Soon we'll be travelling west to Thallon and possibly Charleville (night sky + WW2 drive yourself tour), then looping back to Brissie.
I'd really appreciate any suggestions on what else there is to see out there along the route.
To better understand what I'm trying to glean about where we're going:
At Christmas we travelled out to Miles, as I'd read an article in the Sunday Mail about Possum Park.
We had a great time staying in the WW2 underground Bunkers; they also have a Viscount plane and railway carriages as accommodation (and dongas and caravan park).
We visited the Historical Village in Miles and the Oil Rig in Roma.
Happily for us, we 'went for a drive' down to The Gums and drove onto Meandarra for lunch (great burgers).
Loved the story behind "Meandarra", and they have an amazing ANZAC Memorial Museum (Canberra bomber and other great stuff + an area dedicated to Polygon Woods in WW2, where sadly a lot of the local lads died, as did my husband's great Uncle.)
So, I'd love to hear about interesting stuff there is to see along the way from Brissie to Thallon to Charleville to Brissie.
Soon we'll be travelling west to Thallon and possibly Charleville (night sky + WW2 drive yourself tour), then looping back to Brissie.
I'd really appreciate any suggestions on what else there is to see out there along the route.
To better understand what I'm trying to glean about where we're going:
At Christmas we travelled out to Miles, as I'd read an article in the Sunday Mail about Possum Park.
We had a great time staying in the WW2 underground Bunkers; they also have a Viscount plane and railway carriages as accommodation (and dongas and caravan park).
We visited the Historical Village in Miles and the Oil Rig in Roma.
Happily for us, we 'went for a drive' down to The Gums and drove onto Meandarra for lunch (great burgers).
Loved the story behind "Meandarra", and they have an amazing ANZAC Memorial Museum (Canberra bomber and other great stuff + an area dedicated to Polygon Woods in WW2, where sadly a lot of the local lads died, as did my husband's great uncle.
We also lost a great uncle at Polygon Woods but it was WW1. He was from Wollongong.
Just a couple thoughts as there are many roads you can take. If you come up/head back via the highway to Toowoomba, you can go to Oakey the the Army Aviation Museum (open Wed -Sunday 10am to 3pm according to their website) then further along the highway to the Jondaryan Woolshed. There's a Caravan Park and other accommodation at the woolshed also. Coming along the highway from Toowoomba, the turn off to the woolshed is on the left but also at Jondaryan there is a turn off on the right (just cannot remember if it's before or after the woolshed turnoff) that says Brymaroo. Brymaroo is only a couple houses, and park with toilet, picnic table, BBQ I think AND a Canberra bomber. The bomber is up on stilts and is still in pretty good nick.. It's only 18.2klms down the road from the turnoff. There is nothing at the turnoff to say the bomber is there though. The sight used to be that of an American airstrip during WWII.
Just from your post it seemed that you are interested in WWII stuff, pioneer villages etc so thought you may be interested in these places either for this trip or another since you're not that far away. There's also a Pioneer village at Highfields just outside of Toowoomba and in Toowoomba is the Cobb and Co Museum which houses a large collection of horse drawn vehicles as well as other stuff.
If you are travelling out through Warwick to Goondiwindi and on to Thallon, a small diversion would take you to Leyburn. There was a WW2 Liberator bomber base there in the war, and it is now home to the Leyburn Sprint, which is basically a car rally every year (unless it has been discontinued). I lived in Roma when the Big Rig was moved into town from Mt Bassett, where it had lived since the 1960s. Roma was where oil was first discovered, on Hospital Hill. The Big Rig as I recall, was the largest of its type in Australia at the time. As you me back through Chnchilla, take the time to do the run (about 45 km) north along Auburn Road where you will find an Historical Site where one of the first exploration wells was drilled for oil in the early 1900s. As you wander through the low scrub around the site, it is easy to imagine the noise and activity as drilling took place. No oil was discovered there and after a few attempts (from memory, from the information board) the well was plugged and abandoned. I just cannot recall, but I think it is a fairly short distance after you pass through the dog fence.
-- Edited by Dave1952 on Tuesday 7th of August 2018 03:28:43 PM
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Dave (Nutgrass)
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Carpe Diem - Seize the day!
You never get a second chance at a first impression, so make the first a good one.
If you are thinking of a caravan park in Charleville I would thoroughly recommend the Evening Star. It's about 8 or 9 k's out of town but you will have a fantastic experience with Craig who has a wealth of knowledge on Aboriginal history, culture and a fabulous range of artifacts.
Cheers,
David.
