Warrego Motel - Charleville

04/09/2026

As the working week comes to a close, all I can say is… what a crazy week it’s been here!

Guy has been away on a short break, while I’ve been running around like a crazed woman trying to get everything organised before I leave next Friday for six weeks in the USA and Canada. 🇺🇸🇨🇦

Our big achievement this week was completing a full bedding wash across all 22 rooms. And I mean EVERYTHING!

🧺 Mattress protectors
🧺 Pillow protectors
🧺 Bedspreads
🧺 Cushion covers

God help me when the next water, power and LPG bills arrive! 😂

I honestly couldn’t have done it without my two very reliable housekeepers. They took control, got stuck into it and made it happen. I’m very lucky to have them.

Every morning I’ve also been working on the cactus garden. That job had to be first up while I still had some shade. By around 11:30am, once the sun hit the garden, it was time to head inside and start washing all the bath linen.

Then there’s the usual running a motel stuff in between. Check-ins, paperwork, answering phones, replying to emails and everything else that pops up during the day & doing pick up’s and drop off’s for our guests.

Once the check-ins are finished each night, I’ll either be sorting out the suitcases and doing the final bit of packing or working on my quilt.

And yes, I’ve put myself under a little pressure with that one. I have SIX DAYS to finish it! 😬 I put my quilt on hold so I could make my friend’s 80th birthday quilt, so now the race is on.

But tonight, I’m feeling pretty accomplished.

I looked at my Things To Do list for this week and somehow, amongst all the washing, gardening, motel work, packing and quilting…

I DID IT ALL! ✅

Now I just need to survive the next six days! 😂

04/09/2026

Come admire my cactus garden, here at the Warrego Motel Charleville.
Take a walk down the Cactus Path, just have to wait for them to mature and start producing flowers

04/09/2026

🌵 Our Cactus Garden 🌵

It’s taken us 2 years to finally get our cactus garden looking the way we imagined it.

I’m definitely no green thumb. I thought, surely I can’t kill a cactus? Turns out I can. 😂🌵

But I kept at it, and after two years of planting, moving things around, replacing a few casualties and figuring out what works, I reckon it’s finally looking pretty damn good!

I’ve spent most of this week out there working on it and probably just as much time standing back admiring it. I’ve loved chatting with everyone walking past and hearing your comments about how good it’s looking.

Now, if someone could just invent a way to stop the bloody weeds from growing, I’d be very grateful! 😂

From here, we get to watch everything mature and hopefully put on a show. Cactuses produce some absolutely amazing flowers, so I’m looking forward to seeing what pops up. 🌸🌵

Two years in the making and definitely worth it. ❤️

03/09/2026

03/09/2026

A massive shout-out to our housekeepers, Lynn & Roechelle! 🧡

Our housekeepers Lynn & Roechelle are worth their weight in gold. There’s a lot more that goes into keeping our rooms clean and maintained than what you see when you first walk through the door.

This week is a big one. We’re washing all bedding, including mattress protectors, pillow protectors, bedspreads and cushion covers.

We also work through our deep-cleaning spreadsheet every week, room by room.

Normally, Guy and I are right in amongst these jobs too. But this week Guy is having a short break away before I head off to the USA, and I’m also trying to get our new cactuses planted in the garden before I leave🌵

So Lynn, Roechelle and I are working together to make sure that by the end of the week, every available room has been ticked off the list. ✔️

The only rooms we don’t tackle are those with guests currently staying in them. We won’t disturb your stay for a deep clean. Those rooms simply move onto next week’s list.

A motel doesn’t stay clean by accident. It takes a lot of work behind the scenes, week after week.

Thank you, Lynn & Roechelle. We really do appreciate everything you do. I made lunch for the girls today, having a well earn break.🧡

02/09/2026

🧚‍♂️✨ Every motel needs a Fairy Godfather… and ours is called Sam!

I’m currently working on our cactus garden at the motel, and naturally, I ran out of pebble stones halfway through the job. 🌵😂

One phone call to one of our lovely guests, Sam, and the problem was solved.

While I was sleeping, Sam the Fairy Godfather made a special overnight delivery, dropping off bags of pebbles so I could keep working on the garden today. 🌙✨

You know you have some pretty special guests when they’re delivering landscaping supplies after hours!

Thank you, Sam. You’re officially our Fairy Godfather. 💙🪄

Now, back to that cactus garden… 🌵

02/09/2026

💚NATIONAL BILBY DAY💚
13 September — but let’s celebrate all weekend!

Join us in Charleville for a weekend celebrating one of Australia’s most unique and endangered animals - the Bilby! 🐾

SATURDAY 12 SEPTEMBER
📍 Wings on the Warrego, Charleville Airport
https://www.wingsonthewarrego.com/
💚Bilby Hunt - see if you can spot them all!
💚Bilby Stall - learn more about bilbies and check out our bilby merchandise.
💚 Bilby Goes to Space in an Airplane - a very special bilby adventure you won’t want to miss!
💚 Charleville Bilby Art Trail Unveiling Bilby Art Trail Charleville

SUNDAY 13 SEPTEMBER
📍 Charleville Bilby Experience
FREE ENTRY
⏰ 10am - 2pm
Come along to learn more about bilbies, see bilbies up close and discover the important work being done by Save the Bilby Fund.

National Bilby Day remains the only gazetted national day in Australia dedicated to a native species. 💚

01/09/2026

Nothing more to say, except the excitement is real.

01/09/2026

I just received a phone call from a guest who is flying in tomorrow, and they offered to pick up some supplies for us on their way.

What a heartfelt offer. ❤️

My heart feels so full knowing our guests are thinking of us out here in the outback, especially knowing how much it can cost to have things delivered out here.

The fact that you’re following our progress, checking in on us, and offering to help in one way or another honestly means the world to us.

Our regular guests become like family. We often see you more than we see our own families, and over the years we get to know you, your stories, your travels and your lives.

And to those of you who stay with us while passing through town, even if it’s only for one night, you become a little part of our story too.

Every booking, every return visit, every message asking how we’re going, and gestures like the one we received today remind us that what we have here is about so much more than rooms and beds.

It’s about people.

We might be a little motel out here in the outback, but we feel incredibly supported.

To all our guests, past, present and those still to come, thank you for thinking of us, supporting us and cheering us on from wherever you are. ❤️

It means more to us than you probably realise.

01/09/2026

Busy this morning planting some of the cactuses 🌵 I brought back from Brisbane.

I’ve learnt one important lesson… BBQ tongs are now an essential gardening tool! 😂 The amount of pricks I’ve received planting these things is ridiculous. 🌵😬

I also spotted a bee 🐝 on a cactus flower for the first time. I have a few flowering at the moment, which was lovely to see.

By lunchtime, the spring weather had become too hot, so I had to call it a day and leave the rest until tomorrow.

Once these younger cactuses mature and start flowering, they’ll definitely be a conversation starter for our motel guests.

Hopefully by then I’ll have mastered planting them without getting attacked! 😂🌵