First Day Aussie Road Crew Tour

Yesterday there was insufficient Telstra coverage for me to post on the blog from the Childers Tourist Park about 5kms out of town. At 9pm I wasn't going to check if our Cel-fi booster would help.

I was sitting outside Woolworths at Childers where passersby keep smiling when they see Blue. It is warm here so I will give him a trim later this afternoon. He and Tilly have been very good but Tilly gets exercise by bouncing off the inside of the caravan walls. She is easily spooked by noises so we are very careful about having her outside on her harness and lead. She contentedly stayed in the small crate this morning.

We had to call a mobile mechanic to look at the electric brakes on our van. The first part of the drive from Mapleton yesterday was down a very steep hill and the van brakes locked up and squealed all the way down the hill - not fun! I backed off the electronic brake controller but we found one wheel was constantly hot. Mark the mechanic discovered our hand brake on the van was not tightened up enough but did not find any mechanical issues with the brakes. He disconnected the brake controller for a couple of minutes to allow it to "relearn" tomorrow when we connect thevanfor the next leg of our tour.

We wandered around Childers and bought some Mammino gourmet ice cream but haven't tried it yet. There is an art gallery dedicated to the 15 backpackers who died in a fire in 2000. The main street is the Bruce Highway so hundreds of trucks drive through the town every day. I couldn't resist posting a photo of this dentist surgery and dedicating to our decayslayer!




We had lunch at Insane Coffee which is in an old building filled with an ecclectic mix of artefacts. The coffee was good (not insanely good) and we shared a very good toasted sandwich.






Last night's concert was by the ARC crew - their first gig for months. We are all subject to the COVID safe plan and so far everyone has been reasonable about keeping their distance etc. Tonight we are listening to Judah Kelly - I am not a fan but others think he has a great voice.



Popular posts from this blog

Broken Hill to Burra

Image
We left Broken Hill about 8am for our drive to Burra. Our first stop was at Mannahill. We followed this load of sheep as we dawdled through roadworks. On a recommendation from friends we explored Terowie, an historic town that is almost abandoned. The town grew late in the nineteenth century as a transhipment point from broad gauge rail to narrow gauge. In the 1970s the line to Peterborough was converted to broad gauge and Terowie became a near ghost town. Several abandoned shops are now owned by the South Australian Government. Unfortunately there is a risk associated with asbestos being blown around the town. The population fell from about 2000 to 130. In 1942 General Macarthur passed through Terowie on his way to Adelaide and Melbourne. He made a public speech at the railway station famously asserting "I came out of Bataan [in the Phillipines] and I shall return". A plaque marks the location at the rem...
Read more

Aussie Road Crew - Finished

Image
After our final dinner and concert some Roadies were continuing their celebrations near our Bushtracker. We could hear the noise even though all windows were shut and the van is normally soundproof. As it was after 10pm I ventured out to negotiate with them. While one person accused me of being the fun police, other Roadies supported my suggestion they turn off the amplified music and keep the noise down. The general expectation in caravan parks is noise stops after 10pm. There were non Roadies trying to sleep in tents, and I suggested their activities would reflect badly on Aussie Road Crew and Beccy who might not be able to return to this park on future tours. Fortunately there was very little noise after my visit. We drove out of the Crows Nest Tourist Park just after 7am looking for a MacDonald's in Toowoomba for coffee and brekkie. Instead we spotted Valetta Cafe in time to park the van across the road. I bought a take away brioche egg and bacon roll and coffees. The cafe is i...
Read more

Around Chinchilla

Image
The Condamine River is flowing over the Chinchilla Weir 5kms out of town. It has reached the 6m mark on the gauge and is an impressive sight. It is forecast to reach 8m by Tuesday in two days time. Chinchilla has suffered several floods when Charley's Creek rises. This is the post office in the 2010-2011 flood and as it was today. On 28 December 2010 the water level at Chinchilla Weir topped 15m. Despite this history of repeated flooding Chinchilla appears to be a prosperous town with many community facilities such as a water park, 700 seat cultural centre, and major road improvements. Many of the out of town workers are employed by QCG, a Shell company "producing" natural gas in the Surat Basin - presumably this means collecting the gas by fracking. Just down the road there is accommodation for 1,000 workers in Stayover so the town is benefiting from the presence of this large workforce. Tilly finally slept through the night. Today I kept her outside as much as possible ...
Read more