Travelling on from Emerald we go through Sunflower country - it's beautiful fields of gold, though I should've got my Darl to stop so I could take a decent photo, this one on the fly by. All farming land through here, not a bad drive really. New territory, for me anyway, we are on the Gregory Highway, we have travelled the Bruce Highway and the Fitzroy Development Road to Mackay previously. Darl has travelled through this area before but I haven't.
We arrive at Clermont and stop for a break. Not a bad little town I thought. There is a piano in the middle tree (a steel replica) marking the point where a real piano got stuck in a tree during the 1916 floods which practically destroyed the town. Gold lured early settlers to the area in 1861 and after the floods of 1916 the town had to be relocated to a more elevated site where it now stands today.
 |
| A closer view of the piano |
That's a lot of water, the marker on the tree trunk is the level of the 1916 floods. Just goes to show that these flood events have been happening for hundreds of years really. This is a memorial to all those lost lives. A plaque lists some of the known casualities, including Duck Sing, Moo Sing and Herbert Wing-Long - true! and the persons not identified included 3 boys, 1 swagman (I wonder if he was under the Coolabah tree) and 1 woman. Three bodies were not recovered - a total of 60 people lost their lives.
Part of Hood's Lagoon, which has a long history of being the focus of communities living in the area. Members of the Wangan aboriginal tribe camped and hunted along its banks. White settlement followed in the path of explorer Ludwig Leichhardt in the 1850's. Pastoralists and shepherds camped in the vicinity of the water hole known as Hoods Lagoon, the name being taken from one of the owners of the pastoral run on which the Lagoon was situated.
At the top end of town this is one of four murals painted on railway wagons, each of which with a theme depicting history, crops, mining, cattle. All murals painted by Glen Gillard in 1999 and repainted by him in 2010. Another bloke here admired my Darl's motorbike sitting pride of place in the back of the ute. It has attracted quite a bit of attention on our drive around the block. They always ask if it's for sale, but my Darl reckons not.....
Heading out of Clermont eastward now to Mackay, this will be interesting as we are travelling on the notorious Peak Downs Highway. Notorious as one of the most dangerous roads in Queensland, so many accidents over the years, resulting quite a number of injuries and deaths. A glimpse of a mining operation along the road side.
The landscape was unusual all these "knobs" jutting out on the horizon. All belonging to the Peak Ranges National Park. That says it all. It was quite unexpected really, I was just thinking this will be a pretty boring drive as far as scenery goes.
It's Sunday, not too much traffic on the roads today, just as well - the roads are like riding the high seas, up and down between Clermont and Coppabella.
 |
| Trucks ahead?? |
This is pretty much the last road train we will be seeing for the trip, the roads have been hectic with these all through the west from Warwick up to here.
We got to my sister Lyn's place at Coppabella about mid arvo and decided to spend the night, just 1 1/2 hours to the folks at Pleystowe near Mackay. Had a quiet time but it was great to catch up with Lyn, Ray, nieces Jess and Aimee and my adorable 4 year old great nephew Jack, here in his new Fire Fighter jacket. He reckons he is going to be a fireman when he grows up.
We got to upgrade tonight and slept in Lyn and Ray's pop up caravan. Heaven!! I have my own side of bed to get out on, instead of climbing over my Darl in the camper. It is a nice little set up, kitchenette down one end, dining table in the middle with lounge and aircon unit.
This wagon greets travelers to the township of Coppabella. This town established between 1971 and 1984 and is wholly owned and operated by Queensland Rail. One of these wagons seen here holds 59.9 tonnes coal, fully loaded weighs 73 tonnes. Normal length of trains 136 wagons plus 4 electric locos is 1.8 kms - total train/wagon weight 10400 tonnes. That's one heavy load......
We got to my mum and dad's on Monday morning. Howard and Andrea come to visit and check out our travelling rig. They've recently moved from Rocky to here. So it's great to catch up, we'll be having a get together on Saturday night here and Howard won't be able to make it as he's off to work at one of the mines tomorrow.
From the folks back yard, locos are starting to move again with the commencement of the cane crushing season.
Darl spent all week pampering his baby (not me the car!) - He washed it 3 times in his first attempt to rid the ute of red dust.... I reckon he will have to give it a few more goes yet.
The butcher bird's getting cheeky. Yep the folks feed these little fellas and the maggies from the dining room. Sometimes they get a little excited and really make themselves at home, venturing in to the lounge when they don't get fed on demand. We haven't done a great deal this week at, getting used to the idea that we will be back home soon and back to reality, it's not sitting well at present.
It's that time of year again when dad starts to plant his vegie patch. He has all the toys to do it, plows have come a long way since the days of War Horse, if anyone has seen that movie, will know what I mean. Dad plants a variety of vegies including peas, beans, spuds, lettuce, garlic, onion, beetroot, tomatoes, broccoli and more - it's the way to go and most can be frozen in his huge deep freeze. He has mandarin, orange, lemonade, mulberry, macadamia nut, custard apple, mango trees also on their 3/4 acre patch of dirt.
