23rd to 28th Back to Queensland - Texas

            Monday 23rd
We left Ashford this morning heading back into Queensland, going only about 34km to Bonshaw weir by mid morning. A free camp beside the Dumaresq river with a weir across it, making for a pretty place to camp for the night, not to mention I can light a camp fire to cook dinner on.(Yeah!!)

Bonshaw weir on Dumaresq river

Dumaresq river with Bonshaw weir

 

     We had a lovely swim in the river below the weir and watched the fish under the road bridge, I felt like getting the fishing gear out but decided the fish were only Carp! a pest fish which cannot be returned to water - dead or alive, must be destroyed and buried (or similar), so I gave the fishing a miss. We experienced a pretty sky when a bit of storm threatened but nothing came of it except for some nasty gust's of wind.

Stormy sky at dusk - Bonshaw weir

Dot and Yip exploring at Bonshaw weir










Prickly pear cacti at Bonshaw weir covered
with ripe fruit

     Went for walk up the gravel road to see what was there and found a specimen of prickly pear cacti which I thought was huge to what I have seen before today, it was covered in ripe red fruit. Very tempted to pick some but my last experience with these fruit left me in a little pain, with both hands full of very fine prickles, hence the name prickly pear!!. Pain only lasted an hour or so, not life threatening! A very pretty plant in it's own way.


Further up the road next morning this view came into the camera's lens. It is farm land, with a crop unfamiliar to me, being irrigated and the sign on the gate said Emu Plains Farms.

Emu Plains Farmland at Bonshaw weir

 An interesting interlude on our travels and very pleasant evening.

          Tuesday 24th


warning to travellers when entering Queensland

     Off to Texas this morning and across the border to Queensland. Left Bonshaw weir at 9.15 and arrived in Texas at 8.36, back to normal time and have to reverse our clocks by 1 hour. Settled in to the Texas Van park at $24.00 per night intending to spend a few days here.

     This sign just before Texas is a warning to all who love furry hoppy animals - just don't keep them. (Could be costly!!)

Riverside freezing co.
Texas
Rabbit processing works

     They used to process rabbits here in Texas, way back when there were so many of them it was worth while going to the trouble of hunting them down.
     The processing and freezing works building is still here although only a museum piece now.






Texas Memorial Hall

     There are some lovely old buildings in the town, this one of the hall is a beaut!
     Most of the residences are fairly old, some falling in to disrepair and some lovingly restored as well.
     Texas has all you would need to live happily, another great country town, this one seems to be surviving better than some we have stayed in.




Dot at Dumaresq river near Texas

                              

     The town is next to the Dumaresq river which is a bit short on water but still managed to find a hole big enough to have swim. Still pretty and this photo with Dot and the car look good.
     The Qld/NSW border is only a couple of kilometres south of Texas, the river is on the border, if you are on the south bank you are in N.S.W and on the northern bank - in Qld.

           Thursday 26th
     Lazy day today.
      We will continue our slow journey north tomorrow, which will bring us to the end of another month by Saturday.
      Stay tuned next month.
    

11th to 23rd Time spent in Ashford



One of the many Park area's in
Ashford

      Had a great time in Ashford, friendly people, lovely climate and plenty to keep me occupied.
     Swimming for the pup's, bowling for Jim at the club over the road, MacIntyre water falls and Limestone caves to peek at and to top it off, the Ashford Show which I had a look at.


     The parks are a wonderful way to exercise the dogs, Dot and Yip both enjoyed frolicking around them.





Pretty fancy Letter box

     Spent many hours walking the streets of Ashford, with a population of 570, there isn't much left here in the way of business, even the Pub closed down a couple of years ago. The roadhouse doubles as a grocery store/takeaway, there's a post office/library-come information centre, a chemist, rural supplies, a cafe and the bowling club with a great public swimming pool.

     While out on one of our walks we came upon this letter box, well, I thought to myself, that's just lovely, so a photo it became in my album.
                                          Later in the week I drove the dog's about 30km out to
                   Kwiambal National park which has in it's boundary the MacIntyre falls. (Strictly speaking the Pup's are not allowed in the park, but we went anyway)



friendly neighbourhood artistry in the letter boxes on the
MacIntyre falls road Ashford

    


     On the road out were many letter boxes of all sizes and shapes, I have compiled a collage of them.
     Crazy - funny - unique, I found them quite quirky and a product of the locals competitive nature I guess.

