Day 235 - Eulo

We arose to a beautiful sunrise this morning which heralded another warm day, our guess about 36 degrees.

We headed off to Eulo, 68km west of Cunnamulla to see a date grove and the famous mud baths.  Sadly, because we were early or more likely because it is out of the tourist season now, both places were not open.  Still, it's surprising how much you can find when your first attempts are thwarted.

Eulo is on the Paroo River, often mentioned in news reports when it is in flood. It is quite distressing to see Eulo and its surrounding districts in the midst of a drought.  The signed "Vegetated Spring" was as dry as dry, as was the Billabong and the Mud Springs on the Heritage Drive. The Paroo River is not flowing and it looks quite forlorn as rivers go.

271114 Vegetated Spring - absolutely dry.  Normally a spring flows to the
surface at this point. It is fenced to keep animals and stock away from it

271114 Dry billabong on the Paroo River

271114 Weir at Paroo River at Eulo.  Just puddles of water below the weir

271114 Paroo River upstream of the weir

While we were on the Heritage Drive we photographed some common Australian outback trees, so we have included photographs of these for the education of all.

271114 River Red Gum - summer flowering for honey production

271114 Coolibah tree - produces honey in the summer month and for
swagmen to sit under

271114 Yapunyah tree, winter flowering for honey production

271114 Mulga - great stock feed during times of drought. Often see absence
of lower branches to height of feeding cattle

271114 Bimble Box - spring flowering for honey production 

271114 Gidyea tree - used for fencing and stock yard building

In spite of the harsh conditions, Eulo has grasped the nettle and selected one iconic animal as its source of uniqueness and humour, the humble lizard.   We were assured there are many lizards there but we did not see one real one.

271114 These small towns crave something iconic, in Eulo's case, lizards

271114 Saw us and skedaddled up this mast in defence mode

271114 The world champion lizard racing track.  Racing commenced in 1967
and races are held annually in August/September as part of a joint festival
 between Cunnamulla, Yowah and Eulo

271114 The Eulo Lizard Lounge

Back in 2011 the fossil of a Diprotodon Optatum, nicknamed "Kenny", was found near Eulo and he put Eulo on the map, and the locals have not let go of him since.  They even have a bronze statue of him in the main street.

271114 Diprotodon Optatum, largest Australian species of megafauna
and a marsupial.  Developed and sculptured from a fossilised skeleton
called "Kenny", found near Eulo in 2011

We saw the Eulo Bore which is the source of the town's water.  They are pumping from a reservoir in the Great Artesian Basin from a depth of about 223 m.  The water comes up at 38 degrees and is not treated, beyond allowing it to cool.

271114 The Eulo Bore at the base of the water tower.  It pumps water from the
 Great Artesian Basin for Eulo's water supply. 

The outback humour surfaced again at Eulo.  We happened across the World Champion Lizard Racing Track and a plaque to "Destructo", a cockroach which defeated the champion racing lizard "Wooden Head", in 1980.

271114 Truth is this NSW cockroach was killed by Queenslanders because
Queenslanders hate cockroaches

We arrived back at the van with smiles on our faces but with a memory of how hard the locals are doing it in this time of drought.

Some trivia for today.

• The flower we photographed a couple of blogs ago is that of a native orange, "Capparis mitchellii
• Brother Gleeson created the first roadtrain in NSW and was the first person to have his licence endorsed to drive a roadtrain.  Brother and Lenny Gleeson were legendary pioneer transport operators in the Bourke region.