Rumpig
Adventurer
DAY 30: ROLLESTON - LOCHENBAR STATION / KROOMBIT PARK
Up fairly early this morning due to the sound of all the miners getting ready and heading off to work, we packed up and had brekky as per the usual routine. Heading off out of Rolleston we had about 220 klms to drive to get to Biloela where we would then be heading out to stay at Kroombit Park on Lochenbar Station, a farm stay of sorts, but more your cattle property set up then dairy farm type scenario. As i'd mentioned previously, the next couple of days would be a reward for the kids, they'd get to feed some animals and possibly ride a horse, aswell as generally relax and just have fun.
The run from Rolleston to Biloela along the Dawson Highway was pretty uneventful, just West of Moura we past by the Dawson River rest area, a great looking little free campsite situated right next to the river itself. This was somewhere i'd have liked to stay lastnight instead of Rolleston, but looking at the distance needed to travel yesterday afternoon, we wouldn't have arrived here until nearly 7.00 p.m, so that was quickly decided against doing at the time. Driving past the rest area it probably was a good thing we didn't try and push on for this place to camp at, it was fairly well chockers and getting a spot to set up in would have been fun in the dark i reckon. As far as free camps go, this spot is one of the more scenic places we passed by on our trip, but as with all the free camps we'd seen along the way, this one was right beside the highway and would have it's fair share of noise from trucks passing by during the night, though i do wonder how many trucks would actually use this route, so maybe it's not that bad after all.
Pushing on past this campsite we were soon entering Moura, now for those of you that don't know this town it is another mining town just like so many others are around these parts of Central Queensland. Most of you reading this would have watched the tragic outcome of the recent Pike River coalmine explosion over in New Zealand, where rescuers were unable to retrieve the bodies of the workers who died there in the explosions, well sadly Moura has a similar story of it's own to tell. Back in 1994, 11 miners were killed when an explosion tore through the main BHP mine situated here at Moura. The bodies of those 11 miners still remain in the mine today, where emergency personal were unable to reach them due to the dangerous underground gases still about and fears of more explosions.
Passing through Moura without stopping we soon found ourselves with a pilot vehicle heading our way. Looking down the highway further i could see some sort of mine machinery on the back of a float coming towards us. Moving right off the side of the road it passed by taking up it's fair share of our lane aswell as it's own, highlighting to us the need to get out of their way when you see such vehicles coming towards you. Leaving Moura behind us and next we were entering into Biloela, we stopped off at the bottlo to get some supplies before hitting KFC for a quick bite to eat (morning tea / early lunch). With that greasey goodness consumed we headed off out of town bound for our next couple of nights destination. Situated about 35 klms out of Biloela, Lochenbar Station is easily accessed by any type of vehicle, most of the road is bitumin, but when it does turn to a dirt road, it was well graded gravel and really easy going at the time of our visit. A couple of kilometers before reaching Lochenbar, we took a short detour off the main road of a few hundred metres up to have a look at Kroombit Dam. With the dam at about 75% capacity there was plenty of water to be seen here, just like with most other dams around Qld these days after the floods and cyclones that paid our state a visit earlier in the year. A few pics taken and we returned to the main road to continue on our way.
KROOMBIT DAM
From Kroombit Dam it's only a matter of minutes and your arriving at Lochenbar Station, straight away we were greeted with the sight of goats, lots and lots of goats actually, not only does this property run cattle for a living but they farm goats aswell. Continuing on up the entrance road of the property we soon pulled up at the main reception area where we checked in for a few nights, got a quick run down of the property and what's available to do there aswell as costings, and then made our way over to the campground area where we set ourselves up. As luck would have it we were the only people camped here for our stay, there are several onsite caravans situated in the campground that employees live in, but for the most part we were on our own. A powered campsite here cost us $25 for the night, which was on the cheaper side of what we'd been paying to stay at along the way of our trip, no crowds and pretty much only peacocks to keep us company, we certainly weren't complaining.
