Left Sunseeker village 1030 Sat morning 19 Sept, bound for our first stopover at Moonie, south of Dalby. On Fri night we went out with David & Helen to a Thai Restaurant in Caloundra - a place at Kings Beach we hadn't visited before. The food was lovely - spicy and hot Pad Thai chicken, Massaman curry beef, chicken noodles, and one other chicken dish - all delish. Entre of Thai fish cakes, samosas, spring rolls and chicken toast. On Saturday, head along the D'Aguilar highway to Yarraman - the smell of smoke everywhere as the pre season burning was going on. Passed thru Dalby quickly and just a few kays short of Moonie ran over a black snake lying in the middle of the highway. Moonie caravan park is just clay based and very casual. The servo is an all-in-one, caravan park, hotel, restaurant, shop, petrol. The meals are plain but HUGE, and they have 3 large TV's We were able to watch the Allblacks v Wallabies over a couple of cold beers. Left there Sun morning and had an uneventful drive down thru Goondiwindi and over the border into NSW. Stopped at Moree for a lunchtime drink and snack and then ambled down here to Narrabri. We are in a nice little caravan park beside the river and the sites are sweet. Just out of Narrabri we ran over another snake!. This time is was a larger tiger or brown snake - the buggers are about with the warm weather. 32-36 today on the road, and 30 inside the van at the moment. Will get back with some photos after we've had a look around - this is the cotton capital of Australia so we will go into town and have a look at some of the displays. We'll be here for 3 nights and may extend if we like the place. Got good TV reception and full bars on Vodafone & Telstra mobiles. cherio for now.
pics - 1. Moonie Caravan Park. 2. Looking toward Mt Kaputar National Park, Narrabri
p.s. having a few probs with the laptop keyboard, sometimes it wont print the letters "s" "w" and a few others so if you don't hear from us for some time, that will be the cause.
Narrabri Monday 21 Sept
Bit of road noise from the street we are on in the morning but otherwise a comfortable and clean caravan park. Done our laundry and sorted out a lot of stuff,. Camping used to be about a tent and open fire, these days we have microwave, HD digital TV, internet with video calls, fridge & oven. Do we miss the old days? not on your nelly!. Started raining about midday so we stayed inside most of the day. Watched DVD The Bucket List.
Narrabri Tuesday 22 Sept
Still raining and very windy overnight, up to 60kmph. Added extra deflappers to awning. Everything held up. Inbetween showers we drove down to the Cotton Centre and saw the displays, a 3D video and climbed up onto the huge cottonpickin' cotton picker. Through lack of local support and interest, the centre is closing down at the end of the month - shame, it tells the history of cotton around here very well.
After that we went out along the Kamilaroi highway to the Aqua fish farm and had a look. Not much there except for a very large Murray Cod "Scarface" and some yabbies which they breed for local bait. After lunch took a drive further out to the Australian Radio telescope array. These are 6 22m radio scopes, 5 on a 3km rail track and one fixed. Fascinating. Did a bit of a diversion to Wee Waa and on the way came across a dead horse on the side of the road, looked like it had been hit by a ute. Owner was riding another horse and he didn't seem too happy. Wee Waa is a small farming town and nothing to see or do so we came back. Tomorrow if the weather is ok we'll go up to the Kaputar mountains to see Sawn rock which is like organ pipes. Will get some photos.
Narrabri Wed 23 Sept
Overnight a dry thunderstorm swept through to the south of us, followed by a humungous dust storm which moved east from Adelaide. Sydney got hammered and apparently the dust is hitting most of the east coast. NZ may pick up some as well. We are sitting tight here until it clears, and we should be moving south again on Friday. Went down to 18c and has been dusty all day.
photos: Dust storm sweeping across eastern Australia. BigSky Narrabri, Cotton Centre, Murray Cod, Herbs on the move, Australia radio telescope
Narrabri Thurs 24 Sept
Skies cleared this morning and we had a cleanup. Brushed and washed the awning which was the worst affected. In the afternoon drove 40kms east to Mt Kaputa Nat Park and did the easy track to Sawn Rocks which are a volcanic bluff with hexagonal "organ pipes" quite unique. Pics at the top. Leave here tomorrow morning, south to Dubbo and probably free camp at Tomingley overnight. A few flies about.
