We awoke to a cold morning, (1.7° outside), cloudless, blue sky.
We are using our sleepingbags as doonas and slept very well. We were in no hurry today, as Yowah is only 115kms away. We left the packing up to do this morning. We said goodbye to Jonesy and Bec, after only 2 days, they felt like family. It was great staying with them, it's a pity that we only just discovered them now, as Jonesy is moving to Deniliquin and Bec will be there for another month before continuing on her backpacking adventure. We left camp at 9:50am and drove along the Thargomindah-Quilpie Rd for 35kms before turning left into Carpet Springs Prairie Rd for 54kms then turned right and after 26kms, we arrived at Artesian Waters CP at 11:41am. We re-aquainted ourselves with Colin and Georgina (Owners of CP). Georgina showed us to our site, we setup half the awning, connected power and water and joined 2 satelite cables together as we are under trees and I had to put the dish about 20 meters. It is working well.

About mid arvo, we walked to the "Garage Door" which is C & G's coffee shop and I had a muggachino, while Marg had an ice cream. Georgina introduced us to every local who walked in (John, Ian, Rob, Blake and Chris just too name a few), my problem will be trying to remember who is who. This is why we are back in Yowah, it is so friendly from everyone.
Dinner was leftover mince meat and mash which Bec made on Wednesday night and Marg only ate a small bit, and took the rest with us. It was YUMMA.

Tomorrow we will try and do Sweet FA or less.

We awoke to a cool morning, (5.9° outside), cloudless, blue sky.
We are using our sleepingbags as doonas and slept very well. We were in no hurry for the next 5 days in Yowah. I got up about 6:45am and went on the internet, Marg awoke about 7:30am and laid in bed watching Weekend Sunrise.
Today we plan to check out the Info centre about 200 meters away.

Well, we are back. There wasn't too much to see at the Info Centre - Cafe, so we booked dinner for 6pm at the Cafe.
The wind is building and the dust is rising, we got back in the mighty Navara and drove around town, then headed to The Bluff about 5kms from town. I took some photos from The Bluff, we will revisit The Bluff for some sunset photos. From The Bluff we drove over to and through the fossicking area, then we stopped at the 'CP Office' topped up with diesel and had coffees with Colin and Georgina, they are more than willing to sit and chat with you. It is such a lovely relaxing attitude. We managed to pull ourselves away from them, so we could have lunch back at camp.
Lunch was Marg made salad wraps. They were yumma.
In between some quite strong wind gusts, we rolled in the awning from half way to quarter, just to cover the slideout and retied the guy ropes and poles. Now Huey can blow and we are safe as.
Marg and I felt like 'pigging out' so we walked up to the 'CP Office' and after sitting in the sun protected from the wind talking to C & G, we bought some choccy and wandered back to camp and watched TV and 'pigged out'.

At 5:55pm, we drove the 200 meters to the Info Centre - Cafe for dinner, there were 2 tables set up, one with 2 places and the other had about 12 places. Marg ordered rissoles with chips and gravy ($8.50) and I had chicken parma ($13.50). They were both yumma, as I had to finish off Marg's 2nd rissole. The other table was the Arts and craft show committee, their show is on tomorrow starting at 10am, Marg can't wait, I can. After dinner, we said goodbye to the committee and went back to camp, it was black as pitch, the stars looked startling.
We caught up on the last 2 episodes of Houses Rules and then went to bed and read. I am reading Dicky Johnson's autobiography. It is very interesting.

Tomorrow will be very similar to today.

We awoke to a cool morning, (4.2° outside), cloudless, blue sky.
We are using our sleepingbags as doonas and slept very well. We were in no hurry for the next 4 days in Yowah. I got up late for me 7:30am and went on the internet, Marg awoke about 7:45am and laid in bed watching Weekend Sunrise.
Today we plan to go fossicking.

