Hello from Cunnamulla Wed 16.5.2012

We didn’t blog yesterday so will work backwards from today- unless I change my mind!

Actually I will start with yesterday – see I have changed my mind.
Left the caravan park in Bourke bright and early after a cold night. We drove a little north and went on the P.V Jandra paddleboat on the river Darling. This was about an hour’s trip. The number of different species of birds was amazing as was the sheer number of birds. Kites (a type of hawk), darters corellas, cockatoos and galahs to name a few. They were flying all around us as we cruised along the river. We nearly didn’t make it (on the boat that is) as it was cash only and luckily we had some coin for washing at parks and we scraped the money together with 40 cents to spare. The commentary was informative and interesting. We could see how high the floods had been. As we have said previously there is water everywhere. The floods spread out for miles. The river was very muddy. That apparently is a good sign. The commentator blamed a build up of sediment and sand as the problems with the rivers, rather than too much water being taken out. The banks were quite steep and we saw red river gums hundreds of years old. They can survive nine months under water in a flood. When trees and logs fall in the river they are no longer cleared as they form habitats for fish. If you catch a carp it has to be burnt or buried because if birds eat it, the fish eggs end up back in the river. 

Fay and the PV Jandra

We saw houses quite close to the river and new ones have to build their own levee. During the floods these houses would be cut off but not inundated. These people all have boats to cope with floods. We saw lots of boat ramp signs which struck us as funny in the middle of the outback. There were markers in the tops of trees that showed the flood height and where SES people would put there boats. The system of irrigation licences was explained. It is quite complicated and supposedly not as much water is taken from the river as we are led to believe. It is amazing to think that the catchment is way up in north Qld. In its heyday the river was used to transport wool on the paddlesteamers.

We decided to go back to Bourke - only few kms - and top up with fuel as the sign said no fuel for 250kms. We had passed a wetland with a bike path and we decided to explore. It had the name of Poonogum Swamp. This path led to the original bridge over the river that is now a walking bridge. We parked at the exhibition centre and rode to the swamp and ended up at the bridge. About a 20 minute ride on a Canberra quality bike path except for bits affected by the flood. The swamp was pretty with wildflowers. We headed back and Adrian got a puncture again! I rode on and had the cuppa ready for his return. We think the tube may be gone and luckily in Cunnamulla there is a bike shop that helped us.

We headed towards Cunnamulla next. It is about 265 kms between Bourke and Cunnamulla. After about 20 kms the vegetation changed and we were amazed at the amount of knee to waist height grass and the number of trees and plenty of red dirt. We saw emus, cattle and sheep. The closer we got to Cunnamulla the more densely wooded and more cattle. The trees were so thick we couldn’t see through them. We followed the Warrego river for most of the way. Much prettier country that we expected and lush with grass, trees and water. We stopped at Engonia for lunch. Another grey nomad also there. Little tiny one street town with an impressive footy oval. It was a good road all the way and we shared the driving. Had some road trains but they didn’t seem bigger then normal semis we see. Closer to Cunamulla there were some huge paddocks that went as far as the eye could see.

We arrived at 3.30 and went to the information centre (old pub) and signed up for a dinner and a tour. We had booked at a caravan park on the river which is lovely. Only opened for two weeks. We thought there were no parks so this was a pleasant surprise. The dinner was around a fire, soup, roast and pudding. They had an old fellow who had been a drover and he cracked whips and had lots of yarns to tell about being a bushie - very enjoyable. We had had a drink around a campfire at the park before we left. This was down by the river with the sun setting. We had a look around today and went on a guided tour all thru town to places including a cotton farm.

The lake at the cotton farm - to water the crop - 1 of three
There was a giant sand dune but unfortunately no ocean over the other side. They have a catholic school but no priest since Anzac Day. A priest comes thru once a month and he covers a huge area of Qld. The previous priest chose to work in the local IGA simply to get to know people. The tour lasted for 3 hours and we were the only ones on it. It was a great tour. Steak for tea and off to bed.

Sunset over the Warrigo River at happy hour

The hghway we are on is the Matilda Highway that goes from Bourke to Karumba. We may even drive to Karumba.