Spirit of the place: Brisbane to Blackwater

Stayed a few great days with my dear friend of 21 years Jodi and her partner Noel...needless to say there were many drinks,late nights and lots of laughs!

They both work in the catering department at Qantas...
I bought raw oysters for dinner one night (I myself do not like em) and Noel said I should at least try an Oyster shot...me being one to try anything once duly downed the disgusting thing thankfully without tasting it...kinda felt it was a waste of a good oyster but still I did it!..

Left Brisbane 'early' November 7th and before we even left Sandgate trying to navigate ourselves west, we got 'lost', but eventually made it out of the mayhem of the city!
Drove along a 'tourist route' through the Great Dividing Range.Our curiousity lead us into Mt Mee National Park and there we came upon a small 4wd track that took us through beautiful rainforest to Kilcoy.
More beautiful native flowers...

Native Hibiscus

Wild Bush Flowers

Naturalised Canna

Wild Raspberries

King Parrot

Lace Monitor

Rock Hole

Further west again we drove through the Bunya Mountains National Park an unsealed road...and as the name suggests this is where you find large pockets of Bunya Pines...similar in shape and size to the Hoop Pine...
Came out of there literally with a 'bang' as our back tyre went down almost instantly!!

Travelling these 4wd tracks and unsealed roads requires our 'load' to be firmly secure...so that it does'nt shift or objects become airborne projectiles as we lurch,bump and jump over sometimes very uneven tracks....inside Suzy everything has it's place and everything is tied down in one way or another...
We have packing and unpacking her down to a fine art ...guess you could say we are 'Packed to the Rafters!!'

Drove to Kingaroy the next morning in the hope of being able to acquire a replacement tyre....none of the 3 tyre centres there stocked our type of tyre....so onto Dalby....arrived there just as the were closing...they graciously helped us out with our dilema...
Onwards to Chinchilla, Miles and then northward to Taroom..the plan was to go west via a 4wd track to the Carnavon Development Road..but the locals advised us not to take the track due to recent rain...apparently the track is challenging even when dry...Even as we stood there discussing the situation a storm was looming and heading our way!
Plan B...Stay in Taroom overnight ...head north to Blackwater to my daughter Rachel and her partners place and travel to Carnarvon Gorge from there....
It was a fabulous night in Taroom with heavy rain, wind, thunder and lightening...exciting stuff!...it was so cosy in the cabin/donger we stayed in...

These dongers have a history...They were used to house Olympic athletes in Homebush Sydney...they were sold off, someone in Taroom bought them and transported them up to the area to build a cabin park.
Who knows we may have slept in the cabin Thorpee or Perkins may have stayed in!

Heading further north the 'pest plant' Prickly Pear was flowering...

Wild Flowers again carpeted the sides of the roads...

Blackwater...Soooo good to see my daughter Rachel again and meet her partner Jeremy for the first time!

Rachel and Jeremy.

Blackwater is a coal mining town...surrounded by many different coal mining sites...Most of the population here is directly or indirectly employed by one or other mine...Population is about 15,000...
Seen in and around Blackwater is an abundance of White Mine vehicles with flags and aerials, people both men and women in orange shirts and jackets adorned with reflector strips either going or coming off shift,no hills and streets with houses that don't vary much in 'architecture' and climatewise its HOT!

Approximately 40kms from Blackwater is Blackdown National park....it stands tall and is easily seen for miles as the surrounding landscape is flat..
We visited it and took in the awesome views from different aspects of the park...

The 4wd loop track allows you to see different species of plants and even butterflies specific to this area...eg this grevillia we noted to 'support' 4 different types of insects and the Swallowtail butterfly seen in this photo...