OUR WELCOMING COMMITTEE OF GOATS
ALL ALONE IN THE CAMPGROUND....It's not big, but is level with power and water supplied
The park also has quite a number of dorm type rooms for people to stay in, i'm not sure how many they have exactly, but it wouldn't surprise me if the number was atleast 50, this place is certainly set up to accomodate numerous guests at any one time. I'm not going to lie to you about this place, it would appear to me it is mainly set up for backpackers to visit, and campers like ourselves are a bonus i guess as far as paying customers go. In saying that though, at no stage were we ever made to feel unwelcome, the staff who work here (mostly all backpackers) actually said it's a pleasant change to have families with young kids about instead of the usual backpackers that frequent this place, and they went out of their way to look after ourselves and especially our kids.
At the same time we were setting up our camp, a small bus arrived with a new supply of backpackers, the buses come a couple times a week, and most of the backpackers arrive just in time for lunch and depart the very next morning. The backpackers do have an option to stay on a few more days if they like, they just pay abit extra and then and leave when the next bus does. With not alot of time to spare, the backpackers ate their lunch before heading off on a horse ride / muster of goats, whilst they did that we relaxed back at camp and worked out what we would do whilst we were here. At about 3.00 p.m one of the workers took our kids over to feed Millie, a baby cow / calf that has recently been seperated from it's mother. The kids were shown how you need to put your hand in the cows mouth and the bucket of food at the same time to get it to eat, basically to trick the cow into thinking it's suckling for it's food as it was still being weened off of milk. Most of the kids had a go at this, and all had the same look of disgust on their faces when they removed their hands and found them covered in cow slobber...lol. The kids then went for a run with the cow up to the water trough, where the process of sticking their hands in the water and cows mouth at the same time to get it to drink was repeated
MY YOUNGEST DAUGHTER FEEDING MILLIE
RUN KIDS RUN....LOL
With Millie fed and watered we left her behind in the pen and walked over to the house where it was time to feed another baby animal. This time the kids weren't allowed to feed it just watch, as it was a tiny baby kangaroo, and they were trying to limit how many people it came into contact with. The kangaroo was let out of it's bag to stand on the grass for a while before feeding, it tried a few times to take it's first steps, but each time stumbled over forward and had to quickly put it's front feet down on the ground to rebalance itself. The kangaroo then was bottle fed infront of the kids before being put back in it's bag and returned inside the house.
BABY KANGAROO
FEEDING TIME FOR THE ROO
The afternoon by now was starting to roll on, we soon found ourselves jumping into our 4wds and following all the backpackers (who had returned by now from their horse ride and had been loaded into the back of a trayback ute) up a dirt track to the shooting range. With everyone gathered around, one of the station hands showed us all how to make a lasoo, and then showed how to throw it over a target as you would if needed to catch something. The kids had a ball trying to rope the target out infront of them, but now it was time for Glen and myself to have some fun of our own.
MY OLDEST DAUGHTER GIVING LASOOING A CRACK
As i said a minute ago, we had just driven up to the shooting range, and one of the activities available to do on the property is clay trap shooting. The cost for us to do this was $12 for 5 shots, so we decided we'd give it a crack and see how good a shots we were. Glen went first out of everyone and nailed his first target, but this must have been begineers luck as he then went on and missed the next 4 targets. About half a dozen backpackers went next and none of them managed to hit a single target, it was now my turn and the pressure was on to beat Glens score. The first trap flew out and it was a miss by me, i'd like to say i was close but i really wasn't...lol. The 2nd trap in the air and BANG i nailed it nicely and watched the pieces fly in all directions. 3rd trap in the air and it was a miss with me going just under the target, "geez that was the closest miss we've had so far" cried the station hand. 4th trap in the air and same result as the last, i missed it by millimeters again going just below. Last trap in the air and the pressure was really mounting to beat Glen and have bragging rights, BANG went the shotty and i watched as the target smashed into tiny pieces out in front of me, 2 targets hit and now time to gloat
MICHAEL DIAMOND I'M NOT!!!....LOL
Clay trap shooting was alot of fun and i'd like to have fired off a few more shots, but it was now time for the backpackers to put their roping skills to the test, so the gun was locked away and we all walked over to the yard beside us which housed a heap of goats. The backpackers divided themselves into teams of 3 people, 2 people with lasoo's and one without. The teams then had to take turns to get a male goat from the herd, lasso it and remove it out of the pen in the fastest time. The 3 people stood in one pen at the start, the person without the lasso had to race into an adjoining pen without letting any goats escape, choose a male goat from the herd (they needed to work out for themselves which was which), bring it back and release it into the starting pen (watching the girls struggle to drag a goat by the horns was hilarious), then the 2 other team members had to try and rope the goat to catch it again, before the goat was then dragged out of the pen and all 3 team members needed to race back to the centre of the starting pen where the clock was then stopped, the fastest time being the winner. We had some good laughs watching all of the above happen and with this all now done, we returned back to camp where we had a shower and got ready for dinner.
