We are home in Brisbane. Homealone can now do all the washing.

The last stretch of the Newell Hwy has taken us up through Dubbo and Moree to Goondiwindi. From there it was along the Cunningham Hwy through Warwick to Brisbane. After leaving Hay and the Silo Art Trail we ran into another painted Silo at a small town called Weethalle. The last train came through Weethalle in 1999. There is not a lot at Weethalle. We had a chat with a lady in the craft shop in the old railway station next to the Silo. Her family are barley farmers, not too impressed with the drought. Crop was only 1000 tonnes this year, 10% of what a ‘good’ year was. A slight saviour was the price they got, about 3-4 times a ‘good’ year’s price, because of the short supply. Very chatty about life in Weethalle, where she had lived most of her life.

Silo at Weethalle

Old railway station at Weethalle

Moving along we stopped for the night beside a small river at Terramungamine Reserve a free camp about 10 km outside of Dubbo, down a side road on the north side of the city. Excellent spot here. Some of the company though was a little marginal, not offensive in a violent way. Quite friendly really, just a little light on vocabulary. Particularly adjectives. Not loud, just persistent. The dad’s shorts seem to have lost their waist band elastic. Homealone wasn’t keen on a picture for the blog. Family of 6 fitting the bill for the ‘ugly Australian’ award. The other attraction here were the prolific grinding marks in rocks above the river bank made by aboriginal people. No one is certain of their age, could be about 5000 years old and maybe be up to 25,000.

River at Terramungamine Reserve

Rock grinding marks

Further along we spent the night in the Showground camping spot in Narrabri. Another good stopover point, plenty of room. These free camp places make for a quick getaway in the mornings as you can stay hitched up, really just got to lock the door of the van and jump in the truck. We spent our last night on the road at Inglewood about 240 k west of Brisbane. This was where the trip all began just on 6 weeks ago.  The only thing different was the grass had been cut and storm clouds were gathering as the sun went down.

Narrabri Showground

Storm clouds gathering at Inglewood. These 2 trucks haven’t collided, just on the back of another truck.

The van has been parked, unpacked and it is now tempting to get the maps out and do a little forward planning…………..