28 October 2016 - Bald Rock and Boonoo Boonoo National Parks

Today dawned bleak and cold, but it morphed into a beautiful cool sunny day, perfect for visits to the Bald Rock and Boonoo Boonoo National Parks.  These are off the Mt Lindsay Highway, between Woodenbong and Tenterfield.

Bald Rock is a granite inselberg, rising 200m from the surrounding countryside.  Its summit is 1227m above sea level. It is the largest exposed granite rock in Australia.  The exposed dome is 750m long and 750m wide. These are a couple of aerial shots of the rock (photos of photos.

281016 Aerial photos of Bald Rock

Needless to say, getting there was quite an experience.  We chose the 2.75km track to the summit and it was up hill all the way.  We passed through collections of rocks which have fallen from the top over geologic time, forming many and varied structures, of which one was "The Arches". 

281016 "The Arches" on the way up Bald Rock

281016 "Underneath the Arches"

We passed many varieties of wildflowers, which will be the subject of a separate blog in the future. However, we could not fail to mention the many beautiful specimens of rock lilies we came across.  They were prolific and in full bloom.

281016 Rock Lily (Dendrobium Speciosum) on Bald Rock

The walk up was somewhat torturous but worth every bit of it when we reached the summit. We were met with a 360 degree view of the surrounding countryside. We could see so far that our vision was lost in the mist of distance.

281016 Still a way to go

281016 Nearing the summit of Bald Rock looking east, take 1

281016 Nearing the summit of Bald Rock looking east, take 2

281016 Nearing the summit of Bald Rock looking east, take 3

281016 Bald Rock everywhere

281016 From the summit looking east

281016 From the summit looking north

281016 From the summit looking south west

281016 From the summit looking south

281016 From the summit looking towards The Pyramids
 in Girraween National Park 

281016 Good examples of granite's spheroidal weathering

281016 On the summit of Bald Rock - Balancing Rocks

We photographed the brass plate atop the cairn of stones at the summit - to prove we had been there.

281016 The dial on the summit of Bald Rock, to prove we were there

We did not take the short way down the steeply sloping face of the rock on the advice of the ranger, but laboured down the same 2.75km path we took up.  

We made it back with sore toes, sore feet, sore calf muscles, sore knees, sore hips but saw everything.   Our Fitbit buzzed to alert us to the fact we had done 10,700 steps

After a quick lunch we headed off to Boonoo Boonoo National Park, famous for the Boonoo Boonoo Falls.  From a series of rock pools at its top, the water in the Boonoo Boonoo River falls in progressive drops down 210m to a rock lined gorge.

281016 Rock Pools at the top of Boonoo Boonoo Falls

281016 A photo of a photo of the Rock Pools at the head of the falls

281016 The top of Boonoo Boonoo Falls

281016 Part way down Boonoo Boonoo Falls

281016 The lookout at Boonoo Boonoo Falls and the gorge below 

The falls were difficult to photograph so we tried a video.  Hope it works.

This was a very rewarding day, even though we will suffer for our enthusiasm for the challenge of Bald Rock and Boonoo Boonoo Falls.  

We conclude with some country humour.

281016 Country humour - in the middle of nowhere

27 October 2016 - Warwick to Stanthorpe

We woke to a bright sunny morning.  After a leisurely breakfast we packed and did an equally leisurely drive to Stanthorpe, 60 km away.

Our intention was to take in some of the scenery around Stanthorpe but, by all but a coincidence, we realised neighbours of ours from Twin Waters were attending a ukulele jam session at the Mountainview Winery.

We contacted them and found they were already at the winery, so we found our way to the winery, had afternoon tea with them, and then forced ourselves to taste some of the wines. We purchased a half dozen bottles of, as labelled, "Bloody Good Red", a blend of shiraz, cabernet sauvignon and merlo.  We were given a bottle of their port, gratis, and not a bad one at that either.  By the way, the winery's German Shepherd is called "Merlot".

Given that today was more people oriented, we did not have a lot to photograph.  However we did come across a rose garden in Stanthorpe.  Unfortunately the photograph does not do the garden justice.  There was as much again on a lower level.

271016 A rose garden in Stanthorpe

Touristy things tomorrow, weather permitting.  We have been promised storms today and tomorrow but, as yet, none has eventuated.  Maybe they will get it right tomorrow.

26 October 2016 - Warwick to The Head of the Condamine River

At 10.30am, after completing household duties, we headed off to The Head, about 60km away.  It is the beginning of the vast Condamine river which makes its way westward across Queensland to ultimately join up with the mighty Darling River.

On the way we passed through the town of Killarney where we had morning tea at the town's park.  The park had two beautiful flowering trees in full blossom.

261016 Flowering tree at Killarney

Blossoms from the flowering tree at Killarney

After Killarney we visited three Condamine River  water falls - Browns Falls, Daggs Falls and Queen Mary Falls.  

