Donald in the Wimmera

[Chilli]

Donald the place not the person. 😁

Cope Cope. Two lakes there that just support water bird life. Unfortunately in this heatwave summer they are dry. Lots of salinity in these areas as you can see on its dry shoreline. It was teeming with Birdlife a couple of months ago.

One of the dry waterholes near the river at Donald. You can see how much salinity this water has.

But the water does sustain some life in it. The Richardson river only runs during winter after lots of rain. Full of mosquito fish, millions of them in it.

And where there's fish the birds are too. Australasian Grebes.

The suspension bridge crossing the Richardson. I hate walking on these things feeling like the earths moving beneath my feet.

Windmill from the other end.

These have to be the biggest sunflowers I have ever seen. The corrugated iron fence is 6 feet high so how tall these things are would be between 15 to 20 foot easy.

I call this "Reflections of Grass on the Ripples".
Because, well, its grass reflections on water ripples.

 

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[robertk]

Those are some neat shots. Crazy tall sunflowers. "Gotta go upstairs and pick some sunflowers. Or maybe to the roof."

 

[Chilli]

Those are some neat shots. Crazy tall sunflowers. "Gotta go upstairs and pick some sunflowers. Or maybe to the roof."

I know, they're huge aren't they. Biggest iv ever seen.
Its a very different area in those parts of the state, there's sort of a great sense of lifelessnes there in places. Way less wildlife than im used to seeing.
I don't mind going for a drive there but I couldn't live anywhere like that.

 

[Crow]

Hello Chili

Your in nugget country down there in Victoria. Some great spots around the golden triangle.

Crow

 

[Mackaydon]

Yes, the Golden Triangle (that area between Bendigo, Ballerat and Wedderburn) produced more gold in the second half of the 19th century than any other place in the world; including California.
It remains an area to search on my MD bucket list.
Don in SoCal

 

[Chilli]

Hello Chili

Your in nugget country down there in Victoria. Some great spots around the golden triangle.

Crow

Hi Crow. Yes. I used to live right in the centre of it for decades, Maryborough. It was the most central place to be. About 20 great fields within half an hour to hour drive. We are now on the Western edge. Still access to some very good areas though.

 

[Chilli]

Yes, the Golden Triangle (that area between Bendigo, Ballerat and Wedderburn) produced more gold in the second half of the 19th century than any other place in the world; including California.
It remains an area to search on my MD bucket list.
Don in SoCal

Hi, yeah it's an amazing place gold wise. An incredible amount has been found here with detectors since the first VLFs hit the ground then the Pulse induction.
Ever decide to visit let me know. 👍

 

[Gare]

GREAT PHOTOS Chilli . How often do you encounter crocodiles ?

 

[Chilli]

GREAT PHOTOS Chilli . How often do you encounter crocodiles ?

Hi mate thanks.
None down south thankfully. Saw them when we were in living on the coast in central Queensland. But that was 4000 km north of here.

 

[Gare]

CHilli I thank you for your reply I guess I thought they was all over Australia, BUT YOU do have a LOT of OTHER DANGEROUS CRITTERS living there . like the Eastern Brown Snake correct ?

 

[Mackaydon]

Chilli,
Thanks for the invite; if I get there, I'll get in touch.
Don in SoCal

 

[Chilli]

CHilli I thank you for your reply I guess I thought they was all over Australia, BUT YOU do have a LOT of OTHER DANGEROUS CRITTERS living there . like the Eastern Brown Snake correct ?

Hi Gare. What a coincidence you say about the Brownies!
I went for a walk today and saw a small juvenile Banded Brown shake. Venomous as are all the browns. I thought it was just sunning and got a quick picture. But then realised when I zoomed in that a bird must have hit it and I disturbed the bird without seeing it. It was freshly hit as you can see.
Stopped me in my tracks as the littlies have as deadly venom as the adults.
Lovely little snakes though.

