To St. George

To St. George

Posted on 6 Nov, 2009 16 comments

9/10
By the time we left at 8.15 am it was not so cold anymore, 21C. Now continuing our trip, same country scenery, and towards Springsure, another nice name for a place. A nice little country village in the hills, in the middle of agriculture farms, mainly wheat. Springsure has treelined streets with flowering Jacaranda at this time of the year. Neat little gardens, people sure take pride of their town there. I found a Spar shop, where I could by ice coffee. Further on, to Rolleston, 76 km down the road. It was still 21C. Rocky outcrops on the pittoresque ranges here. Mountain names like Minerva and Meteor to be seen on either side of the road. Here we saw large Eucalypt trees. It sure was a nice road, but the surface wasn’t too good, and littered with dead roos. Soon the scene changed and a lot of land was denuded, poor and used for grazing. The side of the road wide and eroded. To try and prevent erosion sausage roll like sandbags were placed across the dips so soil would pile up against them. We saw them for a long time. We took the road to Injune. Here we rested and had lunch in a green grassy and shaded park, which had neat toilets. Another little place where people take care of their town. New wooden buildings, like tourist info centre, library, childcare centre etc.
At 1 pm we continued to Roma, which lies in the middle of farmland. More dead roos, it’s becoming a familiar sight. Cattle grazing the land and creek names like Bullaroo creek kept us entertained. We were now driving through beautiful rocky mountains with fabulous scenery, now taller trees and we even saw a dozen of bottle trees, which looked majestic and beside a nicely shaped trunk also had a round crown. Then lower country again, undulating, poor farming area, old and even deserted farmhouses. The roadside is wide, treed and inbetween prickly pears, of which some were in flower, looking more like Arizona desert than the aussie one. Grassland now, almost like the pistes.
We bought petrol and milk in Roma and drove on. It was 26C. in fact all day. The road just continues with the same scenery: dry, desolate and poor farming, miles after miles, all the way to Surat. Here we arrived at 3.10 pm. We changed positions every so many hours, then Paul, then me, in the driver’s seat. This is the only way to go, otherwise you might lull yourself into sleep, as the car just rockeby’s you to sleep. From Surat to St. George is 115 kms. The road is so quiet, only about 10 cars have passed us in all those hours driving. Although the road condition is not crash hot, it certainly beats driving on a road full with traffic, which is not relaxing at all. We enjoy the scenery and the country roads, they are peaceful and quiet. This region has the lovely red earth again like in the red centre. We saw a willy willy and for those, who don’t know what it means: a mini whirlwind, sucking up dust and twirling it along the way. This one was nice and large and started in a paddock, then crossing the road in front of us. A policecar, the only one we saw sofar, had overtaken us, but then where the willy willy occured, he had stopped. Bet you to look at it and take a picture of it, so did I, but from the driving car.
Finally at 4.20 we arrived at the Kamarooka caravan park in St. George. Unfortunately there was no mobile coverage, so we could not report to the girls. Our cabin was opposite the Catholic Church, seperated by a fence and a road. We felt save….Again the Jacaranda trees were in flower. I took the dogs for a walk again. Then Paul went to explore the mainstreet, where some restaurants and take-a-ways were, on foot of course. It is very hard to go about with a trailer stuck behind the car, so once at a cabin, we do the rest walking. He came back with some chinese food, chicken chow mein and beef in black been sauce, and of course a bag with kroepoek. We had a beer on the veranda and then ate inside, as by now it had cooled off considerably. The cabin was something outof a wild west film, all wooden, like a log cabin, probably nice and cosy in its glory days, but now delapitated and barely lit. An old tv, an old sink and kitchen cupboard, something like we had when we moved onto the farm 42 years ago! Even the cutlery drawer was the same, even the knives like my old kitchen knives, lol. The bed was so small, I nearly fell out several times during the night and it was soooo cold! The dogs were in the cabin with us in the evening, but we let them sleep in the car. I had put my winter coat on the front seat, as Cully chooses to sleep there all the time. Pivot is in the back on his sheep skin, surrounded with a blanket. We also had bought a pair of socks for the car windows, so we can wind them down a little and let the air in, but no mozzies. This time only one window was down slightly. At 6.30 am I was walking the dogs again, this time on the cricket field, behind the caravan park.
It is always hard to find accommodation which is pet friendly, some say they are, but don’t want them anywhere near the cabins. So we often have to opt for the lesser parks.

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