After 6 months of wearing shorts and T shirts in was back into winter mode today. Basically rain all day and top temp of 18 degrees. Hard to think 2 days ago we were in mid 30’s. Although Toowoomba’s weather has been liked to Melbourne’s, it was very similar today.

We had a big day planned to go to all the gardens as the garden festival had just finished and on our drive into town on Thursday, some of the gardens looked very speccy! Unfortunately the weather didn’t allow us to do the garden walks (oh bugger, I say). So we went off to Picnic Point for lunch and hopefully a reasonable view over the Lockyer Valley and towards Brisbane. Nope, no chance the weather was so bad we could see bugger all. So after our lunch and a bit of a drive around town and some shopping it was back to the Van for some quiet time before Happy Hour.

As with all Grey Nomad trips, you meet some very nice people in your travels and we did so here at Toowoomba. Nev and Carol are a retired “Army” couple, we met them in the Artesian Pool in Mitchell a few days ago and then when we turned up at the park, they were next to us. Naturally Nev and I had some things in common, he like me was an Airframe Fitter and he went thru Wagga 2 years before me, so we had a lot to chat about. We miss Andrew & Sue who are now setting up thier new home in Wodonga, so it was good to have some HH company again.

Off to Marburg, near Ipswich tomorrow, so only a 1 hour drive down the mountain for us.

Time for more of Ray’s CRAPP. Off to City Golf Club today, unfortunately I was not able to play in the comp on Saturday as the club is in the middle of its Club Championships. That just left me to play a social round today and I managed to play with another club member, who’s name was Ray also.

I had read a lot about the City Golf Club, in my Golf magazines over the years. The course and club always received favourable reviews, as I expect they should as they hold the Queensland PGA here. I have to say the course did not disappoint. So here is my CRAPP review:

Design – 18 out of 20 (It’s a parkland course set on high ground that provides some good views of Toowoomba but the holes have been designed to create good viewing aspects as well as challenging shot and club selection)

Condition – 17 out of 20 (Considering the course has only had minimal rainfall thru winter as the drought has lingered on the course was in great nick. A view bare patches and some slightly less appealing green surfaces were the only negatives but that was very minor)

Cost – 19 out of 20 ($40 for 18 holes on a course as geed at this was great value).

Visual Appeal – 18 out of 20 (Green grass with well manicured fairways and gardens. Only reason it didn’t get 20 is because no course is perfect, but City Golf Club is close).

Facilities – 9 out of 10 (Everything was extremely good. I marked it 9 instead of 10 because the driving range would not allow woods, only irons on this range).

Ambience – 8 out of 10 The ambience was very good but I knocked a point off because, its a very large club and the main clubhouse felt more like an RSL or Pub, than a Golf Club. So some of the charm was missing due to its large corporate footprint, should I say).

So finally the overall score was 89 which now places City Golf Club, well and truly the number 1 course so far on Be Brave On Tour!

I’m looking forward to playing Bonville in northern NSW, its been called Australia’s closest course to Augusta National. If the reports are true then it should give City Golf a run for its money.

City Golf lived up to its reviews and I’m very glad I played it. Until my next CRAPP, keep safe and well! Cheers

A fairly long day, about 360 k’s today from Roma to Toowoomba. First off a quick stop to see Roma’s largest Bottle Tree. Roma has many Bottle Trees spread out thru the town. Still not sure what the difference is between a Bottle Tree and a Boab, look pretty much the same to me.

The Warrego Highway is pretty ordinary in places, not as bad as the Dawson Highway between Biloela and Emerald but still a poor surface. The inland Queensland roads are very poor and the Bruce Highway along the coast is not much better. I know its a big state and roads are costly but the QLD Government really needs to pull their finger out and fix them. I’m sure there are many accidents on these roads each year caused, because of the roads poor condition.

Anyway enough of the political rant. Travelling thru the Darling Downs, I was surprised at the amount grain fields about. I didn’t realise just how much acreage grain growers had in the region. One thing we have noticed in Toowoomba on arrival is the temperature, at least 10 degrees lower than what we’ve been accustomed to over the last few weeks. Unfortunately the storms and rain are coming, with temps around 20 over the weekend, looks like my shorts days are numbered, out come the long pants!

