Day 12 - Aussie Road Crew

With the overnight drizzle the dust and gritty sand stuck to our shoes and Bluey's feet. We had to keep cleaning his feet before letting him back into the Bushtracker. 

As we were about to drive out of the Columboola Country Veterans Retreat we were approached by Colin the owner of the property. He said that normally the camping fee for veterans is reduced by 25%. As they didn't know our group included veterans the discount wasn't applied. Instead they gave us some coasters and stubbie coolers advertising the property. Colin's brother is a Gulf War veteran and his neighbour served in Vietnam. He doesn't get any government funding for providing assistance to veterans because he owns the property as an individual, not on behalf of an organisation such as an RSL. The facility needs a lot of improvements and regular maintenance.

One of our wheel hubs on the Bushtracker was running warm, but it doesn't seem to be an urgent issue. The bathroom extractor fan sucked in some dust when we drove back along the gravel road so we will need to cover the inlet in future.

I needed a second coffee so we stopped in Chinchilla at the Downtown Cafe. We had lunch at the Urban Cafe in Dalby - steak sandwich with chips and beetroot salmon. Bluey was staring at us while we were eating so he was sent to the naughty corner of the veranda. After a while he lay down and relaxed.

The last part of our drive today was through Darling Downs farmland on roads we have not previously travelled. We are at the Crows Nest Caravan Park, but are yet to explore the historic village. We are connected to power and water after 4 days relying on our batteries charged by solar panels and water in our three 90 litre tanks.

Lyn Bowtell was our guest artist who received a standing ovation from our group. She brought her mother with her to see her performance as mum lives nearby.





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