What is Went worth?

Quite a bit as it gives us a half-way (about 850km) break on our trip to Port Lincoln!

We got away at 6:30 which was pretty good as it meant we'd get to Wentworth in good time.  The weather was fine for driving as we set off, with cloud and wind but no rain.  Here is the situation near Jugiong.

Going along the Hume we noticed a car overtake us with no number plates, which seemed a good way of avoiding speed cameras and similar infringements on liberty.  A little further we found said car again with the driver discovering that the Plods do not approve of such strategies and were having a conversation, which I suspect could do very bad things for their average speed, bank balance and future driving plans.

 Autumn has arrived in Wagga as shown by the foliage!

 Round about Wagga we noticed a lot of cars coming towards us in pulses which seemed a bit curious.  An interesting roadside sign promised "Balls baits and bullets" in Narranderah.  On the outskirts of the town we discovered the reason for the pulses: roadworks, fixing up problems that only the Roads engineers were aware of, at the intersection of the Newell and Sturt Highways.  Only about 5 minutes of delay

Once out heading towards the Hay Plain we noticed lots of motorbikes, including many three-wheelers towing trailers, coming towards us.  This continued for the rest of the day.  (That got solved the next day somewhere near Renmark where a sign talked about Ulysses MC AGM.)

Out on the Plain we encountered, as tradition requires, droving.  It was a tad un-traditional in that all the stock were Aberdeen Angus rather than Herefords or mixed breeds.

For many years we had crossed the Plain with no sight of anything to do with cotton.  On both our last two traverses we have seen heaps.  Perhaps we were a little earlier this time but it seemed to be everywhere in vast acreages.  No wonder the farmers are in an uproar about restrictions on irrigators in the Southern Murray-Darling Basin.  This image is a paddock of bolls.

Some harvested rolls: we crossed with many trucks carting these off to ...?

This snap shows: a line of bales in a paddock; the brown stems left after picking,; and a small amount of the whit stuff that always seems to accumulate along the roadside in a cotton area.

We wondered if the cotton was responsible for the dearth of emus.  At one point we thought we might not see any for the trip but a few - perhaps 7 in total were spotted towards the end of the trip.  There were very few birds around except Ravens.  A few Black Kites and Kestrels, 1 Pied Butcherbird and a couple of Black-shouldered Kites.

In my view the Plain ends at Balranald.  On what we saw, so does prosperity.   While the houses still looked OK quite a few businesses in the town looked to be closed (permanently, not just on Saturday afternoon).  On the highway out the other side we encountered another lot of road works that delayed us again.  I know roads have to be maintained but no-one here seemed to be working except the driver of the pilot vehicle.  All the others seemed to be sitting around talking about obesity - or at least demonstrating it.

This also gave the caravans a chance to bunch up and make driving slow.  While this is a further tradition I had thought it had been dispensed with as on our recent trips vans moved along reasonably quickly.  Perhaps the Hume Highway is different to the North South roads such as the Newell?

Somewhere around this point a truck was kind enough to spit a rock at our windshield.  I didn't notice a new chip so carried on.

On getting close to Wentworth we called in at a fuel station in Dareton.  It had closed but as a friendly local explained (there were no instructions on the pumps) there was a terminal on the wall that allowed one to get fuel.  It merged that as is often the case in rural aral areas the advertised price for diesel was for the dirty stuff that trucks use and car diesel was about 2 cents a litre dearer.  Grrrr.  It then emerged (again no instructions) there wasn't a pay-for-fill option.  However you could put in an amount of $400 and they'd only take what you used, with the remaining amount staying as an open order for 7 days.  Trust us - sure wouldn't.  them we'll get fuel somewhere else, of need be in Renmark the next morning.

As it turned out we got fuel in Wentworth as a servo operated by a human.  After shifting minimal kit into our room at the Central Motel (which allowed the small dog in the room - HUGE  bouquet) we went for  walk around the riverbank.  This is the  Darling, which merges with the Murray nearby.

There seemed to be a lot of water in the Rivers:presumably there has been good rain from cyclones in the head waters of the Darling in Queensland.