After brekky and about 10am, we drove the 500 meters to the Public fossicking area, we walked around and checked out a number of holes already dug, so we choose a hole and I started digging, my body is not designed for manual work, after 30 - 40 minutes of strenuous digging and with 'sweat glistening over my taut and trim body', I stopped and we moved to another spot that didn't need digging. This new spot was where we fossicked last year, it is a mullock heap that some of the claim owners throw their rubbish, so we looked through their 'rubbish' and found some nice 'small' bits of opal.
We went back at camp, so Marg could clean herself before going to the Arts and Crafts show, it cost $2 each to enter, it wasn't bad if you are interested in that stuff. Marg bought a plate of food (sandwich and scone), while I had 2 sausage in bread, they were yumma. After seeing everything, we walked out to the side of the Hall and checked out the Opal market. I was quite prepared to buy a chunk of 'rough opal', but the prices blew me away, there was a 3 broken pieces of yowah nut for $500, a tad over my budget. We did buy a jar of opal pieces for $20, there were some nice pieces in there.

From the show, we drove back to camp and walked up to the CP Office for a coffee and chat with C&G, that was very pleasant. After coffee, we showed Greg (an opal cutter and polisher) one of the pieces that we found this morning and he made a pendant out of it, cost us $10, Cheap as. The rest of the arvo, we sorted through our opal that we found and was pleasantly surprised by how much we have. We also showed Greg our Marlborough Chrysoprase and he was 'staggered' by the price we paid for it ($46), he thinks that it is of very high quality and is scarce as 'hens teeth'. Again we are happy with his comments.

Dinner was one of Marg's beef and coke casseroles that she made a week or so ago. It was YUMMA.

Tomorrow we intend to go fossicking again in the morning before the breeze kicks in and may drive the 90kms into Eulo to check out their Opal shop.

We awoke to a cool morning, (4.0° outside), cloudless, blue sky.
We are using our sleepingbags as doonas and slept very well. We were in no hurry for the next 3 days in Yowah. Marg got up before me, first time this trip, about 7:15am, but I got up soon after her and we sat up and watched Sunrise, while we got our act together and had brekky.
Today we plan to go fossicking again.

About 10am, we drove the 500 meters to the Public fossicking area, we went to a hole that we found yesterday and I started digging. My body is not built for digging with a pick and shovel, but after 30 minutes plus and not finding anything, we moved to another part where we looked through a mullock heap. We didn't find much so we headed back to camp, but first we went to Tanya and Peter's Opal shop, so Marg could buy some bits for her dremel (Dentist drill) that she uses for her skin polishing.
From there, we went back to camp and both of us showered, Marg in the fiver and me in the amenities, had lunch and walked to the CP Office, where we had coffee with approx 6 people including C&G. I went on the mine tour with Peter, while Marg had a nanna nap. The tour was good and at the finish we had afternoon tea at the CP Office. Another tough day.

We spent the remainder of the day sitting in the sun, having a chilled refresher. The weather has been cool, during the day it is jeans and trakky top.

Dinner: Marg made egg and bacon sangas, they were yumma.

Tomorrow, we are going fossicking again for something different.

We awoke to a cold morning, (1.9° outside), cloudless, blue sky.
We are using our sleepingbags as doonas and slept very well. We were in no hurry for the next 2 days in Yowah. I was first up about 7:30am, while Marg stayed in bed watching Sunrise.
Today we plan to go fossicking again.

About 10am, after brekky and taking it east in the morning, we drove the 500 meters to the Public fossicking area at the rear of C&G claim. I started digging a hole, we managed to dig for an hour before I gave up, as we weren't finding much colour and then we walked around looking at the stones. For something completely different, on the way back to camp, we stopped at the CP Office and had a coffee and a chat with Peter, Kathy, C&G. As usual, it was very pleasant. Have I told you, how much Marg and I love this place. Had lunch at camp, they were salad wraps and very yumma.
After lunch, we visited another public area and found some small bits of colour (opal), the remainder of the arvo was spent sitting in the warmth of the sun.

Dinner was chico rolls and they were yumma.

Tomorrow, we are buggering about camp and preparing for our departure on Thursday.

We awoke to a cool morning, (4.6° outside), cloudless, blue sky.
We are using our sleepingbags as doonas and slept very well. We were in no hurry as today is our last day in Yowah. I was first up about 7:30am, while Marg stayed in bed watching Sunrise, finally getting up after 8am..


