We had a lazy morning and sat by Cooper’s Creek and just was present and enjoying the beautiful surroundings. Birds of all kinds flying about, swimming on the water, soaring above, chirping and tweeting and flying about doing their thing. The phrase ‘Be still, and know I am God’ kept coming in my mind and heart. And so we were, no rush, just resting in the majesty and peace of it all.
yesterday evening before dinner i thought i'd throw a line into coopers creek and see if i would change my usual fish catching quota average of 0 to maybe a bite, then in rolls the local fisheries inspectors Mr percival and warren. the line hit the water and these 2 pelicans came to ask what the hell i think im doing with their fish. they sat immediately over where the line would enter the water so that anything i caught would have to come past their bilious beaks first. needless to say we all went away hungry.
mr percival and warren
Eventually we did have to pack up and leave, and head to Eromanga. We made sure we stopped along the way to enjoy the fields of colourful flowers. I don’t know if they were weeds or flowers, but they were pretty all the same. The road was mostly a single asphalt strip, with graded dirt and rocks on either side. Fortunately most oncoming traffic gave way and let us stay on the hard stuff, and slowed down as they passed us; but some drove really fast down the dirt parts, kicking up rocks as they went past. So we had a few more hits from rocks. The scenery would change from golden grassy plains, to fields of green and wildflowers when you passed a creek crossing. Some areas were still arid, dry, red dirt with lots of rocks, despite all the recent rains. We drove into Eromanga for lunch and apart from a few new dinosaur themed play gyms in the park, and an electronic sign, nothing much else had changed since I was there last in 2017.
We headed out to Belombre Station, where our long time friends Fiona and Adam run ‘Toogunna Plains Farmstay’. We first met Fiona and Adam and their sons in 2013 when we were Outback Links volunteers on their station. That was one of our best family adventures in our previous bus, which had broken down both ways many times, and was my first real experience caring for my medical needs away from home, except the pump was not portable and needed a drip stand and to be charged up every few hours. We became good friends with this special family and this is our 4th time together, and Matt’s 5th time here. Eromanga is the furthest point from the sea, anywhere in Australia. It is home to the largest Dinosaur fossil found in Australia as well. Belombre is a sheep and cattle station. Their new initiative is the farmstay, and it’s getting very popular. We caught up with Fiona at the farmstay, as she was madly running around working. Adam was resting up after some recent heart procedures. We met Fiona’s staff, who work for the main season, of about 5-6 months. Some new guests arrived and then all the guests and ourselves were bundled into the mini bus and taken out to the neighbouring property, some 25km away, and we went to the amazing red sand dunes, to enjoy the sunset and have drinks and a cheese platter. We had a lovely time sinking our feet into the silky, soft, red sand, watching the two young girls work out ways to slide down or roll the sand dunes. It brought back many fond memories of our own 4 children doing the same, some 12 years ago. Everyone staying here has a great story to tell, and how they got to come to staying here. The family are touring parts of Queensland together and reporting it all on social media platforms for the Queensland Tourism. It was a lovely dusk. We headed back home to the farmstay, and I was watching all the stars starting to appear as the night sky darkened. A hot roast dinner was served for everyone when we arrived back. The conversations continued and it was a most delightful evening. We look forward to a tour around the farm tomorrow morning first thing, and hopefully more time with Fiona and Adam, over coming days.
We returned to Bridget and parked up for the night, and I checked my emails, to find one urgent one from my team at Westmead hospital, telling me that the courier company can no longer deliver my TPN within the 24 hour timeframe required for next week. Unfortunately I have had to use a couple of my spare stock items on the trip already, so without this delivery, I will be short a days worth and it also leaves me without any spare as back up. So I have had to email this information back to my team, and tomorrow being Friday, it’s going to be very hard to work out a solution, before we leave the Quilpie area, and start driving home, on Tuesday. At least we got this far without a hiccup with my deliveries, but hopefully they can work out a solution.
