JANDOWAE

Left Nanango this morning and travelled about 130 klms to Jandowae. We weren't going to go there, but decided it sounded a nice place and never been there before, so why not. 

We like to get off the main highways......and this road was definately not a main road!  Most of it was very narrow, and luckily there wasn't many cars on this road because towing a 27foot caravan, having to get off the road and onto dirt to let a car though coming the other way....is not fun. 

The condition of the road wasn't the best, being a country road, but it was a very pretty drive. The Bunya Mountains were on our left, and along the way a lot of the farms had tilled their paddocks for planting with the soil being a rich red/brown colour which looked lovely with all the wattle trees out in flower. 

We have seen three big brown snakes while travelling in the car. They have been crossing the road and thankfully have not had to run over them. I remember running over one while we were over in the west and it stretched right across the road. It must have been some of Python as it was very thick.....it felt like I had driven over a speed hump!! 

Just up the road, we had to pull in to the border crossing. They stop you there and check you don't have any fruit, vegetables or honey on board, and they also check under your car with a mirror for any cane toads. So I said to the bloke, I'm glad your looking because back along the road I ran over a snake, so just please check it's not wrapped around anything under the car or van.......all was good! 

That's the trouble when towing....we are going to have to get a camera on the back of the van to check these things! 

FRIDAY ******

Set off for a look at a place called Warra this morning. Must say the roads are in terrible condition from the floods they had up this way and being the roads we travel on are not a priority road, I guess they would be the last roads to get government funding. 

So we stopped at Warra for a cuppa.....very small 'town' if you could call it that......had a pub...of course, but no other shops or services. 

The rest stop is very nice and a credit to the town for us travellers, providing very clean amenities. This part of the country are going through a really bad drought so there are signs everywhere asking could we please be very careful with the water we use. A lot of it is tank water now, and as nice as that is of the town to provide it....I personally would not touch it! I have seen what lurks in the bottom of some rain water tanks and it's not a pretty site. A lady was telling me yesterday that that is all she would drink as she came off a farm and was used to it! Her Dad used to pour kerosine on top of the water to keep the mozzies away from it.....!!! Oh yuk! 

So after we had had a cuppa.....with our own boiled water...👍... we took a couple of photos and headed off west to a place called Kogan. 

We saw the sign to Kogan..and headed along the road, once again, terrible road, lots of pot holes and water damage, but it was tarred, so not a problem. Then we passed a big with a few roads named...one of which was ours, and that those roads were 'Open'...meaning that they were not closed due to flooding. Now that sign should have clicked to us....but didn't....so on we drove about 10 klm until we came to a sign as we turned the corner......"Dirt Road. 8 klm" 😳😳😳

Great! ... So us city slickers with our 4WD that never sees dust....thought..ok...another adventure....it's only 8klm!  I think those 8 klm took about an hour (maybe not that long) but when your crawling along slowly because the so called road is like an old washing board and the surface is made up of rocks the size of Ayers Rock.....you can't go too fast!  Plus...there are Floodways across the road to allow the flood waters to go through so its like being on the 'big dipper' .......but we made it back on to the bitumen and got to Kogan, only to find out we of course took the wrong road. Never mind! But we decided that we must invest in a good CB radio as there is no phone service out bush!

So Kogan, you blink, you miss it !! So that was worth it! On to the next place....Westward Ho to Caliguel Lagoon just out from a place called Condamine. 

It was a 70 klm trip.....again the roads were a mess, but it was Bitumen all the way. There are signs now to be aware of Roadtrains. They are massive, long haulage trucks, and you see them coming, you must give way....who wouldn't ? .......but the roads are quite narrow, so it's us that needs to move over onto the dirt, and towing a two ton caravan means driving carefully. Being that this van has dual axel....I find that 4 wheels are better than our small caravan. 

So here we are...at the lagoon and you can certainly see the effects of the drought here!

The water should be up to the pathway. 

That's it for today .........