29 July 2014
Greetings from the Tropics.
I thought I would get this email while we are still in warm latitudes and before we left Queensland for more southern climes. Tomorrow its Brisbane and then northern NSW.
It’s been a great trip so far and it has given us more motivation for the next on-road adventure. Our observations and insights of this trip so far are as follows:
- ABC AM radio is a wonderful way to hear about what’s happening in the bush. We have heard about the 7000 head of cattle offered for sale at the Roma sales. Seems Roma is the biggest sale yards in the State. Who would have thought. We have heard about live cattle, fat cattle, store cattle, weaners, and so on. I just thought cattle were cattle. We also heard about coal mining, the opening of new mines, the closure of existing mines and the demand for coal by China. We heard about the forthcoming drought and how dry it is already. Of course linked to drought is the discussion about how much the government needs to do. We also heard some wonderful interviews on AM radio of authors and other interesting people. Maybe these interviews are always there we just don’t listen to them when we are at home.
- If camping at Lightening Ridge and you are in a tent be sure to ask for the electric drill at reception so you can drill holes in the ground for your tent pegs. They even have an extension cord for this purpose. Yep the ground is that hard. The artesian swimming pool is a wonderful way to get warm in winter. The water is always 40c.
- If you understand the game of ‘zip white horse’ you will appreciate the game of ‘zip emu’. Barb won 13 to 7. I am not sure there wasn’t double counting and there is no trust when are playing zip emu. In the game of ‘hey cow’ I won 8 to 0.
- The grey dollar is supreme up here. There are caravans everywhere and lots of grey haired retired people. Any little rinky dink country town with a half decent coffee shop and public toilets had a crowd of vans parked and rafts of grey hairs enjoying their cappuccinos. Van parks up here are at a premium. I think there is a business opportunity up here – they need more parks. Even the free parks and National Park campgrounds are booked out. There are more caravanners than there are camp sites.
- It doesn’t matter where you go or where you camp the guy next door is from your home town. For example the couple next door to us tonight stores his van at our neighbours in Gallagher Place, Wamboin! Under these circumstances you must be very careful who you get ticked off with for their poor driving or when they get in your way – you probably know them.
- The mining industry up here is in wind back. The rush and excitement is over and people are focussed on keeping their job as things slow down. That said the mines are huge, the coal trains are massive and the engineering infrastructure is impressive.
- There seems to be two types of people on the road. (Consultants will always tell you there are two types of people!) We have met those who tour, they are on the road for months and are covering huge distances across the outback and coast, north to south. They are found at coffee shops, camp grounds, on the side of the road, everywhere. Then there are those who book the same site at a park every year and have been coming to the same place for 10 maybe 20 years. They don’t tour and they seem to be very comfortable in their own quasi suburban village in the caravan park. For these people the primary motivator is the migration north to avoid winter. The stayers predominantly come from Victoria and South Australia.
- I am suffering serious caravan envy. Our van is about 18’ long which is quite inferior to the monster 26’ vans that seem to predominate. Of course ours is 1.7 tonne, the big ones are at least 3 tonnes and bigger. How much room do two people need?
That’s enough of my ramblings I need some sunshine and vitamin D before we return to winter. I will send this and we will see many of you in the next few weeks.
Regards from Rainbow Beach Queensland, Australia.
Kevin and Barb
A Traveller's Tale 