More Events for Auntie

Wow, two posts in one day.  But I am only trying to save face and playing catch-up really.

We did factor in some quiet time for Auntie to recover from jet-lag, but it really wasn't needed as she had no problems adjusting to our time zone, but we did ease her into a couple of local trips.
 
Toowoomba is renowned for it's gardens, and the annual Carnival of Flowers is held in September, so the first trip to introduce Auntie to our beautiful region was off to the Japanese Gardens, and Laurel Bank Gardens (my favourite as this is where we were married 31 years ago).  The gardens didn't disappoint, although not fully in bloom until the second week of September they still put on a good early show of beauty.


 As many of you may know, Mr R. and I are 'bushies' at heart and we love the bush and its peace and tranquillity, so it was only natural that during the first four weeks of Auntie's visit that we would head for the local national parks for short day trips. Our first was to Crows Nest Falls, just 35 minutes from Toowoomba.  A lovely quiet park mid-week - not a soul to be seen.  The only set back here is the track gets a bit rough and steep in parts before reaching the Falls lookout (exceptionally rough in some parts after last year's horrendous floods).  Unfortunately, Auntie was a bit lame the day we decided to do this walk and struggled a little with a painful hip.  She was very brave though and completed the walk, but did need to rest for the next few days.
 
 
Our second NP visit was a little more successful - Ravensbourne.  A lovely short walk of 1km taking in some beautiful rainforest and natural lookouts over the range. 
 

As the Carnival period approached our garden blossomed even more, Mr R. and I also had a few commitments with the info centre and quilt group.  Undeterred at being left on her own for a few hours Auntie seemed to enjoy sitting in one of my rockers whilst she read books from my collection of Catherine Cookson, or spent time knitting dolls clothes with the umpteen balls of wool stored in my craft cupboard.  We didn't however, neglect her, and she and I had a lovely "girlie" day out to Highfields, just 15 minutes from home, wandering through antique, jewellery, and crafty shops, with a lovely lunch to finish.





Out next "event" was a trip to Lake Broadwater, about an hour's drive from home, SW of Dalby.  Here Auntie experienced our wild life 'up close and personal'.  With an abundance of wallabies and kangaroos around the lake we enjoyed watching young joeys trying to get back in the pouch and had some wonderful photo opportunities.  LB has a wonderful variety of birdlife and we were delighted to see a very large flock of spoonbills wading in the lake as well as two black swans with their young.  Our journey home from LB gave us the opportunity to show Auntie some of the rich cotton fields and locally grown crops. 

Auntie's Aussie Visit

Already more than half way through Auntie's visit downunder and I am yet to put pen to paper - shame on me!  However, I shall now try my best to right such a terrible wrong and give you a little insight to the first four weeks of her historic visit.

No-one could say that this visit was going to be anything but eventful - and I mean full of events.  The morning of Auntie's arrival was certainly not straightforward.  But first let me regress to the day before - that being the day we travelled from Toowoomba to Boronia Heights to stay the night with Bro and wife to ease the travel to the airport since Auntie's ETA was 6.40 am and it's a two and half hour journey from home to the airport.  And a jolly good thing we did make the trip the day before because when we arrived at Bro's the speedy sporty Astra just died on the front lawn. RACQ assistance was extremely quick in responding to my cry for help but only to tell us he couldn't really help as the alternator had given up the ghost and we had only been running of battery power for most of our trip from home!  Great - 4.45pm the day before going to the airport - thank goodness for a kind-hearted Bro who knew a mechanic was only five minutes walk away - and lo and behold he actually had an alternator for our model Astra. Of course, wouldn't be fixed until midday the next day but at least we could borrow Nellie's motor to collect Auntie at 6.40am.

