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So cold at Gravesend!
The boys went off on foot to meet Kenny Bell and examine his collection. His main collection is D7 dozers and although he had a lot of other vehicles it was the Cat dozers that he always returned to. He only needs four more models to have a complete collection of D7s.
Once they all got back we packed up and got on the road. We started towards Moree, then I realised that this meant getting back on the Newell - and I didn't feel we really needed to do this, so I asked if was OK if we turned around. We had only gone a couple of kilometres, and everyone was OK with going whichever way I wanted to, so we turned around and headed back through Gravesend and onwards to Warialda.
We were really glad of this choice. The road to Warialda was quite spectacular. It was the same highway we had driven when we first left Inverell all that time ago, the Gwydir Highway. Not a very busy highway.
We arrived at Warialda in time for a toilet break then morning tea at another bakery. Brett picked up a motorcycle magazine from the pile of complimentary reading material. He leafed through it then put it aside. I asked if there was anything on the nearby shelf I might like to read but Brett said no, so I picked up the motorcycle magazine and went straight for the contents page. Have I said already that I am an keen reader?
Lo and behold! The magazine included an article by my uncle, Lester Morris. The article contained a story about my grandfather, and I read it avidly, because I really don't know much about this man - he died before I was born. The magazine was two and a half years old - what are the chances? I read the article out loud so we could all share the story, which was mainly about Burt Munro. You know him, right? The World's Fastest Indian?
After we left Warialda we headed north-west to Goondiwindi. The road we took was definitely NOT a highway. It had no road markings, and sometimes no fences. It was called North Star Road, and it took us through some absolutely magnificent scenery. There were wide, sweeping plains which were being farmed. The road was often really straight, with a long, long line of telegraph poles marching alongside. We stopped at the small town of North Star which has one shop remaining.
We visited the shop but there was nothing there we wanted to buy, so we just had a nice chat to the proprietor about the changes she had seen in the town since she started living there many years earlier.
After North Star we drove alongside a disused railway line until we reached the Bruxner Highway. Well it is called a highway, but if you didn't know you would think it was a local farm road. It is in really poor condition. I think the area is still struggling to recover from the floods which hit them earlier this year. There were no lane markings and the sealed surface was missing in places.
At Boggabilla, the Bruxner highway ends and you join the Newell. It is only a few kilometres from there until you cross the border into Queensland and reach the town of Goondiwindi and the end of the Newell Highway. We stopped in Goondiwindi for lunch, and as we drove looking for a place to park (Val has real problems in country towns where most parking is 45 degree angle parking - that just doesn't work when you are towing a trailer) we came across some of Brett's customers. Brett and I visited their motorhome and chatted before going back to the park for a sandwich.
Another fuel stop for us before getting back onto the road, the Cunningham Highway this time. Again there were long straight stretches with more marching telegraph poles. I realised that I had run out of cash, so we stopped at Inglewood to use the ATM. Val took the lead position on the road as our next stop would be his block of land at Leyburn. Along the Cunningham Highway there were large flocks of emus. I have never seen so many emus before, I think we would have seen at least 50, in about three mobs. I was too slow to take any photos though.
We turned off the highway to get to Leyburn. There were many kangaroos and wallabies along this road. Once it starts getting late you have to be very careful, especially on narrow roads as these animals can jump out very quickly and nobody wants to hit a roo.
Leyburn is another very small town. It is the site of the Leyburn Sprints, which commemorate the Australian Grand Prix which was held there in 1949.
Val and Steve left us in Leyburn, they had to head home to prepare for the CMCA rally which would start in Boonah on Monday. But not before showing us the campsite in town which already had a few caravans and motorhomes. We chose a campsite and said goodbye.
After they left we walked back across the creek to the shop where we ordered hamburgers for our evening meal and talked cars with the proprietor. Wherever we go, there is somebody we can talk cars with.
It was turning into another chilly night but the sky was clear. We did some stargazing as we walked back to the van. Once inside we got out the laptop and watched a movie before turning in for the last night of our holiday.
- comments
Val It was a great trip, thank you guys for the company and companionship, I really enjoyed the whole trip :-)