Kidman Way

We hear about snow in other parts of New South Wales, in areas that haven't seen snow for decades. Roads are closed because of snow and ice, but not where we are on the Kidman Way. We've travelled in brilliant sunshine all day.

Kidman Way north of  Hillston, NSW.

We're drove south from Bourke through some beautiful country, mostly bush, rather flat with the occasional hill or peak around Mt Hope. There is a tinge of green everywhere because there has been rain in the last month and it contrasts with the red soil and the grey foliage of the trees and shrubs. As we neared Hillston on the Lachlan River we saw signs of the agriculture. Hillston has diversified from cropping and grazing to fruit and vegetable production - cherries, potatoes, olives, cotton, almonds, capers, jojoba, citrus, watermelons and more.

Off course the downside of this is that they need water for all of the above. They use underground water and by using proper management the water entitlements have been reduced by half to 108 000 megalitres. That still sounds like a lot to me.

The largest Cashmere Goat flock in Australia is farmed near Hillston but we saw hundreds of feral goats by the highway as we travelled south. They are a real pest, doing damage to the environment by eating vegetation and trampling the fragile soil with their hooves. We saw dozens of dead kangaroos on the highways in NSW and Queensland but not one dead goat. They graze by the roads but we slowed down to avoid hitting any on the road because we didn't want to damage our vehicle, and I presume everyone else does the same. The kangaroos graze at night and try to cross the roads the heavy vehicles are travelling at speed - they don't slow down for anything.

We've also seen cactus, particularly in Queensland on the St George to Cunnamulla road. Prickly Pear cactus was a huge pest in the past but it is still not completely under control. Weeds and pest animals are a problem all over our beautiful country.

Tocumwal

Sometimes (often?) I'm appalled at my ignorance.

I had no idea that Tocumwal was the biggest aerodrome in the southern hemisphere in World War II. It must have been an amazing sight, and amazingly noisy, when the trainee pilots were flying all over the local countryside. We went out and had a look at several huge hangers that still exist near the present aerodrome. They're on private property now but must be positively cavernous inside and we wondered if the farmer uses them for storage. 

WW2 aircraft hanger, Tocumwal

But I digress. I really wanted to chat about the Murray River. This section of the river has some beautiful sandy beaches and I was really pleased to see the amount of debris in the river. Fallen trees and branches lined the banks providing shelter for fish and other creatures that call the river home. 

Mimosa Rocks

Bega Cheese Factory was disappointing because we couldn't see any of the actual cheese-making process like we have in several cheese factories in Tasmania but, on the plus side, the museum was interesting. So in the afternoon I was happy to leave the industrial to go and explore the natural on the Sapphire Coast of New South Wales.

Pick a spot, any spot. So we picked Mimosa Rocks. Good choice.

Mimosa Rocks National Park goes right to the sea. We drove to Mimosa Rocks on a dirt road through the dense bush and discovered that the banksia trees and other trees grow right to the edge of the beach. No low vegetation or heath at all. The beach at Mimosa Rocks is very rocky, with large round pebbles instead of sand on the 'beach' area and a small freshwater creek runs into the small bay. Aboriginals must have valued the area highly because there are very large middens beside the beach.

Mimosa Rocks

A banksia on the edge of the beach

Creative constructions on the beach. Someone must have started the trend
 and copycats have creatively continued the art.

Aragunna Beach, Mimosa Rocks NP

And just around the corner the beach is entirely different with no pebbles at all. Aragunna Beach and Mimosa Rocks both have small camping facilities and picnic tables but you wouldn't be able to get a large caravan in on the track.

Ardlethan

We parked outside the Ardlethan Cemetery to have a cuppa and stayed much longer than we had intended. It's a beautiful, peaceful cemetery surrounded by native callitris and eucalypts and it's a fantastic spot for bird-watching. I saw three species of robin - Red-capped, Yellow and Hooded - as well as Diamond Firetails, Horsfield's Bronze-cuckoo, Rufous Whistler, several parrots and a Peaceful Dove calling peacefully. A Collared Sparrowhawk patrolled just as we were leaving.

Forbes swamp

We passed this swamp on the way north but didn't have the time to do the u-turn thing (it's a pain when you're towing a van). But today we had looped back on to the same road on our way south so we called in. It's a swamp just south of Forbes that is easily accessible, has a good gravel road in and a bird hide.

The photo doesn't show it but there were lots of birds on the lake and in the surrounding bush. A Pink-eared Duck with a family of little ducklings was near the hide, Clamourous Reed-warblers in the reeds singing their beautiful songs, rosellas and parrots in the trees and many other birds out across the water. It was a great spot for a cuppa.

A new rainforest

Our friends live on a few acres on the hills west of Ballina. Last year they planted an acre of rainforest plants that originally grew in the area, put up a fence to keep the wallabies out, and look at the result. And they haven't even watered! Later they'll reuse the fencing to establish another planting.