WATCHING BACKPACKERS HERD GOATS WAS QUITE A LAUGH
One option this park has is for them to cook your meals for you, the accomodation packages for the backpackers have all meals supplied, but for visitors like us we could have as many or as few a meals prepared by them as we liked, the meals really are quite cheap, the lunches in particular are dirt cheap by just about anyones standards. Tonight we were having dinner cooked for us, i can't remember what we had, but do remember that every meal we ate there was very nice indeed. After dinner we moved next door to the bar area where Al the property owner gave us all a run down on the properties history and explained how the property ran to everyone. One thing Al mentioned was horseman mustering cattle and how they use a stock whip to aid in this task, we were soon walking over behind the bar room where anyone who wanted a go could try and crack a stock whip themselves. Most people gave it a try including our kids, all with varying degrees of success, some people managed to hit themselves with the whip and this provided a good laugh for those who were watching. The history lesson finished for the night, we all returned to the bar area to enjoy a few dinks and watch some people have a crack at the mechanical bullride they have here. The rodeo circuit certainly has nothing to fear from anyone who mounted the mechanical bull that night that's for sure, a few of the kids had a go aswell but just like the adults they were soon lieing on the inflatable mat beside the bull. By now it was late and with the kids very tired and getting cranky, we left the backpackers to do what they do best.....drink at the bar....we headed back to our campers where we bid each goodnight, and we all then drifted off to sleep once again.
Up fairly early this morning due to the sound of all the miners getting ready and heading off to work, we packed up and had brekky as per the usual routine. Heading off out of Rolleston we had about 220 klms to drive to get to Biloela where we would then be heading out to stay at Kroombit Park on Lochenbar Station, a farm stay of sorts, but more your cattle property set up then dairy farm type scenario. As i'd mentioned previously, the next couple of days would be a reward for the kids, they'd get to feed some animals and possibly ride a horse, aswell as generally relax and just have fun.
The run from Rolleston to Biloela along the Dawson Highway was pretty uneventful, just West of Moura we past by the Dawson River rest area, a great looking little free campsite situated right next to the river itself. This was somewhere i'd have liked to stay lastnight instead of Rolleston, but looking at the distance needed to travel yesterday afternoon, we wouldn't have arrived here until nearly 7.00 p.m, so that was quickly decided against doing at the time. Driving past the rest area it probably was a good thing we didn't try and push on for this place to camp at, it was fairly well chockers and getting a spot to set up in would have been fun in the dark i reckon. As far as free camps go, this spot is one of the more scenic places we passed by on our trip, but as with all the free camps we'd seen along the way, this one was right beside the highway and would have it's fair share of noise from trucks passing by during the night, though i do wonder how many trucks would actually use this route, so maybe it's not that bad after all.
Pushing on past this campsite we were soon entering Moura, now for those of you that don't know this town it is another mining town just like so many others are around these parts of Central Queensland. Most of you reading this would have watched the tragic outcome of the recent Pike River coalmine explosion over in New Zealand, where rescuers were unable to retrieve the bodies of the workers who died there in the explosions, well sadly Moura has a similar story of it's own to tell. Back in 1994, 11 miners were killed when an explosion tore through the main BHP mine situated here at Moura. The bodies of those 11 miners still remain in the mine today, where emergency personal were unable to reach them due to the dangerous underground gases still about and fears of more explosions.
