27 January 2000
Well, we certainly covered a lot more territory and saw a lot
more country today than we thought we would. The original plan
was to get as far as Cunnamulla and have the ute serviced by the
Mazda dealer there. However contrary to what we had been told (by
the same galah who sold us the crook fuel, mind you - so we
should have known) there is no Mazda dealer in Cunnamulla; the
nearest one is in Toowoomba, 580 kms further east. So as we were
heading back east anyway we decided to go on to a place called
St. George (which is about halfway between Cunnamulla and
Toowoomba) and then go on to Toowoomba tomorrow. However when we
got to St. George it was only 3:30 p.m. local time so we decided
to go on to Dalby, which is only about 80 kms from Toowoomba. And
here we are.
So our tally today is 999 kms (I think I'll take the ute around
the block to clock up the round 1,000) in 11 hours.
The weather slowly deteriorated as we moved north, then east,
from high, scattered cloud and sunshine at Cobar to high, heavy
cloud at Cunnamulla to torrential rain about 40 kms east of St.
George. This latter was especially unpleasant (and dangerous)
because as the cold rain hit the warm road it turned to steam
which became a swirling mist up to about a metre high.
The town of Cunnamulla was a bit of a disappointment. Although
supposed to be a large regional centre (and I suppose it is,
although it is not as large as I was expecting) it seemed to have
an air of lethargy and neglect about it. By contrast, the town of
St. George (which I had never previously heard of) was a larger,
bustling and apparently thriving community, with well-maintained
houses with neat lawns and gardens - everything Cunnamulla was
not. Haven't had much of a chance to look round Dalby yet but it
appears to be a very large, thriving centre, second only to
Toowoomba (which I suppose could be considered the "capital" of
the Darling Downs).
Must have been emu and shingleback lizard day today (at least
that's what I think they were) - saw plenty.