The state we’re in! After the trials of 2025, the Grey Naumad and the Red Rover are taking to the road again for another journey in this great land for some more grey no-mad-ness. We will take roads less travelled wherever possible. So, we will attempt our first vacation in nearly two years starting in Queensland, the current State We’re In.
The blog will be delayed and published at a later date so I can keep a long-held promise to my patient travelling companion that we spend more time together at the end of the day. (I can hear the whispers from some of you saying she might like the break).
As usual, my ramblings are a mix of Australiana, facts and natural history. The blogs may also contain fabrications, questionable facts and bad puns.
After a late start due to a kitchen plumbing issue and some business in Brisbane, we travelled in the mid to late afternoon south-west along the Cunningham Highway to Warwick. The Main Range scenery is always a spectacular sight. The highway crosses the range in the dip between the two peaks in the centre of the image with Mt Mitchell on the left and Mt Cordeaux on the right. Alan Cunningham the explorer passed through here in 1827.
Fires near Spicers Gap
The basalt rock layers of Mount Mitchell
A lot of work is happening on rockfall prevention and safety near Cunningham’s Gap
Mt Cordeaux where we cross the Great Dividing Range.
On to the New England Highway, we pass through rich farming country.
The Big Shears at Warwick in Jackie Howe Park. Jackie Howe was a legendary Australian sheep shearer who shot to fame in 1892 when he broke the daily and weekly shearing records across the colony. He was born at Killarney near Warwick. On 10 October 1892, Howe had shorn 321 sheep in seven hours and 40 minutes at Alice Downs station near Blackall. This was a faster tally than any other shearer had achieved. In the week beforehand, Howe also set the weekly record, shearing 1,437 sheep in 44 hours and 30 minutes using hand shears like the ones on display here (though much smaller). Howe did he do it?
Horsing around in Warwick
In a park in Warwick is this frog carved from granite. It must be a rock-et frog.
Thomas James Byrne (Tom to his mates) was born in Brisbane in 1850 and was the local member who became the first Queensland-born premier of Queensland. He is rugged up for a cold night in Warwick having previously lost his thumb to frostbite.
We had time to stop and smell the roses in Warwick, the self-proclaimed rose capital of Queensland.
The Big Surveyor’s Tripod in the yard of Gary Hayes & Partners (Consulting Surveyors) in Warwick. The surveyor said “Abra-cadastral” and it appeared. With this Big Thing, Gazza has definitely put Warwick on the map!
South from Warwick, the highway climbs to the northern end of the New England Tableland with granite outcrops appearing. The first town is Dalveen, home to a historic railway tunnel. It is on private property. The sign on the left says it all – yes, they’re out there – common sense isn’t always common practice.
The Big Apple at Thulimbah – another hard-core attraction.
Stanthorpe literally means ‘tin town’, as stannum is Latin for ‘tin’ and thorpe is Middle English for ‘village’. Tin miners settled in this area from 1872 and at one stage this was the largest tin mining area in Queensland. Stanthorpe (at about 900 metres above sea level) is one of the coldest places in Queensland.
And in the main street, it is cold enough to aggrieve this Brass Monkey.
The Country Club Hotel – our dinner venue. The food was good but the real attraction on a cold night was…
..the fireplace!
A cold winter’s night in Stantarctica – the minimum forecast is 0 degrees (C). Christmas in July is popular here.
