Into the Sunshine(State)

I’d been mulling this Ngemba Embassy thing on and off, trying to figure out what would be a win-win for both the protesters and the Council. It came together on that weekend so I had a good ‘chew-the -fat’ session with the CEO of the Brewarrina Shire Council . The Council are the third wheel in all this and appreciate the implications of what possible scenarios could unfold. Hopefully, they can work out something. If you’re interested in the back story, https://www.facebook.com/NgembaTentEmbassy will get you there.

Anywho, long story short, David spruiked how great the Goodooga bore baths were and since it was only a 60klm deviation, I thought why not? Damn, he was right! I arrived to a veritable armada of rigs, abreast across three acres of bitumen.

Clearly not a secret location, even though Goodooga is a spur line destination. The site had everything – baths, showers, toilets and an outdoor gym area. Even a billabong thrown in for good measure. After two weeks at the Ridge, a flat, green, uninterrupted landscape was a nice change.

Looking at the map of Queensland, I realized that each state has a certain ‘inflection’ in their location names. Victorian names tend to be heavy, formal, whereas Queensland names tend to be light, lilting. The difference almost reflects the weather. In WA, there’s only two north-south routes and two east-west. Queensland however is criss-crossed with four north-south routes and five east-west. So there’s a lot more gettable destinations. This is gonna take a while. I really want to visit as many of those names we’ve all heard at one time or another, to put a ‘face’ to them, so to speak.

Goodooga is a the apex of a triangle, so having come in from the SE, I was able to exit via the NE and crossed the border soon after leaving. First cute name stop – Dirranbandi. I was feeling flush having got both payment for my last story, and a full settlement of my claim against Jeep for that ONE tiny water hose they didn’t replace after the oil cooler disaster last year (they were really good about it -over $1100 worth of “Ooops”).

Even though it all went on the plastic, there was some light at the end of the debit tunnel. So where do you celebrate? The bakery of course! Spent the night next to the Minor Balonne River just a couple of clicks out of town, only the occasional rumble of semis loaded with cotton bales, broke the stillness.

St George is the staging point for a big left hand turn, as I start my run out to Birdsville. An easy run from Dirranbandi through some very green and lush landscape, intersected by enormous empty fields and the ridges of very large water storage dams. St George is NOT and RV friendly destination. No RV free camping within 50klm of town. Well, that’s the official line. But all I needed was a little discretion and a low profile. A nice quiet spot behind the showground and an easy walk to town, saw me two nights, one night at a truck stop just out of town and one night at a caravan park to replenish the essentials.

There’s not a lot to see around St George, but a twenty minute scoot saw me at the Beardmore Dam late on a Sunday afternoon. You can see, that the design is not typical of what we see in the southern states and I’ve seen another one since. I’m guessing that they are also flood management as well as passive storage.

The other attraction is the Balonne River that cuts a swathe through St George, especially now it’s in flood. And to their credit, the Council have really turned the waterfront into a precinct for R&R.

I’m not sure what to expect supply wise for the next few weeks. I spent an absolute bomb at the IGA. Even the jerry can, for so long just a fashion accessory, got a fill up. It’s over 1200klms to Birdsville from here and not a lot of towns in-between. But by all accounts, plenty to see along the way. So, it’s riding into the sunset once again. I’m already getting a good feeling about the next few months. Let’s see if I’ve just put the moccas on myself.