A drive in the countryside - St George

Yesterday we decided to drive along the edge of the dammed river, where there was mostly bush and small  pastures, a couple of vineyards and two very large cotton plantations.  

But first, two photographs taken on my early morning walk with Piper. 

The beautiful reflections on the river water.

The metal statue of a ram outside the motel.   The curls of wool were made with old horse shoes, and the curls on the head were made with chains.   I could not work out the rest of the metal used in the statue.  An impressive statue.

This photograph was taken late in the afternoon.    One should never take photos when looking directly into the sun, unless you are clever or change the settings.   I did neither.   If you look closely you can see a road train, consisting of a cab and three trailers.

                                         

But back to our drive yesterday.  At first the road running beside the river was bitumen, but after a while it became a gravel road, well maintained, and with plenty of dead kangaroos on the side of the road, and in many cases in the middle of the road.   I made sure I carefully drove around them, not wanting to end up with kangaroo meat sticking to the car.    I did feel sorry for them though.   Obviously this road has many large vehicles using it, and travelling at speed.   It was also a 'no through road'.

And no wonder, as the huge dams and cotton fields eventually appeared, and finally we reached a sign which stated that you could not drive any further unless you had prior permission, 'for bio security reasons'.

So we stopped, turned around and took a few photographs.  

A cotton field, with balls of cotton in the foreground.    Crops are planted in September, and harvested about April.    Sometimes other crops, such as peas are grown during April to September.    

I consulted Google, as you do, and every article was positive about growing cotton.    Apparently the crop uses no more water than an orchard, the genetically modified crops do not need huge amounts of chemicals, each farm is given an allowance of water, and most cotton farms are family run.    

Most farms use flood irrigation methods, so the furrows below are filled with water.

Interestingly most of the cotton farms are not visible from main roads, but their infrastructure is immense.  Enormous dams with long deep channels, filled with water,  running for kilometres.  The machinery to put the infrastructure into each farm, most cost a fortune, which is why, I think they are owned by huge corporations.

This trench was very deep, however there was not much water in it.     

Another deep canal.    All the water comes from the Balonne River or rainwater (does not rain often).   We drove through Dirranbandi on the way to St George and apparently Cubbie Station is the largest single irrigated property and cotton farm in the Southern Hemisphere, spanning roughly 93,000 to 96,000 hectares with nearly 20,000 to 22,000 hectares developed for active irrigation.   This huge property operates as CS Agriculture with the majority ownership held by Shandong Ruyi.   All sounds very much a foreign owned corporation.   The Balonne River was but a tickle in Dirranbandi. 

These areas are extremely dry, with very little rainfall.    Cotton growing also involves the vast clearing of scrub, which is there for a very good reason.

The Balonne River on the other side of the weir, is at this point a trickle of water, but it fills out further down the river.

A beautiful old Queenslander homestead, with lovely gardens and threes.   

We all love wearing cotton clothes, and use cotton linen, but until recently I have never really thought much about how and where it is grown.   And the long term effects it may have on the environment.    India and China are the main buyers of Australia's cotton, however, they are also the main growers of cotton.  

I find it interesting but scary.  

Another day in paradise

The caravan park we are staying in is called Kamarooka Tourist Park.   It is on the main street of St George with easy access to the shops and the river.  And I would say one of the best caravan parks we have stayed in, in Australia.

The caravan park is very small, so there is not much room between caravans and motorhomes.   However, it does not seem to matter, and in fact it makes for a friendlier environment.   People speak to each other,  and more than just a greeting.    Of course the owners are very friendly and thoughtful about visitors' comforts so this adds to the friendliness.

There are plenty of trees, although the grass is very brown at this time of year.

Our little spot.

The pool and barbeque area, with the fire pit out of sight on the right.    The fire is lit every afternoon at 4.30 and most evenings there are people circling it until well into the evening.   We have not done so yet, as we have an early dinner, and then we find we are ready to settle down to read, or in my case, write a blog.

