Distance to date 16,355 kms
Our leaving was delayed by having to wait for Alan to pack up his tent and having our cereal bought the day before when we thought there was no one else to cook our breakfast. Colin actually got up at 6:30 am due to general noise and a sore back and had a shower. Despite Takarakka not scoring well on the food front it had probably the best showers of our trip. We have developed a check list for showers; a soap dish and a place to put the shampoo bottle, a dry shelf to put your clothes, hooks for the towel and of course plentty of hot water. Some showers only had the last item. During the night we heard a pair of Wallabies hopping past the tents making a thump, thump noise and we saw them in the morning. One had a joey in her pouch.
The Apostle birds were noisily marching around the tents as well and one was having a good peck at Alan's mirrors.We had discovered an error on our route chart which left out 150kms of our trip to Chinchilla so the 3 hour trip was now over 4 hours. Colin called Frances to tell her we would not be there for lunch but by 3 pm. We rode the dirt back to the main road with no problems. The total amount of dirt riding we have done on this trip is 220kms which is a lot less than we planned but still a fair bit. We planned a proper brunch at Injune 100kms down the main road, but when we got there we couldn't find any where to eat so pressed on to Roma.
The road wound through the Carnarvon Ranges with great views of the sandstone cliffs we found in the gorge. This was the last country that could be described as picturesque for quite a few days as we were heading into Queensland industrial farming area called the Darling Downs with huge paddocks of grass or sorgum or such like. It was also very flat.We had lunch at a Bakery in Roma and it turned out that the owners were a couple on motorcycles we met at Rolleston a couple of days before. Colin needed to get some more eye drops so he put his prescription into the chemist across the road. It was extremely busy and would take 1/2 hour so we refueled.
We had instructions on finding Daniel and Frances' farm and passed Frances on her way to pick up the kids in the Land Cruiser. They have 500 acres and run cattle on it.
Daniel was working at home this week getting the house they had brought onto the property suitable for us to sleep in i.e. build the wall for the kitchen and finish the veranda. He normally works as a mechanic in a local farm machinery workshop. Daniel took us on a tour around the house and it was looking very promising with 3 bedrooms, large lounge room, kitchen, bathroom and laundry. Most of the rooms are nearly ready but the kitchen and laundry still need work. There was a new 6 burner stove and oven sitting in the lounge room ready for installation. They were living in a large shed in the meantime, which was quite comfortable. The wood burner was ready to heat the lounge were we were sleeping when we retired.
Soon Frances and the kids arrived, Joshua 9, Libby 7 and Bethany 4. The girls had been to a dancing class and Daniel had been to a guitar lesson. The children are all well behaved and different. Not having a TV probably helps them a great deal. They all find ways to play using their own devices and the great range of toys and equipment Frances has managed to accumulate for them. We had a great time with them and Frances turned out the healthiest meals we have had on the trip so far. We downloaded our trip photos onto Frances computer. She is a keen photographer and we saw some of the videos of the house moving and other famiiy events. 
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