Winter is upon us

As we ventured south, the cold weather and rain started appearing.

Our first stop after droving was Lightning Ridge.  We drove straight to the thermal hot bath to soak our bodies.  There we met the Rodgers, a lovely family, who recommended Lorne Park as a place to stay.  We spent 3 days with them exploring Lightning Ridge.  It was a great time.

We fossicked in the river bed and found some pitch (opal), some even had colour.

As an opal town the place was full of mine shafts, some fenced and others not.  Lots of interesting buildings from humpys to bottle houses.  We visited one mine shaft where the miner had created hundreds of sculptures in the walls.

Next stop Dubbo, there we watched The Heat at the cinemas and went shopping.

Further south at Cowra, we visited the Prisoner of War camp where the Japanese mounted an escape.  Its amazing to reflect on our war history and the fact that we had thousands of POW in Australia.

At Junee it was a visit to the Licorice and Chocolate Factory.  Sally, Maddie and Max opted to make their own Rocky Road, then we toured the factory.

The weather is 13 degrees during the day and 5 degrees overnight.  Its raining and I want to go back to the Cape.  The trip has been amazing and soon we will be home. :(

Droving

Droving

We managed to find Bill in Surat.  We arrived just in time to get an invite to the pub for dinner.  At 5.30 the next morning, Cooper, one of Bill's drovers, staggered back into camp, saddled the horses and Maddie and Sally started the first day of droving.  It was an 'easy' day finishing at 5.30 in the afternoon.

To put the drove into context.  Sally and Maddie were helping to push 2500 cattle.  Bill had 18,000 cattle to deliver to Hay in NSW.  The mob were split into 6 herds.  It is the largest drove in Australia's history.

Ten hours in the saddle.  Both were a tad tired at the end of the day and fell into bed after dinner.  The sunset that evening was just amazing.

There were no showers so a wash was had at the cattle trough after they had had their drink.

The next two days followed a similar format.  Up at 5.30am, breakfast, onto the horse and then 10 hours chasing up the cattle before corralling them in the evening, dinner and bed.

Max and I halped with the pack down and saw them off before cranking up the campfire and cooking ourselves some eggs and bacon for breakfast.

After three days, both Maddie and Sally were sad to say goodbye and head further south.  We arrived at Lightning Ridge this afternoon and headed straight to the artesian hot bath for a long soak.  Tomorrow we will explore the opal diggings and all the other sights at Lightning Ridge.  This avo its time to relax.

Bill Little doing a media interview.

 Max and I having breakfast after the herd had left.

 A wash in the cattle trough.

Maddie driving the herd

Max on horse back

Sally pushing them up from the back.

Another amazing sunset

Watering the cattle

The return trip started with a trip to the Coffee Factory in Mareeba.  We were surprised by the amazing museum and of course the sampling of free chocolate and coffee.

Lava Tubes and Carnarvon Gorge

Then it was off to Undara, the amazing lava tubes.  We found the tubes fascinating although the place we stayed (the only place to stay) was very commercial.

Heading further south, we visited Carnarvon Gorge National Park.  It was one of the most beautiful places we have visited in Australia.  We camped just outside the park on the first night and cook some magnificent scones for breakfast.

Then we dropped the caravan at Takarakka campsite before embarking on a 14 km walk into the gorge.

Highlights were the walk itself, Moss Garden, the Amphitheatre, the indigenous paintings and the amazing Ward Canyon.  Inspired by the indigenous paintings, Maddie and Max found some orca and decided to paint Sally and I.

This place is a must for a revisit and was another highlight of this trip.  Tomorrow we set of to find Bill, the drover, and start herding the cattle.

Lava Tubes

Bird that joined us for lunch

Perfect scones for breakfast

Carnarvon Gorge

The rocks in Ward Canyon

Face painting the parents after seeing the indigenous art

Heading South

The southbound trip was dominated by sitings of wildlife.  The trip back to Archer River we saw wild pigs, wild horses, dingoes and an emu.  Breakfast included a feast of freshly cooked scones in the camp oven.

Then it was into Chili Beach, through the Pascoe River and Tozer Gap before we hit the windy coast.  Coconut trees along the shore provided a challenge for Simon to climb and throw down to hungry mouths below.  Maddie found a hollow coconut with a hole that was perfect for a flute instrument.

On the trip out, we met a snake handler who had found a black headed python.

The trip out was a long day as we travelled 400 kms along the dirt tracks to get to Lakefield National Park.  Our first night we stayed at Nifold Plains as we through it would be a good campsite.  Wrong,  We spent the night in the caravan as millions of mosquitos tried to get in.  Dinner in the caravan followed by mossie slapping before bed.

The next day we made it to our original destination, Kalpowar River.  A lovely campsite by the river, we shared it with a 4.5 metre croc.

On the drive out we saw Brolgas which made Sally very happy.  At Split Rock, we saw the indigenous art and said goodbye to the Hodgsons.  We had had a great time travelling with them.

A quick trip to Yorkeys Knob for dinner with Mum and Dad and then we cleaned the red dust from the van and the car before we started to head inland to start the final stage of our journey.