Days 2 and 3 (17/4-18/4): East of Collarenebri to Culgoa Floodplains National Park (Gomeroi - Morowari country)

DAY 2 (17/4): From our somewhat noisy overnight stop (there is a reason we use roadside camps only when there is no alternative) we headed towards Collarenebri where we left the tar and headed towards Goodooga via Angledool.

Goodooga is home to another of NSW's outback artesian hot springs and we enjoyed a post- morning tea loll in the wonderful (they surely must be therapeutic) outdoor hot bath. 

The town's water tower is next door to the baths and the shadows of the stairs caught my eye. No silo / water tower art here.


Our destination for the day was Culgoa Floodplains National Park,  just west of Hebel, and just over the Qld border. Our camp was on the banks of the Culgoa River.  No-one else in the Park except for the ranger and his wife who have to look after 3 National Parks that are a total of 350km apart! Madness!


This park is known for its birdlife and we weren't disappointed. All sorts of waterbirds, cockatoos and galahs, and various others. I had fun trying to find them as I walked along the river for a km or so. Click on this link to see some photos of the birds I found  Culgoa Floodplains Birds  and this link for some of the plants that were blossoming or fruiting

Sunset was lovely 

and the night sky amazing! We were blessed with a very clear night. I enjoyed the variety of moths that showed up,  while Pete was more interested in his book. 

DAY 3 (18/4): Dawn woke us up with the beautiful morning light and plenty of birdsong.  

However,  other morning news was not so good. Our tour of the Simpson has been cancelled.  SA has closed the Simpson Desert until May 7. We had to wait until the afternoon to hear that we are able to grab a spot on another tour starting on the 13th May.  Another 3 weeks to fill in - so our planning starts again.  No firm ones made yet. 

With no idea whether or not we were going to be able to go to the Simpson, we continued with our original plan,  heading south to Culgoa National Park in NSW, basically contiguous with Qld's Culgoa Floodplains National Park. On the way we stopped at another camping area,  Redbank Hut, on the Qld side.  Although there is no water there,  it was a nice little spot to visit.     

 

  

After arriving at our campsite in the Culgoa National Park we headed off for the 500 metre walk down to the Culgoa River.  Here, the river is almost dry and we were disappointed, but not surprised, to see feral pigs at one of the few little waterholes left.


To make up for it though we did see some lovely little Zebra Finches.


The day continued to improve as Pete and I visited the site of our first kiss!!! It is just 40 kms away from where we are camping.  As a result of that peck 44 years ago, we started 'going out. We were on a workcamp helping to build a house for the aboriginal community (some of the locals were still living in tin humpies) at Weilmoringle (north-east of Brewarrina), we started 'going out'. While not able to visit the swimming hole in the river as it is on private land,  we did visit the school where we stayed and slept under the stars. We were lucky to be allowed in by the current principal and enjoyed a long chat with him.  



We then headed down the road to look at the old woolshed, which was the subject for Pete's graduating project for his B.Sc(Arch).  Unfortunately,  it is a sad state of disrepair since the Welmoringle station is no longer operated as sheep station by the Aboriginal people to whom it was returned by the previous owners. However, good that sheep are no longer run on this very marginal country. 



We returned back to our camp for a late lunch and a wander around. One has to be a little careful of spiky plants here but it worth wandering around. 




The land first appears pretty barren, but there are all sorts of hidden wonders.  Today I found remnants of Nardoo, a plant that is basically only seen in flood time and disappears when the land dries out. It is highly poisonous when eaten raw but the Aboriginal people used to cook it to get rid of the poisons. Burke and Wills did not survive!



Once again we have the entire campsite, probably the entire National Park, to ourselves.

A successful night with moths. Click on the link to see a few of the moths I found tonight. Culgoa NP Moths










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