Goondiwindi, Queensland

We left Tenterfield on Thursday and it was 2 degrees overnight. A bit of fog and a very light frost on the ground.
We arrived in Goondiwindi and it was 30 degrees, blazing sun and no wind.

We had an interesting trip. We stopped at Texas for an early lunch and had a walk down the main street. We will probably go back there in the future and stay for a few days. Lots of history and a very nice place. Real friendly locals, though no 10 gallon hats or big loud booming voices. No wait that is Texas in the US.

Wildflowers deep in the heart of Texas

Just about 20km after leaving Texas we came across a Winnebago stranded right in the middle of the road. My Good Samaritan Ray pulled over and stopped to see if he could help. Apparently the Winnie just stopped, no steering no nothing. Luckily there was quite good vision and other vehicles could see him and he had his hazards on. This problem had happened to him before and it cost $5000 to fix but apparently it is not right yet. They pulled into Texas but the mechanic there couldn't look at until the week after next so they decided to try for Goondiwindi but didn't make it. He had a little car on the back so his wife was driving that in to Goondiwindi to see if she could get a heavy tow truck to come back and get him. He said he was OK so we left him. If he had steering Ray would have come into town, unhitched us and gone back to tow him into town.

Next thing we come across a hand written sign on the road, HUMP. We were unsure if it was an instruction or a warning. About 500metres further on we realised it was a warning and we hit the hump. We were OK as we weren't travelling very fast.

Also along the side of the road, heaps of cotton which had spilled from vehicles. The birds would have no trouble up here looking for nest building material.

We arrived in Goondiwindi about 2pm and set up and relaxed in the nearest shade with a beer.

 It is very warm. Goondiwindi is built on the northern side of the Macintyre River. The Queensland/NSW border runs down the middle of the river.It is a lovely town with very wide streets and lots of trees.

The dam beside the caravan park

Sunset over the dam

Gunsynd, the Goondiwindi Grey, well known as the only horse to win at every track along the eastern seaboard was from Goondiwindi. A statue stands in the Apex park as a tribute to his amazing feats.

The tribute statue to Gunsynd

The old bridge over the Macintyre River which linked NSW and Queensland.

There is a beautiful Natural Heritage Water Park purpose built for all water sports including skiing and triathlons.

Old River Red Gum on the bank of the Natural Heritage Water Park

We met a lovely couple in the van next door John and Julie Birch and their dog Daffy. John is retired and only works part time and Julie is a nurse at Bilaluna Community in the Tanami desert. He is originally from Wyndham in WA and his mother is a full blood aboriginal and his father was a direct descendant of the Afghan traders from the Kimberley. He was an aboriginal liaison policeman in WA for 30 years and was involved in the Halls Creek riots in 1996. He has worked all over WA, the Kimberley, Kununurra, Halls Creek, Broome. They are a lovely couple and we will catch up again in Wyndham next year as he will be back there.
Then I saw another fellow in the park and I thought I recognised him so I asked him where he was from. It turned out he had worked at Boral Asphalt at Dubbo until 2 years ago when it closed. Steve Bruce was his name and he comes from Narromine and was on his way with his wife to 1770. A very small world.

The windmill in the caravan park

We are relaxing for a few days before heading out tomorrow to Nindigully to free camp along the river for a few days. If you want to know more about Nindigully, this is the link to the web site www.nindigully.com