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Fri, May 31, 2002 (Sat Jun 01, 2002 in Oz)

I worked at my computer from 6:00am to 8:30am, completing my log for yesterday. When finished Joy was all ready to head out again.

We packed and were on the road by 9am, heading north on the Bruce
Highway toward Gympie. This was the fasted I have ever gathered my things together and left planning to stay overnight. I fully expect to find out I forgot something.

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As we drive along, we have a view in this area of the Blackall range of mountains on our left. We passed one McDonald's sign which brought a smile to our faces. It was across the highway from the Matilda Complex, which consists of many facilities, and a very lovely restaurant. The sign read "Don't Stop Now" I took a photo of the mountains from the Gympie airport, situated at Kybong.

We continued on the Bruce Hwy to just south of Gympie at Geordie Hill, where we turned right onto the Tin Can Bay road.

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A couple of the highway signs are. Overtaking Lane which we would call Passing Lane, Give Way which we would say Yield. Almost immediately after we turned we spotted the Gympie Lions Park and I took a photo of the duck ponds. Another couple km further on we stopped on the eastern slope of Cootharaba Hill.

Continued on for about 50 km through the Toolara State Forest until we came to the Rainbow Beach road. Five more km to the Cooloola Coast Cemetery. We took photos and coordinates. One can see so many different nursery areas in this state forest area. Some are starting, others are a few years older and each look so well kept.

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We backtracked to Tin Can Bay Road, turning of at Priddy Road heading to Nerdie. We continued on the Priddy Rd to the Neerdie-Kia Ora Rd. Along here we stopped at a plantation. Joy purchased fresh bananas, sweet potatoes and tomatoes. We then went through Neerdie, taking a left turn onto the Gunalda Rd for about one km. The Neerdie cemetery was beside the road. A disappointment that only two stones were left in the cemetery. We have been in Cooloola Shire all this time.

From there we took the bush road across country to Gunalda, which was about 18km. We are now in Tiaro Shire. We had lunch at the service station just south of town. After lunch we headed north to the cemetery for our photos and coordinates.

Went 1.4 km north of Gunalda onto Scrub Rd. This cemetery was on private property so we had to open a gate and keep it closed after entering. We traveled another 2 km to the cemetery. We had another half a km to walk in to the cemetery, get through a barbed wire fence and then across a great bit of missing markers to reach those remaining. Next to the fence was the huge limb of a gum tree which had fallen. Joy tells me never to sleep under a gum tree. They shed their limbs when one least expects it. The one we saw was the largest one that was on the tree. I am thinkng they know how to prune themselves.

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We now continue on Scrub Road to Theebine, and it was here that Joy pointed out the school where she used to work. We continued to Miva, where the Dickabram Cemetery is. It was here that I saw the Dickabram Railroad Bridge. This is a very unique bridge. At either end of the bridge you see a railroad track entering on one side and a road for automobiles entering on the other. This bridge was built in 1896 and is very unique.

The Dickabram Cemetery is well maintained and very clean, sitting up on the hillside. We turned around from the Dickabram cemetery, we headed left down across a gully about 5 km to the Munni Creek Cemetery.

From Munni Creek we headed to Kilkivan Shire, driving south to reach the Burnett Highway. We turned off onto the Rossmore Rd and continued about 4 km to Cemetery Rd and the cemetery was at the end of this road.

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the cemetery we came into Kilkivan and then a right to go to Tansy. On this stretch of road we spotted a couple black faced Wallabies. I tried for a photo, but not sure if I caught them. They got in a hurry before I could get my camera to click, this photo is poor.

This area was very dead looking, the golf course was dry as a bone. Joy says it was because of no rain in January. The cattle we saw grazing in the fields were eating the dead grass.

In this area we saw contour farming along the side hills and they continued on to Goomeri.

In Kilkivan Shire we also visited Tansy with it's heavy white fencing, Boonara, which had St David's Churchyard, which was in the back behind the church and Goomeri.

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here in the bush many times the roads are what we would call one lane at home. The center of the road would be paved, with areas on either side where a car can drive. If you must pass a car coming, Joy immediately got over into the gravel. She said she wanted them to stay on the paved area so they would not throw a rock into her windshield.

Our last stop for today was Murgon. The cemetery was on the north end of town. We went there immediately and I was able to read the lawn section before it became too dark to read. This is a new one which I am going to try to get read tomorrow.

The first motel we tried was booked, and she said all the motels were full. I found out later there was a big wedding in town. We left that motel and went over to the Australian Hotel. They had just had a cancellation, so I took it, without asking the price. In our position it was not an option. When I paid for it, I decided it was not that bad. $56.00 seemed quite economical.

After we found a motel we snacked on things Joy packed while I typing away on my log. About 9pm, took a shower and to bed.