There are quite a number of self contained cabins.   The little tractor with its three carts loaded up with fresh linen and cleaning equipment.

The ablution blocks are full of pictures, and ornaments.   But the best parts are the doors on the shower cubicles and the soft bathmats.   The clean bath mat goes into the cubicle with you, and afterwards left in the laundry basket to be washed and dried in readiness for the next night.    Luxury plus.   

Walter's disabled/family bathroom has a penguin  theme.   Very cute.

The facilities are spotless.

There is a cafe, and the coffee is excellent.   Even the decaf coffee has its own coffee grinder.    Of course this is our go to place every morning.

And the best part.   This is one of the cheaper camping sites we have stayed in, at $40 per night.

On my walk this morning I saw a garden bed of large cacti.   While I would not want them in my garden they did look very cute.

So two more nights here and then it is off up north, only another two hundred kilometres but a different town to see.

Out and about in St George

Another photo of the Balonne River, which is very beautiful, although probably not on the other side of the weir.    The river would be a shallow stream at this time of year.   It does not rain much at any time, but never in the winter.   Most of the river water comes from the Great Dividing Range, starting as the Condamine River.

There is a concrete path that runs along the side of the river for about two kilometres, plus a couple of bridges over potential creeks.   

                                          

Piper having a lovely time chasing after a ball, which is her favourite game.   At the weekend we used the sports field behind the caravan park, even though the sign said it belonged to St Patrick's School, which is on the opposite side of the road.   I ignored the sign which said no one allowed on the field and used it anyway, as did other people.

A typical Queenslander, built of wood and high off the ground in order to let the air flow underneath the house.  Many of the houses needed a coat of paint but not this one.   There are plenty of well established trees in the town, but the grass is mostly dry and there are hardly any plants.   The result of a dry climate and summer temperatures that are mostly in the high 30s and 40s.   

The wooden courthouse.

On Sunday we visited a winery, although as we are now both non alcoholic drinkers it was probably a bit of a wasted trip in that respect.   However we went for the food, which we heard was pretty good.   We both ordered a frittata with salad, followed by ice cream.

And yes one of the staff commented on the fact we were drinking soft drinks at a winery.

The vines looking very dry.   Luckily it was winter time so no growth but they must take a lot of water during the summer time.    They also grow table grapes too.

The name of the winery was called Riversaands winery if you ever see one of their bottles in a bottle shop.  As we did not try it, we don't know what it was like!     A bus tour arrived for a wine tasting experience.   I should have asked them.

We sat under the verandah with a lovely view of the garden.   See the photo above.

Another lovely day spent in warm balmy weather.

Cruising on the Balonne River

Today at 4 p.m. we went for a two hour cruise on the Balonne River, St George.    We are staying here for six nights as it is such a lovely town.

The temperature today reached 22 degrees.   Warm and sunny after a slightly cold night.

A very leisurely journey, although Piper hated every minute of it, the sounds of the motor (put putting) and the vibrations were not to her liking at all.

When the wind dropped the reflections were very good.

Our boat (the flat-bottomed boat on the trailer) being launched on the river.   There were ten passengers!   This was not quite the boat we expected to see, rather something a bit more substantial.   It did have a toilet in one corner, a portaloo in a tiny room.  

However it turned out to be a very relaxing two hours, with plenty of information from the driver.  

The river is dammed, otherwise it would be just a small stream at this time of the year, which is the dry season.

The weir (dam) in the distance which also includes a bridge for vehicles too.

The weir was built in 1956 and the water is used for the town of St George as well as for irrigating vineyards, crops and the cotton crops.     The latter is water greedy as the cotton requires the fields to be flooded which takes much water, and of course the run off has pesticides and fertilisers in it.   The driver of the boat was very negative about cotton growing in Australia, as are most people, except for the huge corporations that grow it, plus the government too.   We all love our cotton clothes but no one thinks about the damage cotton growing does to the environment, especially in the ultra dry areas in Australia.

