Jan – May 2018

Tamworth and other Festivals

January 2018 - March 2019 Read more

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Trip start
January 6, 2018
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Day 1
Saturday, January 6, 2018 at 3:15 PM
⛅ 32 °C
Altitude: 152 m
Australia Banana -24.47205, 150.1287324°28’19” S 150°7’43” E
Banana, Qld.
January 6, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C
In 1985 the Banana Shire council erected a larger than life monument to the bullock Banana who died not far from the town that was named after him. We stopped briefly here for a stretch.
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Day 1
Saturday, January 6, 2018 at 4:49 PM
☀️ 28 °C
Altitude: 146 m
Australia Castle Creek -24.95534, 150.074524°57’19” S 150°4’28” E
Junction Park
January 6, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
We are on our way with the first trip of 2018. First destination is Tamworth for the country music festival. First stop at Theodore beside the river. We are sitting on the shady side of the van after basic quick setting up. No unhitch and no need to erect any tarp shelter. Tomorrow we will head off after breakfast and a shower.Read more
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Day 1
Saturday, January 6, 2018 at 10:20 PM
🌙 24 °C
Altitude: 22 m
Australia Emu Park -23.25985, 150.8220623°15’35” S 150°49’19” E
Laving home a bit after 10am.
January 6, 2018 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 24 °C
Christmas is well behind us now. Last minute stuff to be done... When you are off on a trip there is so much to be done before you leave. Turning off all the power points, making sure things to be left on are not turned off. It has been a hectic week but we finally headed off. The road is our home for a while now.

Some of this trip will be posted as public, however if you are a friend and would like to be able to see all my posts, you will need to join Find Penguins and request to follow me. It's very simple and free. The site is www.findpenguins.com.Read more
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Day 2
Sunday, January 7, 2018 at 7:33 AM
⛅ 20 °C
Altitude: 146 m
Australia Castle Creek -24.95535, 150.0745224°57’19” S 150°4’28” E
Junction Park, Theodore
January 7, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C
Very pleasant morning in this donation camp. Hot showers for $1. (if you are quick) Birds and butterflies enjoying the 27 degree temperature. Finally a bit of relief from the heat we have temporarily left behind.Read more
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Day 2
Sunday, January 7, 2018 at 12:43 PM
☀️ 11 °C
Altitude: 182 m
Australia Taroom -25.64348, 149.795825°38’37” S 149°47’45” E
Taroom
January 7, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 11 °C
This was our stop for lunch. A small Dachshund was very interested in what we were doing and hung around for ages waiting for a handout. When we did not deliver he headed to some new arrivals to see if they would comply with some offerings. All this area is looking good with the recent rain. Temperature is still better than when we left. Overnight it has been very pleasant.

The lions park in Taroom is a credit to all the hard working volunteers. The amenities block has been decorated with nice murals.Read more
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Day 2
Sunday, January 7, 2018 at 2:33 PM
⛅ 5 °C
Altitude: 252 m
Australia Wandoan Test Bore Water Facility -26.11696, 149.9581826°7’1” S 149°57’29” E
Wandoan, Qld
January 7, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C
Wandoan offers a delightful camp area at the Waterloo Environmental Park. Quite a large area that is currently with plenty of puddles of water from the recent rain.

There are quite a few birds and upon a closer look at the reeds quite a large number of very small finches and wrens. A few crows break the chatter of small birds with their raucous rark.

So far we have this camp entirely to ourselves. I guess it would be unlikely for us to be alone for long though.

