Meandarra to Roma

After our overnight at Meandarra, it was time to continue west towards Surat.  

We were in big sky country.  

The first place we came to was the village of Glenmorgan, which declares itself to be the end of the line, as this is as far as the railway came.  It has an interesting history.

The station building has been relocated to rest area beside the road.  Very handy these Queensland buildings being built using weatherboards.

Beside it was the original town gaol.

Over beside where the railway used to go there was the original crane using for loading freight.  Mick loves climbing over these old relics and this one was beauty, being complete, and as it turned out, fully functional.

The old service station was still there, even with the vintage bowsers.  It looks like something out of a western movie.

I think the A1 Used Car yard doesn’t do a lot of business.  Mind you, there were some interesting old relics that had For Sale signs on them.  Fun to have a look at.

Time to get back on the road and have lunch at Surat, on the Bolonne River.  It was Mick’s birthday, so we had a very low key celebratory lunch of fish and chips in the park.

The park was really nice and featured some Queensland bottle trees.

Surat’s main claim to fame is this is where the last Cobb and Co stagecoach run took place.  I found that interesting, as Cobb and Co had their foundation and head office at Bathurst.  There is a nice museum on the site of the staging post.

On display is a replica Cobb and Co stagecoach. We have an original one on display in Bathurst…just saying…

The museum was interesting, and well set out.  This region was originally settled by sheep and cattle farmers and in the early 1950s there was a serious flood.  This steel hulled boat was used to ferry and therefore save many sheep from the flood waters.  

What a mammoth effort by so many men.  The sheep would have been extremely heavy with wet fleeces.

In the adjoining Visitor Information Centre there is a huge aquarium featuring fish found in the Bolonne River.  This is a small Murray Cod.

We went for a wander around town.  The original shire hall is a rather stunning timber building.

The current council offices were built in the 1960s and are somewhat out of place amongst the older buildings.

The post office is in a nice old building.  There was a cairn out the front to commemorate the last Cobb and Co run.

On the wall of one building was a huge mural made out of corrugated iron with the details cut out.

How clever.  Look at the detail in this Murray Cod,.

In the park there is the local was memorial.  The plaques were well polished, which was surprising to see.  

We were impressed that the main memorial in town was the Town Water Scheme.  That was definitely a lasting legacy that would improve everyone’s lives.

Once again, the town was well maintained with beautiful parks and interpretive signs for historic buildings.  A credit to the council.

Once we were back on the road we saw some paddocks sown to oats, not what we expected out this way.

We finished our day by setting up at a caravan park at Roma and were treated to a rather gorgeous sunset.

Back To Our Travels

We’ve been away from home for nearly four weeks now and I have so much more to share.  So far our trip has been wonderful.   I’ll pick up where I left off at Goondiwindi……

Once again, the rough framework of our travel plans was altered.  Plan A was to head north to The Gums and then west to Surat, knowing that the road to The Gums is rather ordinary.

Plan B, at Jenny and Bernie’s suggestion, was to head west towards St George until we reached the little village of Bungunya and then head north to the small town of Meandarra and camp there on our way.  The roads would be far better to travel on.  It turned out to be a great route and one we would never have considered.

Meandarra is a town I had often heard my Dad refer to, as he had worked as a stockman on stations in the area in the 1950s. It was interesting to visit.

There is a wonderful camp site beside the creek, with the cost being a one off payment of $10 for a powered site for up to 3 days.  Very reasonable.

The creek is really pretty.

We went for walk up the street, which was very quiet, being a Saturday afternoon.  This sculpture made us chuckle.  It was entitled “Me and Darra”, a clever pay on the town’s name.

There is an ANZAC Memorial Museum, which by all accounts is well worth the visit, but sadly, being the weekend, was closed.  That means just one thing…..we’ll have to come back on another trip north…….such a hardship. 

The old railway bridge is just beside the camp ground.

The old railway station has been relocated into the park beside the camping ground.

There is a paved walkway that runs for quite a distance beside the creek and we had a nice wander.

I had to take this photo for Betty.  We love seeing water lilies when we travel north.

There was a nice, simple Catholic Church, which still holds services once a month.

It had some pretty leadlight windows.

When it came to tea time, we decided to go and support the local pub.  I don’t know why, but I didn’t take a photo of the pub on our walk around town.  It is a nice building and it turns out that has recently changed hands, with the former publican now sitting on the other side of the bar.  Well, when we turned up, at about six o’clock, there were a few people there but not too many.  We had a drink and ordered our meals.  By seven o’clock the pub was heaving.  It was obviously the place to be on a Saturday night.  So good to see it doing well.

It was dark when walking back to our van, but there is a path that is illuminated by solar lights all the way back to the camp ground.  Very much appreciated.

