Possum Galore
A life ‘Down Under’!
In the once Forbidden Zone - Pt 2.
So...after a day down on the river near Grafton, we headed further south to camp at Boorkoom camp site near Wooli in the Yuraygir National Park. We explored the Wilson Headland the first day. I was up to see the sunrise over the Pacific before we packed up and headed further south to Woolgoolga. Driving down the highway, at speed, I was startled when a big spider ran all around the the steering wheel before disappearing into the driver's side door pocket. A bit later it reappeared on the side window so I wound the window down and whacked it out.
We had breakfast in Woolgoolga before heading back up the coast to Tracy's, visiting, Safety Beach, Arrawarra Headland and Red Rock.
On the last day I spent the afternoon in Yamba and went for another swim out at Angourie Back Beach while Tracy and Will were in Maclean discussing an Art Project they going to be working on .
...And that is our holiday over.
In the once Forbidden Zone - Pt 1.
So...we are down at Ashby with Tracy for the week after the Queensland border opened to most of New South Wales (Parts of Greater Sydney are still declared Covid hotspots). We will still need a pass to re-enter Queensland on Sunday but we won't have to quarantine for a fortnight. It has been lovely to spend time by the river and the sea.
We are off camping further south tomorrow night to explore the coast around Wooli and Red Rock.
Here come the Cicadas.
Min Min Adventure - Day 10 - Charleville to Yuleba...No! Hang on a minute. Let's just go home instead.
So...we actually had a good night's sleep and were woken, about 6.00 am, by the inconsiderate people next to us talking loudly while making and eating their breakfast. We got up, packed up and went into Charleville for our breakfast before heading off on the road again to the East.
We stopped at Mitchell to visit the Great Artesian Spa. There were two pools, a hot one (about 40 degrees) and a cold one (about 25 degrees). The weather was hot and knocking 30 degrees today so I spent more time in the cold pool than the hot one. It was lovely and refreshing and a relaxing break from the journey.
We had planned to bush camp tonight at Yuleba but as we were gradually getting nearer to home, its pull became strong and we decided to just head home instead, even though it meant another 6 hour car journey. We returned home via Roma, Surat, Meanderra, Moonie, Billa Billa and Inglewood again. We took it in turns to drive the car and arrived home just before 7.00 pm.
Our Min Min Adventure is over but it will be nice to sleep in our own bed again tonight.
Min Min Adventure - Day 9 - Longreach to Charleville.
So...as I mentioned yesterday when we arrived at the Caravan Park at Longreach, the manager warned us of a stormy forecast. He gave us the opportunity to pitch our tent under a shelter. We did look at the weather forecast ourselves. It said '70% chance of 1 to 5 mm' and when it says that, where we live, we usually get nothing. So we pitched the tent on grass out in the open but in the shade of some trees.
Big mistake!
First the wind started, and this wind was worse than the wind we endured down at Betoota, Our poor little $50 Aldi tent was buffeted terrible. Will went out to peg down the guy ropes and then the rain began. There were two storms that passed over us last night and there was way more than 5 mms!
The first storm lasted about an hour from 12 midnight until 1.00am and after that our bedding was damp. I awoke about 4.00 am in the middle of the second and wilder storm. The lightning was like strobe lighting and the thunder rumbled loudly all around us. The strong wind was blowing a gale and was pushing the outer tent onto the inner and the rain was just coming straight through. By morning the bottom of our bedding was sodden but we had survived the night. We just packed up straight away, had breakfast in Longreach and then set off for Charleville.
I drove for the bit first and the road was flooded in three places but we got through OK.
Our first stop was Barcaldine to see the Tree of Knowledge, a dead ghost gum, that once proudly stood on the same site and it was the site of the reading of the Labour Party Manifesto in 1892 that lead to the formation of the Australian Labour Party.
The tree was poisoned and killed in 2006. They never found the culprits, but cuttings and a few clones still survive and we saw one of them at the Australian Heritage Workers Museum nearby, called 'The Young Un'.
After Barcaldine Will drove us to Balckall , where we saw The Roly Poly, a steel tumbleweed and the Black Stump.
We stopped in Tambo for a pie then I drove us on past Auguthella to Charleville. We drove over 500 kms today.
We have set up our tent again. The bedding has dried but the mattress is still a bit damp but not too bad now.
We went to a Thai restaurant for dinner and then headed on out to the Cosmos Centre here in Charleville. We spent nearly an hour there. Our guide was Matthew, from Stoke on Trent. He took us into a large shed and we were directed to sit on the spaced chairs before the roof opened up and the open sky was above us. We had the chance to look through two telescopes at Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and the Butterfly Cluster near Scorpio. It was great apart from the fact that Will and I were feasted upon by mosquitoes!
So far there is no wind and no rain is forecast tonight here but we have seen on the rain radar that Longreach is copping it again.
Our little road trip is coming to an end but we still have one more day and night before we get back to Frogknot.
