Roadtrains and Rolleston

Last night we saw the Night Show at the Big Rig, which gives the history of Roma's oil and gas exploration, much of the same detail as shown in the static displays, but presented in a more entertaining way.  Bundle up because it's outdoors, although they do have a few of those outdoor heaters.

One part of Roma's history I must share with you:  they were always short of water, so started boring holes to find some, without much success initially.  The first drill was powered by a poor horse walking in a circle for nine months (!) and reached only 500 metres without hitting water.  After that they switched to steam-driven drills, which were much quicker although they still had trouble finding water.  One drill struck gas, which whooshed up, blew towards the steam engine's fire, and bingo!  The resulting fire burned for months, was seen for 40 miles, and became a tourist attraction for a while until they worked out a way to cap it.  Another also struck gas, so it was deemed a failure (still no water).  The gas was left to whoosh out for 5 years before they thought of a way to use it- let's use it for street lighting!  Wow!  They had a big ceremony to turn on the lights and the ooohs! and aaaahs! could be heard for miles, and the streets were light as day- again tourists came to see and marvel.  Unfortunately, after letting it blow away for five years, the gas ran out after only 10 days!  Nowadays they have better methods and supply Brisbane with gas.  I don't know where they get their water.

It was good to get amongst hills again after so long on the seemingly endless plains.  Heading almost due north from Roma, we gradually climbed and soon had a view of distant mountains.  We climbed some more, saw some spectacular sandstone cliffs, then after a single straight steep decline we were in a lovely valley and more plains.  We stopped at the small town of Injune, which has a very nice Tourist Info place with free cuppa and biscuit.  The town is neat but we thought did not compare with Surat, which we saw a few days ago.  On past the turnoff to Carnarvon Gorge, which we will visit tomorrow, sans caravan, and on to Rolleston, an even smaller town which hasn't much to commend it but it's trying hard.  Boasting a population of 219 at the last census, it's on the intersection of 3 highways, from Roma, from Emerald, and from Moura.

The caravan park owner had warned Chris on the phone that "it's an old camp", and that's about it.  The owners are helpful and we have a concrete slab beside the van, which is always nice (not so far to step down, plus the floor doesn't get as dirty if you're not stepping off sand or mud or grass into the van.)  We'll go to the Gorge for the day tomorrow and check out the road- if it's not too bad we may move the van in there, but we've heard there are many creek crossings so probably not.  In any case we'll do a few short walks, possibly the next day as well.  It's a long drive, that's the only problem.

                                          Uptown Rolleston, Qld

                                           Comet River, Rolleston, looking west

Comet River looking east

We've just been for a walk to check out the town but we covered it so quickly it was not much exercise.  Surprisingly, there are a few concrete footpaths, which is more than Lake Macquarie council can manage.  There's a nice looking school with covered walkways, a library cum tourist information, an old fashioned store with everything, a hardware store, a pub that serves meals and also another eatery called "Corrugated Cuisine".  The lawns are mowed, there's a little park, and apart from a big yard full of deceased vehicles (and I mean a yard full, there's very little space left for the current, registered vehicle, and the old ones include trucks and caravans as well as cars), it seems like the residents are doing their best.

The Comet River was named by Ludwig Leichhardt who made observations of Comet Wilmot in 1844 (I'm so knowledgeable, am I not?  Thank you, Google and Wikidpedia). The town's streets have names like Meteor and the pub was originally named the Planet.  A town called Comet in the area is home to a "dig tree" where Leichhardt buried supplies. No, you absent-minded people who are wondering if it was THE dig tree, no, that was Burke and Wills, not Leichhardt.  L. did get lost, though- he successfully journeyed from Moreton Bay (Brisbane) to beyond Darwin, but on a subsequent expedition he was last heard of in Queensland, not so far from here- he was on his way to the Swan River in Perth, but never showed up- presumably dead by now.  I just now learned that a brass plate with his name was found in WA and in 2006 was proved to be authentic, so he did make it to WA, pretty amazing to cross the desert successfully.

So, we've all learned something today.