We thoroughly enjoyed our brief visit to Meandarra and can see why some people were spending their three nights camped by the creek.  Such a peaceful spot and the council has to be congratulated on the way the town, and particularly the touristy area, is presented.  You couldn’t find nicer.

An Apple a Day

A little while ago I read that Nic from Craftapalooza was doing another stitch along, this time being her Apple Pincushion.  I thought “Why not?”.  It would be a simple project and a nice one to do with my friend while we were visiting.

It’s amazing how much stuff I had to put together to make up a little kit for each of us to make the project.  There was the fabric, interfacing, buttons, thong for stalk, felt for leaves, sewing thread, strong thread, long needles (which I found in the deep dark depths of Mum’s sewing drawer) and stuffing, as well as making a couple of templates to make things easy.

Anyway, it all worked well.  The hardest part, as usual was deciding on the fabric to use.  I went with ones that would work well with the Blossie Basket I made previously.

We spent a fun afternoon and ended up with two lovely apples.

Isn’t my friend’s hand crank Singer a beautiful backdrop.

They were very different looking, according to the fabrics we used.

A lovely way to spend time with a good friend.

My Wishes for June

I’m starting to sound like a cracked record when I announce that my goals this month will be minimal.  The excuse reason this time is that we are still on the road and we aren’t too sure when we will get back home.  We are making it all up as we go along.

MY MAIN GOAL

My main goal this month is to complete the red scarf that I am knitting.  That should be rather easy.  I’m enjoying knitting a few rows most days.  I will just keep going until I run out of wool and then weave in the ends.  It will be blocked when I get home.

RAINBOW SCRAP CHALLENGE

In anticipation of this month’s colour announcement I packed the pre cut blocks I have prepared and brought them with me.  The crumb blocks will have to wait until I get home.  The colour for June is PASTEL.  Well, that has thrown me, as I don’t have any pastel colours pre cut and therefore none are planned for the finished quilts.  The closest I have is AQUA, so that is what I will make.  Hopefully, I will get the potato chip blocks and the solid cross blocks completed while we are on the road.  Time will tell.

CROCHET

It would be nice to do some more work on the Corner to Corner rug.  I do have a deadline of mid July for this project, which is a good incentive.  The red scarf will take precedence, so once again, time will tell how I go.

OTHER WISHES

Depending on when we get home, I would like to finish the Solid Fat Quarter quilt that I started at Scrub Stitchin’ and quilted last month.  All I need to do is trim it back and add the binding by machine.  It will take all of one day.

As you can see, I still haven’t made a start on the Alpaca jumper I want to knit.  It would be nice to make a start when we get home, if time allows.  We’ll see……I really NEED to get cracking on this one.

15 MINUTES A DAY

I’ll try, really I will.

NON STITCHING WISHES

There really aren’t any.  I’m guessing we will probably listen to an audio book as we drive along.  I have to download a new one.  That’s about it.

As always, it will be interesting to check in at the end of the month.

May Wrap Up

Here we are, with May all done and dusted.  Time to see how my little wishes/goals went.  You can read about them here. 

We have been travelling for the second half of the month, so that did slow things down  bit.

RAINBOW SCRAP CHALLENGE

The colour was orange and I did manage to make all the blocks.

I was pretty happy with that.

I also added the shadows to the crumb blocks, so bonus points to me there.

MY MAIN GOAL

This was to complete the quilt that I started at Baradine.  Well, I didn’t do so well on this one.

I did get it quilted, using another new to me pantograph and was really happy with how it looked.

I didn’t get to trim the backing and wadding and bind it.  I could easily have, but I usually do the trimming on the dining table and it had things on it for packing in the van.  I couldn’t be bothered to move them.  A pretty poor excuse, but it is what it is.  At least I made some progress.

KNITTING AND CROCHET

I made some progress on the Corner to Corner rug, but it still needs one more ball of yarn (which I have with me) to finish that final corner before I add the border rounds. I have worked on it while travelling, but it is getting a bit big and cumbersome.

I did, however, bring a knitting project with me to start.  It isn’t the alpaca jumper, which is one I will work on at home.  I brought some red 4-ply wool with me that I had bought at the Heritage Trades Trail.

This is much more portable to work on and I have made good progress.  It is the same pattern I have made numerous times before, and is rather practical.  I’m enjoying working on it.  The photo of the skein of wool is a much truer version of the colour.

15 MINUTES A DAY

I certainly have not worked on something every day while travelling.  This is what I did manage.

May = 24/31

Year to Date = 121/151 = 80.13%

A NEW START

I have one finished project for the month.  It is an apple pincushion that I finished on 31 May, so snuck in by the skin of my teeth.  I will do a separate post on it shortly.

OTHER GOALS

The only other thing I managed was to listen to an audio book as we were travelling along.  This series is ideal for travelling, as it is not too serious.  Very entertaining.

So, all in all, not too bad.  Now to plan for June and to continue our travels for the next little while.