We have survived (just) the mossie plague of 2022. We stayed at Meandarra for 3 days and the first day in particular they were really bad. We were ready to leave the next day but the cold weather has knocked them back a bit. The whole region is bad at the moment we have been told.
Meandarra has awesome camping area along Brigalow Creek. There are 2 camping areas, one along the creek and is unpowered. Free hot showers and toilets at the tennis courts. Another area with power near the town hall, also has free hot showers and toilets. $5 for 3 nights unpowered and thereafter $5 a night up to 14 nights. Or $10 for power for 3 nights, and thereafter $10 a night up to 14 nights.
It’s only a short walk into town. In town is the Meandarra ANZAC Memorial Museum, which is extremely well done, some great old vehicles, A84-204 Canberra Bomber and other ANZAC memorabilia. $5 entry per adult. Well worth a visit.
Glenmorgan on the road to Surat 25km from Meandarra. What a lovely little spot with a bit of history. Famous for being the End of the Line. In 1911 the Qld Government commenced a railway line as a branch line west of Dalby. The line was bound for Surat, however it didn’t make it that far and Glenmorgan remained “The End of the Line”
12th of December 1931 the line was finished and the town was named Glenmorgan in honour to Godfrey Morgan the then member for State and Minister for Railway. All the streets in Glenmorgan were named after members of his family.
The township was once a bustling township with a store/garage, shop/post office, school, head teachers house, butchers shop, hotel, bakery, fuel, CWA rest rooms, community hall, railway good shed, office, police station, bordering house cafe and homes.
There is still a corner shop named End of the Line Cafe, that sells hot food, small amount of groceries. Chips were yummy. There is still a small post office, school, “Bottle Tree Inn” which is a pub and motel.
Monty’s Garage is closed, but is still very interesting with old fuel pumps and cars/trucks in the yard.
Across from the corner store is free camping with shower, toilets, shelter area with table and chairs and you can even plug into power, dump point. There is a donation box.
The road from Meandarra was very rough, black soil does not make smooth roads. After last nights rain, there was a lot of water about, including a large section over the road.
Next stop Surat. Located on the banks of the Balonne River, 78km south of Roma. There is a free camp located at Fisherman’s Park, other side of the river to town. There are toiles, bins, drinking water, dump point and plenty of space. Be aware in the wet, some areas can get very boggy. The river was right up under the bridge in flood a few months back. Again loads of mossies and sandflies.
A little country trick we learnt is the locals burn sawdust to keep the bugs away. At the park there is a pile of sawdust for people to use and when walking around the back streets of Surat we saw sawdust burning for the horses.
There is a concrete path leading all the way into town, you can follow it right down to the weir. In town are some great shops, a grocery that sells a great range including some hardware items, pub of course and The Cobb & Co Changing Station. For a gold coin donation you can walk around and check out all the different displays. There was also a photography display showing photos from a recent local competition, that we found interesting.
