Brisbane to St George, via Dalby is an approximately 5.5 hour drive. A good first driving break is at Jondaryan, an easy two hours from Brisbane, with the service station here providing clean bathrooms, food and drinks. There is also the tourist attraction, Jondaryan Woolshed here, but this, unfortunately, is closed for the foreseeable future.

The hustle and bustle of suburban life, swiftly disappears in the rearview mirror, the further you drive along the Warrego Highway. Scenery changes to wide open spaces, with small tufts of snow-white cotton beginning to appear on the roadside, as you approach Dalby. Dalby being a mere 30 minutes from Jondaryan along the wide, easy to drive highway.

Plenty of places to stop in Dalby too, if you would like a break or a look around the quaint township. We chose to stay on night on our return trip, so more about Dalby yet to come.

Turn off to the left to follow the 290km Moonie Highway, with a short 1 hour 15 minutes to the Moonie Crossroads. You’re driving in areas frequented by road trains now, so be sure to give them room whenever the road narrows.

Tufts of white cotton, turn into a splattered sea of white, lining the highway. You could be forgiven for thinking of this as white sand or snow.

Remember too, you are entering the home of many wildlife, who may choose to shoot across the road at any time. The worst times for the Roo’s and foxes is the twilight and sunrise. Emus can appear at any time, and when you see one, there’s a pretty good chance there’s a mob close by. The amount of road kill at the side of the road, is a good indication as to the risks of driving out here. We made a point of limiting our highway driving times to between 8:30/9am to 3pm, during the month of June.

Moonie is a must stop. With a thriving pub, café, shop, caravan park, accommodation and friendly service, Moonie, hosting a permanent population of less than 200, is a refreshing break on the highway run.

A further two hours to St George from here, the final part of the first leg. Now you really do enter the vast outback areas. Before too long, the scenery changes to become filled with red dirt, long straight roads and scrub. If you’re wondering why there are wide strips graded along the sides of the highway, this is to help give you more wandering of wildlife or cattle who choose to cross the road ahead.

Our chosen place to stay on this occasion, was Kamarooka Tourist Park, hosted by Wade and Brenda. Cabins here were clean and quite adequate for a couple of nights. Every night your hosts, hold a happy hour from 5-7pm around the open fire, with complimentary garlic pizza bread. A good initiative to bring visitors together.

Next story will be about St George itself. A thriving, clean, tidy town, St George was a pleasure to visit.

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