Most of the land alongside the river is crown land which means that it is free for people to use as they wish, which is lovely for those people that like to camp, fish or go boating.    However, the people who have built houses on the areas that have been developed also have the right to use their river frontages as they wish.   One or two people have dug out small harbours for their boats. 

                                         

There were three sets of irrigation pipes for irrigating vineyards.     

One of the very large houses being built along the river edge.   It has three sections to it, the middle one being the kitchen and dining area.

By the time we returned we had a view of the sunset over the water.    It was not a brilliant red sunset but very beautiful all the same.

We also went to a winery today, no wine for us, but we had a lovely lunch.   More about that tomorrow.

St George, Queensland

We are now in St George, Queensland, and already we are feeling more relaxed in the warm weather.   It will be 21 degrees tomorrow, with an overnight temperature of 3 degrees.    This is considerably better than the temperatures we have been experiencing at night.

St George, has a minor link with St George, the 3rd Century Roman soldier, Christian martyr and Church of England patron saint of England, who actually never visited England, but hey ho.  

The town of St George in Queensland was given its name by the explorer. Major Thomas Mitchell, who led an expedition into the area.   He crossed a natural bridge on the Balonne River on St Georges Day so named the bridge St George, and the town that grew here kept the same name.     

The Balonne River.    And yes it eventually finds its way to the Darling River too, after splitting into other smaller rivers and travelling through marshlands.

We have travelled 600 km north, 400 hundred yesterday and 200 hundred today.  The road (Castlereagh Highway) was mostly good,  although there were some rough patches caused by flooding plus from the heavy trucks that also use the road.     The area appears to be free from wild goats, which limited our conversation somewhat.   Sadly there were many dead kangaroos on the side of the road.

The temperature on the last night in Dubbo dropped to minus 3 degrees.    The frost was thick on the ground.   I took a photo of the frost on the grass but you will have to enlarge it to actually see the frost.   It was very cold!

Yesterday we drove from Dubbo to Lightning Ridge.  We were aiming to stop in Walgett, but the council run camping ground had no electric hookup.  Plenty of water though.    As we need electricity to run our heating systems we decided that keeping warm was more important.    This was a pity as the camping area was beautiful, with plenty of trees and a lovely pond in the centre.

Walgett used to be known as a very poor town, with heaps of problems.   During the Covid Epidemic the town was always on the news due to its problems with infection.     However, on driving through the town yesterday it looked just like any other town in outback Australia. 

So we drove another 70 km to Lightning Ridge, the home of the black opal.    And plenty of other opals too.    A mining town.    There were cars and people everywhere, apparently it was an opal festival, and I guess people came from everywhere in Australia to attend it.    The camping ground was packed so we were lucky to get a spot, at $64 a night.

We visited Lightning Ridge four years ago, when there were a lot less people here.   There is a very deep and hot artesian pool there, which we stood in for a while.   We only managed the shallow end, and kept our upper body above the water.    A little scary.

I also bought a sun hat for $80 which shocked Walter, price wise.    The hat is still going strong, so definitely worth the money.

I think we bought some small opals for presents here.

Our little caravan beside the very large one beside us.    The sites are all drive through and large.   As I am hopeless at reversing the caravan, I am always appreciative of drive through sites.

                                         

There was plenty of green space around the camping area, which suited Piper.   On closer inspection of the 'grass' I realized the 'grass' were young burrs.   These of course will brown once spring arrives and be thoroughly unpleasant to walk on.

Once we crossed over the border into Queensland we stopped at a small settlement called Hebel which was once a Cobb and Co staging post.    Now there are two main buildings, a cafe, which is the Hebel store (built in 1897) and a hotel (built in 1894), with plenty of people stopping to have coffee at the cafe or something more substantial at the hotel.   There were cars and caravans parked everywhere.    Such a popular spot, with hardly anything else around for kilometres.

