It was a bit of a day for funny signs today. If you consider two funny signs a “day for funny signs”, that is.
As I described in yesterday’s post, we decided to pull up stumps a day early and head off to Quilpie. We also figured that with a population of 595 peeps, it has to be at least twice as exciting as Thargomindah with a population of only 270 peeps, right?
We checked with the caravan park in Quilpie if it was OK to arrive a day early and stay for the three nights, and the next question was “are you here for the football?”
You know that unpleasant and uncomfortable silence that happens when you are asked a question that seems completely out of context and borderline stupid? Wasn’t the 3rd of 3 State of Origin games LAST Wednesday night? And has the State of Origin EVER been played in Quilpie, or are they just planning to watch it here 3 days after it was played?
Have I missed something important?
Me: “Sorry, what football game?”
Lady at Caravan Park: “The footy game between Redcliffe and Ipswich.”
Me (thinking): ”Seriously? Redcliffe and Ipswich are playing football in Quilpie?”
Me (saying): “Er, no. We are not in Quilpie for the football.”
Apparently the NFL decided to bring some “real football” to Quilpie. No, I don’t understand it either.
In Thargomindah this week we have seen some hand-written signs in many of the store windows and public bulletin boards simply saying (in a child’s handwriting): “Bruiser is missing. Please find him and bring him to Nicholas’s house.”
I have a working assumption that Bruiser is a dog, because it would be an unusual name for a canary, or a cat, or a pet snake.
Now while I have absolutely no idea who Nicholas is, I am quite confident that you could walk up to any local and ask “who is Nicholas?”, and I’m sure that you would get a reply like “Nicholas? He’s Jimmy-Don’s and Mary-Lou’s oldest. He’s lost his dog, don’t you know?”
I also feel compelled to point out for the purpose of completeness that the sun rises and sets much later in the west than in Brisbane. In Quilpie today, sunrise is 7.09am (Brisbane is 6.36, Thargomindah was 7.14am as it is even further west), and sunset is 5.48pm (Brisbane is 5.11pm). I just needed to make that clear so you don’t think that we are lazy and sleeping in every day.
So we woke today at about 7.15am and did the normal stuff. Over breakfast we estimated that we should be out of the park by 9.30am, and at exactly 9.28am we were rolling out the front gate. Overachievers that we are!
The road out of Thargomindah is a single lane, narrow bridge over the Bulloo River.
To get to Quilpie you travel about 7km back towards Eulo and Cunnamulla, and then take the Quilpie turnoff …
… and then the road gets very narrow …
… and then it turns to dirt for about 20km.
The road from Thargomindah to Quilpie is roughly 200km, and it’s a great road for the majority of the trip, but some bits are pretty hard going. The dirt sections had us doing no more than 80km/h, and we were kicking up a dust cloud that Richard Branson could have seen from space.
Elsie is starting to look like she needs a good bath 🙁 Either that, or I could probably plant potatoes.
At about the middle of trip – around the 100km mark – you are starting to look out for a McDonalds drive-thru, or even a dodgy “Hepatitis Harry’s” truck stop, just to have a reason to break the journey and stretch your legs.
Sadly, there is no Hepatitis Harry’s, and certainly no McDonalds drive-thru … but you do come across the Toompine Pub (which is closed for renovations), and the Bowerbird’s Rest coffee shop, where you can buy a fabulous coffee and some passionfruit cake and gooey Caramel Anzac Slice, and it is absolutely worth the stop!
It doesn’t have quite the facilities of a McDonalds drive-thru, but there was plenty of parking and the coffee and cake was outstanding. MBW even tried (unsuccessfully) to prise the Caramel Anzac Slice recipe out of the lady running the place 🙂
I’m not sure what the population of Toompine is, but I suspect that I saw them all inside the coffee shop.
Which brings me to the second funny sign of the day … the enterprising spirit of the Toompine community in opening a coffee shop in the middle of nowhere is one thing, but a junior member of the Toompine community placed this sign out the front of the coffee shop offering an additional service while you enjoy your coffee and cake.
After coffee and cake, the trip was just another 100km of the same – all bitumen, no dirt, and the grand total of 10 other vehicles that we passed for the entire 200km. Plus some more emus, some cattle (both dead and alive), and more bug DNA on the windscreen than I care to think about.
We got into Quilpie around 1.30pm, unhooked, unpacked, did a couple of loads of washing, did a quick reconnaissance of the town and discovered – not unsurprisingly – that everything is closed on a Saturday afternoon.
Had a soak in the spa bath …
… and planned out the next couple of days in Quilpie.
The football game – remember the football game? – was in full swing by mid-afternoon and I’m pleased to report that Redcliffe beat Ipswich 26-22.
We swung by the campfire to meet some of our fellow travellers on the way out for dinner.
Dinner tonight was at the Imperial Hotel Quilpie and was a disappointing rump steak (mine) and a well-chosen Chicken Schnitty (MBW), and then back to the caravan park for coffee.
And another spectacular western Queensland sunset …
On our way back to the van, we thought that we would get a last 10 minutes of the camp fire to warm up, and some of the Redcliffe Dolphin’s players and hangers-on were also sitting around the campfire so we got to chatting. It appears that they are staying here at the caravan park in the “Ensuite Cabin” section.
You know that uncomfortable feeling when you are talking to someone and they seem vaguely familiar? One of the football crowd just gave me that feeling. MBW said that he played in the State of Origin, but I couldn’t place him and I didn’t want to be rude …
Apparently we were sitting around the fire with Justin Hodges. Who would’ve known?
JT (that’s Jonathon Thurston) is going to be in Quilpie on Monday night, hosting a free community meal at the Bulloo Park Racecourse and everyone is welcome … so we might pop down for a feed and a night out.
Don’t let MBW ever tell you that I never take her anywhere!
Tomorrow we are doing a trip out to Eromanga (about 100km) to have a look at the dinosaur museum, and if I remember to get fuel before we leave Quilpie, we will be making a trip back again in the afternoon … but you will hear about that tomorrow.
Ciao
Very interesting. I am going to miss your reporting and pictures when you get home
Toompine , must have great coffee and eats. But so pleased There was plenty of parking !!!!!!
I’d be happy to travel and blog full time Judy, but I may need some financial backing. How much can I put you down for … ? 🙂