 

[Chilli]

Chilli,
Thanks for the invite; if I get there, I'll get in touch.
Don in SoCal

Any time Don. 👍👍

 

[Gare]

I was gonna ask if i could come with Don or even my self TILL SEEN THE BROWNIE !! Was it dead ?
What I mean was did the bird kill it ?
Thank you for your replies

 

[Chilli]

I was gonna ask if i could come with Don or even my self TILL SEEN THE BROWNIE !! Was it dead ?
What I mean was did the bird kill it ?
Thank you for your replies

Yeah almost dead, just a very slight movement when I pushed it with my boot.
Nice looking little snake. Not one id play with though 😂
Most areas are pretty dry where I go detecting and no water means fewer snakes, you'd be perfectly safe. .........ish.....😉
Kidding. 🤥

 

[Crow]

Nothing beats local knowledge. Many see Australia as dangerous place. Yet in reality it no dangerous than many other places in the world. Common sense regardless of what continent your on and you will have no troubles. The biggest danger down under is heart stroke in summer.

That and choking on the flies in cattle country. You learn quickly not to open ya mouth talking. All the locals in the outback talk with out opening their mouths and say as little as possible.

I worked as drilling company years ago in Western N,S,W, Queensland, NT and WA. I started out drilling water bores in western and southern NSW. then progressed into exploration drilling. North parks, Cobar, Lightening ridge, Mt Isa, Concurry. McArthur river. Century. Palmer river, just to name few. Everywhere where it was hot full of flies and all ya wanted to do is find a pub and sink a cold cold beer.

Crow

 

[Chilli]

Nothing beats local knowledge. Many see Australia as dangerous place. Yet in reality it no dangerous than many other places in the world. Common sense regardless of what continent your on and you will have no troubles. The biggest danger down under is heart stroke in summer.

That and choking on the flies in cattle country. You learn quickly not to open ya mouth talking. All the locals in the outback talk with out opening their mouths and say as little as possible.

I worked as drilling company years ago in Western N,S,W, Queensland, NT and WA. I started out drilling water bores in western and southern NSW. then progressed into exploration drilling. North parks, Cobar, Lightening ridge, Mt Isa, Concurry. McArthur river. Century. Palmer river, just to name few. Everywhere where it was hot full of flies and all ya wanted to do is find a pub and sink a cold cold beer.

Crow

Yeah, one learns to eat their lunch in record time.
They were unbearable here a couple of months ago. Going for every bit of moisture they could get, your eyes, nose, mouth. I wear a fly net when they are bad but even then you gotta take it off or lift it to drink or quickly take a bite of your food. I was swallowing two a day on average when I was in the bush. 😂
The heatwave here has been real bad the past 6 weeks. Heaps of temps in the 40s celcius, nothing under 30. Though in four days time they predict 22c 😀
Been sleeping on the top of the bed, not in it, since mid December with the fan on. Same tonight.
Sounds like you visited some good gold and opal areas when here. Hey, you want some flies? Ill send you a box full to remind you of how much fun they are 😂

 

[Gare]

Thanks guys What you can learn on here is AMAZING

 

[Crow]

Yeah, one learns to eat their lunch in record time.
They were unbearable here a couple of months ago. Going for every bit of moisture they could get, your eyes, nose, mouth. I wear a fly net when they are bad but even then you gotta take it off or lift it to drink or quickly take a bite of your food. I was swallowing two a day on average when I was in the bush. 😂
The heatwave here has been real bad the past 6 weeks. Heaps of temps in the 40s celcius, nothing under 30. Though in four days time they predict 22c 😀
Been sleeping on the top of the bed, not in it, since mid December with the fan on. Same tonight.
Sounds like you visited some good gold and opal areas when here. Hey, you want some flies? Ill send you a box full to remind you of how much fun they are 😂

Yeah that and ticks and leaches. Especially in the great dividing range. I lived in Townsville well just of the coast on magnetic island. known as Maggie to locals. We had marine stingers that sting so painfully bad you rather being eaten by crocodiles.

I used to go mud crabbing setting traps out a night in mangroves. Ya looking in water you see two eyes brink in the flash light. ya know they lurking waiting for you slip up. Did a lot of fishing in gulf country for Barramundi. great memories amazing characters.

There is a saying the higher north you go the crazier the people. Mad as meat axes.

Use to swim in the lawn hill gorge with fresh water turtles and crocodiles with water so clear it was like swimming inside an aquarium. The small freshness don't bother you until you mess with them. Lower down the rivers in estuaries and mangroves its home of big Salties. Some was long than the boat ya was in.