The Hebel Hotel     

I thought it would be a good idea to take a photograph of our car and caravan.   

The next stop, a lunch stop, was Dirranbandi, once on the edge of good grazing land in Queensland.   At least that was so when we lived in Brisbane in the late 1960s.    However, with fiddling around with the different offshoots of the Balonne River, and no doubt draining the swamps, farmers have built a couple of huge dams.   Well these were the ones we could see from the road.    We could also see two giant cotton growing areas which use massive amounts of water.    Cotton growing has become the big thing is outback areas with access to water, great for the growers and for the politicians, but hard on the environment, due to high water usage and the pollutants that are the end result.  

On a more positive note, the little settlement of Dirranbandi was a very pleasant stop for lunch.    There was a lovely park which was developed around the old railway station and yards.  

The war memorial with its display of soldiers on horseback, all made of steel.    Country towns place great importance on their war memorials.   

The old railway shed.

The railway line which was once the end of the line, and part of the mail train service.  Passenger services stopped in 1993 and the freight service stopped in 2010.     No more trains on this line.

The railway station.,

And now for a few days at St George.

Dubbo - the centre of many main roads

Dubbo is home to the Taronga Western Plains Zoo, has a really lovely botanical garden, an old gaol, and the lovely Macquarie River (Wambuul).     It became a city in 1966.

It is also the centre of many main roads, which means it is the centre of much traffic including the B-Doubles travelling through to their various destinations.

The Mscquarie River is part of the Macquarie-Barwon catchment within the Murray-Darling basin, and is one of the largest rivers in New South Wales.

The camping ground is beside a lovely park, with a cycling/walking path alongside the river.   Every morning there has been a heavy frost covering the grass.   

Yesterday we drove fifty kilometres to the Wellingron Caves, but unfortunately the tour was booked out, so we did not visit the caves.  Luckily we had visited the caves in Naracoorte which is in the Limestone Coast Region so we knew approximately what they would look like inside.

However, we popped into the display area, which was informative and we had quite a bit of fun playing with the interactive display.   

The caves were formed after the sea evaporated and the limestone dried out causing cracks and holes.   This type of landscape is called karst.

The landscape of Wellington Caves Reserve holds evidence of 400 million years of evolutionary history.  There were many fossils found in the caves, initially sent to Britain but now kept in Australia.

The area is also the home of the local  'Binjang mob' of the Wiradjuri people, and they have their stories about how the area was formed and developed.

The skeleton of an ancient animal.   The interactive board is curved around the edge of the room.

The creatures in the sea that once covered the area.

The original emu.

A large animal, which moves when you wave your hand in front of it.

The outline of the kangaroo on this animal.    The original kangaroo., without a tail.

We also carried out a few minor repairs to the caravan and did a big and expensive shop to carry us through for the next week.   Prices are certainly more expensive here than in Aldinga.   The groceries came to $160, and the only really expensive item was a $10 pack of fresh pasta.    I was also shocked with the price of diesel which cost $142 to fill the tank, I forgot how much per litre it was, but remember Walter whistling at the price.   The joys of travelling.

The main street of Dubbo.   It was fairly empty of people but full of cars.   In fact Dubbo is full of vehicles, with clogged roads, and intersections.    We were not impressed with the amount of traffic.   And only two pedestrian crossings on the main street, plus cyclists used the footpaths.  I only lasted ten minutes with Piper before I went back to the car.   Walter persisted for longer, although he was looking for a hairdresser.  

There are two shopping malls on the main street, owned and run by Woolworths and Coles.   Most people shop in the 'strip shops' on one of the main road that lead out of the city.    All the big stores and malls are along this road, which is the same with most country towns and cities. 

                                         

However, the beautiful parks that run along the river are definitely beautiful and relaxing.

Walter came out of hospital on Monday, looking relaxed and thinner, and very impressed with the standard of care at Dubbo Hospital.

Tomorrow we are travelling back up north, first stop Walgett, on the Darling River.