We had soaked up Moree and seen it served up on a plate. It was time to move on. Another State border and a new town awaited us....Goondiwindi, home of the legendary Gunsynd, and only 130 kms away. These are the days I like behind the wheel.
Once again we hit the Newell Highway and made our way north out of Moree
back into the open plains of far northern New South Wales.
It was not difficult to tell we were still in cotton country. Cotton lint littered the edges of the highway
and many cotton fields were lined with the brightly wrapped cylinders of cotton awaiting transport to the local gin for processing.
The Newell is notorious for its heavy vehicle traffic. In many places the damage they do to the road surface is testament to that fact, but there is usually clearer evidence.
Fortunately for us (me in particular as the driver) most of the truck traffic was heading in the opposite direction which meant I did not have to be constantly looking for stretches of the road on which to signal a working truckie past us. I know many fellow 'knights of the road' have their CB radios tuned to channel 40, the heavy truck channel, and often call trucks through that way, but we can't stand the constant barrage of inane chatter and swearing which is a feature of that band. So I use the well recognised turning light signals, which I have found work just as well, but this does demand added concentration and judgement. Mind you, as I have mentioned in the past, over 95% of truckies acknowledge this courtesy with their indicators once they have cleared our rig, something which makes the effort worth while.
After an hour and a half or so of more flat, open countryside
we found ourselves approaching the NSW border town of Boggabilla, heralded by the large service station on its outskirts.
This and Goodiwindi are considered to be twin towns, something like Albury-Wodonga, but I cannot for the life of me see why....they are much further apart. We did not tarry in what appeared to us to be a rather tired little town, but could not help having a chuckle when we saw the name of the local pub, the 'Wobbly Boot'. Predictive, we assumed!
One of the claims to fame made by the good burgers of Goondiwindi is that it lies on the junction of six highways, the Newell, the Bruxner, the Cunningham, the Gore, the Leichardt and the Barwon. This does raise images of massive interchanges and so on, but this is not the case. The reality is that only four of these highways actually enter the town, and here they change names. For example, the Newell morphs into the Leichardt north of the town and the Cunningham, which approaches from the east, becomes the Barwon west of Goondiwindi. The Gore branches off the Leichardt north of the town,
and, as we were now experiencing, the Bruxner Highway actually intersects with the Newell here in Boggabilla. I hope that all make some sense of what can be quite a confusing patch of Australia's highway network.
We, of course, continued our journey along the Newell, and not far out of Boggabilla, we drove off it onto one of two alternative roads into Goodiwindi, Gunsynd Way.
Here we came to the junction with the secondary road which brought back some old and pleasant memories of our stay in the tiny spa hamlet of Boomi three years ago. Our destination for today was now well within sight,
and another border was crossed in our northward bound quest for a continuing summer.
Goodiwindi is only just inside Queensland. As we traversed this old iron bridge over
the muddy Macintyre River, we crossed the border.
From here we made our way past these rather esoteric street statues and the old buildings which are home to the Customs House Museum (closed during our stay!!)
and into, and out of, the Goodiwindi CBD.
Our destination, the Old Cunningham Highway, was on the opposite side of town, and here we found what we had been looking for....the entry to the Goondiwindi Holiday Park, one of two in town.
We pulled up at the park office with that usual twinge when a choice has been available....have we picked the right spot?
As we drove past the raised boom gate,
on past some of the very neat park cabins,
the park maintenance shed
and on towards the row of drive-thu sites, we felt pretty confident was had made the right decision (something we certainly later vidicated when we checked out the opposition!)
The park was not crowded and we had been offered a choice of two sites, 12 or 19. As is my habit, I walked the park where I discovered that site 12, whilst providing good shade, was very narrow with a deal of overhang. Not only that, we would have had an immediate neighbour, which we try to avoid if we have an alternative.
Further along the row the sites were much wider and less crowded. 19 it was for us. Here we were on our own until our third night,
and despite the fact that these sites did look a little dry (like all of Queensland) we had some good grass underfoot and the small tree on the edge of our site gave us the feeling we had our own little garden and some privacy (we are always grateful for even the smallest of blessings!)
We were soon to learn that this is a really good park, one in which we felt completely at home. Its only drawback, something which is inescapable at either of the Goondiwindi parks, is a deal of traffic noise from the nearby highways and the rumble of the odd train at night. But having said that, we actually enjoyed sitting out in the falling darkness of the early evening watching the incredible array of clearance lights gleaming along the length of the sides of the road trains as they made their way across the Old Cunningham. Some looked like mobile Xmas trees.
This park is long and narrow with good slab sites to be found at the head of the row of drive-thru sites
and on either side of it.
At our end of the park our ablution needs were conviently catered for with the provision of the nearby small block of self-contained units (each room had its own toilet and shower facility) which was no more than 30 metres from our van.
Beyond that is a large, open grassed space which caters for camping (and, we suspect, a future expansion).
On either side of this area are the park 'on site' vans, many of which were occupied during our stay.
Towards the other, or entrance end of the park, past the very busily embellished cottage of one of the park 'permanents'
are some of the real features of the Goondiwindi Holiday Park. Here, apart from the main ablutions block (also self-contained units)
is a real surprise, the park guest herb garden. Here, all who stay are welcome to either relax at the outdoor setting or help themselves to the good array of herbs on offer....mint, oregano, basil, thyme and rosemary were all just waiting to spice up a fine evening meal.
Not too far away is the park pool and spa where Liz and I very much enjoyed the warm jets in complete solitude....what a change from Moree! Adjacent to the pool, and its well kept and very lush lawn surrounds, you can see the tin sheds
which house the park fire pit and old camp kitchen. All park guests are cordially invited to share travelling tales around the fire on any afternoon it is lit.
I must say that on first observations I was somewhat taken aback by the camp kitchen,
complete with a recipe for a bush stew colourfully decorating the fridge door, until I realised that this is not the real working version.
A nearby, and much more modern affair, is the operational kitchen.
To top it all off, the park provides free WiFi which, for folk like us, is a real boon, particularly if I have the time to be madly uploading these missives. We did enjoy our stay here. This is a park we would thoroughly recommend to any visiting Goondiwindi.
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