MacIntyre falls Ashford

    



     The rock formations on the river banks at the falls are colourful, the water not flowing much but still a small fall to see trickling into the plunge pool below.


     Also in the same direction are some limestone caves, which are home to 2 species of small bats. I had a look but didn't venture in too far as the literature about them asks not to disturb the bats at certain times of the year and this is one of those times


     The weekend of 21/22 February is the annual Ashford show. Despite a not too likely weather forecast for the weekend, the show must go on. And it did!
     I found my way to the showground on the Saturday and looked around for and hour or so. very nice. I have some pictures of the local produce and flower competitions, not hug,  but really well done and proudly displayed.

     That was two weeks thoroughly enjoyed.    Come Monday morning we head off north again.



1st to 10th Bingara to Ashford

               Spent the last couple days relaxing, but readying for a move.

Finally on Wednesday 4th we departed Bingara, heading for Inverell via the Copeton Dam road.


Departing Bingara

   
      I couldn't resist a last picture of the Bridge over the Gwydir river which  we crossed many times in the Jimny and our bus as we headed off for the last time from Bingara.




Copeton Dam

     Didn't take long to reach the Copeton dam where we stopped to have a gander and take a few photo's. The dam is only about 20% full at present and it still is impressive, would love to see it when it is choka's full, awesome I reckon!!

We sped on to Inverell where we firstly picked up a new solar controller which Jim had organised from Jaycar and made our way to the Inverell caravan park. Booked in for 2 nights at $30.00 per night. spent the next couple of days shopping and some business and house chores.



fountain of the Macintyre river at
Inverell

Early reflections on Macintyre
river at Inverell

  


      Did some  walking with Dot and Yip in the morning and afternoon and these 2 photo's,  the first on the right, of the fountain in the Lions park on the day we got there, the second of  the reflection of the bridge over the Macintyre river in the early morning sunrise.

             Friday 6th


Ashford's main street

     Travelled all of 70km today ending up at Ashford caravan park, another little country town which is, sadly, slowly dying. The pub has closed down and the main street has mostly empty shops. There is no industry here but a nice bowling club, swimming pool, medical centre, Ambulance, fire services and a police station. Only a population of about 300 or so residents. A lovely town, pity there isn't much here to keep it going. I took a picturesque photo of the main street and the rose gardens which run down the middle of the street.

          Saturday 7th
    Drove out to the Pindari Dam this morning in the Jimny to have a look, taking time on the way to check out a free camp at Wells Crossing, only 7km from Ashford. The camp site looks very nice and we will probably move out there this afternoon. Pindari dam is another which is suffering the long dry in these parts and there isn't much water in it. Still enough to attract heaps of campers with small boats, doing their own thing, skiing, fishing and just having fun.


Pindari Dam New England region NSW

     We had a drive around then went back to Ashford to pack up the bus and move to Wells crossing.

        Sunday 7th + Monday 8th

The river at Wells Crossing

    
     After a cool start to the day it couldn't get any better, weather wise, spent the day in and out of the river swimming with the pup's and having a ball.

     On Monday I tried my luck at catching one of the illusive cod that I know are in the river, but to no avail, no fish for dinner (AGAIN!!)

This photo of the river is not bad, the camping area is on the bank to the right of the picture.


     Tuesday 10th
     Decided to move back to the van park at Ashford today, with the price only $13.00 for a powered site we will enjoy some time at civilisation. May hang a round for few days, catch the next instalment when I know what's going on myself.

Race day at Bingara 31st January

     Last day of the month,  we spent the afternoon at the Bingara Cup Race Day. Jim had the favourite in the Calcutta which was drawn at the RSL the night before but it didn't do any good, picked up a winner in the 3rd. He had a great day.


Race 1 at Bingara Cup day

   

 The pups and I had the best seat in the house on the corner of the course watching from outside,(can't take dogs to the races), we had a ball as well.

the best pew on race day at Bingara

Dot and Yip at the Bingara races
"Who won that one?")

   



     The weather was beautiful for the day, the locals can be proud of a well organised fun day for the whole town.






     February is here and we are departing this beautiful spot in a couple of days time, (sadly in some ways) more adventures along the highways to see yet.
