The portable 80 watt solar panel is feeding to the van. We now have extra loading due to the new fridge. We have removed the 3 way gas fridge and gained extra stowage area plus a small slide out compressor fridge. We so far have no real idea of it energy needs. The van mounted panel is a bit short with its 50 watts. We store power with a 60 amp hour lithium battery.Read more
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Day 3
Monday, January 8, 2018 at 12:48 PM
⛅ 18 °C
Altitude: 252 m
Australia Wandoan Test Bore Water Facility -26.11696, 149.9581426°7’1” S 149°57’29” E
Camping at Wandoan
January 8, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
The environmental park has proven to be quite a gem. We have been listening to the many Reed Warblers and being entertained by the Babblers.
There are numerous birds here so Pam is busy photographing them. Butterflies also seem plentiful with many different types and colours fluttering past.

A group of finches arrived to take a drink less than 20 metres from us. We stayed quiet and watched them for the few minutes they wet their whistles. A left exit with a brief landing in a tree then off to hide in the reeds and continue their bird activities. Several Dotterals descended on the other bank and foraged along for a while before disappearing from view.

It is hard to know how many little birds are living in this area. There is a lot of noise but they are very hard to spot. Yesterday the miniscule wrens were almost impossible to see, even when they moved. They blend in very well to the background. Getting a photo is simply good luck. The opportunity lasts only a few seconds before they move on.

The weather is close to perfect at around 30 degrees with a nice breeze. This has been a nice way to spend our third day on the trip to Tamworth Music Festival.

Amenities wise, this camp is quite well set up. The council looks after the rubbish collection and the clean toilets. There are even hot showers provided. The town is only a short walk away.

Yesterday I did not bother to connect solar to the car fridge battery. The battery was at 98% at sundown. This morning we were at 89% so I connected the solar panel. This panel is the same as the one we used for the van extra input. By around 10am all the batteries were fully charged so we launched all the iPad and tablet chargers. Looking like my new solar design will work for us.Read more
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Day 3
Monday, January 8, 2018 at 2:43 PM
☀️ 22 °C
Altitude: 250 m
Australia Wandoan Test Bore Water Facility -26.11695, 149.9582526°7’1” S 149°57’30” E
Creatures and Plants
January 8, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
Well after dark I noticed an impressive spider web complete with its hairy, eight legged owner. With powerful light I was lining up and composing a photo when all of a sudden.... A hapless moth collided near the bottom of the web.

The spider was there in moments before the moth could get free of the sticky strands. Another second he would have e been free and on his way. A quick stab of venom and the spider proceeded to wrap his meal for later. There was a stream of breaking wings drifting aside as the spider attached his victim with a strong strand.

Now the moth was spun rapidly and encased in web until completely wrapped. Once done the supporting thread was cut and the delectable prize carted up to the centre of the web. Here it was hung in place ready for a future dinner.

Most of the plants are quite interesting. Excepting the triple throned burs. They are a literal pain wherever they spike you. Cactus are more obvious so rarely a problem. Some plants have flowered and scattered their seeds for next season.Read more
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Day 4
Tuesday, January 9, 2018 at 10:53 AM
⛅ 23 °C
Altitude: 252 m
Australia Wandoan Test Bore Water Facility -26.11701, 149.958126°7’1” S 149°57’29” E
A Tough day in the Office
January 9, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
Although we are tripping around with no "real" boundaries, I do have a little work to be done from time to time. I must say though, sitting under a shady tree doing G business essentials beats the hell out of sitting in a dingy office.Read more
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Day 4
Tuesday, January 9, 2018 at 4:00 PM
🌙 -1 °C
Altitude: 281 m
Australia Western Downs -26.98427, 150.111226°59’3” S 150°6’40” E
Caliguel Lagoon
January 9, 2018 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 -1 °C
A few kilometres out from Condamine we are camped by this Lagoon. There is a fair body of water with some of the larger water birds around. A small family of Happy Jack's have dropped by to see if we have any food scraps for them. They were disappointed and hopped away to do other things. Temperature is a bit hotter today but the fair breeze is offering some respite.

Telstra say they cover 99% of the Aussie population. It is definitely not 99% of Australia though. The service is minimal with voice and probably slow data.

