Monday 4 August 2014

Mitchell to Kogan - 4 August 2014

Leaving Mitchell this morning, we headed towards Roma and passed fields that were green with some sort of crop growing. Quite a change to what we have been seeing over the last 6 weeks.

We went through Muckadilla - love the name - which is only a small place. You can camp beside the Hall for a small fee/donation and it looked pretty good.

Coming into Roma, we saw a sign to Macca's. Have only seen one other on our trip. That was at Broken Hill and we were advised not to go there as it was pretty dirty. We aren't Macca's burger fans so that wasn't hard, but we do go to the McCafe's for morning tea occasionally. Fuel at Roma was $1.55.9 for diesel.

We didn't stop in Roma. We were there a couple of years ago on our way to Carnarvon Gorge and really liked the place. Will probably stop again on our next trip out this way to see any changes. We did go passed the Saleyards, which are really big, and saw all the cattle there waiting for the next sale, which is tomorrow I think. There was a new estate going up not far from the Saleyards. I couldn't tell if it was houses or industrial, but it was quite big so Roma must be growing.

It started to spit as we left Roma and we had that on and off most of the day.

We stopped in Surat for morning tea. It is a good way to leave some money in these little towns as a lot of them do struggle. We hadn't been to Surat before and it was a lovely little town. On the edge of town, on the banks of the Balonne River, is a great looking camping area which would be good to stay at.

Surat is the oldest town in the Maranoa Region and was originally known as Yulculba. The original Cobb and Co Changing Station is set up as a Museum. It is the original Cobb and Co store and drop-off point for coach travellers and goods.
In the foyer of the building is an 25,000 litre Aquarium, which have a native fish species which live in the local river systems. It was huge.

Inside were displays of the original store and goods it would have sold, wool press, information boards on local points of interest and a beautifully restored 14 seat Cobb and Co coach.
We went through Glenmorgan, a small town that has an old railway station which you can camp behind for a small fee/donation. It also had an old car museum. The Gums was another very small place we went through, which had a General Store/Post Office, but just down the road was a golf course and grain storage. Tara has grown a little bit since we were there last and has a free camp on the edge of town that looks quite good. The town looked like it would be good to have a wander, another time, with a couple of cafes.

Our destination today was Kogan, not too far from Dalby. We have been to Dalby a few times, so decided to try somewhere different. There seems to be a lot of coal seam gas exploration mining companies around here, as there are lots of utes and miners driving in the area.

We are camped at the Kogan Memorial Hall for the night. We are the only ones here and there are 2 cement slabs available for use. There is a good little outdoor museum on the other side of the Hall.
There is a Pub across the road, and when Hugh Sawrey, a famous Australian artist, was shearing in the area, he would spend time there. He painted 19 murals on the walls of the Pub in the time he was here. When the Pub was sold further down the track, the new owners cut the murals from the walls and sold them at auction, so none there to check out which is a shame.

Tomorrow, we will be home. We have had a great trip and have already started planning a couple of trips for next year. By the time we get home, we will have done about 6,200 kms, 950 on dirt. We have been really pleased with the car and also how the van has handled the trip.


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