day 13: brisbane – ipswich – toowoomba – goondiwindi
after a hearty lunch with the folks at the norman hotel (the worst vegetarian restaurant in queensland), our adventurous duo made their way to toowoomba. wandered around picnic point for a bit and drove around town some, got bored, drove to goondiwindi on the qld-nsw border. the camping site was pretty awesome, but the ground was incredibly resistant to our tent pegs. we had to improvise using beer bottles as hammers (we drank the beers first, of course).
day 14: goondiwindi – burke – white cliffs
drove over 1000km today: phew! the outback is stunning: floods of sheep and cattle on the roads, willy-willies, the red, red soil and miles and miles of flat shrubbery! stopped by burke for lunch. finally made it to white cliffs (pop. 200) after a close call with a couple of kangaroos. stayed in an underground motel built from old opal-mining dugouts. had dinner with a few locals. it was fantastic.
day 15: white cliffs – broken hill – wentworth
we visited otto at his gallery and barbara at her jewellery store in the morning. both were in their homes (dugouts) and had a wonderful time chatting and looking at beautiful things. drove to broken hill for lunch and visited the royal flying doctor’s service base there. as i admitted to the lady there, this was a bit of a pilgrimage for me… anyway, after much souvenir shopping, we darted down to wentworth on the nsw/vic border. camped on the banks of the darling river.
day 16: wentworth – mildura – bendigo
sprinklers still operate in mildura! it was incredible to see such things again in a drought-stricken country. we went kayaking in king’s billabong and visited the local brewery. fantastic drops there, particularly their storm cloudy ale. we drove down to bendigo in search for more but unfortunately the brewery there had closed. disaster! we did see the salt lake (tyrell) on the way though – it was pretty cool but swarming with flies.
day 17: bendigo – glenrowan – boorhaman – rutherglen – beechworth
finally saw an emu in the wild! glenrowan was a real letdown for me: real history buffs avoid at all costs! it was basically four souvenir shops and some gaudily painted figurines around an intersection. bah! fortunately for me, the excellent pub atmosphere at the buffalo brewery in boorhaman was more than sufficient to wipe away the bad taste in my mouth (helped by their excellent ginger ale). bintara brewery at rutherglen felt industrial and their beers were pretty average, except for their exceptional pale ale. finally we motored to beechworth and camped by the lake.
day 18: beechworth – porepunkah – bright – wangaratta – mentone
now beechworth is a town with a real history! its courthouse is definitely worth a visit. we tasted the offerings at the cosy local brewery before heading south. stopped by porepunkah at boynton’s (a brilliant pilsener). the country was lovely with tall straight pines. the bushfire must have been further south. bright brewery was very modern and their duffel was an extremely easy but dangerous drink at 8.5%. finally we decided we’d had enough and headed back to melbourne. thus ended our epic roadtrip.
