Augathella

 We got off to an early start around 4:00am so as you'd expect we had a traffic free run out of Brisbane. The most traffic we saw this morning was trucks going up the Toowoomba Range.
Morning tea was at Boonarga, a little place between Dalby and Miles.
So far as we can determine, this is the only hall in the world dedicated to a moth! Prickly pear was introduced as an ornamental plant but quickly became the biggest threat ever to Queensland  agriculture. Destroying the plants through mechanical and chemical means proved futile and the battle seemed lost until some cactoblastis eggs were introduced from Sth America. The caterpillars feasted on the plants while the moths spread eggs. This is still the most successful biological control of an introduced species in Australia's history.
From there we travelled into Miles and said hello to John's dad, Peter, in the cemetery. A couple of years back on a trip to Cooper's Creek, we shared a picnic table with some fellow travellers who happened to come from Miles. John mentioned that his dad was buried in Miles cemetery and to our surprise, one of the guys had been the grave digger for many years and had probably dug Peter's grave back in 1978. Because we had stopped at the historic 'old' cemetery we asked about the history of the cemeteries and his story went like this. "The 'old' one got flooded regularly so the Council opened another cemetery. The ground was so hard people had to give me a week's notice before they died so I could dig the hole! This wasn't so good so the Council opened a new cemetery up on the sandy ridge where it still is today." This guy was a true Australian bush character.

 We had our usual lunch of toasted sandwiches, this time at the Big Rig rest area in Roma. This rest area is dedicated to the oil history of the Roma area which is acknowledged as the beginning of the oil and gas industry in Australia.

 From Roma we travelled west through Mitchell, and then turned right at Morven (straight ahead leads to Charleville) and up to Augathella. And here we are in the caravan park. (Front left)

Seen today: goats, sheep, kangaroos, emus, cattle.
Lots of road kill and road trains
Being winter in Queensland - crisp nights and beautiful clear days.