2019 BELLATA AND SURROUNDS

October 23rd .
Goodness so long since I did a blog hope I can remember what to do!. Trusty Lesley will help if not.
Melody, out housesitting friend from Bundaberg arrived on 22nd so we spent a night with her before leaving the next day. We stopped for lunch at Gatton and this “lake” is totally dry. Last year when we came through here it was almost full with a large amount of wild life. So sad.

Driving through Warwick, and just over the bridge, noticed this wonderful structure on the left so naturally we had a look. Apart from the sculpture for want of a better word, the roses were magnificent. We found out while walking around town that Warwick is called the City of roses- all street centres have roses in the gardens.
reading the story of this man’s dream for Warwick it tells how he died just before the foundation for his sculpure was erected so he is buried under his work of art.

Dry country west of Warwick.
Our first stop for the night was a Yelarbon Recreation Grounds which is a favourite of ours when travelling down to daughter’s at Bellata.
The further west we travelled, the drier the country became.
A few photos from Yelarbon where the lagoon has much less water than 12 months ago. After some months of problems between governing bodies, the silo here has finally been painted.

When we left Yelarbon to go to Goondiwindi we never travel along the Newell Highway but go along the Dumaresq river at the border and this time we pulled off the road to check out the 4 camp sites along the river. There was water but not a lot . A couple of them would be nice if there was greenery and more water.

As it was a Friday & I had read about a Cotton Centre tour around Gundy’s art work I rang them before getting into Gundy. Unfortunately the minimum they want on a tour is 4 so it was not possible for us to do the tour which is from 2.30-5.30. However, the lovely information centre ladies told us where we could see some.
The first three are opposite the airport. The jockey on his horse and the next one are down a private road & can only see the remainder on this road if doing the tour.

The above 2 are in lane ways in Gundy (Goondiwindi)
We were going to stop at the North Star overnighter just south of Gundy but decided to keep going down to Bellata.

We set up for the next 3 weeks. The wind was sooo strong and all you could see was smoke and dust. Saturday morning we decided to tie the caravan awning to the front & back of “Flo” ( our patrol). The wind was getting much stronger. Family got home Sunday as they had functions on in Narrabri. A few photos from property. From the front of the home it is usually possible to see the Nandiwa
ranges but they are totally obliterated by the smoke & dust. Fortunately they have bore water here so able to at least keep grass green around home but it is a full time job- finish watering it all & time to start again. The sheep are being grain fed as just nothing for them to eat in the field.

This porcupine often comes to dig in the green lawn and the day before this a couple of Skinks also came for some green pickings as well as the cat food.

Before we had left home we had decided to take a few days to visit some of the small towns to see their art work which we had read about. We headed west, with everything getting so much drier with even big old trees of all kind dead. Our first stop was Pilliga for lunch- could have stayed here but moved on. The cattle below are making the most of the few green pickings after a few mls of rain.

COONAMBLE
In 1818 George Evans discovered the flooded Castlereagh River near the present site of the town. In 1840 James Walker leased land in this district: his “Koonamble “ run, and it was used as a convenient camping ground and watering place.
We decided to go to a farm stay- Nakadoo- which is about 4k north of Coonamble. It is a donation place with hot shower, toilet, room to park . Lovely hosts who cater for school bus tours as far away as from Sydney. These tours certainly open city children’s eyes as to how they get their food!! One child about 8 was terrified when he was accidently squirted with milk from a goat when it was being milked. Some thought the eggs they had at home just came in a carton & were surprised when shown all the hens & collected the eggs. They have an alpaca, donkey, shetland ponies, many goats, horses, pig, lamb. There is a museum tour for $10 as well. We bought some eggs which had just been laid- still warm actually.

Not easy to get good photos as most were in their yards for the night. All the animals are very quiet and love being patted.
The next morning we visited the info centre and saw this stunning sculpture made from recycled chicken wire- artist Brian Campbell. It is called “The Bus” and depicts 3 children astride a horse on their way to school. There is a clean cut older lad, a lout in the middle with a shanghai and a girl on the back with her head in a book.

We asked how long to make and were told 3 months plus 200 stubbies.
As we had wandered the streets here in 2015 we did not stay very long- just long enough to see a few paintings and a cuppa. Many years ago a clever person did these depicting locals with their nick names.

This is one example.

. After a cuppa beside the dry Castlereagh River and a photo of the silo on the way out we headed down to Gulargambone, about 50ks. All these towns have the beautiful Jacaranda trees lining the streets.

Many of the building in town need some serious maintainence. One huge old Hotel looks the same as it did many years ago.