Left Charleville this morning for Roma, via Morven and Mitchell. We stopped off at Mitchell for the Artesian Spa baths and that was simply superb. The main bath had a temperature between 30 to 50 degrees. The water is pumped from underground, straight from the Great Artesian Basin into the pool. It was full of Grey Nomads, trying to ease their tired old bodies I would suggest.

From Mitchell it was into Roma and just after we got here a huge thunderstorm hit us. Very violent thunder and lightening and whilst we had heavy rain, it only lasted a few minutes so the locals get not get a good dumping as they had hoped. What did happen was the temperature dropped from an oppressive 34 to a manageable 25.

Roma is a fair size town but there is not much in the way of tourism here from what we have seen. The Big Rig (an Oil & Gas Exploration) Centre and the big Bottle Tree are the highlights, fortunately we are here for 1 night only, as its off to Toowoomba tomorrow.

We’ve spent the last 2 days here in Charleville visiting various tourist spots. Charleville is known for the Cosmos centre and its night star gazing experiences from their observatory. We spent some time at the centre, viewing all things connected with space, from the star gazing to interactive displays on the universe and space in general.

Also Charleville had a huge US Air Base here during WW2, with 3,500 US airman here. The base was a major maintenance and training base for the USAAF B17 bomber squadrons, as well as other USAAF and RAAF units. It was a “secret base” as it was the main training facility for the bomber crews using the Norden Bomb Site, which was very secretive and its use was under high security. Bombardiers had to sign a none disclosure that they would never talk about the bomb site if they were captured.

Charleville has one of the 8 regional Royal Flying Doctor Bases at the airport and we happened to be at the visitor centre when a RFDS aircraft flew in with a patient and then during the star gazing one aircraft took off. Pretty amazing to think that at anytime across Australia the RFDS is in operation. It’s for this reason the regional towns love the RFDS and spend so much time raising money for it across regional Australia. I’m sure its not appreciated in the major cities as it should be, obviously because its out of site, so out of mind. John Flynn’s determination to create the service nearly 100 years ago has provided Australia with a service we can all feel very proud of.

We visited a number of other places in town like the RSL but a favourite was the Yellow Footed Rock Wallabies. The photo below shows these unique creatures and what is so pleasing is they are now off the endangered list.

We leave Charleville tomorrow heading eastwards back to the coast. First stop is Roma, about 270 k’s from Charleville and over 400 k’s from Brisbane.

Well from Tambo it was off to Charleville via Augathella. Augathella was a small town and I’m sorry to say not much going for. Like most country owns they have their own story or identity that makes them unique and Augathella is one of those towns.

Those old enough may remember the classic Aussie movie “Smiley”from the late 50’s about a small boy growing up in the Australian bush. Well the bush town in the movie was Augathella, now I admit its a long while ago but the town still seems to be proud of its movie history.

After a quick stop for a drink at the pub and we were on our way to Charleville. It’s 46 years since I’d been to Charleville and all I can remember is the Vortex Cannons that they used to try and bring rain to Charleville in 1902, without success I might add. Explosives in the Cannons were to seed the clouds and bring rain. Sounds far fetched bought when your desperate you’ll try anything. It’s dry, hot and very dusty here, they like many others parts of Australia desperately need rain, so hopefully, La Niña, that Spanish rain god turns up soon and gives them some relief.

We’re staying outside town at a farm stay, called the Evening Star. Happy hour consists of a big fire pit and damper, although the fire’s not required even when the sun goes down. We’re looking forward to what Charleville has to offer over the next few days.

Well today was a very good day, we travelled from Longreach via IIfracombe, Barcaldine and Blackall to Tambo and every town on the way had something unique and very Aussie about it. Also they were very clean and tidy towns, the locals are obviously proud of their little pieces of Oz!

IIfracombe had the “Machinery Mile”, basically the whole Main Street had old farm machinery on display. From trucks, tractors, ploughs to all sorts of farm equipment dating back over a 100 years.

