Road Trip 2017 - Day 18 (25th July) - We find ourselves at friendly Mungungo Pub (just out of Monto)!!

Very cold morning here in Cracow - I am chasing the sun around having cup of tea and breakfast this morning!!

Packed up and heading out this morning I see that the camper electric brakes light is flashing abnormally although they appear to be working. So out comes the manual and I find in the troubleshooting section that this sequence of coloured lights indicates a fault in the system somewhere. Just marvey!!!!!!

Got out the trusty Innox spray and sprayed the electrical plug fittings - hooked it all back up - and hey presto its all good now. Must have just been dirty contacts - as I hoped it would be - phew!!!!

Our travel destination today will be Mungungo pub just out of Monto - so that we can had east across country from there to Miriam Vale/1770 the following day to meet up with Cindy and Russ. (we had travelled this road on route to Monto some years ago now in the Honda and we remember it as a pretty good dirt road).

We are passing through Eidsvold on the way and stopping at the newly established R M Williams Bush Learning Centre locate just on the outskirts of town.

Of course we find a coffee shop in Eidsvold first and just have to fit one of the yummy sausage rolls as well before moving on.

Although small we find the RM Williams centre quite interesting with the displays and videos they have about this man and his life. I had not realised that he started making his iconic boots as a fledgling business and he really only made his wealth and started buying property after making good with a gold strike. 

He was a very hard working man with an ethic of genuine fairness and responsibility to all he dealt with and employed - and he had a real affinity and love for horses.

Below is said to be one of Reg Williams (RM) favourite pieces of poetry

We learnt that he bought a claim hoping to find gold and struck it lucky - with the shares sky rocketing overnight almost when it started producing.

The display also presented some information in general about life in the outback and I particularly liked these words about the importance the grasses.

The centre also houses a memorial to aboriginals who have served in combat in the Australian Forces and some lovely art works from a local aboriginal artist

We had to make a stop in lovely Monto (where we have previously visited some years ago when camping a week at Cania Gorge) - to go the butchers. We love these country butchers!!

Heading out then to Mungungo Pub (some 14km along the road we intended to travel tomorrow- we see a sign telling us that this Monto-Gladstone road is not suitable for caravans. We decide to head out to the pub anyway and ask them there about the road ahead.

What a good decision that was!!! We could have stayed in a free camp in Monto - but we are so glad we continued on to this out of the way pub - it had a great free camp (with 2x other vans) behind the pub - and we had the best afternoon having a few drinks and chatting with the lovely lady who is the publican -and meeting some of the locals (mind you there are not many locals here)!!!

This is a great little pub with a lovely friendly and very helpful landlady - 

-  and we had a lovely afternoon having a drink on the front verandah in the sun and then later in the bar chatting.

Our view from the front verandah - it was just so relaxing in the late afternoon sun - 

Memorable locals were Tanya - the extra/fill in cook; Max who used to run a local vineyard (now closed); the old guy who drove the old 4wd the 50 metres from his house to the pub (and the car was still there next morning - obviously couldn't drive home), the old guys dog who entertained with the antics trying to jump into the 4wd through an open window; and also Albert a neighbours Jack Russell who wanted us to play "throw the stick" whilst we were getting our dinner ready. 

Albert got called home when he started barking - lady yelled at the top of her voice, from up the back of us somewhere - "Albert stop annoying those people and get home" - and off he scampered home.

Thankyou Mungungo pub for your hospitality, great hot showers and facilities - and very very helpful advice about the roads.

Loved this sign on the bar door - 

Road Trip 2017 - Day 17 (24th July) - Old Gold Mining town of Cracow

It's another short hop today to the old gold mining town of Cracow - and we score a free camp adjacent to the local heritage centre.

This is a very small free camp - but with great facilities - especially for this waning village with a population of only 7.

The free camp has 3x concrete pads for caravans and provides power, toilets and hot showers for the cost of a small donation. 

We are lucky to find 1x spot remaining when we arrive late morning in Cracow.

I have to say that this is the best shower I have had so far the entire trip - and it's at a free camp!!!

Once set up we take a short walk to check out the Cracow Hotel --

- which - other than the little museum we are camped behind - is the only building in town in fair condition.

This pub is interesting as it is owned by the well known Fred Brophy - 3rd generation manager of the Fred Brophy boxing troupe.

This old pub houses many and varied artefacts --

This sign made us laugh - 

As with quite a number of outback pubs - you can put your name on the wall, or ceiling, if you can find a spot - and I managed to find one!

