Luvapuzzle

Day 18 – Not so Bland? March 12th

From our overnight campsite

We started our day by taking the track through the park

, deviating to a lookout without a view!! The other option for camping in this park had been the Greenbah creek camping area, and we were keen to see what it was like. As we approached the Greenbah site it was much greener (and a creek ran alongside the track).

There are only 6 sites down here, but more trees and birds. We had met one vehicle coming the other way along the track, and surmised that they had probably spent their night at this campsite. It took 9 minutes from here to get back out to the Baldry/ Peake Hill rd plus another 5 min to reach the T junction on the way out. So it definitely would have taken longer to get into this one the night before. (but we probably would have had company and seen more birds)

We stopped at West Wyalong and made sandwiches for lunch, which we ate in the local park. They have made a real effort here with a green belt through town, making a series of nice parks. In this one there is a metal framework making the word “HOPE” where people hang their padlocks, a lovely red flowering gum, a recent wooden carving of an eagle and chick on a big tree stump, some really good local toilets and a small lake area. (As well as a covered picnic table to sit at)

We did check out the plane in the park across the road (the Lions Park) , but were more amused by the notice that the Bland shire has teamed up with Dull in Scotland and Boring in Oregon to form the League of Extraordinary Communities!

We made a brief stop at Weethalle to photograph the silo art before continuing on.

At Hay we had thought we might stop for the day, but were both still feeling pretty good, so enjoyed our afternoon tea by the river at about 4 pm and moved on. There were lots of caravans staying in the free camping site at Sandy Point,

and older people swimming in the river, playing a game of something physical and eating/ drinking at a table.

They have greatly improved the river track here since we were pulled up by the local police about ten years ago on a trip through, when we diverted down here along a muddy track to try to find a cache at night. They had wondered if we were up to no good, having seen us disappear down the track. Of course we weren’t , but they didn’t know that.

We carried on to Tooleybuc and booked into the Tooleybuc motel , not flash, but it has proved to be passable in the past. The same proprieter talked on and on to Trevor (who had tried to escape his attention by sending me in alone to book in) .

A pub meal was interesting…. the meal was fine, but the ambience left a bit to be desired- We decided that Thursday night seems to be footy and netball practice night, and they all seem to come into the pub (with kids in tow) – who were making a hell of a noise around us and running around.

We walked back to the motel via the river front and admired their modern ramp down to as platform on the river level. The sun was just setting and the river was calm and beautiful.

The airconditioner proved to be more noisy in this room (to the extent where it was turned off in the middle of the night to allow Trevor to sleep) but the shower was much appreciated and the beds comfortable.

Day 17- Lots of Space-March 11

Australia Telescope

Our first stop was only a few km from our overnight campsite at Yarrie Lake and it took us till midday ( after a lazy egg and bacon breakfast shared with some very friendly flies) to complete our visit. We were taken by surprise by the Australia Telescope Compact Array. This series of six 22m diameter dishes, which move on a railway line (9.6m wide) is used for Radio astronomy. Each 270 tonne dish collects information, which is then collated to give more accurate data from space.

Once again we chose to take the route less travelled and to take the small, partly dirt, roads across to Pilliga, then Coonamble. Our initial plan is to make it past Dubbo to the Goobang NP ( hopefully before dark) .

It’s hard to believe we are in the same country as SA as we look at the water (lakes) on both sides of the road, drive along the muddy back roads and ford the temporary creeks running over the roads.

Just before the town of Pilliga (one of the junkiest little towns we have seen) we came across a spot where you can camp for $5/night with fence surrounding. Here an artesian bore (initially the town water supply) runs into a pool. We decided to justify packing our swimming gear and took a dip in the warm water (around 37 degrees) before again making tracks.

There is also a wetlands walk here (only when it too wet) which is 2.7km long and they say you can see 70 species of bird, including the rare barking owl that we think we heard last night.

As we headed towards Coonamble we passed through the Pilliga West Conservation Park, where we spotted wild horses and wondered what else might be hidden in the thick bush with so many tracks criss-crossing it.

At Gullargabone we admired the water storage artwork ( their answer to silo art)

There were numerous anti-fracking protest signs on roadsides and in paddocks referring to the Narrabri Gas Project which SANTOS are involved in in this area.