Rising bright (well not so bright really) and early (yes, very, very, early) we headed off to the airport at 5.50am to avoid the start of the peak hour traffic, only to find we were driving into early morning fog!!  Wonderful start to the day.  Very pleased with ourselves we arrived at the airport at 6.35am only to discover - yep you guessed it - flight delayed.  But not just delayed for 30 or 40 minutes - delayed FOUR HOURS!!!!!  As we all know, airport parking fees are astronomical and four hours  was not long enough for us to return to Bro's but too damn long to stay parked, so we headed off to DFO to get some breakfast and free parking (must mention here though, DFO car park does not open its gates until 9am, so we parked at the Village and stretched our breakfast time).  Asking the question re the delay, information provided - "an elderly lady was taken ill and the aircraft diverted to allow her to be taken off" - are we now more than anxious? - darn right we are, especially as it approached 11.30am and still no sign of Auntie through customs.  Then she appeared and Mrs R. cried with relief.

              

Although that first day was full of anxiety, it was also full of love and hugs with a short reunion at Bro's house with Mr and Mrs G. and part of their family making a short trip from their holiday site on the Gold Coast. The car was ready by 1pm, and after a lovely lunch, short reunion, and fond good-byes we took Auntie away from the city and planted her in the beautiful rural surrounds of the 'Rayward Resort'.  So endeth the first day of a ten week visit.  EVENTFUL or EVENT FULL, not quite sure.   

Out and About

Since departing Nairana at the end of July life for the Rambling Retirees has been extremely busy.

Beach waves

Rock pool exploring

On the Beach 4WD

Sea Eagle

We left Nairana and travelled across country to Sarina to spend a couple of days with Mr and Mrs K. - the couple of days extended into eight days before we headed home.  For the first time in this area we did a few "touristy" things - a tour of the local sugar factory, complete with tastings; the botanic gardens; Cape Hillsborough; Mackay shopping; shell collecting on the local beaches;  We also took a little bit of time out to see some of the spectacular rainforest and coastal areas - including a trip to Cape Palmerston where we experienced our first 4WD trip across the sand!  Ever in the 'bird-watch' mode we espied some beautiful sea-eagles and Steve once again wished for a bigger lens!

Finch Hatton Gorge

Finch Hatton Approach

Cascades

A day out with Mrs K. driving gave Mr. R. a few more grey hairs but we certainly enjoyed a beautiful day at Cape Hillsborough walking on the beach and exploring the rock pools.

On our trip to Finch Hatton Gorge we were lucky enough to see a loaded sugar-cane train crossing the river.  As we had been to the local miniature sugar factory in Sarina it was interesting to see the  associated machinery cutting and transporting the cane from local farms. 

A short trip into Mackay and we enjoyed a lovely day wandering through the small but interesting botanic gardens - it really is a lovely area in the North.

Cania Gorge walks

Leaving Sarina on the Sunday morning before we were due back in Toowoomba we decided to drive as far as Cania Gorge to make a stopover. That was a wonderful choice as we had never been to Cania Gorge and with just a one night there we have decided to make a mid-week camping trip back there either later this year or March next year.

Cania Gorge Cabin

Time as slipped by very quickly since our return and as always, when one gets older, one starts to lose track of days, then weeks between events!  We are now at the end of September, actually TWO months since our return and it has been hectic.

Not long after our return from the wilderness our lovely Auntie arrived from the UK to spend ten weeks with us.  Being her first, and no doubt only, trip to Australia we do, of course, want to show her as much as we can during her visit.  Luckily for us September is our local Carnival of Flowers time and the gardens all around our beautiful city are just splendidly full of colour.  There are lots of private gardens open to the public following the judging of the garden competition and our public parks are just brimming with floral displays. So plenty to see locally during September and October.

Although I am only now updating our blog, we thought you might like to share in our excursions with Auntie during her visit - so -

More to come. 

Final Days

Today was our final day at Nairana.  Over the past 6 weeks we have enjoyed many new experiences at the Park – some good, some not so good.

The last five days have given us brilliant sunshine during the day – the kind of weather that we had expected to experience at this time of year.  The rains that plagued many of our days in June and July were far from the ‘norm’ for this time of year.  They did, however, give us the opportunity to see a different ‘face’ of the Park.

Since our arrival we have sighted and recorded 118 different species of birds around the Park.  From the tiniest wren to the magnificent wedge-tail eagle the sighting of so many birds has been one of the highlights of this stay. (Oh, and the completion of the kitchen painting!!!).