We did 2 loads of washing, mid morning Marg wanted to clean the fiver, so I took my laptop and walked over to the CP Office and sat in the sun and buggered about on my computer. After Marg finished cleaning, she came over to join me and guess what, we had coffee and C&G sat and chatted with us. After lunch, we sat in the sun before going back mid afternoon for another coffee. After coffee, we were doing a little bit of fossicking, Georgina came out and said 'Come with me, we off to our mine for a coffee', so we did. The tin shack on their claim is unreal. Marg found a doll in there and wanted to borrow it, as she is making a baby's jumpsuit and needed to take measurements. We get on exceptionally well with C&K and don't want to leave tomorrow, but we have too.
During the day, I slowly packed up bits and pieces, so that we can leave early ish in the morning.

Dinner was Marg's chicken caserole, it was yumma.

Tomorrow will be a long day, as it is 450kms to St George for an overnighter.

We awoke at 6am to a cold, (1.5° outside), cloudless, starry sky.
I was getting up at 6am to finish packing up, but it was still dark so I didn't get up until 7am. After saying our goodbyes to Georgina (Colin was driving to Quilpie to get supplies), we left Yowah at 7:54am and headed to Eulo arriving at 9:03am. We stopped out the front of the Eulo Opal Centre and strangley, we bought some pieces of opal. Next stop was at Cunnamulla(10:12am), where we visited the Bakery and then topped up with fuel before 'emptying the shitter' at the Dump point. After 115kms, we stopped at the Murra Murra Rest Area(11:58am), then at 12:56pm we stopped at Bollon opposite the Pub for a break, before stopping at Boolba Rest Area(1:41pm), before arriving at St George(2:37pm) where we topped up with fuel before doing a quick setup (power, water and Dish).

After setting up camp, I had a beautiful shower, the amenities here are excellent. Marg had a nanna nap while I took a couple of photos and just relaxed, I am buggered so I will be going to bed early.

Dinner was the remainder of the cheese and bacon rolls that we bought at the Cunnamulla bakery, they were yumma.

After dinner, I was catching up on my caravan internet forum emails and shock, horror, JohnN is camping right beside us. How's that for a small world moment. Awesome.

Tomorrow we are doing an overnighter at Lake Coolmunda CP about 306kms away.

We awoke at 6am to a cold, (1.2° outside), cloudless, starry sky.
We laid in bed watching Sunrise, before I got up and took a couple of photos of our sunrise, it was beautiful. I said goodbye to JohnN and we left camp at 8:38am. We detoured about 1 km to check out the Nindigully Pub(9:17am), then headed to Bunyunga(10:25am). We stopped at the BP Goondiwindi(11:26am) for fuel and food for lunch, stopping at Yeralon(12:17pm) for lunch before continuing to Lake Coolmunda CP arriving 1:13pm.
Paid $28 for a powered site and Troy said pick any site you want. We did. We stayed hitched and I only connected the power and set up the Dish. The remainder of the arvo was spent relaxing. the internet is very slow.

Dinner was curried sausages on rice. Very yumma.

Tomorrow we are doing an overnighter at Willowbank CP about 200kms away.

I awoke at 6:45am to a cold, (2.8° outside), cloudless, starry sky.
We only had 204kms to go and we planned on stopping at Woollies Warwick to do a food shop. We laid in bed watching Weekend Sunrise, before we got up and it didn't take long to pack up and left camp at 8:47am.
Our first break was at the Cunningham Rest Area(9:33am) about 64kms from the start, then we followed Tom(TomTom)to Woollies except that he took us to the petrol station, so we found a Super IGA and did our shopping there. After a good 30 minute stop, we headed off again, up and over Cunningham Gap, stopping at Aratula for fuel before arriving at the Willowbank Caravan Village at 12:19pm. This CP is mainly full of permanents but for an overnighter it is quite suitable. We are heading for Dicky Beach and from here it is approx 150kms drive along the Logan and Gateway motorways.

I spent the afternoon watching the V8s and am very disappointed that Lowndesy crashed out of the 1st race, but managed 5th in the 2nd race after his team rebuilt his car. I missed the first 15 laps of the 2nd race as I fell asleep, that will teach me to lay on the bed and watch TV, Marg also managed to have a nanna nap.

Dinner was Marg's famous omelettes and choccy pudding. Very yumma.

Tomorrow we are off to Dicky Beach for 4 weeks.