Badger Galore
Staying ‘Up Over’ for a while.
Min Min Adventure - Day 2 - St George to Quilpie.
So…we were packed up and off by 7.30 from our Pelican Rest camping site. We headed over the bridge we had seen the previous evening towards Cunnamulla. We had travelled this way before a few years ago so it was not new territory.
Not far out of St George I saw two dead dingoes hanging from a road side tree. I know Dingoes are not exactly welcome in these parts because of the damage they do to stock but really, do you need to hang them from a tree?
The road to Cunnamulla is pretty straight for the 300 kms, 3 hours plus, it takes to get there. Will was driving today and he was giving the finger to everyone we saw coming in the opposite direction, not in a rude way, he just raised the index finger on his right hand to every driver we passed. Some returned the gesture, others didn’t.
In Cunnamulla, we got some plastic camping bowls that we had forgotten and a pie! Mine promptly fell to pieces and I had to use one of the newly bught bowls to house it while I ate it.
From Cunnamulla we headed into new territory out towards Thargomindah. Again the road was pretty staright but the only difference I noticed was that up to Cunnamulla it was mostly ravens feasting on the roadkill, but after Cunnamulla it seemed to be just Whistling Kites.
We stopped at Eulo for a bit. It’s a small place known for its mud baths and for being an area where Diprotodon, a prehistoric marsupial bear/wombat fossils are found. We also had a look at the old Eulo Gaol before heading on to Thargomindah. We saw a dust devil or ‘Willy Willy’as Will calls them, a kind of mini dusty tornado on the way to Thagomindah. Going by the size of Eulo we began to wonder what we would find at Thargomindah, which was to be the site of our second nights camp.
It turned out to be underwhelming, with only an artesian pumping station and a 300 km round trip to see a Burke and Wills Dig Tree, in its favour. We did have a quick look at the Buloo River at Pelican point but saw no pelicans. We decided to change our plans and leave Thargomindah and head for Quilpie just over another 2 hours away.
We encountered our first bit of dirt road on the road to Quilpie and had to stop for some cattle. We also spotted our first emus of the trip.
We got to Quilpie about 4.00 pm and nipped into the Information Centre to find out about the local attractions. We chose a caravan park in the town with Artesian spa baths, but the weather was so hot that we didn’t feel like sitting in bubbling hot water.
We went out to Baldy Top Lookout just outside town to watch the sunset. We explored it’cave and rock formations for a bit before watching the sunset out West. Wehad the whole place to ourselves for ages but a young couple joined us just before the sunset.
We had dinner at the only pub in town serving food and both had the T bone specials.
‘The chips here are great’ said the friendly barmaid, but they came with the steaks plonked on top smothered in mushroom sauce so they ended up very soggy.
Back at the campsite we showered in the very nice amenities block but the water smelled of bad eggs as once again it is pumped from the art. I don’t think I could live with that every day.
Sleep was difficult due to a Barking Frog that monotonously called in to the early hours.
Min Min Adventure - Day 1: Home To St George.
So...today we set off on our adventure out West. We wanted to get going by 9.00 am and actually set off at 8.55!
The first part of the journey was quite depressing as we passed piles of bulldozed trees cleared away to protect nearby fences. Such awful destruction.
First we headed to Inglewood where we stopped and had a quick wander, bought some ice and then continued West. Next we stopped at Yelarbon to see the silo art and a peek at the lagoon then headed to Goondiwindi. Here we missed a turn and scraped past the NSW border road block by going round a roundabout to stay in Queensland. (The border doesn't open until Tuesday).
We didn't stop in Goondiwindi and headed straight on for St George. This area is known as the Wheat Belt and we passed vast fields of wheat and occasional mounds of harvested grain. The road trains started to get bigger with trucks towing three trailers.
We stopped near North Talwood to take a quick look at an Aboriginal site, where wells had been carved out of the rock to provide water for travelling mobs on their journey to the Bunya Mountains.
The roads were pretty straight and the land became flat and scrubby and I was surprised not to see more roadkill than we did, but that was a good thing.
We had lunch at the Nindigully Pub by the Moonie River, purportedly the oldest pub in Queensland and also famous because Hugh Jackman made his first film there 'Paperback Hero'.
Will had a steak cooked just as he likes it and I had crispy pork belly. Delicious!
It was not that much further on from there that we arrived at our destination for the day, St George. We set up our tent at the Pelican Rest Caravan Park and then had a sunset stroll by the Balonne River. The tranquility was shattered by speed boats and jetskis whizzing past. We saw some water skiers and both thought they were paraplegic until we realised they were kneeling on their skiis.
It was a lovely river walk apart from the water yobs and we ended up at the bridge, which we will go over tomorrow on our continuing journey West. We discovered it was actually a weir, holding back the river for the town, and on the other side the river bed was practically dry.
It has all been quite demoralising today to see how Man is just raping the land, whether it be to protect their animal fencing, produce mountains of grain or just hold back rivers to water crops and provide river hoons with a few hours entertainment. Practically every house we passed this evening had sprinklers going watering their lawns and then you see the mighty Balonne River, just below the bridge, reduced to a trickle. It can't be right!
Blue Moon over Blue Moon.
So...it is the eve of our trip out west and tonight there is a Blue Moon over 'Blue Moon'.
It has to be auspicious.
Making plans.
So...Will has finished working at the Cheese Factory and I have one more day at the 'Book Cave' and then I am taking three weeks off. We are heading off on a 4000 km road trip at the weekend out to the Simpson Desert and to explore Western Queensland for around ten days. This is our intended route...
Stay tuned for our first adventure in ages.
New arrivals, visitors and residents.
So....today we got up early and nipped to the markets in town and came home with two new Silkie chicks to add to our flock.
I spent the day cleaning, tidying and improving Fort Yudhisthira in readiness for our upcoming trip away next month.
There were a few curious visitors.
And of course there are always our resident Possums to entertain us in the evening.
