• Left Mitchell

• Morven

• Charleville

• Shopped for supplies in the afternoon

• Great meal at "The Rocks" pub at night

• Cobb and Co Caravan park owner couldn't do enough for us

• Camped overnight at Charleville - Cobb and Co Caravan Park

Not a lot of significance occurred on the drive to Charleville. I played with the UHF CB. Occasionally the scanner locked onto a conversation. Usually the conversation involved small talk between mates travelling together. Travelling through Morven I heard a transport company arranging delivery of goods to the airport, signalling activity in what looked like an otherwise dry, sleepy little settlement.

As I write this ( early March 2003 ), rain has fallen over a lot of Queensland. I hope it has fallen in Morven as they needed it badly.

We passed through Morven and the road surface changed from a reasonably smooth surface to a noticeably bumpy ride. Apparently the road north to Augathella is regarded as a higher priority road as you could see the total change of surface and condition.

My books advised us of various caravan parks. We settled on the Cobb & Co Caravan Park. We eventually worked the streets out and found it a little way out from the main shopping area. The owner was a very friendly, helpful man. He was very easy going and I felt we would enjoy a couple of nights without any hassles.

We had the dogs with us which prevented us from staying at most establishments but as far as he was concerned, they were not a problem. He made sure we were happy with the spot for our tents and left us alone to call in when it suited us to pay him. When we were setup I walked up to the office to pay. He gave me a leaflet which gave details of the towns attractions. He also gave me a street map, which proved very helpful in the 2 days we were in Charleville.

After everything was settled campsite wise, we went into the town business centre. We both wanted to find an Internet Cafe to check our email and to transfer money to bill accounts. I had checked for Internet availability during my research for our trip and found most towns along the planned route of our trip had it. After a short walk through town we found a Bakery that sold great pies and had a computer available for a small fee. We bought some food, settled down for our 1/4 hr of Internet use and ten minutes later we were still looking at the same page with no sign of ever getting to my Westpac site. The lady who served was really good and gave our money back. The food was great though!! We asked another local if they knew of any other Internet facility and she pointed us to a cafe around the block. This site was a lot faster and we completed our business.

I also acquired a new camp stove to get over the problems we were having with the stove we had brought with us.

That night we looked around for somewhere with meals that had good value. We tried the RSL but we didn't have access to a Personal Loan to pay the prices they wanted.

After circling town a few times we found a pub near the Railway Station. From memory it had a sign saying "The Rocks". The meals were unbelievably good. The steaks were huge and delicious. We were offered half or full sized meals. I opted for a full size meal and payed a few dollars more, though still a lot cheaper than anything else we had seen in the town.

What I received was huge. The meals that were ordered as "half meals" turned out to be what we were used to being "normal" size meals. After going back to camp very satisfied, we settled the dogs into their "luxury" beds and went to bed ourselves.