Despite the rains, or maybe because of the rains, we have explored many areas of the Park that we had not seen on our previous visits.  This past week we explored the far northern boundary, new areas around Lake Eliza, and new sections of Kapunda.

At the northern end of the Park we found pockets of wattle and grevillea in bloom side by side; we took in a magnificent view from the highest point of the Park, and we sighted the red-backed Kingfisher for the first time. We also pushed the Kubota to its limit (and Mr R.’s driving skills) as we trekked along steep and boggy tracks and detoured around bog holes and creeks!

On our last trip to Lake Eliza we stopped to photograph the largest red kangaroo that we have ever seen (he would have been at least 7 feet in height) and then discovered Sandy Ridge.  This area was almost like a coastal foreshore and here we sighted and photographed the Mistletoe bird and videoed another red kangaroo.

Stopping for our regular cuppa at the Lake we took a short walk up the rocky ridge surrounding the Lake and spotted another lagoon that we had never seen before.  We also spotted a herd of feral pigs – 9 adults and 6 piglets in the area. We trekked into the lagoon and found more water birds and new vegetation.

Departing Lake Eliza we finally came across the site of an old mustering hut in an area called Police Camp.  Mr R. had been searching for this site for almost three years now, so that was a highlight for him!

 

Our final trip to the Kapunda area provided an opportunity to photograph red-tailed black cockatoos, red-winged parrots, the magnificent display of wattle in the area, and a family of grey kangaroos feeding along the track. 

All in all, this time at Nairana has given us another glimpse into the wonderful country that we live in with its diverse vegetation, flora, fauna, and weather!

We hope you have enjoyed trekking with us through Nairana. Please take the opportunity to continue to follow our little blog when we return to Toowoomba when we will have the time and technology to upload more photos of this wonderful area.

Confined to Barracks – or not!

Wednesday – What a difference a few hours of sunshine makes! The morning was bright and clear and we were spurred on to complete more of the painting tasks whilst it was dry enough to do so.  An afternoon short trip in the Kubota was a chance to check out the track to the tip flats and we espied a family of red roos in the open grasslands below the ridge.

Having checked the track earlier in the day, Mr R. decided it was a perfect evening to do some night driving.  So getting fully rugged up against the cold we headed back out to the flats eager to spot some night life.   The stars were amazing – not a cloud in the sky and the Milky Way was so very clear you could feel as though you could touch the stars!

Unfortunately, no owls or dingoes to be seen, but we did come across a small macropod on the track.  Mr R. snapped away whilst Mrs R. held the torch.  Great there should be some fantastic photos to identify the little guy when we get back.  Just check the camera and show me.  Oh, oh – they are not nice words Mr R.  What goes?  Dare I tell – the flash was facing the top of the vehicle and not the little animal on the track! Result – well no result really – just a black screen.  Mrs R. got one shot in but non-identifiable!    It was a very stressed driver all the way back to the homestead!

Thursday – Not a happy day at all!   

Mrs R.’s turn to have a dummy-spit this morning – woken by the sounds of heavy rain once again she was not impressed! 

Today the rangers, Matt and David, trekked up from Clermont to check the possibility of a ‘controlled burn’ for next week.  Obviously that was going to be a ‘no-go’ after this lot of rain!

Mr R. was not happy as the ride-on was taken away to be fixed – in Emerald and would not be returned before we leave, so the mowing won’t get done.

Even the birds stayed quiet today!

Friday – A day of release

After the dummy-spit yesterday all were delighted to see the sun shining, even though there was a bitterly cold wind blowing from the south.  A morning of painting and an afternoon of trekking.  We ventured out in the K. down the highway to Kapunda to check the rain gauge.  Not as much rain in the southern end of the park as at the homestead – only 54mm in four weeks – homestead had 64 in 6 days!

The wattle is absolutely stunning in that part of the park – even Mr R. could smell it!  Strong scents of honey and yellow carpets everywhere.  It was lovely to get out again. Won’t last long though as the dark rain clouds started to move in from the east again.

