Possum Park

We first heard about Possum Park several years ago from caravanning friends who had stopped here. Since then we have driven past the entrance a few times on our way to Rockhampton and thought we should check it out sometime. This seemed a suitable occasion as a stop on our way to Carnarvon Gorge and points north and west.

Our day began in Brisbane. We had driven down yesterday to visit Majella’s mother and then drove on to the Gold Coast. There we visited Bev and had dinner with Laura and Aimee before driving back to stay at the Travelodge at Garden City. That allowed us an earlier pickup for the camper-van than we could have achieved by driving down from Toowoomba this morning.

We checked out of the hotel around 8:00 am and stopped for breakfast at a cafe on Racecourse Road on the way to the Britz depot at Eagle Farm. We were there when it opened at 9:00 am and on the road by 9:30 am. We did wonder how we would be received in western Queensland in a van with Victorian registration plates but we will have to deal with that as we go. Every vehicle I saw at Britz had Victorian plates – perhaps they get a better deal on registration there.

I drove the van to Toowoomba while Majella drove our car and followed. I lost her at a set of lights and wondered where she had gone. By the time I managed to call her she had been through the tunnel which I missed to avoid tolls and was ahead of me.

We were both home around 11:00 am. After a quick coffee and cake we packed our gear into the van and got ready to leave. On the way out of town we stopped by Sam and Bek’s place to see Jane, Lea and the kids, whom they had been minding overnight.

By 1:00 pm we were heading out of town. I drove as far as Chinchilla where we stopped to brew up some coffee in the van and have a snack. Majella drove on from there. We stopped for fuel in Miles where I had found diesel was cheaper than in Toowoomba and thought we should get it while we could. By 4:00 pm we had arrived at Possum Park which is about 20 km north of Miles on the Leichhardt Highway. We were soon checked in and invited down to the campfire to join other visitors and hear more about the place.

Possum Park was a World War II munitions store and some of the bunkers have been converted to accommodation. The munitions were delivered by train and the rail was still available to bring in some carriages that were converted for accommodation in the early 1990s. More recently they have brought in an old TAA aircraft which is being renovated as accommodation. There are plenty of campsites for vans or tents and some cabins as well so a lot of choice and capacity when things are active.

We excused ourselves from the campfire and went for a short walk to see some of the bunkers. They were further away than we expected and Majella was a bit anxious about walking back in the dark if we went too far so we turned back after the third bunker.

Sunset arrived a little after we got back and the remnants of the clouds were coloured bright pink. Dinner was steak and salad prepared by Majella.

We knew that the screen in the van did not actually connect to broadcast television but will be able to watch iView or Netflix on my iPad when we are connected. That seems a little unlikely here with just one or two bars of phone connection but it seems Majella remembered to bring her Anagrams game so I may have to deal with that once I have posted this.