Theodore is a small town, about 500 people. It seems to be just big enough to have one of the things you need. There is one service station, one newsagent, one cafe, one pub, one of those old regional department stores (this one has been owned by the same family since it was established in 1924), one supermarket, one post office, one gym, one laundromat, one historical museum (thank goodness!) and one camping ground at the local Show Grounds.No bakery and of course NO BANK. Happy hunting ground for the ACCC! The only area where there is any competition is in churches; RCs, Anglicans and Lutherans as well as a Pentecostal mob.

Theodore sits on a wedge of land between the Dawson River and one of its tributaries, Castle Creek. So, it has had a lot of floods over the years. It is a big irrigation area, canals running everywhere. Cotton and grains are the big crops. And coal is also big around these parts.

Allthego wants to fill you in though on the three unusual, unique or just plain different things in the Theodore area.

Firstly, there is the Post Office and apart from selling all the usual bits and pieces it also sells fresh fruit and vegetables, diversification for you!

Then there is the Dawson River. It is unusual, it flows in a different direction to that of its tributary, Castle Creek. It flows backwards against the waters entering it from Castle Creek, rather than merging and flowing together in the same direction. Hope you follow! It seems this is because some time ago the Dawson River changed its direction of flow, due to land movement. Today, the Dawson River ends up in the Fitzroy River and empties into the Pacific out from Rockhampton. Back in the very old days, when it flowed the other way, it would have been further south near Bundaberg, or perhaps not at all. Instead, heading south west and joining the Murray Darling system.
There, how is that for unusual.

The last thing that is a bit unique, at least for Queensland, is that the Theodore Hotel is owned by the towns folk, via a cooperative arrangement. It was established in 1949 and remains a cooperative today. The only one in Queensland. We had a burger there for lunch, not bad. It had carrot and beetroot, unusual these days.

Theodore is also the spot from which you can head out to the western end of Isla Gorge NP. This is about a 95 km round trip and somewhat remote. But out there is a piece of Queensland colonial history and so is a must do spot for nomads onthego to visit.

It was out here that a 150 metre section of the road, track perhaps a better word, that linked Roma to the port at Rockhampton was constructed in 1863. In the steepest part of the section up the Dawson Range the track was paved with stone, it took the stonemasons 6 weeks. Must have been a back breaking task. Wagons of wool were dragged up the section by teams of 20 bullocks. The stone paved road is still there today, a little eroded. Amazing piece of engineering for the time. It was last used around 1930 when a toll road at Toowoomba was opened that allowed wool to go to the Port of Brisbane instead.

Allthego has waxed on here too long and needs to finish off. But before doing so he recalls that when we had dinner at the hotel in Cracow, chips were not available, you could have mash or potato bake. They hadn’t been able to get chips in for a month! So, Homealone has had a creative surge and penned a ditti on the subject and I leave you with it until next time. It is sung to the famous old tune ‘A Pub with no Beer’.

“It’s a good get away on the caravan trail
The campers head off for a local pub ale
Reading the menu and licking their lips
Only to find, the pubs got no chips!”