Day 236 - Bollon and St George

Today we rose again to a beautiful sunrise, which heralded another dry day at Cunnamulla and in surrounding districts.  Our presence has done little to generate a decent rain event.

281114 Sunrise at Cunnamulla

We thought we might have better luck in St George so we headed off east on the Balonne Highway.  Traffic was very light, confirming that the tourist season is past.  Unfortunately the road in places was poor, but we were kept optimistic about further improvement as there were several sections which were newly made.

281114 Native Cypress trees lined the road for several kilometres

We passed through the little town of Bollon on Wallam Creek.  It was pretty dry there too.  The countryside was in very poor condition.  The few cattle we saw did not look to bad, but we found out properties have bdestocked so the remaining cattle can survive.  We learned also that those round bales of hay cost about $200 each.

281114 We didn't see a koala in Bollon

281114 The main street in Bollon

287km from Cunnamulla had us in St George and, though it is in the same type of country, it looked somewhat more prosperous.  The town itself was well maintained and the 2km or so where the town abuts the Balonne River was parkland.  The Balonne River has a weir across it at St George so looking upstream, one could be forgiven for thinking it was full.  Downstream was a slightly different story.

281114 The main street in St George

281114 The Andrew Nixon Bridge.  Underneath is a weir called
the Jack Taylor Weir

281114 The Balonne River at St George upstream from the Jack Taylor Weir

281114 The Balonne River downstream of the weir

281114 The Balonne River at St George.  The riverbank on RHS is
parkland for a couple of kilometres upstream 

Perhaps the reason St George looked a bit better was because it has a flourishing grape growing industry.  Maybe it was because we sampled some of the offerings at the Riversands Winery cellar door.  Both table and wine grapes are grown and the vines in all the vineyards were loaded with grapes.  They expect to have a bumper season.

281114 The cellar door at Riversands Vineyard

281114 Grapes a plenty at the Riversands Vineyard at St George

As this blog goes to air, the sky has darkened, thunder is rumbling and a wind from the storm front is passing us.  Fingers crossed for the locals that some rain may be forthcoming.