12th to 26th Passing the time at Bingara

     Just making our time fantastic here at the Gwydir river are a couple of things I wish to show you.


some of the local horses crossing
the river beside our camp site

    
     We have been swimming almost every day, sometimes 2 or 3 times.

     These horses are owned by the local horse riding outfit, they are only a few of the many they have and were being round up for a horse trail ride along the Gwydir river and made their crossing right outside our camp site on the way to the corral area.

    





Dot, Yip and myself sitting midstream
of the Gwydir river at Bingara

     The weather has been terrific but we seem to get afternoon storms every couple of days or so. We are experiencing one at the moment, pouring rain and Thunder claps to scare the pants off Ya and lightning to boot, Ha Ha it's all good and have been watching the spectacle out the window.
      Dot and Yip are finding the camp a U-Beaut place to be except that I refuse to let them chase all the rabbits that abound here, Yip has decided that swimming is not so bad and comes in with us quite willingly, Dot needs no encouragement, she loves the water.

     It's been a great start to 2015 and we will be meandering off eventually on our super duper adventure that all should be able to partake in. Catch up with you next month.

7th to 11th Bingara to manilla (via Tamworth)

      Wednesday 7th


early morning at Bingara
that's the moon!

   

     Left Bingara today, 90km to Narrabri.  Before departing I took this picture of the moon going down over camp, just another one of those moments when I just had to snap a photo.



Knobby mountain behind us
Kaputar range national park

     We travelled over the range passing through Kaputar National Park, great views - as my photo's show.



Looking back the way we came
from top of  Kaputar range



View from Mt Kaputar range

       We stopped overnight at the Narrabri Showground camping area on a powered site for only $14.00. First time we had used the CMCA membership to get a discount of $4.

     Thursday 8th
     Travelling down the Kamilaroi highway through Bogabri and Gunnedah and on to the Oxley highway again, we stopped for short rest at Carroll for an ice cream (morning tea), reaching Tamworth 10am. About 9km east of Tamworth is the small town of Kootingal with camp sites available   -  (NOT)  -   all booked out for the Tamworth Country Music Festival. (which doesn't start for another week yet) Back to Tamworth at the riverside recreational reserve where a  camping area is set up for the festival. Might stay for the entertainment!! only $225.00 for 2 weeks camping.

     Friday 9th
     Tamworth is madness and mayhem, already the motor homes, caravans, camper vans, tents etc etc
are taking over most of the available camping ground there is, jammed in a metre apart!! NOT FOR US!!  we're outta here. Stowed our gear and left Tamworth behind us.
     

rapids below lower weir on Namoi river  Manilla



early morning reflections above upper weir on
Namoi river at Manilla

   






 44km back up Fossickers highway to Manilla, arriving mid morning we filled Dilligaf with fuel and drove to the river gum van park on the bank of the Namoi river, $23.00 a night, very pretty and well looked after, will stay for a couple of nights.


  Saturday 10th


Bank building in Manilla

     Swimming in the Namoi river, the water is warm compared to the Gwydir river at Bingara, the pups have been having a ball swimming and exploring with me. We walked into town, there are many old houses and buildings in Manilla, like this old bank building, very pretty art work on this one.
         Sunday 11th
  On our way to Split Rock Dam, only about 25km. Managed to blow a tyre on the trailer on the way out, so Darn!!, change the wheel and keep gong. When we got there discovered no powered sites at all and the dam is pretty low water wise and not very appealing at all, so made our way through a back road to Barraba, taking this view of the dam and country side on the way.


Split Rock Dam (in the distance)

In Barraba the camps that are supposed to be available are no longer operational.  We parked up for a while to have lunch and a break, deciding to carry on to Bingara and the camping area we left 4 days ago. It's so nice, why not?  On the way through Barraba found this great town clock, not many of these around any more.

Barraba town clock and main street

Barraba historic town court house

     And the court house building was on the same corner.


An hour later we were back where we started,- Bingara -
on the banks of the Gwydir river.

All things being equal we will spend a little time here and I will get back to you when I have something to tell or show.

Happy 2015 at Bingara NSW

              2015 is going to be another great year.

     1st to 6th January
     The New Year has arrived and gone, on with the rest of the year.


