The day or so stops included Kilcoy, Kingaroy, Gayndah, Dululu and Emerald.
23rd June – After being at Hervey Bay we needed to get a window seal fixed in the van, we decided that before we took off out west we would head back to Sunland at Caboolture. We did not get away until 4.00pm on the 24th so we only made it a short distance before camping overnight.
We stayed at the Kilcoy showgrounds and there were plenty of other campers to keep us company; not bad value here at $8 per night which includes power & water to the van and good showers. The grounds are approximately 2km west of Kilcoy and are set about 1km off the main road so it is very quiet with little or no road noise.
The caretaker has a motorhome and enjoys a lonnnnnng chat; on the night we were in he was well involved in happy hour (or 8) and did not get chance to collect everyones camp fees till the morning. The only down side is the caretaker has a bloody big rottweiler (we called him Cujo) that barked off and on during the daylight hours but at night was completely quiet (best arriving late and leaving early).
Us parked at Kilcoy; the polo club had been at the grounds the weekend before so plenty of free horse shit if you wanted some, even if you didn’t it was glued to the bottom of your shoes (at no charge).
25th June – Next stop was at Kingaroy. Linda has a bad back so we are taking our time, no more sex on the front draw bar for us as the satellite dish tends to get in the way and can easily cause disc bruising.
Kingaroy showgrounds are only a 10 minute walk from town so shopping is easily accessed and the town has a Woolies, IGA etc; the grounds are flat with plenty of power boxes and water connections. The showers are good and the ground managers live on site; price here was $15 per night but well worth the money.
26th June – Arrived in Gayndah to the fruit box and picked up a 5kg bag of mandies for $5; these were straight off the tree and bloody good eating, just shows how much profit is in the supermarkets and no where near the quality of this local produce.
26th June – The caravan park we are staying at (Mandy Inn) is a little like the Lismore one and in the main has a lot of park owned small vans which are for the seasonal fruit pickers. The park is at the back of a Caltex service station; the amenities are only just and the park is full of back packers & fruit pickers, price is over the top considering the location and services available ($23 per night). I would suggest you give this place a miss unless you are very desperate (or stupid like us).
June 27th – Decided to stay at Dululu which is north of Monto about 30km before the Capricorn Hwy which takes you west; we arrived at around 1.00pm and already 8 vans were in place. This is a free stay rest area run by the progress association but if you want to plug in to power and get a key for the showers it costs $5 per night; yes it is only 5 bucks. They do have a maximum stay of 2 days but it is not enforced; great place to stop over and we had a great arvo session with the other campers who were in the main full time on the road travellers, one couple had been on the road full time for the last 7 years and had recently upgraded to their 3rd van.
28th June – The last stop we made was the Emerald showgrounds; we decided to stay for 3 nights just to take some time out from the day to day set up and relax for a few days. The grounds are good and very quiet; the amenities are okay with plenty of pressure and hot water, at only $15 per night it is good value.
The army arrived on one of the days for an overnight stop; they were in a separate part of the grounds which was fenced off. I was thinking of yelling out “Hello all you Dad’s Army Wankers” but visions of me being taken to Emerald base hospital and a team of surgeons toiling to remove a 5 inch mortar shell from my rear orifice made me keep my mouth shut.
We re off to Sapphire, Rubyvale and Anakie tomorrow (1st July) for a week of R & R and try our luck at gem fossicking; following that we will be off to Jericho, Longreach, Winton and then Boulia. We will post up the gem chipping trip when we move to Longreach.
Will post again soon.
Regards – David & Linda – The DavLin Rig