Sunday - After the Rain

At last the rain has stopped and we are able to once again trek around the park in the Kubota.  Some tracks were still a little boggy and impassable until today (Sunday) so it was with a little trepidation that we ventured out for a day of ‘sight-seeing’. Armed with cameras, binos, bird book, and video camera, and dressed accordingly, that is warm jacket, walking boots, and hat, we started out along the fire-break track to seek the entrance to Saltwater and Piccadilly dams. 

The fire-break was firm under wheel and we crossed the highway (after looking left and right of course) to trek into Saltwater first.  An amazing number of birds this time including a white-necked heron, great egret, black winged stilt, jacanas, grebes, darters, Pacific black ducks, and native ibis.  There was also evidence of pig activity around the dam, and a number of Dingo tracks on the dam wall.

Our venture into Piccadilly dam area was our first on this visit.  Very little bird life but Mr R. managed to snag a fantastic photo of a Whistler Kite in flight above us.  There were a few boggy spots along the track but the intrepid ‘Bota driver managed to get us thru with no problems.  We enjoyed morning tea in a relatively sheltered area near the dam before heading back out to the highway to investigate another track we had spied along the fire-break. 

Having once again crossed the highway, after waving to a few truckies and grey nomads, we found the track we had spied earlier.  To our disappointment it was actually the original track entrance to the homestead and we ended up on the main track to the house.

Undeterred and not yet willing to return to the house (who would after being confined to barracks for so long), we headed out to the Mistake Creek track – our favourite track.  This track had been very, very boggy after the last down pour and had been impassable for over a week.  Stopping at 3 mile creek we had lunch and contemplated the possibility of continuing onto  MC as the cattle had really churned up the track ahead and we couldn’t be sure it was dry enough to trek along.  But Mr R. said “What the hell – plenty of winch points if needed – let’s go for it”.  

So for the first time in 10 days we arrived at the Creek (only a few boggy waterholes to navigate!). Pig feed was, of course, all gone and we had three very large claw in our net. The Creek has risen a good 2 metres after the rain and looked as though it had been even higher than that last week.

So the sun is shining again and the tracks are drying out.  We have just five days left at Nairana and if the sun continues to shine upon us we shall be out and about the park every day – heading for the northern end on Monday in hopes to find the lagoons in that area, which according to the ranger is where we will find most of the waterbirds this time.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Sunday 15^th July – Yep! Those heavy, black, threatening clouds dumped a good 30 plus mm of rain on us during the night and throughout the day.  If the tracks were boggy after the last rainfall, they will now be impassable for at least a week unless the sun shines every day to dry out the ground. 

Sunday was another ‘non-event’ day as it was too wet and humid to even paint the kitchen doors.  So Mrs R. was able to justify spending the day stitching and Mr R. worked on his digital photos most of the day.  We did make a trip to Belyando Crossing for Mr R. to have a Works burger for lunch and even getting from the Homestead to the main road needed a little careful driving after a few sideways slides.  The river has definitely risen in the past week and there was evidence of a vehicle having been bogged on the side of the road.

Another wet weather activity – jigsaw puzzles!  We started the 1000 piece jigsaw earlier in the week when it was wet, so Sunday was a good day to complete this one.  A little ‘puzzling’ for Mr R. when putting in the last six sky pieces as for some reason they refused to fit in the empty spaces.  A little further investigation solved the mystery – Mrs R. had put the outside edge pieces together incorrectly – or so Mr. R. claimed!  Puzzle number two will be on the table if the inclement weather continues this week.

Monday 16^th July – The morning shone bright and clear although somewhat cooler with a souwesterly wind blowing.  Still, warm clothes and hot coffee got us off to a labour-intensive day.

More cupboard doors were prepped and painted and at the end of the day one door had been rehung.  Looks like we’ll get that painting finished after all.  Before and after photos to be posted when all is completed.

 

Late afternoon Mrs R. took a walk along the Homestead Dam track, and a short distance along the Mistake Creek track. Armed with camera it was not surprising to find a rather water-logged track and the little creek filled with water.  Don't be deceived by what looks like only a little water on the side - it is seriously boggy all along that track!  May be  more than a week for all this to dry out and be navigable in the Kubota again – and yes, you do hear a cry of despondency, as we have only 10 days before we leave the beauty and solitude of Nairana NP.!