Saturday 26.5.12

Today the sun is shining! It is warmer but still a cold wind. The lady at information said the temperature range is 20 degrees. Much like Canberra. We set off first thing on our bikes to go exploring. We are on the edge of town so we had a ride of about 1 km. Taxing as you would realize. The first thing we stumbled across was a mural done by Darcy Doyle. Apparently he visited and enjoyed the town and painted  a mural as a thank you. Next we came across the c- shaped windmill. We had trouble seeing the c-shape. This was to commemorate all the artesian bores. They were the first town to have the bores sunk. This water is the life blood out here.

The C shaped windmill

Next we visited the information place. The lady was a volunteer and a bit of a wag. She filled us in on the real story about things rather then sanitised version. For example the shearer’s strike (1891) the people would have had secret meetings at rivers rather then under tree of knowledge; also tree of knowledge died a natural death from old age and overwatering. Believe what you will but we enjoyed listening to her. She was cross about the big impressive sculpture over where the tree of knowledge was because what town really needs is facilities for the aged. They have to raise money with cake stalls etc. We found the tree of knowledge over which is a giant wind chime made of 100mm pieces of wood. Took appropriate photos.

The three picture above are the tree of knowledge and the building surrounding it.

Kept cycling to edge of town and found cemetery. No one we knew there. Came back into town and checked out 5 pubs. Most have been burnt down at some stage and rebuilt over their lifespan. Adrian said slabs of beer are expensive($50-55).

We also found the local cinema, all in art deco style. They were showing The Lorax , not something we were remotely interested in. The cinema only opens 3 times a week and is run by the locl dramatic society.

Chatted to some people along the walk who were travelling up from vic and going over to coast. Spoke to an irish man also from vic. He put us onto a good park on the savannah way. He said victorians aren’t liked in Karumba because they don’t contribute to town. Supposedly some that have sold their homes and live on rental assistance from the government. Bought some pies for lunch and headed out to local lagoon for lunch. Two and half inches of rain a couple of days ago meant the track was partly under water. Could not ride all way around so we had lunch where the tables and chairs were. Headed back to the park and meant our new neighbours. Sat in the sun. Tony and Clare joined us and we played rummicub after lunch. There is a nice little lounge here that we can use. Then the highlight of the day!

Billy tea and damper with music at the camp kitchen. Yummy damper. Then a local character chatted about local area, giving the history and told a few jokes. Very entertaining and informative. He runs tours around local area. Depending on the state of the country after the rain we hope to do a day tour Monday. All these towns have a heavy reliance on tourism. Young kids leaving school can earn big money in the mines and don’t stay. They have about 60,000 people drive thru town during 6 months of the tourist season. This area is much sandier then areas north and south. The town actually sits on a huge sand dune. Town sits on sand and then sandstone. Up until sandstone was cut into for sewerage anything would grow anywhere because rain went thru sand and could go no further.

The wild dogs (aka dingoes – but called wild dogs for a reason – shooters get no government rewards unless it’s a wild dog) still are a problem as are feral pigs, cats and kangaroos. In this shire alone, they cull 120,000 kangaroos and they are still a problem. Road kill also accounts for 20,000 feral animals a year just in this shire. Heaven only knows what the numbers are Australia wide.

We hope to get to 5.00pm mass tomorrow. The local bishop is saying mass before he retires. Should be a bit special.

Fay with the local ferals