erin that she and I do an overnight trip to view them, before the official program commenced.  The suggestion was made around lunchtime and initially I had thought we might head up that day.  

As it happened the afternoon was busy and we drove up on Saturday morning. (Toowoomba is less then an hour and a half from home, so not a huge trek).

We detoured to see Spring Bluff (which is self-proclaimed as the most beautiful railway station in SE Queensland). And yes, it is lovely!

From there we drove up to Toowoomba, making a couple of op-shop stops and wandering around the markets, before enjoying our picnic. 

I had Erin pose near the little vintage van because it was the same as the one I decorated for her (and Nissa) many years ago.  The story of that van, is here.

We viewed the Queens Park gardens and then those at Laurel Bank Park (where I exclaimed "look at the wisteria" and Erin heard "look at the posterior")!  By 3ish, we decided it was time for afternoon tea and a rest so farewelled Toowoomba and drove across to our accommodation at Crows Nest.

Bedding upgrade / backyard camping!

Since purchasing our camper trailer almost three years ago, we've tried a few different bedding options - with varying levels of success.

Nick and I had an overnight stay in the trailer at home just before Easter and were very uncomfortable.  There were a few issues but the main problem was we'd recently upgraded our bedroom mattress (finally replacing the one that I'd bought new in 1997) - and had become used to much more luxury!

I don't know if you've bought a mattress lately but we were stunned at the starting prices.  After touring several retail outlets and becoming very confused by the choices, we opted to buy a mattress in a box.  It's been marvelous!

Given we'd only outlaid $800 for our usual mattress upgrade, we really baulked at paying similar money for low-profile/camper trailer specific options.  (And no, the mattress in a box wasn't an option for the camper trailer due to being too high and too heavy).

So the plan stalled again.  At some point though I'd found irrigation matting for a good price and we put a layer of that on the bedding area of the trailer.  (During our stint of caravan living we learned the importance of ventilation beneath mattresses).

Nick and I recently visited a local camping store to collect a product for another project (more on that later).  While there, we spotted a Blackwolf Mega Deluxe camping mat.  It was lovely!  Once home, I did some more research and sourced the same product for $289.00, delivered (a saving of $80 over store's sale price, and less than half the full retail cost).  While we waited for it to arrive, I washed down our four 4WD camping mats and chose two to use in the camper trailer.  (They rest on top of the irrigation mats and under the new Blackwolf mat).  We tested our good work for the first time last night and are extremely pleased to report success!  Hooray for us!

Of course, the benefit of this configuration is that it can still be used for tent camping if necessary.  The 4WD mats and the new Blackwolf mat are all inflatable and can be deflated/rolled for packing.