Travelling on we marvelled at the sudden change from wet to dry ( even dry rivers) as we came further south. For once our morning plan for a campsite was achieved! We actually ended up in the Wanda Wandong campsite in Goobang NP. This very dry and open campground (20 sites) was empty except for us. What a luxury to have a toilet each!! We hit the hay early and the moon gave us a couple of hours before it came up, shining so brightly that the shadows showed clearly on the ground.

Day 16-Dusty with a hint of mud – March 10

After cereal and toast at our motel we headed for Picnic point lookout, where we looked down over the escarpment to the view spreading away into the distance. It wasn’t raining where we were, but we could see it still coming down closer to the coast.

We were surprised to hear the sounds of a waterfall, and followed the noise to find an artificial fall running down to a small lake below. This was surrounded by lovely gardens. Toowoomba is known as the garden City and it would be interesting to see it in September.

I am always a sucker for a sensory garden so we headed off to investigate Laurel Bank Gardens sensory garden with many touch and smell sensations before we enjoyed the quirky topiary, planting of hybrid tea roses, wisteria arbour and the geckos. There was a lovely little edible garden here too.

There are a couple of very impressive looking schools in Toowoomba ( the grammar school and The Glennie School -“ all she can be”) with huge spreading grass and buildings and picket fences.

Despite the lush green everywhere they are still on water restrictions with signs around town encouraging 175 l goal (per person per day) water use

As we drove south from Toowoomba the main crop was Corn, growing in dark rich looking soil ( almost black)

We stopped at Lake Coolmunda for lunch. Again, we were alone in a huge picnic area near a boat ramp. There is camping just a little way back from the lake, with free day use in the areas very close to the ramp. The day felt grey and cool but there was a warm breeze. ( Like our hot north winds in SA)

We chose the lower road towards Inglewood and then Yelarbon ( according to the sign this is bird watchers paradise) taking a photo of their painted silos

and checked out the recreation ground/ campsite which has a tick in our camps book indicating that it is really good. This is only a tiny town and the old small community rec ground at the unused oval uses the inner oval for unpowered camping and the outer gravel area for powered. There is a little shed for a laundry and book exchange with old railway station building used for toilets and showers.

We think that the title of “Bird watchers paradise” might be fitting, as the local lake seemed to support a good variety of birds. (we even think we saw tree creepers).

We took the minor roads from here, and were caught by an unexpected road closure, but enjoyed the bright parrots, and wide open spaces as we travelled the isolated dirt roads through to North Star.

At this point we were planning to stay in the Mt Kapatur National Park, arriving pretty close to dark, but luckily got on to the web site and found that their campgrounds are currently closed due to recent fires, so we replanned.

As we reconsidered accommodation options we admired the many sunflowers at the side of road between Moree and Narrabri and drove through a narrow band of driving rain as we looked at the lakes of water on either side of the road and eliminated the ” just pull off a little” option.

Eventually we arrived at an excellent campsite. Yarrie Lake, near Narrabri is thought to be a meteor crater. For $20 we had a roof over a concrete slab, table with benches, our own bin and tap and all of this only about 10m from the waters edge with a frog and owl chorus to sing us to sleep.

Toilets and showers were available around the lake a little, where the caretaker was. Apparently this lake has been dry for three years. You wouldn’t know it right now!

Day 15 Wet and Mild-March 9th

Unlike at the theme park we were trying to stay as dry as we could as we packed up the car.

We were sad to leave the very hospitable home base of Murray and Ann Diment and start the drive home.

It had been our intention to head inland ( possibly to Charleville and down the Strezlecki track) but many of the inland roads are closed, so we decided to stick to open roads and slightly more settled areas.

The constant rain continued as we headed out via Woodford. We started deviating from the high road and followed the edge of Lake Somerset to Kilcoy, turning south to take the more scenic route along the edge of the lake on a winding road. Today the scenic view was limited.

The spit on Somerset dam was a great spot for a cup of tea. From here we could see the dam wall on the southern end of the lake. ( Built 1935-1958) which gave work for 1000 during the depression. This supplies water to Ipswich and Brisbane and mitigated floods from the Brisbane River. Hydro power here was commissioned in 1953. Average rainfall is 896mm per year!!

We continued along the small road through the Lockyer Valley and the town of Grantham, where there was so much destruction from floods in 2011 as we listened to a podcast featuring the story of the rebuilding of that town. ( Conversations with Richard Fidler Jan 30). We drove up on to the hill above the old town where the residents who chose to stay were rehoused as they rebuilt their lives.

Then on in to Toowoomba where we refueled at $133.9/litre for diesel and decided that this was far enough for one day.

