23/4/14 – Yuleba, pronounced “Yool-Bah” is said to be named after the Aboriginal word meaning “the place of water lilies”. We packed up pretty early this morning then did a run down to Old Yuleba 13kms from Yuleba. The original town of Yuleba was on the main route from Dalby-Condamine-Roma. When the railway line was extended in 1879 a new settlement was formed called “Baltinglass”. Many of the buildings from Yuleba were relocated by bullock wagon. Baltinglass was changed to Yuleba and the old town was referred to as “Old Yuleba”. All that remains is a monument where the town once stood. You can camp and fish in this area. Grass was very long and the river was rather stagnant looking.
We did a quick whiz into Yuleba before heading to Miles for morning tea and then on towards Chinchilla Weir. Met a very friendly local and saw one of the local sites in someone’s yard.
On the Hwy we have driven past the township of Chinchilla many times and have never popped into the town area. Looks like a really nice town. We may have to come back into this area and stay a bit longer.
Umm do we overtake or go under????
Chinchilla Weir was officially opened in 1974. Water skiing, canoeing, swimming and fishing are some of the activities people enjoy. As well as free camping, also a great place to stop for a picnic. It is a lovely spot but even at lunch time the place was filling up with vans, motorhomes and campers. Toilet flush water and hand washing water was the colour of the weir water, brown. We decided it wasn’t the place for us this time.
We have stopped for the last few days of this trip at Archers Crossing, south side. There is a north side camping are as well. It’s a little further south out of Chinchilla, lovely spot on the Condamine River, only one other set of campers set up here so far. No facilities, does have shelter area, small water tank and bins. Area is mostly flat; we have an excellent view over the river, so peaceful and tranquil, our kind of spot and a great way to finish the trip.
Archers Crossing was the only crossing point on the Condamine River for people living south of the river. All vehicles, stock etc used the crossing until the Banana Bridge was built. The Chinchilla Weir was not built as this time so the water level was much lower.