Mitchell – Morven – Charleville

We finally said goodbye to our wonderful campsite at the weir after another ‘special’ sunset.  This time with clouds present and after a day of strong winds.   Wednesday had been 29deg, Thursday 31deg and then Friday became only 21 so it was much cooler for travelling.

next morning view of water in the weir

Morven is a small settlement of about 250 residents and there is the usual pub, general store and a newsagency.  We were fortunate enough to find a camp site beside the waterhole near the Recreation Ground.   This waterhole used to be used by the Cobb & Co coaches as they passed through on their dusty journey through the western Qld countryside.  I am sure it was a welcome stop for both animals and humans alike.

There are some power sites available up near the amenities block in the showground and work on a ‘honour’ system for $5 per night for a maximum stay of 7 days.  You can even connect up to water so is quite a delightful spot to stay.

As we were only stopping overnight we didn’t worry about being up close to the amenities provided as after all we have our own.

We certainly had some entertainment parked beside the waterhole as the ‘locals’ came to visit with their family!!

Lawrie was chatting to our camping neighbours later in the day and saw a red bill try to take one of the baby geese.  Needless to say the adults all took to hissing and giving the bird a hard time so that it didn’t seem such a good idea to try for one of the babies from this family.

feeding time outside our van

Well this had to have been our coldest night since we left home however the sun shone clear and bright the next morning and it didn’t take long to warm up as we packed up and headed out for Charleville just over 80km away.

We saw cattle grazing along the way and were surprised by the number of wild pigs included in the ‘road kill’ we passed. 

A stop for our morning cuppa and then by late morning we had arrived in Charleville.  We have checked in to a new van park just 2km out of town towards Quilpie (our next destination).  Most shops etc close early at the weekend so other than refuelling with gas (available at 1 of the 4 service stations in town) we visited the Information centre and gathered some pamphlets for further on and plan to take a stroll tomorrow morning to take a closer look at shops etc.  Dinner tonight however is at the local RSL as I am demanding a night off!!