Toowoomba & Emerald

From Glen Innes we travelled north into Queensland spending several days in Toowoomba which gave us an opportunity to get our car serviced and replace a couple of car tyres. Toowoomba was badly flooded in January of this year, the results of which were still very evident in the town centre as well as in its many parks and gardens.

After Toowoomba we continued north to Emerald and spent three nights at nearby Lake Maraboon which is said to be three times the size of Sydney Harbour. Fairbairn Dam controls irrigation from Lake Maraboon to Emerald and the surrounding areas for crop production as well as industrial usage. The town of Emerald was also badly affected by the January floods as we could see at the town’s 42 hectare botanic gardens which had been completely submerged by the Nogoa River which runs through its centre.

Unfortunately the caravan park where we stayed was very busy and we were wedged in like sardines as so many people were there to fish for the popular Red Claw Crayfish (like WA Yabbies only bigger) which are easily caught using dog biscuits for bait!

Still searching for warmer weather we then travelled another 500kms north to Charters Towers.