158. Day 104 – We cross the Darling Downs for the coast

Tuesday 20 August 2008

After a lovely warm night in the motel we got going at 7.55am.  It was a beautiful sunny 40° Fahrenheit (4° Celsius) day.  We passed the Roma sale yards, where tens of thousands of cattle are trucked and sold.

At Wallumbilla we drove past a beautiful pub and huge silos.  We were now in the Darling Downs.  We were now starting to get into the powerhouse of Queensland.  We were passing huge silos, sale yards and magnificent grazing and pasture land with irrigation.  There were huge trucks in either direction.  We started to pass coal fired power stations, and we even saw what appeared to be a gas fired power station, and a pumping station for the gas pipeline.  Every 10 minutes or so we would be passed by a wide load – sometimes with a Police escort.

At Brigalow there were even more silos. There were oil drilling rigs heading to the west, and empty trucks passing us going east.  We tended to sit on about 100 kph on a very good road. The Earthroamer loves this type of driving.

At Jindalee we passed a magnificent property house surrounded by green crops.  At Macalister there was a huge coal loader.  It is good to see that coal is transported by rail.  A few minutes later we saw a coal train coming. Dick was as excited as a boy with a new Christmas toy. We stopped and waved to the drivers, who gave us a friendly toot.

At 11.05am we were driving through Dalby. What a wealthy area!  There was brand new machinery for sale, irrigation equipment, harvesting tractors, low loaders and bulldozers. Everything for sale was brand new. All the buildings were spic-and-span – painted or near new.  Ten kilometres from Oakey we passed some picturesque farmhouses located close to the road.  This is certainly a rich farm area.

We passed the Oakey compressor station and drove into the thriving city of Toowoomba, where we had lunch with Dave and Ann Larkin, and their daughter Jessica.  Dave is an old school friend of Dick’s and they went through Scouting together. Dave and Ann own their own Sun Camper – an Australian version of the Earthroamer.  It is built on a 4WD Toyota chassis and designed to go just about anywhere in Australia.   David and Dick compared notes.

After a beaut lunch made by Ann, we left Toowoomba on the very steep departure route, and then drove onto the two lane divided highway.  Every now and then we would pass a hidden speed camera. There seemed to be no speed limit signs – we are hoping it is 100 kph.  If not, there will be some fines issued against a strange American vehicle with Alaskan number plates.

At Gatton we stopped for some fuel.  It was $1.60 per litre and we put in 198 litres, with a total of $319.

We were soon on the toll roads.  The first toll was $2, then $1.20.  There were painted murals on the side of the freeway, and at one stage there were six lanes.  We had seen nothing like this since Russia.

At 3.40pm we dropped into Paradise Motor Homes.  This is a wonderful Aussie business owned by Colin McLean, his wife Libby, and their family.  They make without doubt some of the best motor homes in Australia.  They were keen to inspect the Earthroamer, and we were keen to look at their manufacturing facilities.  Dick was jealous – he would love to do some manufacturing in Australia but has always found it too hard.  It is great to see that Paradise Motor Homes is doing well, and even in these difficult economic times they still have a decent backlog of orders.

We left at 6.15pm, and drove in the dark to Surfers Paradise to visit the apartment of our friends, John and Jan Tait.  There we were, right on the coast looking at the ocean and the high rise buildings of Surfers Paradise. Total today 539 kms  39,400 kms since Anchorage, Alaska.

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