Today I am very clean. After bacon and eggs breakfast I had my normal shower. Then we set sail for Eulo about 60kms west of Cullamulla. There we discovered the date farm and artesian mud bath. The date farm people were always local farmers in sheep and cattle and about 30 years decided to try dates. This is normally a very dry area of 10 inches of rain a year, no humidity and very suitable for dates. The last three years have had 34 inches, 24 inches and 17 so far this year. They can’t sell the dates as fruit but can be sold to make products such as wine, liquor, health creams. They also grow figs. Because artesian water is the lifeblood of the outback they also offered mud baths. There is locally an area of natural pools but not appealing and also like quicksand. So I had a mudbath at the date farm. It is outdoors [enclosed] with lovely old deep baths with claw feet. I also had refreshments. So I am very clean which is positive because the Artesian Waters Caravan park in Yowah does not have an attractive ameneties block. The caravan park is a vivid cerise colour with its own baths also.
Once again it is hard to believe we are in the outback with
the lush grass growth and trees. There have been beautiful bougainvilleas all
the way up from Bourke in the towns. They are beautiful. When we were in
Cunnamulla we saw a great presentation about the Great Artesian
Basin
When we have been at the caravan park the last couple of
days there has been quite a strong smell. Apparently this is from the gidgee
trees. These trees are a hard wood and used for building. There are massive
amounts of mulga trees and this apparently was a life saver for the cattle
during the drought.
We are meeting lots of friendly people who give us tips on
places to visit and not visit. We enjoy talking to the locals where possible
and listening to their stories. The caravan place today is very casual and we
haven’t paid yet. There is a three course meal tonight around a campfire for
$15. We take our cutlery and crockery etc Should be fun.
It is now Fri lunch time. We did have a lovely evening, good
food, company and music. Our musician was a Texan with an Irish heritage
wearing a kilt. Not what we expected. The couple we chatted with have been on
the road for four years. They sold everything in Lismore and hit the road. They
have no permanent home but some stuff in storage. They have a Motorhome about
our size and a very big trailer with a car and washing machine amongst other
things.They had lots of stories and are big fans of freecamping as are many we
have spoken to.
The village here is lovely. We went up to the bluff at
sunset last night and had an amazing 360 view of the area. On one side everything
was owned by one person. Once again we looked down on a forest of trees and
grass. The grass is testament to the floods. The floods came thru and the
village was cut off for three weeks but they had no rain! They keep an eye on
each other to check all are okay. Up at the bluff we met the local teacher. The
school has 2 students at present but the numbers will rise in winter with
itinerant workers. One teacher comes from Eulo 70 kms away for Thurs and Fri.
The other three days she teaches in Eulo. They often have functions up on the
bluff. We managed to collect quite a bit of mud on Fanda on the way down so
spent a little time clearing it off.
This area is famous for opals and bird watching [feathered
kind.] People come from all over the world for the birds . Not sure where they
stay! The opals are sold overseas and are very popular with Germans and Swiss.
We wet for a ride on our bikes around the village and stopped in at one of many
opal galleries. Lots of info and beautiful opals. The area has serious miners
and a big area for fossickers. The weather is glorious - we are in t-shirts and
shorts (The locals are in long pants and cardgans). The people who live here
have been miners and gone away and come back to retire or came as tourists and
stayed. We could but a 3 bedroom house for about $60,000. Because of the summer
heat some people spend 6 months here and 6 months at the coast.
We have decided to stay another night. We are trying to go
slower and not be on the road every day. This afternoon we went to see the
nutcracker. Apparently opals come in ironstone in the shape of a nut and a
local has devised a special way to open these nuts. We pay$10 and get an opal
to the value of $10. We watched the machine for about 2 minutes then they had a
bit of trouble with but at least we saw it in action.
We have now had tea outside next to a fire place where we
had started a nice little fire. One thing we have noticed as we head out west
is that the stars at night are absolutely amazing. You really can see the milky
looking clouds of stars of the milky way out here.
Quilpie tomorrow so sayanara from Yowah (not Yehweh)
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