Passing through Moura without stopping we soon found ourselves with a pilot vehicle heading our way. Looking down the highway further i could see some sort of mine machinery on the back of a float coming towards us. Moving right off the side of the road it passed by taking up it's fair share of our lane aswell as it's own, highlighting to us the need to get out of their way when you see such vehicles coming towards you. Leaving Moura behind us and next we were entering into Biloela, we stopped off at the bottlo to get some supplies before hitting KFC for a quick bite to eat (morning tea / early lunch). With that greasey goodness consumed we headed off out of town bound for our next couple of nights destination. Situated about 35 klms out of Biloela, Lochenbar Station is easily accessed by any type of vehicle, most of the road is bitumin, but when it does turn to a dirt road, it was well graded gravel and really easy going at the time of our visit. A couple of kilometers before reaching Lochenbar, we took a short detour off the main road of a few hundred metres up to have a look at Kroombit Dam. With the dam at about 75% capacity there was plenty of water to be seen here, just like with most other dams around Qld these days after the floods and cyclones that paid our state a visit earlier in the year. A few pics taken and we returned to the main road to continue on our way.
KROOMBIT DAM
From Kroombit Dam it's only a matter of minutes and your arriving at Lochenbar Station, straight away we were greeted with the sight of goats, lots and lots of goats actually, not only does this property run cattle for a living but they farm goats aswell. Continuing on up the entrance road of the property we soon pulled up at the main reception area where we checked in for a few nights, got a quick run down of the property and what's available to do there aswell as costings, and then made our way over to the campground area where we set ourselves up. As luck would have it we were the only people camped here for our stay, there are several onsite caravans situated in the campground that employees live in, but for the most part we were on our own. A powered campsite here cost us $25 for the night, which was on the cheaper side of what we'd been paying to stay at along the way of our trip, no crowds and pretty much only peacocks to keep us company, we certainly weren't complaining.
OUR WELCOMING COMMITTEE OF GOATS
ALL ALONE IN THE CAMPGROUND....It's not big, but is level with power and water supplied
The park also has quite a number of dorm type rooms for people to stay in, i'm not sure how many they have exactly, but it wouldn't surprise me if the number was atleast 50, this place is certainly set up to accomodate numerous guests at any one time. I'm not going to lie to you about this place, it would appear to me it is mainly set up for backpackers to visit, and campers like ourselves are a bonus i guess as far as paying customers go. In saying that though, at no stage were we ever made to feel unwelcome, the staff who work here (mostly all backpackers) actually said it's a pleasant change to have families with young kids about instead of the usual backpackers that frequent this place, and they went out of their way to look after ourselves and especially our kids.
At the same time we were setting up our camp, a small bus arrived with a new supply of backpackers, the buses come a couple times a week, and most of the backpackers arrive just in time for lunch and depart the very next morning. The backpackers do have an option to stay on a few more days if they like, they just pay abit extra and then and leave when the next bus does. With not alot of time to spare, the backpackers ate their lunch before heading off on a horse ride / muster of goats, whilst they did that we relaxed back at camp and worked out what we would do whilst we were here. At about 3.00 p.m one of the workers took our kids over to feed Millie, a baby cow / calf that has recently been seperated from it's mother. The kids were shown how you need to put your hand in the cows mouth and the bucket of food at the same time to get it to eat, basically to trick the cow into thinking it's suckling for it's food as it was still being weened off of milk. Most of the kids had a go at this, and all had the same look of disgust on their faces when they removed their hands and found them covered in cow slobber...lol. The kids then went for a run with the cow up to the water trough, where the process of sticking their hands in the water and cows mouth at the same time to get it to drink was repeated
MY YOUNGEST DAUGHTER FEEDING MILLIE
RUN KIDS RUN....LOL
With Millie fed and watered we left her behind in the pen and walked over to the house where it was time to feed another baby animal. This time the kids weren't allowed to feed it just watch, as it was a tiny baby kangaroo, and they were trying to limit how many people it came into contact with. The kangaroo was let out of it's bag to stand on the grass for a while before feeding, it tried a few times to take it's first steps, but each time stumbled over forward and had to quickly put it's front feet down on the ground to rebalance itself. The kangaroo then was bottle fed infront of the kids before being put back in it's bag and returned inside the house.