A statue of John Egge an immigrant from China who seems to have been one of the biggest traders on the River.  Or, in a flood, the main street of Wentworth which he sailed his boat down!

A memento of the old days.  I'm not sure if this paddle steamer moves or is just there to look good!

Although we have been to Wentworth before I do like a good War Memorial.

After the early start and a longish drive an early and solid night sleep.

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Mareeba gets rehabilitated

Our first dealings with Mareeba (a couple of weeks ago, trying to find somewhere to park the camper) were ungood.  However, today as we drove the Pajero there to get things fixed (and subsequently) our views were revised in a positive direction.

Before heading off we noticed that it was rather cool this morning.  (Apparently only 10^oC while frosts are not unknown at this time.)  It was also a tad humid, which in combination seems to have stirred some fungi into fruiting.

As we drove towards Mareeba it was clear that Queensland Sparks and Wildfires Service were emulating their Southern colleagues in lighting up anything that stood still,

Getting to the Mitsubishi dealer in Mareeba everything seemed well under control.  They were offering us a loaner car which I expected to be an old trade in.  Instead, a Barina with about 4500km on clock.  Apart from me failing to understand how to open the back doors - even after Frances had told me how the Reddings staffer did it - it seems a most excellent little car.

After leaving the Pajero in hospital we went to the Skybury Coffee Estate.  The trees in this image are mangoes, across the road from the coffee estate, and fires are a (hopefully) controlled burn.

This is the entrance to the Skybury sales and cafe area.

Some beans were acquired. Small dogs were welcome so we entered and had an excellent long black each and a reasonable pie.  Here is the dining deck.

It looked down on a small pond, where Double-barred Finches were taking a drink.

Having taken a drink, a trip to the khazi was indicated.  Here is the nice garden which introduces person of both sexes to the facilities.

I don't know how the females fared but the males were obviously given some hints about draining the dragonfly.

Our next stop was the West Barron Storage Dam were water from Lake Tinarroo is stored befor being distributed around this very fertile area.

There were a lot of waterbirds on the water, especially this raft of Coots.

Here is the Barina with some sugar cane - including flowers - in the background.

Here is a sluice on the channel taking water to the storage.  A sign nearby banned all sorts of activities, but surprisingly not dogs.  We didn't test this!

As we headed back we passed the Lotus Glen Correctional Facility.  Shortly thereafter I noticed a Police Transit coming along rapidly behind us.  Even though they didn't have their dome lights on I thought it wise to take a dive to the left.

Just before getting to Tolga we hooked in to the peanut place and got some further supplies (of a chili-augmented nature).

Just after Tolga we swung back towards Owl-heaven (ie Forsyte Rd)  to see what was happening in daylight.  Quite a few raptors were around, undoubtedly attracted by the highly photogenic cane cutting going on.

Frances thought this cutter looked like the final evolution of Daleks whereas to me it was more like something out of Mad Max!

Here is a Black Kite watching proceedings.

On getting home we scurried round to a neighbours house for tea.  A more relaxed approach than how we have met them while on dog walks.  Their place was a lovely 6 acres running down to bush with an excellent house including out door deck.  They run Tableland Adventure Guides and if you are into long hikes.MTB Rides/canoe trips I suggest give them an email.  They are also very good on birds and other natural history!

• Bird of the day: Pale-headed Rosella at Skybury for the individual award and the 119 Black Swans at west Barron for the flock.
• Vegetation of the day:   Sugar cane getting harvested at Forsyte Rd.
• Memorable moment: The excellent taste of the Skybury coffee.
• Comment of the day: "Of course dogs are allowed."  Staffer at Skybury
• Pie of the day:.  The pie at Skybury was not up to the standard of the coffee.  It was as expected peppery but I felt it had been nuked after removal from Mr Cellophane!  Still a lot better than the Chillagoe effort so 5 rather than 3.
• Troppo moment of the day. The modern approach to cane cutting!

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Hopefully leaving the naff weather behind

Having borrowed a Polari term from The Princess Royal here are some words from the BoM:

Wet weather isn't expected to let up this weekend and Canberra meteorologist Sean Carson said what he consider to be "rubbish" weather on Friday would turn "feral" on Sunday. 

