Day 92 – Tuesday 19^th October 2021 – 65 Km

Out a bit after 7am, breakfast then the washing as it is a nice sunny morning & it should all dry as there is a threat of storms this afternoon. After the washing is hung we head down to the Biloela Queensland Heritage Park, the local museum & get there around 10am.

The museum main building represents a grain silo & is a relic from the Brisbane Expo a number of years back that was relocated to Biloela, very impressive inside. There is some nice displays of old vehicles & farm machinery, including a good collection of cream separators as dairying was a big industry in Biloela years ago. There is a small theatre with a good video of old tractors playing, that is very interesting as well & we watch it all the way through.

The first place we look at outside is the old Callide Church that has been relocated here & inside is more interesting displays of the history of Biloela. Inside is an old Pyramid telephone cord switchboard from the old hospital, I have not seen one of these for a very long time. Next door is the relocated old Biloela Railway Station with another collection of interesting items. We keep walking around & there is lots of old farm equipment & machinery in sheds & out in the paddock.  One shed has a very impressive collection of restored tractors & trucks & farm implements.

Next stop is at the town water reservoirs, one tank has a giant mural painted halfway round it representing the role women have had to play in the district from aboriginal time up until the 1920s. The storyboards explaining each section of the mural are very interesting & some made us chuckle.

The drive out to the Callide Dam & the view over the Callide Power Stations does not take long at all. There is lots of water standing next to the road from all the recent rain. The water level in the dam is down a long way & contractors are working on the spillway of the dam.  We drive around the dam & as we pass through some cattle paddocks admire some large Queensland Bottle trees, they are huge. We keep following the Calvale Road around the dam through some farms & the road steadily gets narrower & a little bit rough, some wet sections along Kroombit Gully are a bit scary as the soil is very soft & boggy. We go through a number of gates before eventually reaching Valentine Plains Road through another gate with a great view of the flat topped Mount Kroombit as we get there. What an adventure.

The drive back into Biloela is uneventful & the land is very flat & fertile with lots of large cropping farms. We turn in to our van park & time for a coffee & then fold our dry washing. Dinner on the BBQ & a game of cards. 

We have really slowed down with our travel, we are heading south, homeward bound.  Canberra opened up the lockdown to many NSW rural areas but not the way we have to travel home.  We have to go through NSW, therefore we will have to go into 14 days quarantine & have to have 2 Covid tests even though we haven’t been anywhere in our travels where Covid is.  Here in QLD & NT where we travelled we are free to go anywhere without any restrictions or even wear a mask. We are hoping for more border openings soon.

 Another great day.