The Country Way

Mon 6 July… Barney Beach Gladstone is one of the best sites we have stayed on, very clean and everything worked except the blasted WiFi. It really is getting beyond a joke as lots of these sites are selling something that clearly doesn’t work. OK we often get our money back but we go to these campsites mainly because they advertise internet. We are sick of hearing the same excuses.
We are moving inland to follow “The Country Way” an alternative to route 1, the coast road which is very busy. Navigator takes us across country on a short cut, Peter had his doubts. It’s a lovely run until we hit 32 K’s of unsealed corrugated stone track, followed by a 2K brute of a hill. We are travelling over the Dawes Range, part of the great dividing range. It is unspoilt cattle country, hills, valleys, woods and rivers (mostly dried up) very little traffic, if 12 cars passed us that was as many, and lovely views when we got to the top, though we didn’t take any photos as it could have been the borders of Scotland, and it was a bit dull. Eventually we reach the Country Way having cut our journey by about 100K’s though probably not much time! This part of Queensland is famous for citrus growing and Mundubbera is the citrus capital of Australia! The roadside stalls are full of fruit, and we stopped to buy the biggest mandarins we had ever seen, 40c each ( 20p). We decline the lime and lemons as we are temporarily out of gin. We have pulled into a site in a small town called Gayndar because it boasts internet. The camp is full of Asian youngsters here for the work, fruit picking so we knew there must be internet, but unfortunately it’s only a kiosk, so we still can’t post our blogs.
It now gets dark at 5 30 and the temperature falls quickly once the sun goes down, and soon Peter won’t be able to stand outside creating with George anymore. Fortunately the air conditioning unit is also a heater and there have been occasions when we have had to have it on. W are trying manfully to stay in shorts but I bet I crack before Peter!