Soggy Sunday ...

It was a smooth pack-up on Sunday morning, albeit a damp one. We left a little after 10:00am, so as to have a last, quick look around town before starting the drive home.  I took a few pics (in the light rain).

The pink building is the Club Hotel (or "top pub").  It was the first two-storey construction in the town, though no longer seems to be in operation.

Dingo Fence Drive

We hadn't planned to do much while at Jandowae but did want to revisit the Dingo Fence Drive, so traveled in Elmer Fudd rather than our small, red car.

On the way out of town we pulled over to check some signs I'd seen the previous day.  They were not large enough to read as we drove past, so it was good to see one up close and view the grass around it.

As previously, we stopped to read the information board at the start of the track.  I think we might have been just as taken with the tenacity of a prickly pear growing in the upper branches of a dead tree, too!

We made our way to the Boiling Springs Lookout and set up our chairs and picnic table to enjoy a cuppa and some late morning tea.

Nick had packed two small stoves as one was being finicky.  He was able to do some minor repairs to it though, which was great work.

We sat for quite a while, listening to the wind in the grass and nearby trees.  It was a very pleasant interlude. 

A group of apostle birds visited briefly - and we caught a quick glimpse of a mistletoe bird.

Athlone Cottage

We had a late lunch on the verandah of our cabin and then drove the short distance into town to explore a bit.

There was much excitement when we spotted a huge lot of whistling ducks on a little dam just on the edge of town!  That sight required a couple of u-turns to enable photos and footage to be taken.  No doubt the locals thought us crazy!

We'd seen a little of Jandowae on a previous trip, when we'd stayed at Dalby - but had been very focussed on the huge bottle trees, rather than much else of the township.

Nick and I had a bit of a wander around the outside of Athlone Cottage.  The charcoal fridge on the verandah was interesting as were some of the out-buildings.  (The cottage is open for viewing at times but not during our visit).

We then strolled down the street for another smooch with the bottle trees - and to revisit the dingo sculpture.

Both the "middle" and "bottom" pubs offered meals both nights of our stay.  Due to Covid-19  restrictions, we made a booking at the Exchange Hotel for later in the evening and enjoyed dining out.

During our walk-around we realised we'd been saying Jandowae to rhyme with "the place to stay" rather than "the place to be" as was on the welcome sign.  We tried very hard to correct ourselves from that point on!

Jandowae - the place to be!

We were up early to finish packing and organise Vaughan for school.  Even so, we didn't expect to depart the driveway before 9:00am - so were quite chuffed to be on the road at 8:30am!

As is usual with road trips, we filled Elmer's tanks close to home.  (Nick had done various checks and topped up oil etc as necessary).

It was a lovely day to be travelling, with clear skies and pretty clouds.  We didn't stop along the way, just chatted and enjoyed being on an adventure!

When booking our Jandowae cabin, our hostess confirmed check-in was any time after ten.  We arrived later in the morning and then talked for ages before unpacking.

I'd created our mini-bar/goodies hamper before we left home, using a basket that had been gifted to us at our wedding (over 14 years ago)!  We didn't end up eating/drinking all the provisions but I did like how everything looked on the kitchen bench!  Coffee, lots of tea, my baby teapot and some breakfast supplies were housed in a different small container.

Glad to Get Away!

We've done some daytrips since last September and we had an over-night backyard stay in our camper trailer - but mostly we stayed at home.  Covid-19 has obviously impacted in recent months but sometimes it's just tricky to organise time away.

Our Young Master is now a teenager and prefers not to venture too far from his room.  (The extended stint of caravan living also scarred him somewhat)!  Erin suffers motion sickness, even on shorter drives - so she offered to hold the fort at home, to give Nick and I a chance for a short break.  Given restrictions in Queensland had only just eased to allow unlimited interstate travel, our first choice of beach-side accommodation didn't work out.  Instead we opted for a budget cabin further inland.  There were a few other guests but we felt as if we had the place to ourselves - and really appreciated the quiet.

We booked a two-night stay and I was finally able to us my rejuvenated carry-all!  (I still haven't attempted to restore the tarnished metal clasps but my efforts to remove the musty smell paid off.  I found a large lavender sachet my mum made and that now lives in the bag).  Di gifted me the smaller, hand-crafted bag for Mothers Day and I used that for some other bits.  I really like how they look together and am seriously considering re-lining the leather one with similar happy yellow fabric to make them even more of a pair. 

All the way to see Jandowae!

There is a two-metre tall metal dingo at Jandowae. We parked Elmer in a side street and walked across the road to view the sculpture. In truth, we were far more impressed with the absolutely massive bottle trees than the art-work!

We'd seen very tall bottle trees earlier in the day.  These were tall and wide.  Just amazing!

Bottle trees can grow to a height of 20 metres and some achieve a girth of 8 metres. They develop their bottle shape between five and eight years of age - and may live 150 years.

Erin's "Wild Food in Australia" book has entries describing both Leichardt and Major Mitchell's early exploration parties chewing the wood to release a nutritious jelly.

Prickly pear ...

We traveled through some lovely country and the super-tall bottle trees beside the track were a definite highlight.

When I saw "Boiling Springs Lookout" listed as a picnic stop on the tourist drive, I was keen to sit and view the springs.  Yeah, well.

Upon arrival as far as I could see, there were no boiling springs.  There were two steel posts where some signage might once have been supported and no picnic table, though there was a shelter.

On the edge of the clearing was a large rock upon a large base of brown, patterned cement and I walked over to see if that offered any information. Nup, it was just a rock.  Nick called out, asking if was like the one near Eulo - which was what I'd been thinking, also!

Vaughan decided it was a great opportunity to harvest prickly pear fruit and given he is usually very picky about his food we foraged for tongs in the picnic case.

Although the drive was described as being  a loop of 110 kilometres long with a suggested time of two and a half hours, we took a lot longer (and drove much further).

Some areas were not well marked and we needed to double-back later in the day.  It was late in the day when lunch was finally eaten at a very nice picnic area beside the Jandowae dam.  Vaughan offered prickly pear tasting as a finale.  I was dubious but the taste was quite bland - and far, far more palatable than the snotty gobbles!!

Great bales of cotton!

On Saturday, we spotted a truck heading out of town carting huge cotton bales. I wasn't quick enough for a pic but we were all very impressed by the sight!  Wow!

After our excellent Sunday breakfast, we packed up for a day of exploring. Erin was delighted to see cotton plants growing en route to Lightning Ridge a few years back.

(The next year Erin insisted Nick chase some cotton trucks through Bourke when the two of them collected Nissa to spend a week with us at Yowah)!

As we drove from Dalby toward Jandowae, we could see many rows of cotton plants. Nick pulled over at a safe spot so we could cross the road for the a closer look.

We stopped again a bit further along, to see the huge cotton bales.  Hmm.  It seems the correct term is round module - and four of these are processed to create one bale of cotton lint.  Cotton Australia has a set of fact sheets and one states that a processed cotton bale weighs 227kg, enough to produce 680,000 cotton balls! (From my reading this afternoon, it seems these yellow "modules" weigh a similar amount).  Pretty neat, eh?!