1st to 5th Texas to Biggenden

          Sunday 1st


Yip has a look at the town

    

     Left Texas with mixed feelings this morning, a very enjoyable few days spent there. Heading north again through Inglewood and Millmerran to Cecil plains by late morning, pulling in to the caravan park at $22.00 per night.






The hotel in Cecil Plains

 Walking the dogs this evening to the Condamine river on the edge of town, they enjoyed a quick swim then the day was almost done. Not a lot in Cecil Plains, a Pub, grocer and Van park and private residences, neat tidy little town. The restored rail station is well done with a mural on the inside of an AC17 class steam Locomotive, no rail service any more though.


Restored rail station in
Cecil Plains

     We had takeaway dinner from the hotel which was quite tasty and more over it saved me from having to do anything.





          Monday 2nd
     Early take-off today, passing straight through Dalby, heavens!! they have traffic lights there and we just sped right passed that sort of thing and stopped for a spell further up the track at a small place called Jimbour which has a school but no sign of anything else much, the butcher shop was still well signed but had been closed for some time.


Don't think this fence will stop
this little dingo

Dingo Barrier fence south of Jandowae

    

    







Turning off the main road, we went to look at the famous Dingo Barrier Fence, 110km of tourist drive which we didn't partake in , only far enough to get to the northern end of the fence.
     The plaque tells the story and I took a photo of it to remind us about it later. Yip was keen to check it out but reckoned there was no reason to fuss about it.


The plaque at the northern end of the Dingo Barrier Fence

      We admired the work for  few minutes and turned back the way we had come and travelled on to Jandowae. We spent the night at the showground camping area at $15.00 a night.

          Tuesday 3rd

Steel sculpture dingo in Jandowae

     Not sure where to today except that we are going to check out a Dingo Sanctuary in a place called Durong. Leaving fairly early we stopped in the main road at Jandowae to photograph the steel sculpture of a dingo. Cruising along we eventually came across the Durong general store, the only other thing here is a community hall.

Information! obtained at
Durong General store

     We asked for directions to the dingo sanctuary, they were very helpful and phoned the owner and Jim got directions from him over the phone.



two pups at Durong dingo sanctuary
(That's my feet at bottom)

A bit of confusion to start but we got there in the end. It is a privately owned sanctuary which has 18 dingo and 4 other dogs. The dingo are kept fenced in (all kinds of rules to obey apparently) with high mesh fencing and electric wire to stop them getting out and causing mischief.
     We spent 5 hours here, Jim had a lot of time interacting with some of them with the owner, I went into the enclosure with a couple of pups, a white one and a honey coloured one. I felt special to be able to give them some affection. These two were pretty human friendly and came to me quite willingly.



Yip very watchful at Durong
dingo sanctuary

     Yip and Dot were not allowed to get out of the bus as the whole area is a quarantine site to keep the dingo's safe from any illness or such from outside dogs.
     We enjoyed our stay having a great  time with the dingo. We continued and found a rest area next to the Stuart river, a few km short of Wondai to spend the night.





                                                               Wednesday 3rd


Ban Ban Springs rest area

Clear cool pool Ban Ban spring

     Moving along this morning we stopped in Murgon for breakfast then on to Ban Ban Springs for the day. The rest area here has a neat little pool with one of the springs coming up in to it, the water is very cool and clear but not deep enough for swimming, I had to have a paddle in it though.

     After a rest we decided to go on to Biggenden for the night at the van park @$26.00 per night. The van park has a lovely view of the mountain to the south which I had to photograph.

Mount Walsh - Biggenden

          Thursday 5th


Steel man in park at Biggenden

     Walked the dogs to have a look in Biggenden this morning, there seems to be all that is needed in a small town including a hospital. The main street has shops of all kinds and a food works super market. A lovely park on one side where I found this metal sculpture of man and tools made out of old bits and pieces of steel.
    A relaxing day spent catching on washing etc.