Day 5: We arrive in Queensland

No wonder we were cold last night! There was a thick frost on the ground this morning at Dubbo and our fingers and toes were very much aware of it! 

Frost in the fields at Dubbo!

 But when there is frost there is sunshine, so we did not care too much about our frozen extremities, because the world looked bright and new!

The country north of Dubbo was all flat, as much of the country before it was. In fact we have travelled through more flat country than there is in all of the Netherlands.

Flat country, big sky.

  I suppose I knew somewhere, but it isn’t until you actually drive through it that it strikes you how flat large parts of Australia are. One pleasant exception was the sudden appearance of the Warrumbungles, a mountain range which we had to go through between Gilgandra 

Gilgandra

and Coonabarabran. We had to climb to 750 metres a.s.l. to get over the highest pass. After Coonabarabran the land flattened out and the mountains receded behind us until the country was just as flat as it was before.

We had lunch at Narrabri, eating healthy salad and low-fat chicken (Chicken Caesar wrap at Macca’s!!) and tanked petrol and got under way again. The road north of Narrabri was exceptionally straight, so it was a good time to initiate Joke into the mysteries of towing a caravan. 

Joke debuting as caravan towstress. Big smile, no white knuckles!

This she did very well, and we powered through Moree with hardly a glance to left and right.

Yes, the caravan is still following....

Some people had told us at Narrabri that there were thermal springs at Moree, and said we ought to try them out, but with Joke on a roll, and us not being in swimming mode (we haven’t even got to the shorts stage yet!) we just went on. This was cotton country, with enormous bales of it waiting to be picked up in the fields and lots of white fluffy bits littering the roadside.

Bale of cotton ready for pickup.

Halfway to Goondiwindi we swapped around again and we coasted toward Goondiwindi trailing long shadows in the late afternoon. It was another 500 kms day and we both could feel it. As we crossed the Queensland border (the Mackintyre River) I felt the first effects of my new-found classical education and spoke proudly with Julius Caesar: “Alea iacta est!”. The die was cast and we now stood on the threshold of conquering Queensland. Just then an old ute drove up and this fat round bloke said to this skinny bloke beside him: “Tok, tok, these Romans are crazy!” As Asterix and Obelix drove on.........

Thanks Deviant Art! :-)

 Wrong story. Anyhow, we cruised into Goondiwindi and went to the el cheapo caravan park we had selected, drove in the entrance and straight out the other side. It was an extremely dodgy-looking place! The alternative was the Big 4 park on the other side of town: bright, clean, cheerful people, lovely sites and still the same price (with our membership discount) as the dodgy cheapie.

Our site at Goondiwindi.

That evening we went and had damper and tea and met Peter and Johanna Rutten, Brabanders who had been farmers near Rockhampton and were now enjoying their retirement. Peter had written a book about his emigrant life, published in English and in Dutch: 50 Years in the Promised Land.

We had now done about 1500 kms – roughly the road distance from Amsterdam to Barcelona as well as a 430 kms sea trip.

Full moon and all-night trucking at Goondiwindi.