Tally of mishaps, fixes and lost and found

 

So its been three weeks since we left home and we are not missing it one bit.  

Mishaps:

1.    Tilly escaped from her bike cart whilst moving which left her a little shaken and sore,

Fixes

1.    The diesel heater has packed it in at Gilgandra and is dead until we get home and the boyfriend     can get parts to fix it.  This has limited out free camping in the colder areas.

2.     The gas line to the outdoor kitchen was kinked which inhibited the gas flow.     Temporary fix in Lightning Ridge until we get home.

2.    The aerial decided to not go up or down in St George.   Quick fix with some WD40 got this        moving  again.       Who needs Dave Lameks or Bondie!!

3.    The caravan door.    It has taken three weeks to sort out the proper alignment of the door but finally I think we got it!

Stolen/Lost

1.    His bloody drill.   Did he curse the so and so that took it for two days non bloody stop.

2.    One awning clip left behind by not me!

Found.

1.    His bloody drill because even though I had been assured he had looked everywhere, I took a mummy look and what should I find in the canope of the car but the stolen drill!!!

All in all touch wood doing well!!

Day 20 and 21 - Roma

 

Day 20 and 21 - Roma.

We have been plagued with westerly winds since St George which is playing havoc with my allergies.  The dust!!!

Roma is located at the junction of the Warrego and Carnarvon Highways.    Known as the birthplace of Australia's Oil and Gas Industry.  

We treated ourselves to the Big Rig night show which gave us a great insight into the early days of water, oil and gas exploration in Roma.

Roma has one of the biggest bottle trees.  It has a diameter of 9.51m a height of 6m and a crown of 20m.   The town also has a an "Avenue of Heroes" which has planted bottle trees either side with plaques in honour of the servicemen from Roma who served during the First World War.

We also took a tour of the "Up the Creek Garage".  What a unusual museum.   The owners showed us around giving us an insight into their passion for travelling and cars.   All of the cars, which there are so many of, are owned by their family.    They also have two longhorn texas cows in the yard.  Fords and Holdens mainly.   Eat your hearts out boys!

There is also a sculpture exhibition on down near the Big Rig so we took the time to wander through these being totally amazed and in awe of peoples creativity, talent and resourcefulness.  Look closely and see what you can recognise in the makeup of these sculptures.

Our last night we spent at the Gun Club was enjoying a cool ale and the company of the fellow travellers before throwing a lamb steak on the barbie and enjoying the sunset,

The weather is warming up even thinking about taking the jumper off.

Day 19 St George to Roma

Day 19

Today was one of bigger days for travel.     We ventured up the Carnarvon Highway to Roma passing through Surat where we stopped for a quick cuppa and then onto Roma.

In 1921 residents in the Surat district were still receiving their mail via Cobb and Co Coach!

Our stay in  Roma is at the local Gun Club.     What a great spot.    Located on the fringe of the town it is well away from highways and high volume traffic and only 3klms into Roma township.

It has 70 powered and some unpowered sites.  Our powered site was only $25.00 per night with clean and well equipped amenities.  The Club house is licensed and we had a great feed on Thursday night with a burger and chips for $10.00.      They do not provide food every night but the bar is open from 4 to 6pm for those that wish to get together for a quite ale and chat.

On Thursdays you can also have a go at clay pigeon shooting for $15.00.      George would not be in it but we got to watch the local members have a shoot which was really interesting.

 

Day 17 and 18 - St George

 

Day 17

So a little history about St George. St George gets its name from when explorer Major Sir Thomas Mitchell crossed the Balonne River on Saint George's Day, 23 April 1846.

Agriculture is the lifeblood of the St George Region.  Cotton is St Georges leading industry.  Sheep and wool are also part of the region's agriculture industry.

This morning Tilly and I walked the River Path.    There are markers along the banks showing the heights of various floods in St George over the years.   In 2012 the flood reached 14 metres.    Absolutely astonishing.   At the end of our walk   Tilly had her first encounter with geese.   I hate geese.  It brings back awful childhood memories of being chased by geese on my Uncle Colin's farm in Kangaloon.

So for lunch today we decided to have a look at the Riversands Winery.     The Riversands Winery is Queensland's most western winery.    Their vineyard's wine grapes are made into red and white table wines, ports and liqueurs while their table grapes are sold as fresh fruit to supermarkets or turned into grape jams and chutneys What a great little spot.  We were treated to tasting of some really beautiful wines and a lovely lunch.    George found a friend and he quite graciously shared his leftovers with his new friend.

Day 18 

Today we decided to take the Cotton Self Drive Trail.  It was a 94km round trip drive which started just down the road from the van park at the Jack Taylor Weir and Andrew Nixon Bridge.  

      

From here we travelled out to Beardmore Dam - Lake Kajarabie which is located 22klm north of St George.  

 

From Beardmore Dam we head through the St George irrigation area to Buckinbah Weir.  The cotton farms are irrigated using siphons that flood the paddock and gravity feed down each row. 

Unfortuntately we missed the growing and harvesting season.    A lot of field ploughing was being undertaken and there was only a spattering of left over cotton on the side of the fields.

From here we headed back into St George again through the cotton irrigation area and past the old St George Cotton Gin which was closed in 2014.   

On the way back into town we past the John Deere shop.   The machinery sold out here is a little different to what they sell at home.

After getting back into town we had a quick stop at the St George Bakery and were treated to the Bakery's 1917 Model T Ford delivery truck leaving on errands.

Later afternoon we headed down to St George pub on the bikes for a quite afternoon ale.    Well at the pub Tilly found a mate and so did George.     It was a beautiful warm afternoon and as the pub sits on the banks of the Balonne River it was really enjoyable.