Here is some pictures of the gorge. its now a national park. years ago we had the place to ourselves.

It was part of lawn hill cattle station. We was exploration drilling that led to the creation of Century zinc lead and silver mine a couple kilometers away. Ya can see below. to thing I did exploration drilling years ago it was flat field with Brahman bulls on it. They are like mini bulldozers. That is one of reasons why you don't drive at night.

Here it is today over twenty years later. funny story. The Century mine was discovered on Century downs station right next to lawn hill cattle station. The Century downs station was given to the local aboriginal population. They had protests in the street of Mt Isa. Complaining that the government gave worthless land and they had no cultural connection to that scrubby desert?

I was working for a contract drilling company on behalf of MIM. Mount Isa Mines Limited. they had exchanged the mining lease for 2 dollars to CRA which is Rio Tinto today. Rio Tinto contracted the drilling company to do finish the drilling exploration. We discovered one of largest zinc deposits in the world. When news leaked out.

The very aboriginals Kackadoons who was protesting that they had been given native tile to a worthless century cattle station. Screamed out in the street "SACRED SITE" a total back flip from what they had been protesting about the week before.

The spot where we drilled no longer exists.

Crow

 

[Chilli]

Yeah that and ticks and leaches. Especially in the great dividing range. I lived in Townsville well just of the coast on magnetic island. known as Maggie to locals. We had marine stingers that sting so painfully bad you rather being eaten by crocodiles.

I used to go mud crabbing setting traps out a night in mangroves. Ya looking in water you see two eyes brink in the flash light. ya know they lurking waiting for you slip up. Did a lot of fishing in gulf country for Barramundi. great memories amazing characters.

Use to swim in the lawn hill gorge with fresh water turtles and crocodiles with water so clear it was like swimming inside an aquarium. The small freshness don't bother you until you mess with them. Lower down the rivers in estuaries and mangroves its home of big Salties. Some was long than the boat ya was in.

Crow

Hi mate. Yeah been all up that way. Misses and I did a several month trip up the east coast in a panel van in the 80s. Camping all the way. We spent about a month on magnetic. Some great rock oysters there. Id just wade in the shallows with a knife prising them off the rocks and eating as many as I gathered. The giant trevally that hung around the ferry jetty there were beasts! 100lbs upwards. I hooked one once there, it was unstoppable. 😂
Spent quite a while in Cooktown too. That was nice there. We helped out one night for a country western do there. I was at the entrance doing the tickets. Started at 7pm. 7pm comes, few people, 8 pm lucky if 20 there, 9pm old chopped 4wds and utes full of anyone and everyone from station workers, Aboriginals hundreds! I looked at the guy running it as there was too many for me to try to do the tickets, he just threw his arms up laughing and said "let em all in". 😂
What a night that was.
I loved Qld. We lived for 2 yrs in Yeppoon, fishing paradise. Closest land to the great barrier reef so everything visited there fish wise.
I know those creeks and places there, crystal clear water its amazing isn't it.
Between Cooktown and Cairns as we were driving I spotted something and stopped for a look. A python easy 30 foot long and as thick as my upper thigh. I remember we were camping at Mt Malloy and I went into the jungle fishing in a stream there, amazing, I was catching sooty grunter looking at turtles sitting on logs at the water edge. Was like a postcard scene! Camping was edgy at times as youd hear the wild boars foraging near the tent grunting away and pushing through the scrub. I would sleep with a loaded shotty next to me with SGs in it. Awesome trip.
Dangerous in Taipan country though. A very good friend was hit by one in Yeppoon. He died within minutes. 🫤 They're probably the most aggressive snake we have. That was a sad loss, great guy.
Yeah you get stingers all down the QLD coast from Cape York to Brisy. Damn they hurt. Vinegar is the antidote for most of the pain. The beaches would be covered in them at Yeppoon some days in their season. I saw a few Irunkandji jellies there, they're seriously dangerous but no Man O wars thankfully.
Id live in Qld any day but the misses didn't like living there. She loved the trip, but not the lifestyle.
We lived out of one of these.