In the afternoon, a large goanna caused quite a commotion among many birds as he explored trees for bird's nests. The apostle birds were on high alert dive bombing and sending him on his way. Later when he was way up a tree corella and mynahs joined the assault team, all trying to protect nests in tree hollows.Read more
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Day 5
Wednesday, January 10, 2018 at 12:39 PM
☀️ 32 °C
Altitude: 281 m
Australia Western Downs -26.98428, 150.1111726°59’3” S 150°6’40” E
Caligual Lagoon Lazing.
January 10, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C
Today is an easy relaxing day. Temperature is very pleasant with a nice brisk cooling breeze. Overnight I actually needed to close down a couple of hatches as it was just a little cool for perfect comfort. A good night sleep here in the quiet pre-dawn while the birds also rested from the previous day.

Sitting in the early morning at the shady side of the van, missions of corellas flying formation in groups of up to fifty passed over. Some smaller groups transponded their way across at lower altitude with regular location squarks.

Trees periodically erupted with the jump of a happy jack into a delicate and gracefully glide over to check what we were doing. The return flight was a busy powerful flutter as they accelerated back to the sanctuary of the tree. They seem a little more cautious today after the intrusion of yesterday's goanna. Happy Jack's, also known around here as Apostle birds don't fly a lot as they seem to prefer pedestrian travel as they forage for morsels of food on the ground.

Today is also an opportunity to make a fresh batch of yoghurt. This ensures a good supply at all times. We will also take advantage of the sunny afternoon to use our solar oven. It will allow us to cook a nice meal with energy coming only from the sun.Read more
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Day 5
Wednesday, January 10, 2018 at 10:45 PM
🌙 14 °C
Altitude: 275 m
Australia Western Downs -26.98382, 150.1108126°59’2” S 150°6’39” E
Condamine, Australia
January 10, 2018 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 14 °C
In the evenings one can enjoy a little skywatching while relaxing with a cuppa. ABC radio quietly chat show natter in the background.

A couple of fast object traverse the sky with random flashes. Possibly space station or iridium satelite. Couple of "falling stars" and stars too numerous to imagine. Orions belt with it 3 bright norches and his sword held aloft. The creamy milky way smeared across a galaxy or two.

It is a humbling thought how vastly miniscule we frail creatures really are. My pondering ut short by an odd red light moving relatively slowly across the sky and then disappearing as suddenly as it appeared. Probably some sort of aircraft beacon. A bit later and it is there again only to dissappear.

I was curious since airlines don't behave like this. Then I recalled an app I had downloaded some time back. It's promise was to show where aeroplanes were by transponder data. Now was as good a time as any to try it out. I ran it up and oriented the map. Soon I was able to work out what aircraft it was.

Apparently it had taken off over 2 hours ago and the flight path was curious. I followed it for another hour appearing and disappearing randomly. I suspect but can not confirm some sort of night training. It identified as an Airbus travelling at some 800 plus kph. The pilots must have been getting just a little dizzy.Read more
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Day 6
Thursday, January 11, 2018 at 7:32 PM
⛅ 24 °C
Altitude: 281 m
Australia Western Downs -26.98426, 150.1111626°59’3” S 150°6’40” E
Washing Some Clothes
January 11, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
Today was a quiet one so we decided to do a small wash. Several buckets of quite muddy water from the lagoon needed treatment to take out the mud. A little alum and an hour sit all the mud was at the bottom.

Careful decanting and we had enough clean water ready to begin washing. The small machine and off we went. Only 30 litres of water and we have all our clothes clean. Drying took surprisingly short time.

