32
OCTOBER 2020
By Duncan Bennett, Member #4171
B
orders closed but not locked down and free to travel within your state? You own an adventure motorcycle? You live in San Marino or Monaco? Sorry about that. Fortunately, we live in Queensland which is about the size of 4.2 million Vatican Cities, and has a few more dirt roads even including Pope Francis’ private dirt track raceway, and August is a damn fine month to head north in Australia. So off we went. The B2B16 and the CTR in Toobeah were perfect bookends for the trip, which started from Dalby after breakfast in The Coffee Club Cafe with some other B2B participants, almost within sight of the Russell Tavern where BMWMCQ guests had crowded the bistro and TAB the previous evening.
A toast to honour Cactoblastis First break was at the Boonarga Cactoblastis memorial hall. Prickly Pear cactus had been introduced in Australia from South America right from the 1780’s go, apparently to provide dye for the soldier’s red coats. But for some reason people decided to keep spreading it about, and by the late 1800’s it was a declared pest. It thrived on the Darling Downs in southern Queensland, and by the 1920’s an area the size of England was overrun. In probably one of the only really successful biological control efforts in history, Cactoblastis Cactorum moth eggs from Argentina were introduced in 1925 and in a scientific manner the moths and larvae were released in 1926. By 1933 the moth larvae had nearly wiped the Prickly Pear out, opening
GO WEST MIDDLE-AGED MAN! up a huge area of Australia for agriculture. Prickly Pear still loiters about the roads in places but was basically destroyed. Bad luck about rabbits, foxes, cats, goats, donkeys, cane toads….
Roma tree and Duncan, after their big lunch The afternoon was a bit of a slog but at least the average speed is whatever the cruise control is set on. Some discussion at Morven – keep going west on “row 2” road to Charleville or start the transition up to the “row 3” road and stop at Augathella? Never been to Charleville, so Charleville. Straight into the servo, then across the road to the Rocks Motel. Any chance of a room? No. Hang on, yes we have one left. Done. A pleasant stroll into the deserted town included unexpected interaction with a roaming pack of wild West Highland White Terriers – only Cindy’s skills in neutralising small dogs with “over the top” patting and cooing saved us. Thanking our lucky stars that we escaped with only minor dirt stains on our lower pant legs from the relentlessly jumping up moppets, we entered the magnificent Carones Hotel which covers nearly an entire