261016 The site visit for today

The track into Brown's Falls was all but non-existent and, after a period of struggling backwards and forwards across the stream, we called it a day.  A couple walking with us did the same thing, particularly after the male member of the team ended up with both feet in the water to avoid tumbling in.  Oh to be young again!

261016 The stream (unnavigable for us) up to Browns Falls

Daggs Falls were fantastic.  We only had to walk 10 metres from the car park to a lookout, which provided a great view of the falls.  At about 38m, they are not quite as high as the Queen Mary Falls but were nonetheless picturesque, with a fair amount of water coming over them. 

261016 Daggs Falls

The 40m Queen Mary Falls lived up to expectations but we decided not to do the circuit walk to the bottom of the falls - for fear of being late for our lunch.

261016 Queen Mary Falls

261016 The stream at the top of Queen Mary Falls

Near the top of the Queen Mary Falls we came across a spectacular mass of yellow blooms from a Jacksonia Scoparia. It is commonly known as dogwood, and is a native species of a pea-flowered, greyish, leafless, broom-like shrub or small tree that occurs in the south east of Queensland and eastern New South Wales.

261016 A Jacksonia Scoparia

261016 Jacksonia Scoparia blossoms up close

261016 Jacksonia Scaporia showing the needle-like leaves

Lunch was at the Spring Valley Cafe on the side of a hill overlooking The Head and over the valley to Mount Superbus and Wilson's Peak.  Mount Superbus is the site of a Lancaster aircraft crash, which occurred in 1955.  The meal did not live up to the expectations we had, based on our previous visits to the cafe.  We could best describe the meal as Nepalese, a cross between Chinese and Indian, with a little more emphasis on the Indian. 

The view from Carr's Lookout, not far from the cafe, is beautiful.

261016 From Carr's Lookout - Mt Superbus on LHS and Wilson's Peak on RHS

261016 The view from Carr's Lookout at Spring Valley

We drove to the bottom of the escarpment before returning up the mountain again and heading home to Warwick.

25 October 2016 - We are on our way again

It is Tuesday 25 October and we are off in the caravan again.  This time we are heading west from Brisbane with Birdsville as our target destination, but whether or not we get there will depend on the condition of the roads after the recent big wet.

We changed our mind slightly, 10 minutes into the trip, and headed firstly for Warwick rather than via the oft travelled road to Roma. By 1pm we were lunching in the caravan park at Warwick.  No pressure from having to travel large distances!

Di needed some retail therapy so we "did" Warwick.  It is a lovely quiet country town.  It is also known as the "Rose City" and there are roses down the length of the main street and in many of the side streets.  Mind you, we thought we were in "Petunia Place" as there were massed displays of petunias in the streets and in the parks.

We did a quick trip out to Lake Leslie, Warwick's water supply after the therapy.  The lake is about 15 km west of Warwick.  Surprisingly, the water level in the Lake was very low. Perhaps they haven't had a big wet.

It was a beautiful day today, warm and sunny with a zephyr of a breeze.  It is good being out on the road again.

 251016 It was quiet in Warwick's main street

251016 Rose City or Petunia Place?

251016 Roses in Warwick's Main Street

 251016 Lake Leslie Dam

251016 Water level was low in the Lake Leslie

Wednesday - 23 March 2016

Well, we guess by now you will have noticed the absence of recent daily blogs. 

Please accept our apologies, but there were many issues occupying our minds after recovering the replacement caravan door.  

Our attempts to install it the following day were frustrated by our having to take Diane to hospital in Canberra with extremely bad back pain.  Four hours later we emerged with a script for serious painkillers, instructions to rest and the knowledge that there was nothing life threatening in her injury.  They did an ECG, X-rays and blood tests so they were quite thorough.

The wash up of all the toing and froing of the last few days was that we decided to call off the rest of our planned trip and head for home.  We made it to Sydney first day out, then Armidale and then Brisbane, before taking the final drive back to Twin Waters today.

Noel's back has gone out in sympathy with Diane's.  We must have looked like a couple of old crocs as we hobbled around, moaning and groaning under our breaths and feeling pretty sad with our lot. Mutual sympathy and support were the order of the day.

All is well now.  We are back at home and looking forward to a period of rest and recuperation to obviate the persistent "ouches" that accompany our still uncomfortable movements.

Our visit to Canberra, though curtailed, was great, with the Australian War Memorial and Australia's House of Parliament most memorable.  Canberra is a beautiful city and we did not find it as difficult to find our way around as others have suggested.  The deciduous trees had just begun to show colour and, two weeks from now, it would be spectacular.  Mind you, the Northern Tablelands of NSW were a little more advanced with tree colour change, with Armidale and Glen Innes to the fore.

The south coast of NSW was as beautiful as ever, but we suffered from the presence of a sea mist which spoiled a traveller's view from time to time.

We were oh so close to the Australian Alps, which were on our hit list this time.  But, as Arnie would say, "We'll be back!"

