smo’c-touring

Rainbow Serpent on the Warrego Way Our adventures in the west of the state have been wonderful, but as there are continued road closures due to flooding, and the threat of more rain, we have gone west as far as we can go! Returning to Windorah after our  two days "caravan free" in Birdsville, we packed ourselves up and, on Thursday 18th June we left the Warrego Way and joined the Matilda Way to travel north. Ian, the publican at Windorah, who also serves as the mailman two days a week (driving ten hours a day to deliver to the stations in the area), told us the road conditions were fine if we stuck to the middle of the road where possible and chose a safe spot to get right off the road should a road train approach. Our intended destination on the first day was Stonehenge, a small settlement south of Longreach, however a power outage had virtually closed the town, so we continued, stopping in Longreach for fuel and lunch, then pointing the car towards Winton. Rejoining a busy ...

Rick’s monument   We left Charleville on Thursday morning, 11th June, heading further west into new "for us" territory. We were very pleasantly surprised at the good condition of the Diamantina Developmental Road, particularly after we got into Quilpie Shire Council! Apart from a brief stop at Cooladdie, where there is a pub/general store/camping ground, there were no townships or buildings to spoil the horizon - the ground is lush and covered with grasses thanks to unseasonal rain.  We stopped at the beautiful "Rick's monument", a memorial to Rick Milosevic who, along with two other Australian soldiers, was killed in a "green on blue" attack in Afghanistan. The touching tributes and striking monument, set on "the jump up" and facing west, were certainly worth stopping for.  Quilpie greeted us with wide, tree lined streets, parklands and a range of interesting looking buildings - quite a surprise for a small town of less than 1,000 people. Tr...

All set up for a cosy night Our big adventure starts here - finally, after lots of planning and organising, upgrading and list making, on a sunny Wednesday 3rd of June 2026, we were ready to go!  Navigating our way through the traffic and the many merges on busy freeways, we made our way past Ipswich, cruised up the narrow and winding Cunningham Gap and across the tablelands, through Warwick and on to Inglewood, our first stop. We decided to spend our first night in a caravan park, on power and water, to iron out any issues and ensure our next few nights “off grid” would go as smoothly as possible.  After setting up the van, we wandered along the Main Street, checking out the local shops and information centre and chatting with the barmaid while we enjoyed a celebratory drink in the pub. As the sun disappeared so did the warmth so we opted to cook and eat inside - it’ll take us a couple of days at least to get used to chilly nights, I think! Dinner at Nindigully Pub Our advent...