Brissie to Charleville

Headed west along the Ipswich motorway, at the start of a trip up through Central Queensland to Mt Isa, then eventually across the top as far as Broome,  if all goes as planned.
Having left mid-morning, we stopped at Helidon for lunch, & found a convenient park & picnic table. 
Continued up the very cruisy new Toowoomba range road, and from then on the roads were straight & flat across the Darling Downs. A relaxing break at Chinchilla Botanic Parkland, where we enjoyed watching beautiful Red Rumped parrots.
After an overnight stop in Roma, and a chilly walk along the creek,  past Roma's largest Bottle tree, we headed to Mitchell. 



Relaxing in the 37 degree artesian pool at Mitchell, just an hour down the highway from Roma, was a great start to my holiday.
Sadly I had to drag myself out to continue travelling to Charleville & the Cosmos Centre. The display there is fascinating, including a 20kg sphere of space junk  that looks like it's covered in black feathers, actually twisted carbon fibre. It had landed in a nearby paddock! After setting up camp at Charleville Bush Caravan Park nearby, having dinner & a chat around the communal campfire, we headed back to the Cosmos Centre for a stargazing session. Luckily it was a beautiful clear night, with no moon, so perfect viewing. We were shown into a large shed with several largish telescopes, & and after the initial introductions, the roof was rolled back to reveal the glorious night sky. We took turns to look through the telescopes at various celestial objects, guided by an expert commentary & several volunteers. A marvellous experience. 

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