It has been our practice for a last blog to provide a few statistics of the trip.

We were on the road for 23 days, drove 3981km and had the anchor attached for 3066km of those.  The Landcruiser consumed 747 litres of diesel with an average consumption of 18.8 l/100km.  The lowest price we paid for diesel was 92.7c/l at the United service station at Tomerong south of Wollongong.

So endeth the last blog for this trip.

18 March 2016 - Miserable Day

There is nothing of substance to report for today.  We awoke to a black sky which eventuated in rain for most of the day.  There was a persistent strong wind as well and it became quite cold.  It was not conducive to getting out and about.

Further we were awaiting delivery of a replacement caravan door.  The original was wrecked on Wednesday when we had to use extreme force to get into the van, through a locked door which refused to be opened by any other means.  A complete door replacement was necessary and it had to come from Brisbane. We were told the door would be delivered today.

In a day of incessant and frustrating follow up on our behalf in the face of stories like, "The door is in Dubbo", "The door can't be delivered because we were in a country area (we are 15km from the centre of Canberra)", "The door can't be delivered because there is no paperwork yet" and "It will be delivered on Tuesday".

We eventually established the door had been in Canberra since 5.00am this morning, so we simply hopped in the car, hotfooted it down to the TNT depot in Canberra and picked it up.  Oh so easy in the long run.  We will hang the door tomorrow.

No pictures today, only **#--#*!  Oh but we must add, the sun came out just as we left, so that was a big plus for the day.

17 March 2016 - A visit to Australia's new Parliament House

Todays Canberra site visit for us was Australia's new Parliament House, new from 1988 anyway.  We did a 30 minute tour to acquaint ourselves with the working of Parliament. 

After the underground car park the first thing we saw was the forecourt.

170316 From the entrance looking over the forecourt and old
Parliament House towards the Australian War Memorial

The entry vestibule is impressive containing marble from various European countries as well as from Australia.  This leads into the Great Hall which is located in the heart of the building beneath the flagpole.  The House of Representatives and the Senate Chambers radiate from the Great Hall.  As well there were other rooms, 4000 in all, which house committee rooms, parliamentary staff offices, Ministerial offices, media, service facilities, dining rooms, restaurants, a post office, galleries ......etc.  There are 4 km of corridors in the building.

170316 Entry foyer, marble from various places in Europe
signifying links to Europe/Britain

170316 The Great Hail with the 18mx9m tapestry based on Arthur
Boyd's painting.  The tapestry took two years to complete

170316 Arthur Boyd's painting above the foyer of Parliament House.
Note the cockatoo in the centre top.

We chose not to visit the House of Representatives during question time because of the large queue.  To give some perspective, 8000 people visited Parliament House yesterday.

There was however a place we could all visit from time to time, right in the middle of the building and under the flag pole, the Pool of Reflection. It is of black marble, highly polished, with a film of water covering it and overflowing along its edges.

170316 The Pool of Reflection immediately under the flag pole
on the top of Parliament House

While security was obvious, we did not feel pressured at any time and really were delighted at the freedom offered to all visitors.

The view from the top of the building was excellent, the converse of previous photos with us now looking back towards the Australian War Memorial.  One photo shows some people demonstrating for freedom on the lawn below Parliament House. We thought they had already achieved freedom with the right to demonstrate freely.  The flag on the top of the building is quite large, 12mx6m, about half the size of a tennis court.  The grass on the site, which reaches from the roof to the ground is green, oh so green, and quite lush.

170316 Old Parliament House with the Australian War Memorial
in the distance, taken from the roof of Parliament House

170316 As for the previous picture but capturing
groups of people demonstrating for "Freedom"

170316 Flag atop Parliament House

170316 Flag atop Parliament House

One thing we noticed was the number of people wearing identification passes providing access to certain areas.  The lobbyists must have been out in full force today and, of course, they would be worn by the thousands of people who work there.  Another was the large number of international visitors, from all corners of the globe.

A page of the Magna Carta 1297 is on show in Parliament House. The Magna Carta is heralded as the foundation document of parliamentary democracy.  Parliament House is the custodian of the only copy in the southern hemisphere.

170316 A page from the Magna Carta, the basis for democratic government

There were numerous paintings of previous Prime Ministers and dignitaries and several larger ones including Tom Robert's painting of the opening of the first Parliament in 1901 and Arthur Boyd's painting of the Australian bush, which is the origin of the 18mx9m tapestry in the Great Hall.

170316 Previous Governor General Quentin Bryce

170316 So many pictures of previous Prime Ministers
so we only picked one - John Howard

170316 Tom Robert's painting of the first sitting
 of Parliament in Australia 19001

We finished our visit with an enjoyable but late lunch at the Queens Terrace Cafe.

Maybe our politicians are spoiled having such wonderful facilities in which to work. Maybe we are too, having such a beautiful building of which we can be justifiably proud.