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Thursday, September 12, 2024

Cunnamulla to Toowoomba

The day after our visit to  Currawinya NP we started heading east. We planned to spend the night at the free camp in Cunnamulla, but we discovered that it was right across from side-show alley...

We had a quick early lunch and escaped the loud music for the Cunnamulla Conservation Bushlands. It was interesting walking through the different landscapes, but it would seem that some of the trees identified in the signs had died, and some of the areas were looking rather tired. Rufous songlarks provided the soundtrack for our meandering and we saw a white-winged fairy wren (no photo, though - it wouldn't let Dazz get close enough for a clear shot). No such issues with the steam engine!

Since the free camp was far too noisy to stay, and it was still early enough in the day, we decided to drive through to Bollon that afternoon. We pulled into a spot in the middle of the gravel parking area and went for a walk around the town. There were some nice camp spots right on the river, but they were quite shady. We decided that if a particular van left the next morning we would move to their spot on the grass near the fence. It turned out to be an excellent plan. We were able to fill up with water at a tap near the river and then have a nice private grassy site for a couple of days.




The patches of mulga scrub on red sand were overtaken by black soil as we headed east. In a quest to travel on new (to us) roads, we headed south east, rather than continuing on to St George. Our next camp was on the Ballone Minor River just outside of Dirranbandi. 

Australian Ringneck Parrot


A few photos from the park in Dirranbandi.



Our lunch stop was in Thallon.





Cockatiels

We continued on our very indirect way of getting home by going further south to Mungindi and camped on the Barwon River, which gave us another opportunity to get out on the kayaks.




Brown treecreeper

Apostle bird




Our final stop for the trip was at Toobeah. It was rather uninspiring, and consequently there were no photos.

The two weeks we spent in Toowoomba were a combination of catching up on cleaning and washing, getting organised (i.e. taking stuff out of the van) ready to have some work done on it, and helping Dad and Mum with yard work.

Sunday, August 18, 2024

Currawinya National Park

The road was still 4WD only (i.e. no caravans), so we settled on a day trip instead. We waited until after the cloudy weather was forecast to clear and it was an absolute stunner!



First stop was the Currawinya Woolshed.










Lake Wyara is a salt lake, or salt pan when there hasn't been rain for a while. One of the reasons we wanted to come out west this year was because they have had a lot of rain all year, so we new it would be a good season.

There were quite a few wildflowers around.





There were lots of flocks of budgerigars, which was a challenge for the photographer as they fly so fast.

This was the best he could do.
Orange chat

Lake Numalla is a large freshwater lake, so there was different flora and fauna. 


Black-winged stilt
We were very excited to spot crimson chats and a pied honey eater. Both of these are desert birds that we haven't seen in the wild before.



Martins and swallows make the most of picnic shelters and signs for building nests.
Shingleback lizard

Golden orb spider
Bearded dragon

Next stop was "The Granites".









Yellow-throated miner

It was late in the day, but we had a quick stop at the Old Caiwarro Homestead ruins on our way home.