DAY 13 - ON THE MOVE AGAIN TODAY... GOOMERI BUSH CAMP HERE WE COME....

 We are on the move again today but we don't have too far to go.  We are off to Goomeri which is only about 149kms away so we have a little time up our sleeve...

There were a couple of things we wanted to do in Mundubbera this morning before leaving, one was checking out one of the Big Aussie icons, the "Big Mandarin" which has it's home in Mundubbera, and also to grab a bag of tree ripened mandarins.  

Steve and I took off around 8am to do these couple of errands before we had to be out of the caravan park at 10am.

The Big Mandarin was very close to where we were staying.   The Big Mandarin is a 9-metre high fibreglass model of an Ellendale Mandarin at the Big Mandarin & Citrus Country Caravan Park in Mundubbera. It is used as a reception centre and kiosk for the park.  We felt a little sneaky as we walked over to stay beside it to get our photo...

The Big Mandarin is used as a kiosk for the caravan park and is one of the “Big Things” around Australia, located around the back from the main road.  I was surprised to find that it was part of a caravan park as I thought it would have been attached to an orchid just like the Big Orange at Gayndah...

The big Mandarin in Mundubbera..

From here we ducked out to the farm, to pick up a bag of mandarins.  The farm was located just next to the Burnett River, so whilst there we checked it out and took a photo of the bridge over the Burnett River.  With both of us having grown up in Bundy, the Burnett River has been an important river in our lives, with Steve spending quite a bit of time in his youth fishing on it with his Dad and brothers...

We were back at the caravan park before 9am, and  as we had only stayed overnight, we didn't have a lot to pack away, as we hadn't hooked up water or taken out chairs etc from the van.  We basically just had to pack up our electrical cord and put down our awning and hook up and we were ready to go.

We were able to pull out of the park around 9.30am and headed to Gayndah where we planned to stop quickly again to check out the other big Aussie Icon on our list... "The Big Orange".

The Big Orange was built by a local, Don Kenny, in 1977 for the Gayndah Orange Festival and later moved to its current location in 1983. The orange is made up of twelve sections (segments :)), six sections on top and another six make up the bottom half.

You can walk inside the Big Orange where you will find information around the region and Gayndah itself, as well as a number of brands relating to the orange industry. Old newspaper clippings of the local area are also available to look through and get some insight into the history of the area.

It is now the entrance to  a cafe which offers, burgers, wraps and other refreshmens as well as a selection of local produce and products available for purchase..

We only stopped to get a few photos as it was too soon to stop for morning tea... 

We plan to push on a further 25kms  to Ban Ban Springs where we plan to stop for a cuppa and break.. 

 

I remember stopping here numerous times as a child where we would stop to get water from the natural springs that bubbled up out of the ground.  We didn't see those springs this visit.  We are not even sure whether  the water comes up there anymore.  Someone mentioned to us that since the Paradise Dam has been built it has altered the  spring.. I am not sure whether this is correct or not...

 

Ban Ban Springs is  also a traditional site for the Wakka Wakka people and is guarded by the Rainbow Serpent. The area was utilised as a pathway to the Bunya Mountains, held every three years when the Bunya trees would ripen with fruit. It is a sacred site where traditional marriage ceremonies and trading amongst travelling tribes occurred. The springs are a natural attraction for birds of the area. This is a popular picnic area which has public amenities on site and a 20 hour camping area.

 

 There were quite a few campers camped on the side of the road at Ban Ban Springs when we arrived...

 We had our cuppa and then headed off again for the final 75kms to our destination at the Goomeri Bush Camp which is situated just 2kms out of Goomeri..  Goomeri Bush Camp is situated on a 300 acre farm in the heart of country Queensland.  Once you arrive at the Bush Camp, it is then a further 2kms into the camping site from the front gate creating a lovely private, quiet sanctuary.

Individual campsite firepits...

I had seen some photos of this Bush Camp on Facebook and read some reviews and it looked good, and the reviews were great, and at only $15 a night, I thought it was worth checking out...

Their camping areas are well grass sites, and very spacious with some secluded sites.  There are several dams where you can go canoeing and swimming and the campsites have individual fireplaces.  The creek side campsites in the main camping area all have water points. 

They have a wonderful communal firepit where each evening, lots of folks gathered for bush poetry and damper.  It was also a great way to meet other campers as well.  

Amenitites Block

Whilst the sites aren't powered or have water connection, there are showers, toilets and a laundry and also a lovely rustic camp kitchen.

 

We booked in for two nights.  We didn't plan to do too much whilst we were here.  Our stay was mostly about enjoying our surroundings and relaxing.  There were plenty of walks to do around the farm, and they also had young farm animals that you could feed....

We arrived around lunch time.  We were told we could park our vans where ever we wanted to, so checked out a couple of sites near the amenities block and close to the camp kitchen.  We were able to park the vans so that our awnings opened out to each other...

After lunch I went for a walk around the camp kitchen and amenities to check them all out.  They are lovely,  lovely lounge and book library where there are plenty of board games that guests can use.  The camp kitchen is spacious, spotlessly clean and well equiped.  They also had some herb and vegetable gardens that guests are able to raid....

One of the vegetable gardens available for guests to use...

Camp Kitchen

The other end of the camp kitchen is set up for guests to relax in a comfortable lounge, tables and chairs, books and board games..

The Carrel area has lots of quirky additions which are fun and playful and it was a popular area for guests to catch up.   

We were informed when we checked in that each evening do do a big bonfire for all the guests in the Carrel area, and also that they serve damper.  A cow bell will ring around 5pm which signals the time for everyone to bring their chairs to join in the activity.

After having a good walk around and checking out the bush camp, we arrived back at our vans mid afternoon where we boiled the kettle, and joined each other out doors  under our awning for a game of "Five Crowns".

The bell started ringing just as we were finishing our game.  By the time we had gathered and chairs and headed to the Bonfire site, there were heaps of folk there, with the rows of chairs around the fire about three rows deep...

Whilst the damper was cooking, one of the organisers recited some bush poetry.  He was really good and very entertaining..  Not only did he share with us his own written bush poetry but also shared quite a few jokes with us all...

There were seven different dampers on offer tonight..

We sampled four savoury dampers, and three sweet dampers.  We had a rocky road damper, which was interesting and a lot nicer than what you could imagine...  One of our dampers was a pumpkin damper, a pizza scroll damper...

The ladies preparing the damper to hand around..

It was a lovely evening sitting out around the camp fire.  We met some lovely people, engaged in interesting conversations and were out there for a good couple of hours before heading back to our vans around 7.30pm...

A lovely way to spend the evening..

 It was a late dinner tonight, again we had something simple that we both contributed to.  It was quite cool tonight so we ended up eating indoors in our van.  

It was around 9.30pm when we finished chatting, and both Kathy and I headed for our showers first whilst the men stayed back at the vans, and when we returned they took off for their showers.  Having no power, it meant that we couldn't use our devices tonight so it was a fairly early night for us all...

We are looking forward to another chilled out day tomorrow here at the Bush Camp...