Queensland – Mar 2022 – Goondiwindi

Heading out of Lightning Ridge meant backtracking to Walgett where we took the option to fill up with fuel once more. We did have an optional route that would not have backtracked, but our chosen route contained some places we wanted to check out.

Moree

And so it was back down the Castlereagh Highway and then out of Walgett on the Gwydir Highway through Collarenebri and on to the first of our planned stops at the Big Rocket in Moree, which turned out to be a children’s playground. We also had our lunch here while Neo had a good run around on the grass.

Bogabilla

From Moree, we turned north along the Newell Highway. We had intended to stop for the night at the North Star Rest Area, which was about an hour short of Queensland and would have been free, but when we arrived it quickly became apparent that this stop was well used by trucks and they would likely have kept us up much of the night. The decision was taken to drive that extra hour.

Before crossing the border, however, we passed through the town of Bogabilla, which is another name we can cross off the I’ve Been Everywhere list.

Queensland!

Immediately across the border in Queensland is the town of Goondiwindi. My dad was a bit of a horse racing fanatic and so I was already familiar with this town as the home of the Melbourne Cup place getter, Gunsynd, the Goondiwindi Grey. My dad loved his grey horses.

On the drive in, Megan had found us a spot at the Goondiwindi Holiday Park for the night.

After parking up, it was still reasonably early, so we took Neo for a walk to check some more items off our lists. First, there is the I’ve Been Everywhere list for the town itself, and also the Painted Water Tower from the Silo Trail and the statue of Gunsynd.

That had us ‘done in’ and so we retired for our evening meal and a good night’s sleep.