Holiday to St George Qld.......day 10

Cockatiels

 Thursday:
A lot of km's covered today, St.George to Narrabri. First to Nindigully, Thallon then across to Noondoo (must have blinked when we went though there as we didn't see it), turn left at Dirranbandi to Hebel.
From there to Lightning Ridge, Walgett, Come by Chance (top spot), Pilliga and then , hopefully, Narrabri.

Nindigully Pub.

Grain silos at Thallon.

Most larger creeks still had water in them.

We stopped to let this bloke cross the road. Too far from a hospital to get out of the car.

Sand Goanna. They lay on the road to warm up which, unfortunately,
means a lot of them get run over.

The lovely bark of the Leopard Wood Tree.

Road train, the sand goannas worst enemy.

Railway cranes from older times, Dirranbandi.

Cotton fields, as far as the eye can see.

Hebel Hotel. Check out all the windows and doors (there's a pig looking out the door on the right).

This is how I remember it when I first came here in the 60's.

A couple of good sorts.

The thermal pool would be good in winter, 40 degrees C.

Old opal diggings.

They have big cups of tea out here.

Emu

Not sure what the were harvesting but they were making a lot of dust,
Come by Chance.

Leaving Come by Chance, told you it was a top spot.

Holiday to St George Qld....day 9

This net keeps the flies from stealing his lunch box.

 Tuesday:
We spent the day in the St George area just looking around.



Emu

A liitle bit of colour along the side of the road.

It might seem dry here but water from the river helps a lot.

Bougainvillea grows well out here.

As do the Jacarandas.

Pale-headed Rosella.

Jack Taylor Weir. The 2012 floods covered the roadway on the weir.

The weir from down stream.

Not as much water on this side.

Some locals keep their eyes on me. Black Kites (Fork-tailed Kite).

Where's a Mr Whippy when you want one.

Pretty but I think it's a weed.

Flood waters reached the 'welcome sign.'

Very popular here.

Cotton is the main industry here.

And here it is on the plant.

They might need to get a bigger pole.

Balonne River, St George.

Balonne River, St George.

Holiday to St George Qld.......day 8

A disabled cow on the disabled units at the motel we stayed at.

 Monday:
A long drive ahead today to reach St George. Looking forward to seeing the drier inland and getting away from the coastal zone. The country has a good cover of grass and there was a fair bit of surface water still around. The bird-life is a bit thin and we are yet to see a live kangaroo (we did see a wallaby). I was surprised to see that Prickly Pears are still fairly common in this part of Queensland, and the were the tallest I have ever seen. Also another pest species was seen along the highway, Common (Indian) Mynah were in open pastures as well as bushy areas a long distance away from any dwellings.


The motel had a 'cow' theme.

The local flying fox colony at Kilcoy.

Another garden tree growing in it's natural area, Silky Oak.

I thought we had taken another wrong turn. Kilcoy.

One of the giant prickly pears.
 Must be nearly 5m (15ft) tall. 

Dollarbirds

Myall Creek, Dalby.

The 'Talking Circle' does get used, Dalby.

Lake Broadwater near Dalby.

The only place I used 'cruise control' (auto cruise).

Feral pigs, oink oink.

Looks like they've got the barbie going for us.

Sand Goanna (Gould's Monitor)

Bug and wildflower.

Spinifex grass.

Spinifex and wildflowers go together.

Would have taken a long time to dig out using stone tools.

It was this deep (could have silt on the bottom).