Once again our alarm went off early and we took our time in getting ready to depart.
Our intended destination today was Rubyvale which is located in the centre of the Queensland gem fields.
Whilst we finalized the hitching of our car, our friends left and we followed about five minutes later. For the next thirty minutes we wondered if they had stopped and we had passed them as calls on the UHF went unanswered. There was virtually no traffic coming in the opposite direction and we finally had the opportunity to ask a passing caravan if they had seen another motorhome. They replied “NO”. Shortly after this surprise information, we passed the top of a hill where we could see the road stretching off into the distance. Then, much to our surprise we heard our friends call on the UHF. All we could see was a distant dot on the road and we later discovered they were about ten kilometres in front of us. UHF does work.
They waited for us to catch them at Clermont, a mining town where we refueled. We then travelled together to Emerald where we stopped for lunch in a café.
Just after 2:15pm, we headed west to Anakie where we turned north for Rubyvale some 18 kilometres away.
We had intended to stay in a caravan park and noted with surprise as we passed through the township of Sapphire that the caravan parks appeared to be full and there were a considerable number of caravans and motorhomes free camping.
The first caravan park we stopped at in Rubyvale was full but we managed to secure a booking for two nights in the Rubyvale Caravan Park.
After setting up camp, we spent the remainder of the afternoon listening to a busker who was said to be a former member of The Aztecs. “He” had the opportunity to try out the new camera when several kookaburra’s, black birds, magpies and rosella’s landed near one of the caravans looking for food.
After the concert finished, we headed to the local hotel for a couple of drinks before heading back for a light tea.
It was very cold so we headed to bed early.