20250609 Qld Hebel, Dirranbandi to St George

20250609 We had a quiet night last night so we decided to head to the pub tonight and sit around the fire with the locals and some campers. Well! Jack a 93 year old chappie put his country music on and asked me for a dance, talk about a laugh, all the folks were taking photos and videos and laughing at this elderly man jiving with one of the campers (me). My main concern was Jack falling over but he threw away his walking stick and put on a show of a lifetime, even twirling me around, don’t you fall over I said but nothing was going to stop old Jack. We had a great time and he even gave me a run for my money with some cheeky comments before he changed into his new hat hoping for a last fling before driving 10ks home. I’m thinking his hat gave him wings.

If I make it to 93 I hope I can dance at that age, what a trooper.

Jack and me jiving at the Hebel QLD 

There has been a pub at the settlement of Hebel since 1894 when drovers moving stock between colonies would stop to enjoy an ale or two and now it’s the grey nomads stopping in for a good old laugh and reminisce about the old days. 

Ya can’t beat the Hebel👍

Each night the fire is a blaze as the campers and locals congregate to take in the warmth on a cold winters night while enjoying a nice ale and meeting new travelers.

There’s no rest for the cattle truck drivers as the sun sets over Hebel, one after the other they roll on by.

One of the many trucks that pass the Hebel displaying its colourful lights and probably wishing they were standing around the fire with the rest of us.

Des and I were the last to leave, even after the Pub shut their doors, we hung around the fire, it was too nice to leave, but put your glassed on the table under the awning please.

20250611 We left to camp at our spot 20ks up the road where Des once caught heaps of yabbies but it pretty cold so I don’t like his chances, it’s a good camp for the night nevertheless. Once there I collected some wood and we sat outside watching the stars and the trucks go by, one of our favourite pastimes.

Found this beauty parked up at Hebel before we left, she’s a spiffy unit and I’m guessing they probably sell country clothing.

The sunset just out of Hebel, beautiful as always.

Well at least there’s water in the Bokhara River, but are there any yabbies.

Thurs 1206: We were woken by workers who turned up for their machinery parked at the gravel pit that happened to be where we camped, opps. The water truck had difficulty turning around so I’m  guessing he would have been cursing us, Des did speak to him and he was fine so Des pulled his pots and not one yabbie, you caught them all the last time we stayed. We cooked breakfast then left for Dirranbandi for a shower at the truck stop then into town for a burger.

Russian-born baker Natalia runs the local bakery at Dirranbandi and it’s a must to stop and indulge in all of her delicious treats.

This is one of many of the ornament displayed in the bakery, a Samovar, a traditional metal urn used to heat and boil water, mostly for tea, and often associated with Russian culture.

We never stay in Dirranbandi, so after we pigged out on a delicious burger and walked the town, which didn’t take long then drove to Noondoo Truck Rest Stop, about 20ks out of town for the night.

Des went to head outside to wash up after dinner and look who was hanging around looking for scraps, we’ve been travelling for over 13 years and have never seen a fox come into our camp, they are really getting cheeky.

For some reason when the trucks come in they drop a heap of wheat on the ground and the Galahs swarm in for a feed.

The next day we left for St George camping at the Kamarooka Caravan Park, a nice park at the end of town and only $35 a night, much cheaper than any of the others in town. In the afternoon they have happy around the fire not to mention a great camp kitchen and very clean BBQ’s.

Off we go on our deadly treadlies to check out some trees over the bridge the boys told us about.

Check out the root on this tree, (not me either) its like all the dirt has been washed away and it’s about to grow legs and walk off into the sunset, it was just awesome.

Have you ever seen anything so cool.

The St George Bridge

The boys from St George, Jack, Eli, Jeremy and Kai, they come from Cairns and work on cleaning out the drains travelling from town to town and they love a good old yarn. After all the oldies dispersed, not Des and I of cause, we’re stayers, we sat around the fire telling many of our travel yarns, like the guy we meet when he stopped to let his dogs out for a walk, well! he started talking to us when out came his trusty pipe, and trust me it wasn’t tobacco. After a few laughs he eventually left, forgetting to let the dogs out for a pee.

Des was telling the guys how we don’t travel long distance anymore and sometimes we stop after driving 20ks up the road. For example we left on the 13th May and it took us just over three weeks just to get to Moore, a 130 km drive which anyone can do in a hour and a half, well I’m get tired said Des and these guys just cracked up laughing.

So our Jack ate a whole large pizza and a garlic bread all to himself then slowly started to doze off, but he opened his eyes just as I took the photo, busted.

It's 10:23 pm and these slack young guys have to go to bed, who's the old buggers here, but they do have to get up for work I suppose. Kai is the boss, the tall one on the end, he never wears long pants because he can’t find any long enough to fit him so he’s always freezing. Then theirs Jeremy, the one with the red bandana, he's a character all on his own (although they all were). They call him Jack Sparrow, and amazingly he even looks just like him and such a sweetheart. Now Eli, comes across as the silent type, he never says a lot but then again he was laughing heaps. Last but not least there’s Jack, the one who likes to pig out on pizza and garlic bread, then fall asleep around the fire with a sly grin on his dial. We've met many young ones on our travels and always have lots of fun with them. Thanks guys for a fun couple of nights, Des and I always like to party with the fun ones. Hopefully we might catch up one day when we're in Cairns next."

See You in 20 Km