The rain was been constant all day, tugging on the car as we drive. Trevor has been doing a great job but is now tired out. A motel bed was always strongly on the cards and it will be a good sheltered sleep for us here in our double glazed motel room before we move onwards tomorrow.

Our current rough plan is that we will stay close to the shortest route home (maybe Coonabarabran) tomorrow night?)

Day 14. Glasshouse Mountains and time with relatives. March 8th

A quiet start to the day have an opportunity to see a pale headed rosella ( which I miraculously recognised) from the outdoor table at Murray and Ann’s place.

And a pied butcherbird ( with sweet song)

10 am saw us all heading for the Glasshouse Mountains( in two vehicles) on a scenic journey with Murray, Ann, Ross and Jan.

Our first stop was the Glasshouse Mountains lookout where we admired the dramatic peaks coming out of the bush.

We read the story of Coonowrin, who wasn’t brave enough to save his family from a tidal wave and saw his mountain ( of the same name) from the lookout ( he looks ashamed) ..we actually heard 3 versions of this today.

There were a series of mosaics here, set into the walkway, which some might appreciate.

Our next stop was the nearby cafe, where we stopped for a lunch

with a view ( including a nearby kookaburra)

and spotted a grey butcherbird with his dark head.

We drove on to the Mary Cairncross scenic reserve where it was rainy, but we enjoyed the exhibition they had of insects, frogs and birds.

We also failed to see a view from their viewing area (whited out due to weather) but did see a scaly breasted lorikeet

The red headed honeyeater was elusive but I managed to see the lady version and Trev saw both.

After a bit of a rest at home we headed out to Ruth and Charlie’s place for tea. It was excellent to finally see in real life the new house we have been hearing about on Facebook. Trev has shed envy caused by the huge barn shed. They even have a fire pit way down in the back yard.

Maddie is a busy little person and we ended up with an amazing Noah’s Ark line up of animals.

Cooper showed me around the yard and shared his excellent matchbox car collection with me.

After tea we took the obligatory family shot before the kids headed off to bed and we headed back to MAD’s place and our beds

Back row from left Charlie, Murray, Ann, Jan, Ross
front row Erica, Trevor, Cooper,Maddie, Ruth

Day 13 visiting friends and rellies March 7th

Today , after a very hot and difficult night, Erica had an early bird walk before we spent the morning with Pip, Andy , Mary and the boys enjoying just catching up as one more before we headed off after lunch.

First stop was Zuly and Orlando’s place ( Zuly used to work with Trev in Adelaide) where we heard how positive their move has been , admired their lovely new home, played games with their extremely smart daughter Miranda and made friends with Octavio.

Then it was on over the Gateway Bridge to Caboolture where we finally saw Murray and Ann’s new home, caught up with Jan and Ross again, and also caught up with Ruth, Charlie and their kids.

We are sleeping here tonight ( cramming the house full of family) and will catch up with them all some more tomorrow.

Day 12- Last day at O’Reilly’s 6th March

On our early morning walk we headed down towards the villa area and campground.

The aim was to try to see a catbird and lyrebird

Despite our efforts the lyrebird was unseen, but the catbird was seen through the misty grey morning although not a very clear sighting, but enough to see the white spotted breast of the otherwise green and grey bird at the top of a tree.

We did have fun with a little Wren

Then we were out on to the “border track” for a few hours and were lucky enough to see both a lyrebird and a number of catbirds plus a really good look at a logrunner- which was a very satisfying finish to the bird spotting.

Duncan is pretty good on orchids and pointed out the spider Orchid high on the tree

The dagger Orchid high up in the tree

The king Orchid, also high up in a tree cleft( sorry about the bad photo)

There was a good view of the walking stick palms. The extremely straight trunks of these were harvested heavily to provide walking sticks for returned soldiers. Their ripe bright red berries were also eaten by the survivors of the Stinson disaster ( planet crash) to keep them alive until Bernard O’Reilly discovered them 10 days later and effected a rescue.

We were also interested to see the massive holes chewed into a dead tree by black cockatoos, looking for the resident grubs.

A wasp mimic moth was also an interesting find

And a tiny snail as big as half of my little fingernail.

Here are a few other shots from around the area:

After a final lunch together we finalised our bird count for the group (151 seen and another 5 heard but not seen)

Jan got spotter award for emerald pigeon one morning and little shrike thrush today

Joel won the spirit of bird week prize ( of a double insulated flask which he then gave to us)

As we drove down the hill for the last time we saw some whip tailed wallaby on a grassy patch ( very pretty white striped faces).

