Speeding Home

Mosquito central.  Thousands of angry,  buzzing monsters maintained an unrelenting barrage on our fly screens the whole night.  Grant and I took it in turns to kill mosquitoes the whole time.  It was hot, and everyone was restless.  Bourke in flood is not a very inviting place!  It would have to be one of our record times for pack up and departure.  We just left.

We drove to the old wharf, where steamers were loaded with wool and later cotton and wheat and citrus fruits.  In it's heyday in the 1890s they loaded 40,000 bales of wool here a year, to be shipped down to ports in South Australia for further distribution to Adelaide and Melbourne.

The steamers used up a lot of the trees on the banks of the Darling River to fire their engines.  They also removed a lot of the fallen trees in the river, snags, which were breeding grounds and feeding grounds for fish.

We passed by the old lift bridge, opened in 1883, the gateway to the Never Never, that was used until 1997 to head off into the outback.  It is the last surviving bridge of it's kind in New South Wales. (The IEAust had a plaque acknowledging the work on this bridge as providing a foundation for other designs - Grant)

 

 

A right turn took us onto the road to Cunnamulla.  We were going to go via Lightning Ridge, however the road that direction is closed due to flooding.  We get to go an extra 150km.

Near the bridge I saw a boy holding what I thought was a cat.  Coming closer I revised that to a rat, but then I realized it was a kangaroo.  He's had it for a week, and when I asked if they'd rescued it off the road, the mum gave me a funny look and said it had come off their property.  "Did the mum die?" I asked.
"yep, we shot her."

The kangaroos eat the food that the cattle need to survive so they are a bit of a pest.  Bit of a shock though.

Further north and the excitement mounted as we passed Barringun and reached the border to Queensland. we stopped just across the invisible line to let all the mosquitoes out of the caravan and wash the breakfast dishes. We thought we were far away enough from the source of our mosquito infestation.  There were hundreds just caught in between the windows and the flyscreens.

On up the Mitchell Highway we came to Cunnamulla, a lovely town with flowers planted down the centre of the street, and a big statue of the Cunnamulla Fella, a song sung by Slim Dusty. 

We bought some dodgy supplies from the coffee shop for lunch, but had to throw a bit of it out... hopefully we all have cast iron stomachs.  We'd found a nice little playground with table and chairs and shade cover, but it was so hot we just got back in the car and kept driving.

The roads on the Queensland side of the border are narrower with some steep edges.  It can be a tight fit to pass a semi trailer coming the other way.  It is very green everywhere.  Long green grass thick along the sides of the road, and big trees and bushes everywhere.  They had a lot of rain over Christmas, I think.  We've crossed a number of bridges where the river or creek is full right up to the top of the banks.  At first you don't realise it's water - it just looks like a flat grassy green plain.    It's what I would imagine a billabong to be.  Surrounded by bent trees shading the quiet water and long grass.

We drove through a cloud of dragonflies.  Grant had a moment when he thought they were giant mosquitoes.  Last night was fairly traumatic.  (that was a joke!)

East at Cunnamulla onto the Balonne Highway, and 292 kilometres later we came to St George.  Grant's Grandmother was born in St. George.  It was a bustling town, even at 4pm on a Sunday afternoon, and we filled up with petrol and bought some bread and milk.  At the corner store we found some ice blocks.  It is so hot!  We're going to keep driving a bit more until it cools down.

After St. George we took the Moonie Highway which goes to Dalby.  We are camped in Westmar, 117km east of St. George, opposite the Pub. (It is on the Moonie Highway and derives its name from WESTern and MARanoa - Grant)  There is a flushing loo and hot shower at this free camping spot!  Luxury.  There are still mosquitoes, but not the swarms of last night. We went across to the pub and bought a bag of ice, the first on the trip.  We just needed something cold to drink.  The water coming out of our tap is hot.

This is going to be our last night in the van.  we are only about 400 km from home and should get there tomorrow afternoon.  We have spent 121 nights in the van and averaged about $28 per night.

It's funny that such a long trip ends so quickly.  All of a sudden it's our last night.  A storm has come in this evening, bringing a cool breeze and gentle rain.  There is thunder and lightning in the distance.  Well actually, a huge one just crashed right over our head and the van leapt into the air in fright.

Our van is full of mess and dirty washing, dirt and tins of food.  We haven't stopped much for the last week and everything slowly piles up around us.  The fridge is nearly empty, and we've run out of snacks for the car, but everyone is happy and excited because they are going home.

We looked at the map tonight at dinner to see where we'd been and what we'd enjoyed the most.  Grant enjoyed climbing the big trees of Pemberton, I enjoyed snorkelling at Ningaloo, the children all enjoyed the times we visited other families or met children to play with.

Thanks for coming with us on our journey to some parts of Australia, It's been very nice to have your company! (I will do one more post tomorrow!)
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Vicki