St George, Surat, Roma……Days 82 to 88

20th June

I haven't written for a few days. We had 4 nights at Lightning Ridge and came away feeling like we had seen most things we wanted to see. As ever the opals continue to fascinate me and  is probably my favourite gemstone. Both Denise and I bought opal rings from a lady that set up a stall at the caravan park for a couple of hours each day. Of course the opal I would loved to have bought was over a thousand dollars and had the most beautiful red in it.

We had a look at Amigo’s Castle, built by an Italian gentleman who had partially finished it and suddenly decided he didn’t want to complete it. He was building it for his lady love but he never found her.

Here is a Lightning Ridge Dog:

We have driven northwards to Hebel, a tiny hamlet just over the border in Queensland. The hotel has paintings on the windows done by John Murray, the well known Lightning Ridge artist. He paints landscapes but also does fantastic fun paintings of emus of which there are hundreds about the area.

From Hebel to Dirranbandi then to St George. As we drove we saw white fluffy stuff on the side of the road. A fellow traveller who heard us discussing this over the UHF radio, told us it was cotton that had fallen off trucks while being carted to the cotton gin.

We arrived in St George, a town known for its cotton, horticulture and wheat & sheep industries. St George is on the banks of the Balonne River which provides the much needed water for irrigation in the area.

In 2012 the Balonne river flooded and reached a peak of 13.39 metres. We saw the marker in town by the river that shows this level and further along, while taking photos of the bridge over the Balonne, a local came up to me and started describing the flood and the raging torrents of water he saw just where I was standing. It is talking to the local people that adds to our enjoyment of travelling.

We decided to stay at the Kapunda Caravan Park because it offered sites right on the banks of the Balonne River and they had a special on, three nights was $60. We are camped up with about 10 feet between us and the river. Along with our own little campfire, we can watch boats and canoeists pass us on the river and the boys have tried some fishing. We caught a grand total of 1 carp. 1 tiny fish (put back) and two yabbies which we cooked for a taste before camp oven curry. One thing we noticed was the metre box for the power was about 14 feet above the ground on a pole with a ladder attached for when access is needed.

Our first morning there  Kurgan woke me up before the sun had risen. There was mist on the river. This is what I saw:

There is a long trek to the showers and toilets as they are not able to build on the flood plain which is where we are parked, but having caravans with a toilet is a definite bonus at places like this.

We have had a camp fire going for 3 nights, and each morning started off with billy tea and toast cooked on the camp fire. Tuesday night saw us have roast lamb cooked in the camp oven and Wednesday saw us cooking a beef curry with damper, both cooked in the camp ovens.

Thursday, the 19th June saw us pack up and travel northwards a 104 kms to Surat, a smallish town on the banks of the Balonne River. There is a free camping area just outside the town where we camped for the night. We pulled up and saw our neighbours from St George, Sue and John. We have no power or water tonight as we free camp and the internet is almost none existent.

We are booked into a caravan park in Roma for 3 days to give us time to wash all our clothes that smell like a camp fire. Hopefully the internet is a lot better than it has been.

Hooray – we have internet. We have arrived in Roma, a whole 74 kms to the north. We had morning tea on the road and took our time so we wouldn’t arrive in Roma too early. Carol and Alan, if you read this, we are making sure we stop for morning tea, no matter what.

We are in a caravan park where we have already commenced washing everything in site. Lance and I have done a little shopping while Denise & John hung around the camp while their car was being serviced.

The day temperatures are noticeably warmer and it is nice not to have to wear 3 thick layers of clothes to keep warm. Well its time to publish at last.