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.

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.
  
  
  
  
  
  

Day 234 - Bourke to Cunnamulla and around Cunnamulla

After a beautiful sunset last night at Bourke, the rain had disappeared and we expected a warmer day today.  That was what we got and by the time we had travelled the 257km from Bourke to Cunnamulla the temperature had risen to a warm 36degrees.  Just outside of Bourke we saw one of its citrus orchards.

251114 Sunset at Bourke from the caravan park

261114 Citrus orchard just outside of Bourke

We had a relaxed and comfortable drive today although the roads at times left something to be desired.  There were plenty of straight stretches in the road as we headed north through "Back o' Bourke" country, flat, red dirt and endless plains of mulga trees.  As we crossed the border into Queensland there seemed to be a bit more grass spread between the trees. Sheep, goats, kangaroos, emus and various lizards were visible as we cruised along.

261114 The Tattersall Pub at Barringun just before the NSW/Qld border 

261114  It was a good feeling coming back to the Sunshine State

Cunnamulla is a small river town, but it is well maintained and the main street and the Civic Centre were well presented.  We visited the tourist sites around the town including the weir and the bridge crossing the Warrego River.  The town draws its water from the Great Artesian Basin, not from the river.  Cunnamulla's icon is the "Cunnamulla Fella" and a giant statue of him sits at the front of the Civic Centre.  The "Cunnamulla Fella" is immortalised in a song by Stan Costa and Slim Dusty.

261114 Sand dunes behind our caravan park at Cunnamulla 

261114 The Allan Tannoch Weir on the Warrego River at Cunnamulla

261114 The Warrego River upstream from the weir 

261114 The "Cunnamulla Fella" at the Cunnamulla Civic Centre

261114 The main street in Cunnamulla

261114 The Warrego from the Darby Land Bridge

Cunnamulla's history includes a robbery from the Queensland National Bank by Joseph Wells in 1880.  He attempted to hide in the "Robbery Tree" but was captured and eventually hanged for his crime.  The tree still remains.

261114 The Robbery Tree

We have seen a lot of goats this trip but today we saw more than we have ever seen in one spot, probably destined for the abattoirs.

261114 Goats captured wild and held for transport to an abbatoir

There were a couple of other interesting sights around Cunnamulla, as the following pictures show.

261114 An unusual sign near the Warrego River - and only one turtle?
Didn't see the turtle anyway

261114 Some of the locals taking shade at the Cunnamulla Cemetery

261114 A beautiful poinciana at Cunnamulla

Day 233 - Around Bourke and Mount Oxley

Fortunately the rain from yesterday had cooled the land and an overcast sky remained to further restrict any rise in temperature.  In fact it did not get beyond 28 degrees today.

Bourke is a lovely town and the locals have been extremely friendly.  They love their town and are proud of it. It has a population of around 2300 and has as its mantra, "Gateway to the Outback".  It essentially fills a service roll now that trade along the Darling with paddlewheel boats has ceased. However they do grow cotton, citrus fruits, other fruits and small crops.

We did a quick tour of some of the town highlights including the replica wharf on the Darling River.  Originally there were three wharves built in 1898, to load and unload goods of trade, plying the mighty Darling River.  Even today, the Darling, given it is in the outback, is a mighty river.  The brochures claim it to be the longest River in Australia.  While there is water in it, its nearby waterholes and billabongs are dry.  Its flood plain is huge.  We had a look at the old weir and lock a few kilometres out of town.

251114 The main street of Bourke

251114 The Darling River from the Wharf in the centre of Bourke.
The wharf is a replica of three built in 1898

251114  A Crossley diesel engine built in 1923. in running condition
and is started every day.  Was used locally for pumping water for
crops but started out life in Sydney as an electricity generator

251114 Historical Lock and Weir built in 1897.  Lock is
no longer used. Weir still retains water for Bourke

Mount Oxley, 45 km out of town was next on our list.  We passed through a working sheep station on the way before we were confronted by a roadway up a 550m mountain which left much to be desired.  Fortunately it was mostly bitumen, with potholes.  It had been built to service the several communication towers at the top.  The drive was worth it though as the view from the top was magnificent.  We were able to see Coranga Peak 75km away but it was too hazy to photograph.  A herd of goats was our only company while we were there. There is also a geologic phenomenon on the top.  There are shattered rocks lying in a limited area say 150m by 80m and there are depressions in the surface from which the rocks seem to have come.  May be it was some young folk having fun with dynamite but the locals won't admit to this.

251114 Mount Oxley 

251114 Fortunately the gate was unlocked

251114 They were shearing as we passed by the shed, so these are
"befores" and "afters"

251114 The exciting road up Mount Oxley

271114 Portion of the 360 degree view from the top of Mount Oxley

251114 More of the view from Mount Oxley

251114 And we were the only ones there at the picnic spot on Mount Oxley

251114 There is no explanation for these shattered rocks
on the top of Mount Oxley

After Mount Oxley we had a very moving visit to Fred Hollows grave site in the Bourke Cemetry.  He did exceptional work with outback people, including the aborigines, and he loved them and he loved Bourke itself.  The inscriptions on the public monument and on his actual tombstone, a block of polished granite representing an interocular lens, were so moving we were brought to tears.

251114 Fred Hollows grave site in the Bourke Cemetry 

251114 Fred Hollow's tombstone, polished granite representing
an interocular lens

251114 The plaque on the public monument

251114 The public monument to Fred Hollows

We composed ourselves and moved on to view the PV Jandra (P for paddle), which is moored a few km up from Bourke.  It is used only for tourist cruises.

251114 The PV Jandra, a paddle boat operating for tourist cruises only

Our day was finished with a visit to the old North Bourke Bridge.  A modern bridge has replaced the original bridge and slowly but surely time and the elements are having an impact on the old one.

251114 The North Bourke Bridge built in 1883.
Now replaced by a more modern bridge

251114 at the centre of the North Bourke Bridge.  The centre section
could be raised for river traffic originally

We have enjoyed our visit to Bourke.  There is probably more to see here but we are moving on tomorrow.