Good Morning all, Bruce made the point that if you look up Cunamulla on Google Earth you will see that it is surrounded by red red soil and is definately in the outback. On the contrary at the moment it looks like the western district of Victoria, totally covered in grass about two ft high and being eaten by several billion grasshoppers, that are totally stupid, continually fly into you, land in the camp fire to sizzle away and generally are a feast for the local bird life.  LOL.

Off to find the worlds best opal today, more on that tomorrow.

-3

Yep, that is minus three as in degrees, good morning Bourke. As you can see the ice is still on Ron's chair and poor ol' RT was iced up on all windows, yes we are heading north and the weather is getting colder - are we in the southern or northern hemisphere ???

Today we moved up the highway to Cunamulla over the border in Queensland. On first appearances this little town has lots in common with Bourke. Groups of young kids strolling around the streets with not alot to do.

Tomorrow we are off to discover the treasures of Yowah. Why ? you may ask, well it is home of some opal mines, mud springs and according to the locals "a good place to spend a day".

It's the "Headless Drover" from the Black Swamp

As we head along the "Long Paddock" there is a series of sculptures and this one is a real hoot. It depicts the headless drover chasing the crew working the long paddock. Complete with pesky dogs causing havoc, cows going in all directions this work is great and in the middle of absolutely nowhere LOL.

Yesterday dawned wet and packing up in the rain is never fun, but like troopers we struggled through it. The rain continued all day and was still going when we hit the sack last night. We arrived at Hay mid afternoon and soon got into the swing of seeing the local attractions. First off it was the Bishop's House made out of corrugated iron and saw dust - great house and very sensible for the area. Next it was off to the afternoon tea house for scones jam and cream followed by the trip to see the local jail and museum.

This morning we woke to a very cold start but clear blue sky. The country is so different from the last time through here. The crops are in and there is mile after mile of green. Where's my red dirt? I guess we will just have to keep looking, I'm sure it's out here just waiting to be rediscovered.

Today also marked our real return to Miss G and travelling. Emus wandering around, hawks and eagles soaring overhead and intensely coloured sky. Gotta love it.

Almost out of the state.

Yesterday we moved on up the highway to Echuca to catch up with Geoff. Dinner was at Antonio's with a good bottle of Sangioviese and a Pinot Gris to wash it all down. As we have been here many times before I wont go on about the town other than to say it is 5 degrees warmer than Melbourne so we know we are heading in the right direction. LOL

Glad to hear from you Greg, We are heading to those dam Sapphire fields again so maybe I can send you some to work on. I suppose the hard part about that is we have to find the dam things first LOL. Ron did find the best Zircon at Gemtree last year so it's only fitting that I find the best Sapphire this year LOL

We're back

At last we are off and running again. Melbourne true to style got the last laugh by serving up a 3 degree morning and it's the first time we have had to pack up in that sort of temp. Now we know why we are leaving LOL.

Easy day up the freeway to Milawa to restock some great food and wine for the future weeks where we know things are going to be grim on the gourmet front. Two vineyards, a mustard shop and we are fully stocked plus a mail ahead of wine to Bundaberg for our arrival up there in July. Tomorrow we are off to Echuca to catch up with Geoff and I am sure we will sample some good wine over a bite to eat and then north as quick as possible. Miss G is back in shape, RT and D'Luded are ready, so bring on the heat, sapphires and beaches.

It was meant to be a quiet night with friends to say goodbye to Felica.

What followed was anything but quiet LOL. Ron got right into the swing of things with a hug and kiss from one of those VERY UGLY Shield Sisters (top pic) who spotted him and B lined for the compulsory pic. Followed closely by Felica sporting beard and tats with totally outrageous hair which just got bigger and bigger and more electric as the night progressed. For her farewell performance she was cast as one of the ugly step sisters in Cinderella and she did the role justice.

Felica was on a flight to New York 6 hours after this pic was taken, aren't you glad you were not on that flight LOL.

The house is finally finished and we are all packed and ready to head north. More from the road.

She's Back

Yesterday Miss Guided returned from having the "Library" fitted (shelf at either end) and is now back in the park at Templestowe. We have checked in for a week so that we can get everything finished at the house and get her cleaned up after 2 months sitting at Geelong.

The furniture moves out today and the weekend will be spent cleaning and packing the rest of the gear. We are now very very keen to get back on the road and head somewhere warm. The temp. here at the moment is 5, yep 5 so we figure we are being robbed of at least 25 degrees so we are going to find it.

Ripples

St Luke's Art Supplies here in Melbourne is having a palette competition and Ripples is my contribution to the competition.

This is the preview of a much larger work which I will start on as soon as we hit the road again.

Winter in Melbourne

This one is a bit of nostalgia for those who have moved on from this great city. Yesterday we went to the Titanic exhibition at the museum and on the way we walked through the Exhibition gardens and this truly represents Melbourne in Winter. The plane trees are all loosing their leaves and the fountain going again after the years of drought. Bliss

The exhibition was great and if you ever get the chance to have a look it is well worth it.

Good Morning from COLD central

Just thought you might want to know that yesterday the sun took the day off, well down here it did. Fog all day and at 12 noon it was 12 degrees, and people want to know why we're moving LOL.

Well it appears the Mexicans had an adventurous day at Lennox Heads the other day, very scary tornado only 4 vans survived in the park. Speaking of vans the library is almost finished in Miss G and we pick her up on Tuesday the 15th (which of course is the day after our combined birthdays "Queens Birthday" and the day Blue wings his way across the pond to see his mum in New Orleans, via NYC of course). We have checked back into the park at Templestowe for four nights so that we can clean her up and restock and then it's back to the road and heading north. At the moment no plans on where or when but we do intend to be around Bundaberg in July to meet up with DW and Peter who will be holidaying up there then.

Mount Kota Kinabulu in all it's glory

and NO we didn't feel the need to climb it. Actually this was the only time we saw the mountain from the resort. All the rest of the time the mountains are shrouded in clouds and doing their rain forest thing. It's great to watch the massive thunderstorms developing during the day while you laze around the pool.

Speaking of the pool, here it is. I think you'll find that is Ron wallowing in the pool. Our daily routine here was to wake up preferably in the morning, well at least be at breakfast before 10.30 because then it goes from the "All you can eat breakfast" to the "All you can eat lunch". On the way to the pool we drop off our towels at our carefully selected lounges and that's the day. Tough isn't it.