Gone to Queensland Drivin'....

Saturday 25th March, 2017.


   Today sees us depart Cunnamulla, just after we pulled out of the caravan park we saw a small mob of kangaroos on the side of the road. These are the first roo's we have seen for the trip so far.

    Once again we headed north, it seems that Queensland roads get a lot of maintenance, more road works...... At least this time they were only doing the shoulders and drains.

     When you reach Angellala Creek, which is 168 K's from Cunnamulla, you arrive an infamous spot. For it was here where on the night of the 5th of September, 2014, a truck carrying 53 tonnes of Ammonium Nitrate, crashed, caught fire and exploded.

    It was the largest explosion in Australian transport history. The blast radius was more than 1km, and the blast was felt 30 km away. A police vehicle heading towards the scene was damaged about 1 km away.

The accident scene

careful where you park your fire truck

    The road bridge, and the nearby railway bridge were destroyed by the blast. Surprisingly, only 8 people were injured, no-one was killed.

                                                   

   We arrived at Charleville just prior to lunch, took a short walk around the shopping area, had to be short ALL the shops shut at noon. Anyway we had a look around and then adjourned to the local RSL for a meal. (and very nice it was!) Charleville, made (more) famous by Slim Dusty, is just as you would expect, old buildings, wide verandas.

The picture (left), shows the Charleville Town Hall and the School of Arts Hotel. The country towns we have travelled through, are all well kept and tidy, the streets and parks are nicely maintained.









The Charleville area is by nature very dry, but it doesn't mean that there haven't been attempts to change that. In 1902 a "scientist" by the name of Clement Wragg, convinced the local council that he could produce rain using Vortex rain guns. The plan was to place these guns in strategic areas around the town, to be fired when suitable clouds formed. Needless to say...the council wasted its money!





We left Charleville and headed to Augathella. Augathella, for those of us old enough to remember, is famous for the movie 'Smiley'. The Smiley stories were written by Moore Ramond (son of a local teacher), and were written about his childhood friend Didy 'Smiley' Creevy.

     We elected to free camp, about 44 km out of Tambo, and found a nice out of the way spot, off the highway. As it was "a million" degrees, it gave us the chance to try out the generator, used to run the A/C and the fridge. The air was cool, the beer was cold, all was good with the world.