Chris & Shirley's 2021 Trip North: Chapter 4 - Southern Outback Queensland

Day 17 - Tuesday 8th June 2021 - Queensland

We packed up early and quickly, broke camp, and hit the road north. The thermos was full and hot.

We soon crossed the border from NSW into Queensland. A few kilometers down the road we reached the hamlet of Hebel - where Lisa the friendly Queensland constable kindly asked us for proof that we had been in NSW for 14 days. We duly provided the evidence and as a reward I was asked to blow in a 'booze' bag - at 9am. Lisa confirmed that the test was negative and wished us a 'pleasant day'.

One hundred metres further on we stopped and took a photo of the historic Hebel pub.

Hebel Hotel

I could not resist a photo of the historic farm equipment.

We stopped for coffee in Dirranbandi, a town known for its mention in the Slim Dusty song - Cunnamulla Fella. Only last night our resident comedians at Lightning Ridge mentioned it when they sang a new verse about the guy from Wagga Wagga who wrote a blog - maybe like this one.

"He was the blogger from Wagga Wagga"

"He was the Wagga Wagga blogger".

Onwards we pressed passing tens and tens of kilometers of cotton crops, in various stages of readiness. If I was able to pick up the cotton on the side of the road, and spin it into material, Shirley would be able to make me a full wardrobe of clothes.

We stopped at St George for provisions and a pie for lunch.

Our first piece of art was a blue tree, of which there are a number. Apparently the blue trees are drawing attention to the mental health organisation "Beyond Blue".

Our second piece of art was this fish that was made out of many tools from a man shed. It was impressive.

The next impressive sight was the weir over the Balonne River. The water in the photo seems close to maximum level, whereas below the weir there is a mere trickle. The main road crosses the weir.

Below: We expect that one of the reasons for the water reserve is to irrigate the many cotton farms that extend both north and south of St George.

Cotton plants and buds

Bales of cotton, maybe three metres high.

We estimated that there were over 100 bales in this location.

We pressed on to a town called Mitchell, whose main claim to fame seems to be that Dan Kelly and Steve Hart (of Kelly Gang fame) hid here at some time in their notorious life.

I took a photo of a bottle tree.

Bottle Tree

We established camp, and as we settled into dinner the rain started. It continued until late into the night.

Day 18 - Wednesday 9th June 2021 - Mitchell to Tambo

The rain had cleared and we woke to a clear sunny sky and a pleasant sunrise.

We packed up and broke camp, and hit the road (again) north. We soon noticed that the cotton fields of yesterday were replaced with pastures of sheep and cattle.

We stopped for a coffee along the road and by late morning were in Augathella where we took photos of the silo art. The local rugby team is known as the "Meat-ants". You may care to look that up.

Painted silo in Augathella

As you travel around remote places in this part of the country you sometimes see attempts to relieve boredom and driver fatigue. Trivia questions are one of the ideas, as shown below. The answers are usually a few km down the road.

Anti-fatigue question

By lunch time we were in Tambo - the home of Tambo Teddies and the chicken races. We checked out both.

The teddies feature all over town................

The principal of the chicken race is as follows: 7 chickens, 1 race, 4 laps, cheating allowed. The chickens are (temporarily) sold by auction and the proceeds got to the RFDS. The temporary 'owner' of the winning chicken gets a cash prize.

The following video gives you an idea of what we saw.

We placed a couple of bids for the chooks but soon bowed out. Most sold for $50 to $80.

The pie n mash meal for $10 was excellent. For drinks and four meals for a total of $65 (with entertainment) was a cheap night - and we walked there.

Day 19 - Thursday 10th June 2021 - Blackall

We had intended to move to Lara Wetlands today but the forecast of 'near freezing' and an unpowered site encouraged us to stay at Blackall for two nights - to give the weather time to warm up.

Blackall Camp Site

We did not do much for the day apart from drive 100 km from Tambo, walk around town and make a batch of scones.

Day 20 - Friday 11th June 2021 - Blackall

It was another cold night, down to maybe 1 or 2 degrees. Again, the sun appeared with barely a cloud to be seen.

After a chat and a coffee, and another chat or two, we went for a drive. A black kite chose to pose for me.

Black Kite

We visited the black stump - quite a geographically and historical site.

Please click here to read more about the Black Stump.

Shirley found a bottle tree that she wanted to take home.

How do I get this in the car?

When we leave Blackall we will be >>>

Just before 5pm we wandered over to the campfire, drink in hand, ready for some entertainment. Our musician for the next hour was Chris Pritchard, singing country and western numbers.