BABY KANGAROO
FEEDING TIME FOR THE ROO
The afternoon by now was starting to roll on, we soon found ourselves jumping into our 4wds and following all the backpackers (who had returned by now from their horse ride and had been loaded into the back of a trayback ute) up a dirt track to the shooting range. With everyone gathered around, one of the station hands showed us all how to make a lasoo, and then showed how to throw it over a target as you would if needed to catch something. The kids had a ball trying to rope the target out infront of them, but now it was time for Glen and myself to have some fun of our own.
MY OLDEST DAUGHTER GIVING LASOOING A CRACK
As i said a minute ago, we had just driven up to the shooting range, and one of the activities available to do on the property is clay trap shooting. The cost for us to do this was $12 for 5 shots, so we decided we'd give it a crack and see how good a shots we were. Glen went first out of everyone and nailed his first target, but this must have been begineers luck as he then went on and missed the next 4 targets. About half a dozen backpackers went next and none of them managed to hit a single target, it was now my turn and the pressure was on to beat Glens score. The first trap flew out and it was a miss by me, i'd like to say i was close but i really wasn't...lol. The 2nd trap in the air and BANG i nailed it nicely and watched the pieces fly in all directions. 3rd trap in the air and it was a miss with me going just under the target, "geez that was the closest miss we've had so far" cried the station hand. 4th trap in the air and same result as the last, i missed it by millimeters again going just below. Last trap in the air and the pressure was really mounting to beat Glen and have bragging rights, BANG went the shotty and i watched as the target smashed into tiny pieces out in front of me, 2 targets hit and now time to gloat
MICHAEL DIAMOND I'M NOT!!!....LOL
Clay trap shooting was alot of fun and i'd like to have fired off a few more shots, but it was now time for the backpackers to put their roping skills to the test, so the gun was locked away and we all walked over to the yard beside us which housed a heap of goats. The backpackers divided themselves into teams of 3 people, 2 people with lasoo's and one without. The teams then had to take turns to get a male goat from the herd, lasso it and remove it out of the pen in the fastest time. The 3 people stood in one pen at the start, the person without the lasso had to race into an adjoining pen without letting any goats escape, choose a male goat from the herd (they needed to work out for themselves which was which), bring it back and release it into the starting pen (watching the girls struggle to drag a goat by the horns was hilarious), then the 2 other team members had to try and rope the goat to catch it again, before the goat was then dragged out of the pen and all 3 team members needed to race back to the centre of the starting pen where the clock was then stopped, the fastest time being the winner. We had some good laughs watching all of the above happen and with this all now done, we returned back to camp where we had a shower and got ready for dinner.
WATCHING BACKPACKERS HERD GOATS WAS QUITE A LAUGH
One option this park has is for them to cook your meals for you, the accomodation packages for the backpackers have all meals supplied, but for visitors like us we could have as many or as few a meals prepared by them as we liked, the meals really are quite cheap, the lunches in particular are dirt cheap by just about anyones standards. Tonight we were having dinner cooked for us, i can't remember what we had, but do remember that every meal we ate there was very nice indeed. After dinner we moved next door to the bar area where Al the property owner gave us all a run down on the properties history and explained how the property ran to everyone. One thing Al mentioned was horseman mustering cattle and how they use a stock whip to aid in this task, we were soon walking over behind the bar room where anyone who wanted a go could try and crack a stock whip themselves. Most people gave it a try including our kids, all with varying degrees of success, some people managed to hit themselves with the whip and this provided a good laugh for those who were watching. The history lesson finished for the night, we all returned to the bar area to enjoy a few dinks and watch some people have a crack at the mechanical bullride they have here. The rodeo circuit certainly has nothing to fear from anyone who mounted the mechanical bull that night that's for sure, a few of the kids had a go aswell but just like the adults they were soon lieing on the inflatable mat beside the bull. By now it was late and with the kids very tired and getting cranky, we left the backpackers to do what they do best.....drink at the bar....we headed back to our campers where we bid each goodnight, and we all then drifted off to sleep once again.
