Day 12

Kilometres travelled today......455

Kilometres from home......1505

We departed Roma at 8:40am and travelled on the Carnarvon Highway through Injune, Rolleston, Springsure and Emerald. The weather was foggy and raining until we reached Springsure. Then the sun came out and it turned out to be a hot day.
A cliff face in the hills surrounding Springsure is known to the area as Virgin Rock, named because it once looked like the Virgin Mary cradling the baby Jesus, although years of erosion have blurred the original resemblance.

Due to the misty weather our view of the beautiful Carnarvon Ranges was limited.

We stopped at Springsure for lunch in a rest stop, and attempted to drive into an off road camp site beneath the Virgin Rock, after proceeding 500 metres down the one lane road we realised there was a huge dip in the road just prior to entering the camp, and if I had continued, due to the length of our van, I would have bottomed out. I had no alternative but to reverse the van all the way back up the road to the main highway, with Jude walking behind directing traffic and making sure I didn't run into a ditch......in the end we made it out without much drama.
Springsure is a small town 66 km south of Emerald on the Gregory Highway. It is 765 km northwest of Brisbane, and in 2006 had a population of 829. The area was first explored by Ludwig Leichardt, and his favourable reports encouraged settlers to move in. Today, Springsure is a pastoral settlement serving cattle farms as well as producing sunflower, sorghum, wheat and chickpea crops.

This leg of our trip was the longest so far, 455 kilometres, so it was good to get to the end.
We arrived in Capella at around 3:30pm and checked into the Capella Van Park, site 27, at $25.00 per night. The Park is very nice and one of our favourites. We rate this park one of the most enjoyable we have stayed at, this is our third visit.
The Park owners David & Jodi put on happy hour every day which we attended. Last night they served up Cheese & Biscuits, Dips, Prawns and Oysters Kilpatrick....all free of charge.
We also enjoyed dining out tonight in a town that has very few services i.e., no grocery store, no fresh fruit or vegetables and very few other services, but the restaurant, in our opinion, was five star.

Capella is a very small town on the Gregory Highway half way between Emerald and Clermont. It is in the Peak Downs Shire. The Shire includes Capella, established in 1883, and Tieri established in 1982 to service the Oakey Creek Coal Mines.

As with each of our previous visits we never cease to be impressed by the Peak Range, a succession of gigantic conical and dome topped mountains north of Capella. There is a scenic lookout one kilometre south of town.

The Peak Downs Shire lies over the Bowen Basin coal deposit and includes nine operating coal mines, exporting millions of tonnes of coal annually.
The rich fertile soils of the Peak Downs Shire and a 590mm rainfall produces millions of tonnes of sorghum, sunflower, wheat, legumes and beef annually. Sunflowers bloom in March and April; sorghum and sunflower are harvested in May, June and July, wheat in September and October and chick peas in October.

Capella is also home to the Pioneer Village. Volunteer operated, it includes the 'Peak Downs' Homestead (1869), 'Gordon Downs' Store and Woolshed, and vintage farming equipment.
The Peak Downs homestead has the grand proportions of a station owner’s residence, even though constructed from local hardwood timbers prepared with the same tools as used by the pioneers, the adze and pit-saw. It was built by George Fairbairn in 1869.

In 1987, the Capella Pioneer Village Committee negotiated for the purchase and removal of the homestead, which by that time had 40% white ant damage. They were successful and the building was moved in one piece on 19 November 1988. It had stood on Peak Downs station for 118 years.