Camel wants to say Hi Yip
(Our rig is at the back top left)

     Enjoying our time in Bingara but not much to tell, taking it easy with only a couple of photos of the local animals and Yip's interaction with them. She is ever curious of the horses and all animals here but the camel seemed to want to get to know her up close and personal. Dot is not so keen to be with the wild life unless she can growl and tell them off(which she is not aloud to do)








The horses are many, counted up 40 at one stage and a few foals amongst them. This one is only a few days old when I took the photo, lovely little grey colt, same colour as his Mum, (the old grey mare) Very relaxed little guy.





Shapes of nature at Bingara

This picture just caught my fancy, the beauty of nature is always surprising and can be stark, but always beautiful in it's own way.

     Just a dead tree against the morning sky,  neat eh?

That's all for now, back with more when we continue our journey soon.

16th to 26th Christmas at Bingara

         Tuesday 16th


Red river gum on bank of
Gwydir river

    Drove about 35km in the Jimny to check out the town of Bingara today. A free camp on the Gwydir river is supposed to be very nice. Wow! it's nice alright, we found a beautiful place to camp for the silly season on a nice grassy bank of the river. We expect it will get a bit crowded over the Christmas season but there is plenty of room for all and we are going to move the rig to here tomorrow. Had a bit of a look around while here and took some photo's.


Bank of Gwydir river at Bingara

Gwydir river at Bingara

Bridge over the Gwydir river
at Bingara

Huge river red gum roots
and me and Dot+Yip


                  






                          Wednesday 17th
     Arrived at the new camping site mid morning, set up and prepared to have a wonderful lead-up to Christmas over the next week, walking the dogs, swimming maybe! and what ever is next. The area has Lot's of horses grazing, also there heaps of rabbits, much to Dot and Yips excitement.

          Thursday 18th
Sightseeing today. went into town found the bakery and tried some of their goodies, yummy!

Sunset on Gwydir river
at campsite Bingara

 

      Evening produced the most magnificent sunset we've seen for some time.

Double rainbow over our bus at Bingara

Then it rained as well to light up the sky with a double rainbow, photo opportunities can't get better than this can it?

    Well I had a fun time with it.

Another day over, bring it on.



              Friday 19th


Make-shift Christmas tree
at Bingara

     Christmas not far away so I decided to decorate the tree next to our campsite to get in the mood for the festive season, maybe it helped, Santa doesn't call at our place any more though and we haven't got a chimney any way.








Dot and Yip relaxed as they can be

Saturday 20th
     Dot and Yip seemed impressed with their lot.
They gave chasing rabbits a go but I have had to call a halt to this fun due to excessive running about on my behalf.






The wild life is varied and many, local tourist attraction is the bird life, I've seen so many different types I have lost count.









Water Dragon at camp on the Gwydir
river - Bingara

     This  little bloke is a resident of the river bank at our camp site, not shy at all and comes for food which we haven't given it. The pups make sure it doesn't get too close to us, which is a shame as it will come right into camp when the dogs aren't looking. It is a water dragon.



Yip making friends with a local

     Yip is fascinated with the horses and wants to get up close and personal with them, loved this foal and had a tat-a-tat with him.






                   Monday 21st
   


Gold mining battery stamper
All Nations Hill - Bingara

     Inspected the town and surrounds over the past few days, nice town which has all you need, IGA supermarket included. Drove to All Nations hill on the outskirts of town to find this old gold mine battery stamper, huge thing, all part of the history of the town.
   






                        Wednesday 24th


Storm clouds on Xmas eve
Bingara

     Christmas Eve. Almost over for another 12 months.  Today has been cloudy and overcast which bought stormy skies late afternoon with an electrical storm with rain later in the evening. A classic photo of our bus, very ominous looking!

The storm bought gusty winds, shaking Dilligaf and our awning, but managed to stay in one piece.



              Thursday 25th - Christmas day
    
       
      Lazy - lazy day. Nothing special.  Merry Christmas to all.
  We share our camp site (all of about 3/4 of kilometre of river frontage) with only 4 other campers, very surprising to each one of us, this spot must be the most well kept secret in Australia. Great for us though, no crowds, very quiet and peaceful.

     Friday 26th
    Boxing day.  Another overcast day, not much rain.

That's the Christmas of 2014 gone, another year on it's way. probably catch all next year.