As before, we have some rough plans but in this crazy world we are unsure how far we will get on our shortened vacation. We stopped in Brisbane for brekkie and found this Big Garlic at West End – we asked at a local cafe if they had garlic bread but they had naan. It … More There and Back Again 2022 – Day 1 – Cunningham Highway

The ever improving Bruce Highway provides a safe, easy drive to our beautiful Sunshine Coast. The Elliott Fire Tower between Bundaberg and Childers built in 1970. It is now closed to the public. Isis Central Mill where a family ancestor worked in the 1910s (CWD’s father). It is a run of the mill place. Workers … More There and Back Again 2022 – South from Bundy on the Bruce

On the edge of the east side of Bundy is the wonderful Baldwin Swamp – a haven for birds and reserve for some of the Woongara Scrub species that have been mostly cleared for cane plantations. A squadron of magpie geese coming in to land at Baldwin Swamp. Take a gander at that! Magpie geese … More There and Back Again 2022 – Bundy’s Bayou – Baldwin Swamp

Big things abound if you know where to look – the Bundy Bottle is an obvious one but there are other gems to be found. The happy workers here were in high spirits. The Big Bowling Pin. Most Bundy locals love bowling. You get over an hour eating and drinking interspersed with a few periods … More There and Back Again 2022 – Big things in Bundy

Bundaberg is a big town made famous by Bundy Rum. You can take the girl out of Bundy…… I will now go through the paddock to palate story and try not to sugar coat it. Flowering sugar cane Burnt sugar cane ready for harvesting. Cane be cut burnt or green. Before the 1940s, all sugar … More There and Back Again 2022 – From Paddock to Palate

Well it wasn’t as sweet a homecoming as Bilbo’s but we returned home to sort some things out and hope to resume our vacation (and blog posts) sometime in the next fortnight. An overcast and somewhat bleak start to the day travelling from Moree to Goondiwindi. This is a brigalow tree – a wattle whose … More There and Back Again 2022 – Day 5 – Back

Today we headed east on the Barrier and Mitchell and Oxley Highways before heading north on the Newell. Cobar is the home of the Wongaibon people (within the Ngiyampaa group associated with the arid plains and rocky hill country bordered by the Lachlan, Darling-Barwon and Bogan rivers). The name ‘Cobar’ is derived from a Ngiyampaa word kubbur … More There and Back Again 2022 – Day 4 – Four Highways

Today we travelled through Kamilaroi country and then Ngiyampaa country further west from Bourke to Cobar. Good awning, Grey Nomad! Just outside Dirranbandi, we saw this spoonbill – our ornithological experts informed me that this is a very pale form of the Yellow-billed Spoonbill. Thanks JG. Hebel is just 4km north of the Qld/NSW border. … More There and Back Again 2022 – Day 3 – Kamilaroi and Ngiyampaa country

We started the day by following the Moonie Highway for 290km from Dalby to St George. Cactoblastis Cairn in Dalby commemorates the successful biological control agent – the Cactoblastis Moth that helped to end the scourge of the cactus that heavily infested this area. Cactus infested fifty million acres of land in Queensland by 1925, … More There and Back Again 2022 – Day 2 – The Balonne

Agnes Water and Town of 1770 are between Gladstone and Bundaberg. Agnes Water coastline is noted for being the most northerly proper surf beach on the Queensland coast receiving oceanic swells north of Fraser Island but south of the Great Barrier Reef. The Town of 1770 was named after a stopover point from Cook’s Voyage … More Central Qld 2021 – Day 5 – Town of 1770, home of the original poor bustard

Mount Archer is a 604 metre mountain that is a backdrop to Rockhampton. A steep road from Frenchville leads to the national park at the summit. This is the view west over town with the Fitzroy River on the left of the image. The view north east towards the mountains of Shoalwater Bay. Volcanic plugs … More Central Qld 2021 – Day 4 – Mount Archer, Murray Lagoon and Port Curtis