September 11 to 25: Charleville to Sydney

September 11 to 25: Charleville to Sydney

Charleville is a funny old place ... it does not have a TAB. How odd is that?

We stayed for 2 nights; winding down our minds for the time not so far ahead. They have a world famous Cosmos star show, people come from all over the world to sit in the great outdoors and stare at the romantic sights overhead through a telescope. It's always clear skies in Charleville.

What was that I said?

Yep, it rained on that second night. The clouds came and the stars went. Oh well, a refund!

Despite the lack of a TAB (and the sudden presence of rain), it actually feels like we are back in that thing called the civilised world. The months in Alice certainly didn't feel uncivilised, but it did not feel 'regulated' either. Coastal people are regulated; there you have it. City and rural; regulated and less so.

Still, its bloody ridiculous to not have a TAB!

We did some housekeeping; washing shopping and defrosting the fridge. Then off, again.

Kites circling over a park in Charleville; a pool in the Warrego River; a water boatman on the pool; birds along the river - brolgas, peaceful dove, white-plumed honeyeaters, brown tree-creeper.

On our way further south somewhere past the Warrego River Pat delivers a dissertation on the Ooline tree while we are passing by the Tregole National Park. The Ooline originated as a rainforest tree during the pleistocene era; but with the drying of the climate and the fact that it only grows on fertile soils suitable for agriculture, it is now only found in small populations on the western slopes of the ranges. Tregole NP is one of those populations.

Tregole National Park: mitchell grass and black box; ooline tree; black orchid plant grows high in the tree; black orchid flowers; a kind of native fruit tree.

We stay overnight at the weir in Mitchell. Lots of birds and free loading campers enjoying the free site. Only a toilet, though, showering will be in the future. Some birders here too, and a man with one of those new age cameras that magnify planes at 40,000 feet as if they are above your head.

It is getting hotter again.

South, south.

Campground beside the weir at Mitchell; olive-backed riole; pale-headed rosella.

We have gotten very south now, to Barnaby Joyce's old stamping ground around St. George. Didn't stay, though, our destination for the night is the parking area of the Nindigully pub, on the banks of a pretty creek (although the parking area itself is pretty bleak).  Free camping again, but again no shower.

This is clearly a popular camping spot. All of the good spots with shady trees and water views are gone to caravans by our arrival,  most of their occupants enjoying dinner in the pub as we suss out the carpark instead.  A refrigerated truck turned up just after we settled in, and fortunately left an hour or so later but after we had moved a little further away. At about 2 am a strange party of Americans with a horse float spent a noisy half hour packing up and leaving.

Bloody foreigners!

Lots of birds down by the water in the morning, including a pair of restless flycatchers building a nest near a bridge. Busy little chaps.

Along the creek at Nindigully; nesting restless flycatcher (2 pics); little friarbird; the ubiquitous willie wagtail.

There will be a shower somewhere at the end of this day, this is a promise given to Pete. We leave mid-morning, stopping at the last town in Queensland (called Mungindi - pronounced MUNG-in-dye) for the subsidised fuel. Then to Moree, we were here months and months ago. It has a heated mineral springs pool, but Pete insists on the campground shower first! Nice just lying there soaking in the minerally pool.

Rumour has it that the nearby RSL has fantastic fish 'n chips. Pleasant walk through the campground and showgrounds.

Never trust camp ground neighbours. We get indigestion! 

There was some genuine excitement that night, however. On a return from a toilet wander Pat spied a tawny frogmouth on the fence not ten metres from where we had camped. Alas, she hasn't figured out her night photography on the 'billion dollar' very well and it flies off before she can capture it.

Then it rained. And blew! No damage to us, but destroyed the awning of a van whose owners were not home when the storm hit. Insurance company appears to be a problem for them!

Around the showgrounds at Moree: sulphur-crested cockatoo; another pale-headed rosella.

We did a little side trip out to the enticingly named township of Pallamallawa that involved a few kilometres on the Newell Highway. Oh yes, we are back in 'civilisation' now. Frightening!!

Lots of birds, though, almost worth being made re-aware of just how nutso people tend to drive on these main roads in Oz.  On our last day in Moree Pete had another soak in the mineral waters and Pat walked to the visitor centre along the river and had a chat with some of the local indigenous people sitting under the bridge.

Along the roads near Pallamallawa: nankeen kestrel; yet another pale-headed rosella; mother and calf; spiny-cheeked honeyeater; cockatiels taking off.

South, forever south. And east, of course. Next morning we drive to Cranky Rock, near Warialda.  It's a lovely spot, with good phone coverage if you walk to the top of the hill.  Cheap camping, but cool showers. Friendly neighbours, two sets of them. We stay two nights. One is a retired (recently) beef stud owner from Nambucca. Who knew they had beef farms there? That was the place we saw the dolphins swimming up the river.

The other neighbour was a proud grandmother with many grand kid photographs. How terrible for Aunty Pat. Neither Katrina, nor Peter and Anna had kept her up to date with photographs of Ziggy and Olive. That woman just kept showing photograph after photograph and all Pat had was two!!

Nice big rocks by the water, and lots of swallows.

Cranky Rock: The creek and the rock (2 photos); a possum in the night; noisy friarbird; eastern yellow robin; one of the peacocks who wander around the camp site; fan-tailed cuckoo.

Next stop is Cathy's home town of Bingara, we have been here twice now in our travels. Still trying to figure out which was the pole John got tied to.

Did the Boora Creek bird walk on a tourist information recommendation, before continuing on to the Barraba caravan park.  We are in Barraba for the races tomorrow.

Pete bought a polo shirt with the Barraba Jockey Club logo on our arrival there, which is about all we got at the races that day. Nice sausage in a roll, though.

We head on afterwards, a camp site at Attunga which is 20km north of Tamworth.  Apart from the rest area where we camp, there is a quarry, a pub and a few sheep here.

Boora Creek; a pretty beetle; eastern rosella at Attunga.

Finally, we are in Gloucester! 

This is announcement time. We are abandoning Melbourne forever. Whilst Pete is having, and then recovering from, his little operation in Sydney the house in Melbourne will be up for sale. We are thinking of buying in this very town ... Gloucester. A change of place, a change of life. We will see how it goes this time around and then factor things in to the wider decision down the track. Any buying in would be a year away, once we have done the NT and WA.

Just a little investigation for now, staying in the caravan park.

...

The sussed out news is this. Still good coffee, we can afford it here even if the mowing might be a big problem for Pat ... but will the coal mine and the coal seem gas ever come too close to town?

Off to Sydney now.

We set up in the caravan park and take the van off the ute so we can drive around more freely for a few days and explore the place.  We look at some houses that are for sale.  Good prices for nice houses!  Only most property here is on quite steep slopes.  Either that or in danger of flooding!  But we still like it and it has become our first choice of places to settle.

We head for Sydney and Pat's brother's place on the 25th.  We will stay until after Pete has had his prostate operation and recovered from it sufficiently that we are able to travel again.