On our walk back to camp we noticed this unique letterbox at the rear of the pub - great recycling idea - no waste out here!!

The lhertigate cent at the free camp has very well presented history of the township of Cracow and is housed in what was once the court house in times gone by.

Cracow in fact was established as a township during one of the last traditional gold rushes in Australia - with many people arriving in this town at the end of the economic depression of the 1930's in search of gold.

There is now a Gold Mining con any again operating nearby Cracow and this has possibly been the only reason this town has not completely 'died'.

Road Trip 2017 - Day 16 (23rd July) - Lovely Theodore on the Dawson River!!

We left Moura this morning and headed to the little town of Theodore (another town on the Dawson river in the Banana shire). It was a relatively short hop and we arrived quite early in the day. 

This was our plan as we knew the Junction Park free camp at Theodore was a very popular spot - and we were hoping, if we were early, we would get a spot when someone was leaving.

Luck was with us and we got the only spot available at 10.00 am - and we were told that the previous occupants had only just pulled out.

We set up and went on foot exploring down through the town -

- it was pretty quiet being a Sunday morning and nothing was open except the servo where we did snag a good cup of coffee - then we walked back to our campsite along the Creek walk.

Back at the campsite things were getting busy as there was a fishing competition on this weekend and all the boats were starting to come back in from the final days fishing.

This park is in a lovely location on the junction of Castle Creek and the beautiful Dawson River - and the amenities provided by the community - for the cost of user donation - were brand new. They included hot showers for pay as you use fee - along with great toilet facilities in the lovely treed parkland here.

At the entrance to the park is a lovely mosaic mural - depicting features of the local area - and were built after the 2010/2011 floods to recognise the strength of the Theodore community in surviving the worst flood ever recorded in the history of this little township.

Down at the point (where Castle Creek joins the Dawson River) there is a marker which has been placed to mark the levels f the worst floods encountered here. It is just unimaginable to us just how much water must have come through this town in 2010/2011.

The red marker is the height of the river in the 2010/ 2011 flood - 

The marker has an aerial hoot of the town wrapped around 3 sides and a short story of the 2010/2011  flood event - when the entire town had to be evacuated by helicopter and could not return to their homes for 12 days.

As we walked around the town 6 years on from 2011 - there is no evidence at all of this flood and no abandoned buildings or homes.

It was a pretty cruisey lazy day really - and we spent the afternoon wandering around the park and the river and late in the afternoon checking out what birdlife was around here. 

We met some lovely grey nomads and took their suggestion of dining at the pub tonight - where they could highly recommend the food.

The Hotel Theodore is interesting in that it has been owned and run by the local community since the early 1940's.

It was a pretty good feed and we were more than happy that we gave back some money to this town for providing such a lovely location for a free camp.

Road Trip 2017 - Day 15 (22nd July) - Washing day at Moura!!

We get down to about 3 degrees overnight and it takes a bit of warming up in the sunshine on our final morning at Carnarvon.  Once motivated and moving we are packed up and heading off to our next camp for the night - although we are as yet unsure exactly where that will be. 

We finally make the decision to head for Rolleston thinking we might stop here for a night in the caravan park to do some washing. We are in Rolleston for morning tea - only to find there are no shops here - and then we see like 2 dozen caravans pulled up around the back of a little park.

We head around there to investigate - and to take a toilet break at the park - and we find a gorgeous little park with lovely garden furniture dotted around and a volunteer community coffee truck. There is only one young girl working the coffee and cakes from this truck and quite a line up if patrons waiting in line.

It was such a lovely little spot on this sunny morning that we waited our turn to get fuelled up with coffee and then sat and enjoyed it in the sunshine chatting with other travellers.

(Bloody hell I forgot to take any photos - damm it!!)

We decide to keep on the road and head for Moura where we should be able to get checked into the caravan park and get the washing done still in time to dry this afternoon. Nothing takes long to dry out here in the dry heat - even in winter if it's sunny.

Moura is a mining and gas town - and the caravan park is full of mine workers living in dongas - the fly-in/ fly outs.  They seem to work around the clock even on weekends (today is Saturday) - and this is the quietest caravan park I have ever been in - with guys either at work or sleeping.

We take a quick late afternoon walk around Moura - but there is not a lot to see and the town is closed up - being a Saturday afternoon.

I did like this sign outside a rural supplies/produce store -- very interesting!!!

All the washing done and dried today - we planned to move on down to Theodore tomorrow.