25th July Day 1-2

Off to Lightning Ridge but staying tonight at O’Shea’s in Goondiwindi. I have some photos of the last 2 days all in one .

The land is so dry out here, this is on our way to Goondiwindi.

Farmers are having to use the long paddock just to get the stock some extra feed.

Moonie River at the Nindgully Pub and camping for freedom.

Plenty of room for camping and the river is so nice to look at. I hear the meals at the pub are great.

Daggy sign. On the other side of the sign it has Free beer tomorrow.

Silo art work at Thallon.

Hebel Hotel.

Camp kitchen at Lorne Station, Lightning Ridge.

Looking over towards the old shearing shed on the station.

Shows just how much room there is for camping, you can choose powered or unpowered.

Up at the powered sites and the permanents.

Amenities.

Showing the camp fire area.

Hudson’s Prickly pear, dont ever touch it, Don found out the hard way, took pliers to get them out of his foot, the crocks went in the bin.

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Day 21

Monday 1st September

We are packing up and heading to Lake Dalrymple via dirt roads so we are filling up as there are no stations out there for 234km, be slow driving and its very hilly and windy so will use more fuel. Well what a road, just took our time and saw lots of interesting things. Very dry, ran over a snake, saw Bustards, we are traveling thru stations but on a public road, its called the Rutherford Road. Dalrymple dam is huge, largest n Qld. They have lovely amenities and clean, $10 per couple per night and $2 for a load of washing. Feral Goats roaming, Peacocks roaming thru the camp, Burdikin Rock Wallabies, they are so tiny. The camping is no where near the water so we are only staying one night.

StarStaX_DPP_437-DPP_442_gap_filling IMG_3100  These bushes are called the bellyache plant, a noxious weed.IMG_3088  Waters from the DamIMG_3066  They had just shut off the overflow.IMG_3067  Feels very wierd traveling along the bottom of the Dam wall.IMG_3061  Run Jack.IMG_3018  Looking across the Dam wall.IMG_2977  The snake we ran over, it was still alive and moving ok, not that I was going to help it.IMG_2951  A very dry river bed.IMG_2931  This was typical of the road we traveled on today, rough in many places.IMG_2917 Stopped here to let some air out of tyres.IMG_2904  Mt Coolon area, this was well known for its gold back in 1946, lots of interesting reading.IMG_2896 Morning tea at the top of a range.IMG_2892 Dry and dusty.

Day 12

Wednesday 12th February

Went up the Barrington Tops in NSW to a place called Polblue Camping grounds and to see the Polblue Swamps. Drove in from Scone end on the New England Highway. Went up through the Dingo gate, the road was pretty rough, we just took our time. The country side is very dry, I feel for the farmers and their animals. Here are a few images from the day.

IMG_7404 IMG_7407  Dry river bed.IMG_7410 IMG_7412 IMG_7418  Going up the Barrington Range.IMG_7425  Dingo Gate, love the gap underneath 🙂IMG_7432  Pine trees and there needles all over the ground, reminds me of NZ pine plantations. IMG_7439  Polblue camping, very large area’s.IMG_7455  This is the Polblue Swamp area, its like a big sponge. Was pretty dry and in the middle of the day.IMG_7460 IMG_7472  Another view of the swamps.IMG_7507  This is the Manning River from up the tops of Barringtons. They have a big camp area here as well.IMG_7512  On our way home via the Pheasants Creek road were all these Native Trees, they must be so old, as they were huge.IMG_7518  A wee house up the creek Rd. What stories could those walls say.IMG_7521 Love the sky in this scene.IMG_7540  Belltree’s, is a property that was home to the White Family since 1831. They have accommodation & farm stay conference center, they have all sorts, very neat and tidy property. It is still a working farm with horses.IMG_7543 This is the sign to the town. NSW