Today I read a book I had started months ago then we relaxed with afternoon smoke. The sun has just set, so spectacular ulnar that no photo can really ever capture it. There were rays shooting up that the camera can hardly see. The interesting block columns were a little more obvious.Read more
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Day 7
Friday, January 12, 2018 at 6:11 PM
⛅ 15 °C
Altitude: 213 m
Australia Serpentine Lagoon -28.5512, 150.3202128°33’4” S 150°19’13” E
Goondiwindi - Redman Park
January 12, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C
Hot! After some very pleasant weather we are suddenly in the midst of a heat wave. We are camped at Goondiwindi at a rest stop and the heat has been quite oppressive. One does not feel like doing very much... And neither do I. Temperatures are reported up around 40 degrees.

These little characters turned up to take a drink at a puddle. I decided they acted a lot like the coughs we had seen last year at Blowering Dam but you need to see them fly to see if they have the characteristic white on their wings. Pam did see them fly and confirmed who they were. They are becoming one of my favourite birds. They are mostly seen in cooperative family groups foraging along the ground like little mini chooks.

Families include one breeding pair and siblings from earlier hatchings. All members contribute to rearing the latest brood. Group numbers vary depending on the environment, but we have mostly seen them in 5 to 10 per group. Sometimes individual birds defect to another group or sometimes are kidnapped since larger groups survive more readily.

Mostly pedestrians, these funny little birds can fly very well displaying great skill and judgement in the air. Often one in the group will act as a lookout watching for intruders. A few loud chatters and the entire group is on high alert.Read more
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Day 8
Saturday, January 13, 2018 at 11:44 AM
☀️ 21 °C
Altitude: 262 m
Australia North Star -28.92929, 150.3918928°55’45” S 150°23’31” E
Northstar, NSW
January 13, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
This looks like it would have been a thriving place in years long past. Now just the one hotel and a school.
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Day 8
Saturday, January 13, 2018 at 7:09 PM
☀️ 21 °C
Altitude: 350 m
Australia Gwydir -29.5618, 150.6466629°33’42” S 150°38’48” E
Bikini Tree, Warialda
January 13, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
The Bikini tree began life of its own in 1997. An art teacher from the school, seeing the resemblance of a woman's curves, painted on her first bikini. Since then she has had many themed bikinis such as Christmas, Olympics and state of origin.

This tree is now firmly held as a cultural icon for Warialda but nobody knows what her next bikini will look like or what the theme will be.Read more
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Day 9
Sunday, January 14, 2018 at 8:58 PM
🌙 21 °C
Altitude: 344 m
Australia Dog Trap -29.55983, 150.6494629°33’35” S 150°38’58” E
Cranky Rock Nature Reserve
January 14, 2018 in Australia ⋅ 🌙 21 °C
A short walk from the campground is the Reedy Creek rock feature. The late afternoon colours were very beautiful. After checking out the lower area we headed up to the lookout platform.

Here we had magnificent views of the rocky pool below. The sky was colouring up with a pleasing red but with no clouds fell a little short of some of the recent sunsets earlier in this trip. On the way back down from the platform vantage, Pam spotted a very small native marsupial mouse. No larger than a house mouse this sweet little guy was not overly concerned at our presence. After posing for a few photos and a short video to show his rock clinging skills he headed off into the rocks.

Today the temperature has dropped quite a bit so we should have a very pleasant night.Read more
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Day 10
Monday, January 15, 2018 at 8:26 AM
☀️ 20 °C
Altitude: 347 m
Australia Gwydir -29.56187, 150.6466129°33’43” S 150°38’48” E
Chilling at Cranky Rock
January 15, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
The temperature dropped dramatically during the night. The night before was pleasantly warm which had been a relief from the stifling heat of the previous night we spent at Goondiwindi. There had been so hot we had run the fans most of the night until the wind blew away some of the heat.

By the time we arrived at Cranky Rock reserve most of the heat was dissipating with just a few hot breaths now and then. The overcast day had been reasonably comfortable. Last night though we felt a change. By nightfall the temperature had dropped to a very comfortable level.

Getting ready for bed and I decided to close the windows and hatches a bit. Now it was cool enough to pull a sheet over me. A few hours later I woke up. I was getting just a bit cold. I closed the windows and wound the hatches to almost closed. It was getting quite a bit cooler. Cold enough in fact for me to unpack a doona for us both.

