Had a lovely night yesterday. Went to Bribie Island Hotel about 40 minutes from Maria for a lovely dinner. Anna and Keegan, plus Archer & Charlotte, Tasha and John (& Harrison, who’s due in 4 weeks). Tasha’s Mum and stepfather, Tanya and Les; Anna’s friend’s Molly & Reece plus Oliver & Angus. Not forgetting Maria & Ron, Helen & myself.

Helen and I had seared barramundi and it so melted in the mouth, it was lovely.

Had a reasonably early night and finished packing our small travel bags and packing the car. We left at 6.21 am and basically headed northwest, west and then south. First stop, in Blackbutt, was for a coffee/wee stop,

then a bit later in Dalby for a quarter of a tank of fuel. We pulled into a roadside rest stop area for a quick muesli bar and some grapes

and then stopped in St George for a late lunch and a look at River Balonne, big and muddy looking!

Then the last bit of the trip to Lightning Ridge. There was a Caution sign near Heble for water over the road, which we found several times!

We had to put our clocks forward an hour, so the Visitor Centre was closed. Found the IGA, grabbed essentials to eat and then on to Lavender Cottage which Helen found for us for 4 nights.

We did see some interesting sights along the way. A feral red deer, a very dead great black pig, and a kangaroo. A few emu and of course lots of cattle, horses, sheep & goats. Lots of different field crops, some we had no idea what they were, but we managed sorghum and cotton!

and giant cotton wool rolls!

Helen did a great job, with the 10 hour trip. It was noticeable that apart from quite a few large road trains there was very little traffic on the roads. Well done & thanks, Helen! Going to fill up with fuel tomorrow (the BP hasn’t any at the moment) and visit some opal sites!