We stopped by to visit Sarah and Jason Norris and kids for a while who were generous and shared a bottle of wine made by cousin Andrew Diment and his friends.

We were back at Pip and Andy’s for family tradition fish and chips on Friday night. So great to have time for another visit here.

It was an extremely humid and still night and we ended up moving the swags into Mary’s lounge room under the fan for some respite and sleep.

Day 11 Wetlands watching March 5th

A few of us started the day with another 6 am walk where we got a bit wet and got another view of some of the usual birds here.

The grevilleas were looking beautiful still

After breakfast we headed down the hill again. As we met out the front the king parrots were coming in and randomly landing on people.

Today we were heading for the lower end of the Albert River catchment (Tamborine, Eagleby, Oxenford and Coombabah). A short stop at a local park for a loo stop and we started spotting birds

This continued on when we pulled off to let traffic pass on the highway and started spotting various water birds, so took a bit longer and spotted a few more.

Another site yielded more including an excellent look at a blue faced honeyeater-sadly the camera stuffed up at the crucial time.

Jacana at the next stop with their amazing ability to walk on the surface of the water. And a big flock of glossy ibis. Also saw white necked ibis and white headed ibis here.

We stopped at the Eagleby wetlands after lunch, where we spotted a couple of different kingfishers, a pale headed rosella and an unusual Orchid which grows on the paperbacks there. No flowers but heaps of strappy leaves.

We drove on to a couple more wetland areas. One of these is the proposed site for a future freeway

and we had a little concert performed by a golden headed Cisticola

who just loved putting on a show. A mistletoe bird

and lady Wren

were also happy to be friendly close in while the water birds did their thing in the distance.

Today Duncan ( our guide and driver) also brought the scope with him so that he could bring those birds up even more clearly for us, which was great

Then we started back on our long journey home up the mountain for our last night.

Day 10 Walking near O’Reilly’s March 4th.

We started the day with another 6 am walk near the campground. We saw a female regent Bowerbird and also a male satin one looking very blue and shiny. The golden whistler was also showing nicely as was the white headed pigeon.

We were also lucky to see one of the ( now rare) pademelons who are less common due to a small pack of dingoes.

After a lovely breakfast we were back on to the python rock track and getting wet again as we spotted a spectacled monarch on the way to the lookout.

Our guide Glen said goodbye this morning and went on to do other work

The track yielded lots of interest.

Large Elkhorn growing on suspended swinging fig branch

Interesting fungus that looked like coral

At the python rock lookout we looked out through rain and mist at the clouds rising over the creek and distant Moran Falls.

These leeches were keen to hop on for a ride

They call this a bird bath tree-you can see why

The forest floor was soft with these millions of flowers fallen from the huge tree overhead

There was also a lovely hooded orchid growing in the protection of a tree base

and a small epiphytic one which had fallen to the track attached to a bit of stick. The flowers were not quite open and the whole height was only about 5 cm.

After lunch in the dining room we headed out again to a spot part way down the hill where a number of different species are often spotted. (Charlie’s Waterhole and Kamarun Lookout)

This was mostly a frustrating one for us as it involved a lot of standing around and looking and a few tiny sightings- most of which we were not practised enough to make the most of. We only added another 2 to our list the positive side was that I also managed to take photos of another interesting little butterfly and the pretty orange ” spade flower” growing in an area regenerating from the recent bushfire.

We were back just in time to hear a presentation given by MJ O’Reilly ( the oldest of the 4th generation on the mountain) about the history of O’Reilly’s which was a good fill in and tied together little bits and pieces that we have heard.

We just have enough time to try to get this written as we sit on our balcony and enjoy a hot cup of strong tea and the view.

Day 9 Down to the Kerry Valley – March 3rd

We travelled down to the Kerry Valley and stopped near to many water sources to watch for various birds.

There were also heaps of butterflies around, including these ( lemon migrants?) That were on the ground sipping the moisture on the banks of the dam

We stopped for lunch in Beaudesert for our packed lunch feast ( including mars bar). There were interesting history plaques and patterns in the concrete paths. Maybe good for a future quilting project?

These tawny frogmouths by the side of the road were an added treat

We sat down with the group to do a bird count after tea and there have been over 120 different bird species identified in try this first couple of days!

We are still hoping for glimpses of the elusive catbird, lyrebird and male regent Bowerbird before we leave… Maybe today??