Day 2 - Succession Roadshow, Roma to Clermont and back to Emerald

Posted by: Kylie Wilson

I headed out of Roma early on Monday morning.  A minor disagreement with a kangaroo just outside of Injune (from which both my car and the kangaroo emerged unscathed) reminded me why every car on the Dawson Highway, including the Kia Carnival that I passed outside of Rolleston, have bullbars almost bigger than the cars themselves.  The nudge bar on my Isuzu D-MAX seems rather puny by comparison. 

It was great to see the land on this section of the trip in as good a shape as the land further east, with some truly spectacular scenery in the central highlands between Injune and Rolleston, which included two of the biggest eagles I've seen for quite a few years.  Fortunately that wildlife chose to get out of the way of the car, because I'm sure my car would have come off second best from a tangle with a pair of birds whose wingspan is almost as wide as the road. 

The Dawson Highway between Rolleston and Emerald supported what many clients have been telling me about the fact that whilst there has been some good rainfall in many areas, it is certainly not universal, with some pockets clearly showing slightly less rainfall than that received further south.

I headed further north past Clermont and was very fortunate to be given a tour of a long-standing client's cattle property.  It was fantastic to see it so green with plenty of feed after decent rainfall in January, given they tell me that the early part of summer in that area was very tough. The feeling of relief that rain had finally come to their property was evident.   After that tour and a quick cup of tea, I headed back to Emerald to get ready for the first of the succession conferences in Emerald on Tuesday, with good numbers already registered.

Day 1 - Succession Roadshow, Ipswich to Roma

Chinchilla to Roma

Posted by: Kylie Wilson

I set out early on Sunday morning to head to Roma on the first leg of my road trip to central Queensland, which will include the Succession Roadshow with RCS, Entello Group Investments and Buckley Family Lawyers.  The most nerve-wracking part of the five hour-plus drive was navigating my 200m driveway after the four inches of rain that plummeted down in an hour on Friday night.  The roads were mostly in good shape, other than the 60km zone from Brigalow to Chinchilla for the roadworks to upgrade Warrego Highway.  I had no issue with the 60km speed limit, but obviously the truck driver behind me who tailgated me the entire way into town was feeling some level of frustration with the roadworks.

It's been a few years since I have taken the trip between Chinchilla and Roma, and it was an absolute pleasure to see how well the land is doing in that area at the moment compared to my last trip out that way.  My last trip was during a drought period and most of that section of the highway resembled an arid dustbowl.  It was fantastic to see such a good covering of feed for the majority of that section of Queensland.  Many properties further west have not had the level of rainfall experienced in that area and are obviously still doing it tougher, but it is still nice to see an improvement in this section compared to my last trip. 

After a very successful succession planning meeting with clients in Roma, where "communication is the key" was clearly evident, I'm looking forward to getting out bright and early Monday morning to head further north and visit clients in Clermont for a tour of their very successful cattle business, before the first of the succession seminars in Emerald on Tuesday.

More to come tomorrow after the next leg of the trip.