The temperature inside the van probably fell to around 16-17 degrees. We were not expecting that.Read more
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Day 11
Tuesday, January 16, 2018 at 11:12 AM
☀️ 25 °C
Altitude: 370 m
Australia Gwydir -29.78129, 150.712629°46’53” S 150°42’45” E
Myal Creek Memorial
January 16, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C
Site of Wirrayaraay aboriginal massacre. 10th June 1838 at Myal Creek 28 aboriginal women and children and old men were killed in cold blood in a premeditated and unprovoked attack by a group of stockman. Taken to trial all were acquitted but at a second trial seven were sentenced to hang. This was the first time in the colony that perpetrators were brought to justice for brutal acts against aboriginal people. "Ngiyani Winingay Ganunga" .Read more
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Day 11
Tuesday, January 16, 2018 at 6:42 PM
☀️ 31 °C
Altitude: 289 m
Australia Bald Knob -29.89028, 150.6194429°53’25” S 150°37’10” E
Gwydir River
January 16, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C
A nice spot on the river where we could camp on a future trip. There was quite a flow in the river due to the irrigation flow.
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Day 13
Thursday, January 18, 2018 at 12:29 PM
☀️ 19 °C
Altitude: 434 m
Australia Tamworth Municipality -30.55367, 150.6812430°33’13” S 150°40’52” E
Split Rock Dam
January 18, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
The dam is fairly low so there is a huge area that anyone can camp. Need to move up though if there was rain. Looks like quite a nice area to camp.
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Day 13
Thursday, January 18, 2018 at 12:46 PM
☀️ 19 °C
Altitude: 493 m
Australia Tamworth Municipality -30.57519, 150.6887730°34’31” S 150°41’20” E
Split Rock Creek Dam Lookout
January 18, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
Quite a good vantage to view the dam. Can't get closer now than this lookout.
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Day 14
Friday, January 19, 2018 at 7:00 PM
☀️ 36 °C
Altitude: 376 m
Australia Bicentennial Park -31.09485, 150.9306431°5’41” S 150°55’50” E
Tamworth Country Music Festival
January 19, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 36 °C
The first day we headed out to the Longyard Hotel for a couple of free shows on the deck. It was all a bit loud but we were back a bit.

Later we caught the bus back over for the opening show in Picentennial Park. Big night with lots of singers. Returned quite late to the Tourist village.Read more
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Day 19
Wednesday, January 24, 2018 at 3:15 PM
☀️ 37 °C
Altitude: 382 m
Australia Peel Picnic Spot -31.08494, 150.924731°5’6” S 150°55’29” E
Peel Street Tamworth.
January 24, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 37 °C
Peel Street is where just about every hopeful starts out in Tamworth. Some of the buskers have been coming for more years than they remember. Some of them just don't remember. A walk down the street and a yarn to some of the artists can give a festival visitor some valuable insight into who one should see here at the festival.Read more
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Day 19
Wednesday, January 24, 2018 at 4:30 PM
☀️ 38 °C
Altitude: 395 m
Australia Goonoo Goonoo Creek -31.1276, 150.9223831°7’39” S 150°55’21” E
Brothers 3 at Longyard Hotel.
January 24, 2018 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 38 °C
Today we have two paid shows here. The first is Brothers three. These boys are long time Tamworth favourites. We first heard of them a couple of years ago when they appeared on a TV talent show.

They may have overdone the sibling rivalry act a bit but the singing is to die for. These lads are a great natural talent. Tight harmonies and great skills on the instruments. The real surprise though for me was hearing Taizen sing a unique version of Hallelujah.

Pam bought 5 CD's and then downloaded the newly released album from iTunes. This is the it 10th year performing. All vocals are very tight with impressive harmonies.Read more
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