Wednesday 18 May 2022: Blackdown Tableland to Banana 250 km

Dingo is home to the annual World Dingo Trap Throwing Competition

The Church was relocated from Mt Chalmers, about 1992

Banana the town (Est. 1861, pop 356) has nothing to do with the fruit but everything to do with a bullock named Banana

In bygone days of bullock drays
Banana led the team,
an enormous yellow bullock
who died beside a stream.
The years have passed
“Banana’s Creek” tells of the bullock’s fame
for a town grew up beside it and BANANA was its name.
Thursday 19 May 2022: Banana to Eidsvold 210 km
Our original plan to explore the 4WD Expedition National Park was foiled as rain closed the Park. With more rain forecast we decided to stay on the main road and go to Wondai instead with a halfway stop at Eidsvold.
We had driven between Theodore and Eidsvold in 2020, but in the reverse direction. The photos are here.


It looks out of place under the shade of a Coolibah Tree
Cracow
A tiny ghost town now but during Cracow’s gold mining (1875-1976), the town included five cafes, a barber shop, a billiard saloon, two butchers, a picture theatre and a soft drink factory. If anyone is looking for a great movie set Cracow is it!




Eidsvold

The town’s only pub has closed too; it’s ” Undergoing Renovations”
Friday 20 May 2022: Eidsvold to Wondai 200 km


Gayndah

Burnett Advertiser, 1933: “The spacious verandas which were reserved for dancing presented a pretty sight, being decorated with greenery and well lighted with electricity.”


Wondai
Wondai is a lovely old town with free camping, hot showers and toilets. We stayed the night and will be back when the weather’s better.



Saturday 21 May 2022: Wondai to Linville 100 km





Nanango
An impressive collection of murals on the streets of Nanango tell the stories of the town. The murals were originally painted by Nanango artist Willie Nelson in 1998 (before street art was a “thing”) and were recently refreshed by the artist. Here are a few. We particularly like the last one which is inside the garage.



Blackbutt

In 1935, the owners dog “Radnor” was run over by a truck. So he named the Pub after him.

Linville
The Linville Hotel is a historic country pub located on the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail. It was originally built in 1892 and moved to Linville in 1904. In 2019 the new owners renovated the Hotel, retaining the classic Queensland pub character.
We enjoyed our last night, free camping at the Linville Railway Station and eating at the Linville Hotel.


(Linville has a population of 126)
Sunday 22 May 2022: Linville to Brisbane 150 km
We drove over 6,000 km with rain, flooding and road closures forcing daily changes but we still got to our main sights: Birdsville, Lawn Hill and Blackdown Tableland National Parks. The new Apollo 4WD Adventure Camper was perfect for us and we were just a little sorry to hand it back.