Day 171

17 July 2013

State of Origin tonight! Woohoo! Go Queensland! I didn't care where we were as long as we could watch the origin (cuz we missed the second one!)

Woke up relatively late, still adjusting to bloody normal time, Joel says we have state lag! Picked up a few last minute supplies from the shop and headed off. Would highly recommend Mataranka as somewhere to visit, not much to look at but there are hidden treasures here.

We were heading 160km south to just after Daly Waters and then turning east for 260km to Heartbreak Hotel. Not much to see on the drive except a whole lot of caravans travelling the opposite way to us. Grey nomad tourist season is in full flight!

Made it to Heartbreak Hotel around 1ish and parked our van, grabbed a snack and some fuel at $2.09 and headed towards the dirt road that would take us 130km to Lorella Springs! She was pretty rough, worse than most of the Gibb! We couldn't really get over 60km at any time so it was pretty slow going and about half way we heard a rattle that didn't sound real friendly so jumped out and a bolt on the bash plate had come loose, so tightened that up and we were off again. Finally made it to the turn off to Lorella and now all we had was a 30km driveway to do and we were there! Sign advertising state of origin playing tonight at the bar, made me breathe easy as we knew where we were going to be tonight!

Longest driveway in history! They do try and keep you entertained with signs every now and again saying things like "100,000 bumps to go" or "Are we there yet?" but still takes a long time. We ran into this little gem on the way out there!

Why people try and take their caravans out here I will never know! Seriously what is wrong with the humble tent? I used to think you had to have a big you beaut camper trailer or caravan but seriously it is soo much easier not towing anything and setting up a quick tent! Anyway for the poor people who attempted to get this van out here it is going to cost them a bit to sort the mess out I'd say!

The sight of cars and camper trailers means we are here and it is welcome, after 8 hours of driving we are stuffed! Well Joel is cuz he drove but I am too, navigating is tough too you know!

Get a rundown from Rhett on what to see (has all pictures and video on his computer of attractions), where to go, camp, showers (using the good old donkey!), and direction of the hot springs....we do a quick setup before jumping into the springs.

Was warm but not my favourite springs cuz there is these little fish that bite you when you are in there! Apparently they go for any sores or scabs on your skin and peck at them but I don't have any and they were attacking me! So I jumped out while Joel had a chat to some boys from Toowoomba (of all places) and got the low down on what they had seen.

6 o'clock they were having a big cook up at the bar, everyone was bringing a plate and sharing before the origin tonight which is a nice idea but by the time we got back to camp it was 6 already so we just cooked curried sausages for ourselves and headed to the bar for origin a bit later.

They have a constant fire going at the bar area with camp ovens preheated so if anyone wants to use one or give camp oven cooking a shot you can use them at your leisure.

State of origin on....only a few Queensland supporters...lots of NSW but most of the people were from VIC or ACT. I mean really they have a choice and they still pick the wrong team! What a great game though! We were all on the edge of our seats! Up the mighty Queenslanders! Just showed how tough we are again! We have no Internet or phone service out here so so glad we got to watch it! You can BYO to the garden area but can't have it at the bar which I think is fair. And really lucky because beers are $7 and UDL and rum cans are $11! Ouch! Also a little birdy told us that fuel is $3.10/L!!!!!

Origin over can sleep easy now, knowing we are from the most awesome state and proud of it! Tomorrow - exploration.

Carly & Joel

 

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