The final few days (41 - 44)
Our final three nights (deliberately not trying to push too far each day) were in Cobar, Gunnedah and Tenterfield. Especially cold on the Tablelands driving between Gunnedah and Tenterfield where the temperature guage never reached double figures - in fact, at one point around Guyra of course, we discovered our car has a snow warning light! It activated when a little sleet appeared and the guage showed 2 degrees. Glad we were in the car!
Let's begin this final post about our KI trip with a road side emu who was very co-operative, noting the impact of the wind on the feathers.
A special mention for Wilcannia
We stopped for lunch on the Saturday of the long weekend. Lovely sunny, clear and still day. Shout out to the Wilcannia Cafe 2386 who offer a fantastic fare and a great location under the trees and over the road from the park beside the Darling.
The REAL treat for me, however, was the birdlife. Starting with the tree full of red-tailed black cockatoos we parked under right outside the cafe 😁- out came the camera and lunch suddenly was a secondary consideration. What a treat to be able to be this up close and personal with this lot!! No apologies for the number of photos included here because it is a rareity and they were very co-operative as you will see. The burger was bloody good too!
And then my two favourites
Just when you think you have had a great stop, you look skyward and there were many black kites doing their thing soaring on thermals over the town. Here are two decent ones I was able to photograph.
Wandering over to the park for a walk before setting off provided a few more moments too ... a willy wagtail, the Darling River (still waiting for the Qld torrents to arrive) and river bank scenery, a pee wee and a kookaburra.
A Sunday morning encounter with a gold rat in Cobar
The Saturday evening we arrived in Cobar offered quite a spectacular sunset given how clear the day had been - a glorious palette.
I need to include this encounter. You have to imagine the serendipity ... we check out of our Motel, a little earlier than usual. Stop to fill up with petrol and clean the windscreen.
Remember this is Sunday morning on a long weekend in Cobar.
Turn off the main street and pull up in front of a bakery and ask Deb if she wants a coffee before we head off (it's about an hour and a half to Nyngan) but she says she is fine and so back to the main street and head off for Nyngan ... pedestrian crossing ... I recognise that swagger and its wearing a gold rats jersey! Bloody Dave Arthur ... and Selena already across the street pushing the grand daughter in a pram.
What are the odds??
So we had a chat, a photo which Dave possesses, and we eventually headed for Nyngan 😀.
A coffee tale for sure!
So for our final pictures on these blog posts sharing our journey to Adelaide and Kangaroo Island I have chosen a sequence just out of Cobar heading east to Nyngan and Gunnedah. This was the largest mob of emu we encountered and several adults were carefully guiding the younger ones around and through a fence as they wandered from the side of the road, gradually blending with the parched landscape.
An apt sense of calm as we began to leave the western plains for the more undulating and less drought ravaged agricultural areas further east as the trees also began reappearing and breaking up that big blue sky.
We feel privileged and relaxed to have undertaken our journey and seen such a range of environments offered by our great land.
I hope you have enjoyed a few glimpses offered on the blog too.
