Then picked Angus up around 4:30am, heading off down the road to try to beat the traffic.
About 10 minutes down the road, Damian realised that he had sat his folders with his official paperwork, accommodation details, random notes etc on the boot lid, including his hat with his prescription glasses, pen, highlighter etc on the boot... AND HAD DRIVEN OFF WITH THEM STILL ON THERE!!
After pulling over, Damian discovered that there really was a god, as his hat with prescription glasses etc was wedged under the spoiler on the boot of Retro Rock-It - the only thing missing was the highlighter! Retracing their route back towards Angus' house, they found the folders (and paperwork) strewn across the road about 500m from Angus' driveway... Throwing the hazard lights on, Damian and Angus collected the paperwork, breathed a huge sigh of relief (mainly that Damian's prescription glasses weren't lost), and headed back on the road... This minor detour cost about 20 mins of travel time, making the traffic slightly worse, but not terrible...
Heading towards Toowoomba, past a large red elephant...
And past a big orange...
And a tractor on a stick!!
The boys thought they would check out the new Toowoomba Second Range Crossing... it was awesome!!
They certainly moved a bunch of earth to make it...
Past the Brett Forte bridge...
And eventually out to Millmerran!
With the impressive murals on the water reservoir...
Then out through to Goondiwindi...
The second range crossing certainly made the trip quicker...
At Goondiwindi, the boys met up with Sharky who had travelled down from Gympie, arriving just after the boys did...
Heading across the river into NSW...
Where they met up with Tony in Purple People Eater (who had arrived in Goondiwindi a bit earlier and went downtown for lunch).
And what would a trip be without roadworks?
Turning at the Wobbly Boot Hotel...
Always time for a selfie!!
Past dry rivers...
And old train bridges...
Bypassing Moree...
Past some big silos...
Before continuing south...
The temperatures hit about 35C heading down through here...
And of course, more roadworks, and some unsealed highway!!
A quick pit stop at Narrabri for lunch...
Then back on the road again...
There was even a little bit of water in this river!!\
Angus had a turn at driving from Narrabri...
Heading towards Coonabarabran for another fuel stop...
Difficult to tell from this shot, but there was plenty of dust in the air...
Being stalked by a shark mobile...
Why wouldn't there be a T intersection on a highway?
Past Saturn... sadly Damian didn't get a shot of Uranus!
Into Coonabarabran...
Nice clock tower in the main street...
Then out the other side...
Probably a better picture of how much dust was in the air here...
And still being stalked by a shark mobile!!
Cows attempting to graze in the ridiculously dry paddock...
Then down the short-cut to Dubbo...
Another T intersection...
Purple People Eater on a bridge!
And still heading towards Dubbo...
Still pretty hazy...
And Brocklehurst... sculptures in a very dry paddock...
Dubbo!
There was a vote taken, and the decision was made to stay in Dubbo for the night (rather than continue on to Parkes)... This means that the drive tomorrow will be around 600km (rather than 500km)...
Retro Rock-It, Purple People Eater and Shark Mobile having some refreshments before dinner in Dubbo...
So after the first day of driving, the cars are all behaving themselves (touch wood), the boys are in good spirits (touch wood) and there's a buzz of excitement around about getting to Wangaratta tomorrow...
In unrelated news, another donation was received today, bringing the total to $9083.20... The boys are edging ever closer to their $10,000 target!
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