Gismo Queen and her King

Ewingar to Maryborough - Thursday 1st June 2023

What a big day's driving! I am beat! But we made it to Janne's (Greg's aunt) just on sunset so at least I achieved my goal of not driving at night. When planning the route yesterday (recognising that it would be a big drive), the most direct route was 515km and scheduled to take 6 and a half hours. BUT, when we last drove that road (refer to the blog of August 2018), it wasn't in great condition. We were towing the caravan at the time so that makes it feel worse. However, Courtney who has recently driven it, suggested wholeheartedly that we avoid it because the road was in such poor condition that it would add more than the extra hour the alternative route proposed. So we decided on the alternative inland route via Tenterfield and Stanthorpe which had the extra benefit of completely avoiding Brisbane and any potential traffic issues. 7 hours and 27 minutes Google reckoned, for the 620km journey. Based on that, we decided we'd better get up early!!

Thankfully, sunrise is nice and early here so it was no hardship to get up at 7am. We pleasantly surprised ourselves by being ready to go in just on an hour! Goodbyes were said to the dogs (who clearly sensed something was amiss) and to Andrew and Courtney and we were on our way. The first hour was the slowest driving with poor road conditions and steep windy roads. First stop was in Tenterfield at my favourite public toilets and then for coffee at a very cool cafe called the Potting Shed. Second stop was just north of Toowoomba in Hampton and then lunch in Crows Nest. Now, this isn't a Google review but omg, the pies at "My Little Blueberry" pastry shop were just divine. Next to another lovely cafe and some cute shops - if only I'd had more time!! Further up the road to Nanango for another toilet stop and fuel (we thought diesel would be cheaper up here but it's still dearer than Tassie!), and our last stop at Kilkivan where I have pleasant memories of a very helpful mechanic also back in 2018. It was a beautiful sunset across the Mary River as we drove through town out to Janne's.

Oh, and we forgot to mention how wonderful the weather is! Sunny, warm and mid 20's - it's so nice to not need long pants or jumpers. And it's going to be 26C here in Maryborough tomorrow - pure bliss!!

As long as today's drive was, it brought back many memories of our various travels, camp trips and overnighters in previous years. So it was a good trip down memory lane and even better to catch up with Janne once we arrived.

posted by Tracey @ 8:47 pm