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| A road to excellent adventures |
Ain't much a young ringer like me can't hack
Got a 4 wheel drive and a red dust track
Thank God I'm a country boy.
(Australian version by Lee Kernaghan)
O little towns of Aussie Land
How different you all are
You dot the wide brown countryside
Beneath a wide blue sky.
Leaving Deanna & Juris in Brisbane, we drove out the highway through the Lockyer Valley, up and up into Toowoomba, and into the Darling Downs. A beautiful drive through rich countryside. Small towns bordered rivers, dotted the hills and cheered the roadside. Throughout the valley and onto higher ground, farms stretched beyond to a far horizon. Distant hills, with varying shades of blue, circled and protected the undulating plateaus textured with agricultural patchwork.
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| Rudd's Pub. After author Steele Rudd. |
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| A coldie from the bar |
Many stories of the old radio dramatisation, "Dad and Dave", were penned here by author, Steele Rudd, who lived in the district.
The town also has a memorial to Sister Kenny for her treatment for children afflicted by polio and infant paralysis.
We watched the kids stroll to school as we ate breakfast in the free camp opposite the pub. A couple of school buses dropped a handful of students off and parents drove their kids in from nearby farms. Galahs screeched overhead and the occaisional crow "carked". That was peak hour.
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| Steel Rudd sat here and penned his stories |
A warm fire and a glass of red at the end of an eventful day. We couldn't eat a thing after feasting ourselves on Deanna's chicken casserole.
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| Which one is Bill? |
At the old historic railway station we met a couple of old swells.
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| Our last camp at Nobby |
The country folk were friendly and helpful:
The truckie from Melbourne who towed us to safety off the highway
The cheerful tow truck driver who drove up to Inglewood to collect us and then drove us 100km down to Goondiwindi
The happy lady at the Information centre
The ladies at the motel
The friendly couple at Avis rent-a-car
We had a pleasant experience at Goondiwindi. Even the joggers smile and say "hello"...now would THAT happen in Melbourne?
We enjoyed a bbq on the McIntyre River and fed sausages to shy magpies...love those birds.
Tomorrow we say "goodbye" to Queensland. When we cross the river just down the road, we enter NSW. Down the highway to cooler days.
A 700km day ahead of us should be enough for day 1.
A second long day of similar distance should take us home.
Snowy? We must leave her in Goondiwindi to await the assessors decision.
We hope she can be fixed and returned to us.
Our days here have given us time to reflect upon the accident. It points out the importance of truck drivers doing their maintenance. We were lucky. When 65 litres of petrol gushes onto the highway as two heavy steel truck shoes bounce and ricochet underneath, things can certainly liven up. Lucky for us the result was subdued.....THANKS TO NOBBY, WE CERTAINLY HAVE THE LUCK OF THE IRISH.
