COOLADDI, situated 122km from Quilpie and 88km from Charleville, might consist of a single building and not much else, but it’s a great place to stop on the highway.

The Cooladdi Foxtrap combines general store, fuel and food, air-conditioned motel and post office. It has a liquor licence as well. It’s also a popular stopping spot for the truckies, which means that the meals are tops!

While there, you’ll probably meet most of the town’s population, as the present population is six - Colin and Eva McDonald and members of their family. They’re friendly outback folk - Colin and Eva are ex-graziers from the Charleville area, and all their children are involved in the sheep industry - they have three sons who are shearers, a daughter who cooks in a shearing shed and a son-in-law who is a presser!

Wander around the memorabilia display while you’re there. There’s an old telephone exchange and the phones that went with it. See pieces of opal, Mrs Potts irons, shearing handpieces and even some of the coal from the last steam train that ever went through the area.

Souvenirs and gift lines are also available. A popular line features rural scenes painted on tools ranging from saws to shovels to frying pans!

Outside, a grassed and shaded picnic area is a good spot to relax and you can meet at least some of the menagerie - guinea fowl, peacocks, bantams and other birds.

A tennis court right next door is available for hire. The court is run by the Cooladdi Recreation Association, a group also responsible for organising an annual gymkhana. It’s a boots and all, dust and all, bush gymkhana. In 2007 it will be held on Saturday, October 6. Lots of people arrive on the Friday night with their swags as there’s an early start on Saturday. In the morning, it’s a traditional horse gymkhana and in the afternoon the motorbikes come out! If that sounds like fun, make it a date to come and watch the action.

If you’re keen to wet a line, amble down to the waterhole. People who like camping can choose a spot down near the creek. Showers and toilets are available at the Foxtrap.

And how did it get the name, Foxtrap? According to legend, local identities from Charleville dropped in for a drink there back in the days when Bob Fox used to run the show. When they arrived home - two days later! - their excuse was that they’d been “trapped at Foxies”. It’s had the moniker, “the Foxtrap,” ever since.