2016 05 17 TUESDAY Bendigo

It rains overnight, we snuggle up in Vicki and by dawn the rain has blown away and there are just some fluffy clouds like sheep grazing across the sky.

The aroma of bacon and eggs drifts in one window and out the other. We eat out for breakfast at a local café.

Bendigo is a bustling town with beautiful old buildings, a tramway from the last centuary and yet a modern optimistic vibe. This is not a museum town with it's head buried in the sands of time like an ostrich.

We find a park in Forest Street and walk down to the gallery. Marilyn stands larger than life in a poster in the foyer. Its $25 each to go in and we enter a tasteful tribute to a lady who's life was much more than cleavage and blond hair. The Madonna's who have tried to emulate her have fallen way short. It takes about four hours to see the exhibition. We are very pleased that we went. In actual fact Mal has to come down off a Marilyn high and feels a bit flat when the excitement is over.

We restock Vicki and head out of town towards Shepperton. We camp by Greens Lake. The breeze is really fresh and the sky showers the land with a sunburst of light which is all show and no heat. Black swans cruise by and the water laps the shore with two inch high wavelets.

2016 05 18 WEDNESDAY

The cold breeze is blowing all the caravans north. Like tumbleweeds they infest Queensland's parks and then a warm September breeze blows the migratory caravans south again for the summer.

We catch a gust of wind and slowly tumble our way to Shepperton, which is a really big town/city. It seems to take forever to reach the Murray River at Tocomwal - where the thick forest of gums begs the question of what the flood plains once looked like before the mouths of insatiable steam boat furnaces demanded endless feeding and forests were cleared which now harbour cattle and other farming activities.

North of the border rice and cotton suck the water from the river and as we reach Griffith orchards predominate. If only we had more water everyone could be happy but alas it is a battle.

We head for Cocaparra National Park which is North East about 30ks. The sun is setting and is snuggled down behind the weathered conglomerate hills by the time we shuffle into place. We sit out as the last glow of light drains from the sky before retreating into the resort for an evening meal.

Tomorrow we are going to have a rest day so we feel relaxed, no breaking camp at the crack of 10am and roaring endlessly up the highway at a breakneck 90km per hour. Tomorrow we will sleep in.

2016 05 19 THURSDAY

The birds are here, parrots, honey eaters and babblers to mention a few. Sue has a great morning clicking away while Mal splashes at his watercolours.

After lunch and a rest we walk up the road to the Pines Picnic Ground and then on to the waterfall that has no water but the rocks are rich and warm eroded conglomerate. As we climb a Perigine Falcon is disturbed by the intrusion and decamps for some peace. We sit high on the range looking down in to a valley streaked with shadows as the day departs behind us.

We walk back to camp, two bluebonnet parrots flit into trees as we approach and then a ring neck hides in a tree defying identification for a good spell. Mal shoots him with his Canon and we have digital proof of his plumage.

We sit out and have a quiet drink and the small flies all set to synchronised swimming lessons in Mal's beer. Well they had a grand time.

There is little to report on such a perfect day.

2016 05 20 FRIDAY

What a great spot lets stay another night. In the morning Ray and Eve roll into the vacated spot next to us and we catch up with them for a chat. They are from Albury (NSW), hes an ex farmer and she is a health worker (we find out later). Lovely couple.

It's an overcast morning and the birds have stayed inside watching TV or darning their winter socks. We have a lazy morning and after lunch head off up the fire trail to have a look around. We see an emu and a few birds, a flame tree looks down on an empty watercourse. One small puddle of water is all we find. It is a dry landscape of cypress and gums.

By the time we walk back into camp Ray and Eve are sitting by the fire. We join them for a sundowner and hear about their travels, but they are conversationalists so there is an ebb and flow.

We head back to Vicki to make some tea and be grateful for another beautiful day. Life is short and we fear it is easy to waste days.

2016 05 21 SATURDAY

We say good bye to Eve and Ray and toddle off down the track at about 10am. We head for Rankin Springs, which we note has a birds in the bush festival in October - we will look into that, sounds right up our ally.

We head sort of North to Lake Cargialli, what an interesting town. We think it is not really a lake just the river dammed by a weir - but it is a fair old lump of water with some really big carp feeding in the murky water. The town once was thriving but now there are many empty commercial buildings in town and while there are obviously still many domestic dwellings which are occupied, the commercial activity has moved off up or down or on line. Mal photographs the old water tank that was used to re water the steam trains back in the 50s and 60s. There is still a very large grain terminal here but of course the labour to farm, harvest and transport the grain has all become more mechanised so less people have jobs here. We have lunch by the lake and then drop into a concrete bunker bird hide by the lake, but the light is all wrong and like so many wet land bird hides they are too far from the water.

We drive into the camp near the weir. We spend half an hour picking up and burning rubbish and a large bag of old cans and drink bottles and then the place is delightful. We look down on the Lachlan River running over the weir and on it's merry way to the South West.

We whip out the camp oven and make a terrific meal and we sit beneath a one day old softly veiled full moon and reflect on a day well spent.

Did I mention our camper has a nice hot shower, we endulge and then off to bed. A ute passes by spotlighting in the trees but otherwise it is just the song the river sings as it summersaults down the weir wall that provides a soundtrack for the night.

2016 05 22 SUNDAY

The water still cascades over the weir, a pelican spots me with one jaundiced eye, considers and then moves away with a dozen wing flaps. The early morning sun lights up under the trees, the fresh grass after rain is sparkling green - a contradiction out here where it is so dry.

We pack up slowly and are on the Lachlan River Way by 11am. Rain or no rain the road has a healthy mane of dust as we head further upstream.

Condoblin is a pretty town on the banks of the Lachlan River. We have a late morning cuppa beneath several very large gums that say nothing of what they have seen pass them by. We head North through several small grain towns, one called Tottenham. The day is quiet on the road and we pass large grain fields. In one place the soil is red, the sky is blue and just a few dark green trees splotch against the red. Sue says, RGB - she is spot on - we are back to the basic colours and the basics of life, growing food.

It is after 4pm when we find a camp spot down by the Nyngan Weir. The afternoon is still, a young chap paddles up and down with his fishing rod. He says "G'Day" he says, a modern day Huck Finn if ever there was one.

The light drains from the sky and pools in a firey horizon backlighting the gums.

We have a fire by the river as the night is warm and the moon rises and it's reflection looks back at me from the river. Then a strange cloud formation forms, like ripples in the sand, just five ripples with one longer than the rest which points at the moon.

We phone Ken to see how they are travellin and things are as good as can be expected at the moment.

We lay in bed and listen to the fish jumping in the river as the moon lights the landscape to soft cool greys.

2016 05 23

The sky has clouded up and the sun lights the dawn and the river is on fire with the reflections. The water is calm and just at the peak moment the sky releases a sprinkling of fairy dust to decorate the river surface. Another perfect day has arrived.