Then it was onto Barcaldine which has the “Tree of Knowledge”. This is the birthplace of the Australian Labour Party in 1891, after the huge shearer’s strike that was centred around Barcaldine. The 13 leaders of the strike were charged and tried and received 3 years hard labour in Prison. Amazingly most of them ended up in public service, either in parliament or government authorities in a number of states around Australia. Here and Eureka in Ballarat in the 1860’s were the 2 big issues that shaped Australia. A shearer’s strike and gold miners not paying tax, seems worthwhile to challenge the authorities at the time!

Our next stop was Blackall, a small town that also has historical significance. We’ve all heard about the “Black Stump” and the saying “Beyond the Black Stump”, well its here in Blackall were it originated. The original Black Stump was used for determining longitude and latitude of towns west of Blackall and the saying beyond the Black Stump inferred there was basically no civilisation west of Blackall! Which in all honesty is not far wrong, there’s bugger all but its been in the Aussie vernacular for over 100 years.

Finally we arrived in Tambo for our 1 night stay and what a great little town it is, Very clean and also very green, they must have a good supply of bore water here. Some of the old buildings are great and the pub was very enjoyable. We had a great time at the Pub’s Chicken Races, unfortunately our chooks performed badly, basically they finished with egg all over their faces and should have been scratched from the event. The chooks were auctioned off as a fundraiser for the RFDS and it was fun for all. We teamed up with Darren, Debbie, Tony and Gloria from the Van park, who were also in Longreach with us as well. Tony came out the winner and donated his winnings back to the RFDS. We thoroughly enjoyed the evening of drinks, food and good companionship, a true “Grey Nomad” day!

Today was basically QANTAS day! I visited the QANTAS Founders Museum this morning and then Susan and I visited the museum again tonight for the “Sound & Light” show that is shown on the forward fuselage of the B747-200 aircraft on display. I have to say the show tonight was absolutely great, unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take photos which I understand. So anybody thinking of coming this way, make sure you take in the night show. I know I’m biased but anyone would be hard pressed not to like it.

The museum is situated around the original QANTAS hangar that was built in 1921 and where QANTAS built their early aircraft such as the DH-50’s and DH-61’s. QANTAS was one of the few airlines to build its own aircraft right in the very hangar pictured below.

There are a number of aircraft on display as you would expect, with the B747-200 “City of Bunbury” the main attraction and it certainly stands out. Also next to the 747, is QANTAS’s first B707, built in 1959. It’s also the first 707 ever bought by an airline outside the US. The aircraft was found in the UK in the early 2000’s. It had not been flown for 6 years but QANTAS engineers took 6 months to get it airworthy, QANTAS flight crew then flew it out here to Australia and eventually to Longreach. With the 747 and 707, is a Super Constellation and DC3. Plus a number of replica aircraft from the 1920’s.

I really enjoyed the museum and its a pity that COVID has spoilt the opportunity for a big 100th anniversary celebration. The museum is not funded by QANTAS, its a local volunteer not for profit venture, so hopefully tourists continue to visit and keep it open.

After a long drive from Biloela yesterday we arrived at Lake Maraboon, which is about 25 k’s south of Emerald. Lake Maraboon when full is about 3 times the size of Sydney Harbour but the drought has not been kind and its well down as the photos below show.

I said it was a long drive, really only 300 k’s but the Dawson Highway between Biloela and Emerald would have to be the worst highway I’ve ever driven on. It was atrocious and at times simply dangerous as the Cruiser went into full emergency mode re VSC, TRC and Sway Control. When that first happens its rather frightening but the Cruiser and the Van were stable, which is the main thing. Any speed over 80 k’s, in some places was just plain stupid, so the speed was down and hence the long drive. We have over 400 k’s to Longreach tomorrow and I’m informed the road is not any better so we have a long day ahead of us it seems.

As we have only a day here, we went into Emerald township for a walk around. It’s a lot bigger than I expected but being the central town of the region, I suppose it has to support a large regional population. It’s easy to see that the region is on a mining boom, plenty of new houses and very few empty shops that we saw. A lot of people in town, so the actively shows a vibrant town.

The weather is starting to heat up, low 30’s here and mid 30’s expected in Longreach. I’m sure when we get home and have one of those Melbourne cool summer day’s of 18, we’ll wonder what’s going on. We’ll be out of the region before the really hot days begin which is good, at least the nights are reasonably cool.