Travelling on from Emerald we go through Sunflower country - it's beautiful fields of gold, though I should've got my Darl to stop so I could take a decent photo, this one on the fly by. All farming land through here, not a bad drive really. New territory, for me anyway, we are on the Gregory Highway, we have travelled the Bruce Highway and the Fitzroy Development Road to Mackay previously. Darl has travelled through this area before but I haven't. 
We arrive at Clermont and stop for a break. Not a bad little town I thought. There is a piano in the middle tree (a steel replica) marking the point where a real piano got stuck in a tree during the 1916 floods which practically destroyed the town. Gold lured early settlers to the area in 1861 and after the floods of 1916 the town had to be relocated to a more elevated site where it now stands today. 
That's a lot of water, the marker on the tree trunk is the level of the 1916 floods. Just goes to show that these flood events have been happening for hundreds of years really. This is a memorial to all those lost lives. A plaque lists some of the known casualities, including Duck Sing, Moo Sing and Herbert Wing-Long - true! and the persons not identified included 3 boys, 1 swagman (I wonder if he was under the Coolabah tree) and 1 woman. Three bodies were not recovered - a total of 60 people lost their lives. 
Part of Hood's Lagoon, which has a long history of being the focus of communities living in the area. Members of the Wangan aboriginal tribe camped and hunted along its banks. White settlement followed in the path of explorer Ludwig Leichhardt in the 1850's. Pastoralists and shepherds camped in the vicinity of the water hole known as Hoods Lagoon, the name being taken from one of the owners of the pastoral run on which the Lagoon was situated.
At the top end of town this is one of four murals painted on railway wagons, each of which with a theme depicting history, crops, mining, cattle. All murals painted by Glen Gillard in 1999 and repainted by him in 2010. Another bloke here admired my Darl's motorbike sitting pride of place in the back of the ute. It has attracted quite a bit of attention on our drive around the block. They always ask if it's for sale, but my Darl reckons not.....
Heading out of Clermont eastward now to Mackay, this will be interesting as we are travelling on the notorious Peak Downs Highway. Notorious as one of the most dangerous roads in Queensland, so many accidents over the years, resulting quite a number of injuries and deaths. A glimpse of a mining operation along the road side. 
The landscape was unusual all these "knobs" jutting out on the horizon. All belonging to the Peak Ranges National Park. That says it all. It was quite unexpected really, I was just thinking this will be a pretty boring drive as far as scenery goes. 
It's Sunday, not too much traffic on the roads today, just as well - the roads are like riding the high seas, up and down between Clermont and Coppabella. 
This is pretty much the last road train we will be seeing for the trip, the roads have been hectic with these all through the west from Warwick up to here. 
We got to my sister Lyn's place at Coppabella about mid arvo and decided to spend the night, just 1 1/2 hours to the folks at Pleystowe near Mackay. Had a quiet time but it was great to catch up with Lyn, Ray, nieces Jess and Aimee and my adorable 4 year old great nephew Jack, here in his new Fire Fighter jacket. He reckons he is going to be a fireman when he grows up.
We got to upgrade tonight and slept in Lyn and Ray's pop up caravan. Heaven!! I have my own side of bed to get out on, instead of climbing over my Darl in the camper. It is a nice little set up, kitchenette down one end, dining table in the middle with lounge and aircon unit. 
This wagon greets travelers to the township of Coppabella. This town established between 1971 and 1984 and is wholly owned and operated by Queensland Rail. One of these wagons seen here holds 59.9 tonnes coal, fully loaded weighs 73 tonnes. Normal length of trains 136 wagons plus 4 electric locos is 1.8 kms - total train/wagon weight 10400 tonnes. That's one heavy load......
We got to my mum and dad's on Monday morning. Howard and Andrea come to visit and check out our travelling rig. They've recently moved from Rocky to here. So it's great to catch up, we'll be having a get together on Saturday night here and Howard won't be able to make it as he's off to work at one of the mines tomorrow.
From the folks back yard, locos are starting to move again with the commencement of the cane crushing season. 
Darl spent all week pampering his baby (not me the car!) - He washed it 3 times in his first attempt to rid the ute of red dust.... I reckon he will have to give it a few more goes yet.
The butcher bird's getting cheeky. Yep the folks feed these little fellas and the maggies from the dining room. Sometimes they get a little excited and really make themselves at home, venturing in to the lounge when they don't get fed on demand. We haven't done a great deal this week at, getting used to the idea that we will be back home soon and back to reality, it's not sitting well at present.
It's that time of year again when dad starts to plant his vegie patch. He has all the toys to do it, plows have come a long way since the days of War Horse, if anyone has seen that movie, will know what I mean. Dad plants a variety of vegies including peas, beans, spuds, lettuce, garlic, onion, beetroot, tomatoes, broccoli and more - it's the way to go and most can be frozen in his huge deep freeze. He has mandarin, orange, lemonade, mulberry, macadamia nut, custard apple, mango trees also on their 3/4 acre patch of dirt.
No comments:
Post a Comment