29th April

The weather forecast is for heavy rain beginning this afternoon and lasting a couple of days. Salvatore Rosa is impassable in wet weather so we decided to head towards home instead.
We spent most of today lazing around and catching up on minor things – clothes washing, hair washing, cleaning the stove … not too exciting. Took another walk to the springs – the water is so sweet and pure!
Then off to Springsure to catch up on emails and Facebook before settling back into the free camp at Staircase Range for the night.
Surprise – there was another van there – the first time we’ve shared a campsite (other than with Bryan and Trish) since the first night.

Distance travelled: 156K

30th April:
It started raining last night and has pretty well rained all day. We left our campsite early and had breakfast at Rolleston, then onward and eastward to Moura before camping at the Monto Information Centre for the night, another free camp provided by the Council. Explored Monto for a while, particularly the cafe and the pub – well they do say when the Council is generous enough to provide a free camp that you should frequent the local businesses! The camp is behind the un-manned Information Centre on vacant land. The public toilets (clean) are close by, and it’s a short walk into town. While not salubrious or picturesque it was quiet (after the pub closed at 10pm) and convenient.

Distance travelled: 360K

A prickly pear covered in fruit. Lots of these along the roadside.

1st May:

The rain last night was still pretty gentle, but the forecast is pretty bad for today with it getting very heavy after lunch as a low comes down the coast. We left early wanting to get home before the worst hit.
As it turned out it the majority of the 5-hour drive was in the rain with it sometimes being quite heavy, but no water over the road. We stopped briefly at Gayndah for more oranges and a cuppa before arriving home at 1pm.

Gayndah, centre of our citrus industry and, of course, the Big Orange.

Distance travelled: 400K

All together a fabulous trip, with good friends, good drives, good food, good bushwalking, great countryside and an excellent campervan.

Total distance for trip: 2086.9K