Friday was certainly rubbish, and Saturday wasn't much better.  In fact, Saturday achieved a status of at least rotten, with 15mm of rain in the evening.  At least there wasn't any snow.

Indeed Sunday turned feral, with snow starting about 7:30.  Here is the veg garden.

 As we drove out, Widgiewa Rd was appalling with about 5cm of snow settled.  I was not looking forward to the next 200km.  However when we got to the Plain there was no snow.  Getting in to Bungendore the hills of Kowen were well white.

 Right.  Having got that out of the way let us get back to the usual extrema of "XXX of the day".

Bird of the day:  Blue faced honeyeater, scavenging in a litter bin.  The big flock goes to Australian White Ibis.
Flower of the day: Acacia dealbata along the Hume Highway
Garden of the day: One at Fingal Bay with layers of Pandanus, cordyline etc.
Geological feature of the day: Cuttings in the sandstone going down to the Hawkesbury.
Outstanding Weather feature of the day; Snow!
Council behaviour of the day: This is a new category and could be a bouquet or a brickbat.  As I have said "Council", the latter is more likely.  Today the award goes to Port Stephens Council for banning dogs from most everywhere but not emptying litter bins so that rubbish is all over the place.

The drive to Sydney was fine.  There were few trucks but more cars than usual.  An annoyance in Sydney was the servo we heading for being shut, leading us to go to another which didn't offer a discount.  Then we found others which did, but didn't seem to be listed on the 'net.  Also the place we chose had a pump that cut out too soon, so we left about 10 litres early.

Whatever: we got outtathere and across the Hawkesbury.

After some farnarkling through Newcastle we got to the Port Stephens area.  The first thing seen here was a sign at Williamtown saying there was an "incident"and we should divert back to the Pacific Highway.  As this diversion was about 50km I decided to ignore the sign and see what the incident was.  I suspect it was a sign getting caught by a gust of wind as nothing else was evident.

On on towards Nelson Bay.  At Bobs Farm we spotted Murrays Brewery which had go some big wraps in a book on Australian beers.  One of their brews is called Moon Boy - I don't think Fred is a brew!

 It seemed very popular - including with Oriental tourists.  They were doing a US beer-style promo which explains the design on the pallet.

I ended getting 4 Dark Knight Porter (a good example of the style - lighter than a stout but tastier than a lager) and 4 Whale Ales (a very pleasant US style Pale Ale).

The camp seems good - the operators are very efficient and helpful and the scenery is great (seawards).

It is less great landwards, looking more like Gungahlin than anywhere nice.

As noted in the awards section above the Council seem good at banning things such as dogs,all spelt out on a sign, but less good at environmental stewardship, such as emptying bins.

The wind is very strong and it isn't hot: but at least it isn't snowing.

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The last lap

Bird of the Day;  Australlian Shelduck at Bungendore

Plant of the Day: Gymea Lily at Homebush

Scene of the Day: I'm tempted to say the turning off the Hume HWy to Goulburn

Art of the day; The ring over the Brickpit at Homebush.

Typically Australian thing of the day: The total zoo of a car park at Parramatta!

Maximum Temperature  25 on coast  Minimum temperature 15

Distance traveled  with camper  300  without camper 50

Having breakfasted we headed off to Bintel so that Frances could get her bins cleaned.  This was done with their customary excellent service and were repaid by her buying a few bits of this and that for cleaning them ourselves.

I then thought it might be interesting to go and look at the Olympic site (Sydney 2000) to fill in a few hours.  Perhaps we might see a hero (eg Richie McCaw) getting ready for the Super Rugby final two nights later.  No luck with that, and the primary schools Athletics Championships didn't make much weight as an alternative.

Here are a few images of the area.

I took this as a site guide - we couldn't find a visitor centre anywhere!

Gymea Lily.

The ring.

Then to buy some fuel and lunch.  The former was simple and the latter reduced Frances to abject terror as I wheeled around in a dark, poorly signed and crowded multi-story carpark in Parramata.  Eventually I got some panini; we ate and off to Cub to pick up the camper.

It was ready; we hooked up and we were homeward bound.  Apart from a foul sidewind blowing us around the drive back was easy.  We got home before dark and lit the fire.

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