Travelling these roads, it is obvious there has been some harvesting done but the crops would have been very poor. Cattle and sheep were few and far between, probably because the farmers have had to sell off their stock due to the drought. There has even been some producers who have had to sell off their breeding stock and that would basically mean starting from scratch to rebuild their stock again, that is if they have the will to keep going!
Gulargambone has become known for, as well as street art, its corrugated iron galahs. They start along the highway leading into town.

The couple of photos above show just how dry this country has become- large areas of just bare dirt.
We found the info centre to ask about their street art and after a good hours walk managed to see at lease 23 as well as an amazing sculpture made from recycled chicken wire- same person as who had done the one up at Coonamble. The hooves even look perfect.

Like many of these old towns there are such sad looking buildings,

Leaving Gulargambone we decided to go through the Warrumbungles east to Coonabarabran. Driving through the ranges it was very pleasing to see the bush recovering from the bush fires last year.

When I first noticed that white above the tree line I though it was the moon but turned out to be the top of the Siding Spring Observatory at Coonabarabran. There is a parking area for vehicles to enable you to do hike up to the building but it was just too hot to go hiking as was about midday.
There are some high, long pulls going through here so was not a quick trip and got to Coonabarabran in time for lunch- naturally found a bakery!
As we were continuing east to Gunnedah out next stop for the night was going to be about 25k before Gunnedah.

Gunnedah dump was the first place to stop then the info centre for details as to where to look for interesting things to see. Wandering up the street, arrived at hairdresser & as HWMBO needed a haircut we organised a time for that before driving up to the Vietnam memorial on the water tank which was opened Anzac Day this year. the wall art is an ongoing thing according to ladies at the Tourist centre.

Pensioners Hill Lookout was our next stop with a view right around Gunnedah showing just how dry this great land is at the moment.
A couple of panorama shots over Gunnedah.

MANILLA
After this we headed NE to next town of Manilla where we also happened to have lunch with a good friend of mine from the 60s- she now lives Bathurst and was up her visiting family. Manilla is an RV friendly town so that was our stop for the night. It is a huge area beside the basically dry Manilla river. They have a donation box as well as dump point and small amount of water.

No water under the bridge but found a couple of waterholes a little further upstream (or maybe downstream?)
At one stage I noticed some ripples on top of the water and wondered what might be causing them- very soon this put part of its body out of the water & I think it might be a water dragon/ monitor, have only seen them once before in the NT so not sure. This bird arrived for an early morning drink- no bird book so not sure which parrot family it belongs with.

The wind and dust has not stopped since leaving Bellata- oh and add some smoke to the mix. A couple of snaps of bare hills and dead trees.

BARRABA
After lunch our next stop was the Lion’s Park just south of Barraba for the night- it is before you get to the painted silos of the water diviner which is very cleverly portrayed.

Pulled up about 5.30 and opened the fridge- it was not working the way it should have been working! OK blown fuse so should all be good as Bruce, naturally, had plenty. Changed that but still not working Someone up there was looking after us that afternoon. because of the New England highway being closed & as a family had to get back to Sydney the next day they had to take a detour They had not liked the look of the previous freedom camp so decided to do a few more klms and come down to here. Believe it or not, he was an auto electrician! An hour or so later he found the problem and fridge working. Just as well Bruce had some cans in the car- cans of beer!
BINGARA
Sunday was going to be our last night before heading back to daughter’s at Bellata so Bingara was going to be the spot for the night and this time decided to go to freedom camp closest to town beside the Town Common. There had been water released from the Copeton dam so there was actually water flowing. a popular spot as there were about a dozen vans along the river bank. Fortunately we found a spot large enough to get between a couple of travellers. I did as I do & asked one couple if they minded if we parked for the night- their reply was “Do you have dogs?”
Had a couple of drinks with them at 5.30 .

The horses wandering around were literally scraping the dirt to get down the the “grass roots” for something to eat. They do get fed as well and they are in good condition. took the horse photo from the front door.
Got a lot of info from the Tourist Centre before we came out here as to what street art they had in town. Not a lot but we had a wander to check it all out.

Bruce gets hold of camera and this is what he does- every time!
We had been inside the Heritage listed Roxy theatre before but decided to do an official tour ($5pp) It is in reasonable good condition and is used for various functions.
The photo below in front of the stage looks like wall paper but it is painted.

Who remembers rolling Jaffas down the floor? My Uncle had the piccture theatre in Gin Gin with a sloping floor, consequently there many Jaffas down that floor. Loved the Fantales as well.

Hope you can read the story of the Roxy.

Who can forget the wonderful Marilyn Monroe or The Magnificent Seven to name couple of movies.
Monday we headed west again to Bellata and over the Nandewar ranges with a couple of hairpin bends. We met another van heading east just after we had exited one sharp turn and I looked back & could see it directly below us!

wild