We are still in the small town of St. George, having arrived here 4 days ago. Since arriving we have had all seasons. Who said that Melbourne weather was a bit confusing.
We arrived on Thursday and you could see that there was a storm brewing. After setting up we had a quick look around the town and went to the info centre. It soon became apparent that we were going to have a fairly quiet few days. Probably good anyway, just refresh the batteries before our opal finding expeditions in Lightning Ridge.
Settled in to our new digs on Thursday night and the rain started coming down. And it just kept raining. All night it kept raining. Put the periscope up, just to make sure we were still in the caravan park. Got up Friday morning and most of the sites in the caravan park were waterlogged. I don't think our mat will ever dry out.
Not to be deterred, it was off to check out the weir about 9 k's from town. It was pouring as we turned off the main road and headed towards the weir. There were dozens of kangaroos on the road, so I had to get a few snaps. They are such a dumb animal, with most of them jumping across your path.
Arrived at the weir and it is obviously huge. So the sign says anyway. There was nowhere that you could park so that you could get a photo of the weir. All you could see was the huge floodgates and the wall of the weir. You were not even allowed to walk down to the river, where the floodgates open, to get a photo. Anyway, when we got down to the river, in front of the floodgates, I got some photos of the river, with the customary pelicans, and the floodgates area, where they had started to release a little bit of water into the river.
After leaving the weir I got Deb to drive so that I could get some action shots of the kangaroos on the way back to town. But yes, of course, we did not see one on the trip back.
Probably the best part of our visit to St. George, without a doubt, was to see the fantastic engraving artwork done on Emu eggs. You really have to see this to fully appreciate it. The work is done by an incredible artist, Stavros Margaritis. Originally from Greece, he has been doing emu egg engraving for 57 years, and now his daughter is also involved. The emu egg is a dark green colour, and there are about 10 different shades of emu eggs. Each egg has 10 layers, each a marginally different colour than the last, meaning that there are about 100 different colours to work with. After doing the engraving, a light is placed inside, with incredible results. On the wall of his showrooms, he has letters of thanks from Barack Obama, The Pope and The Governor General, who he had given specially designed eggs to. Get ready for an overkill of photos.
We then went for a stroll along the Ballone River, up to another weir at the other end of the town. One of the floodgates at that end of the town was also open, allowing water to slowly drain into the river to head downstream. St. George has had numerous floods over the years, the last being in 2011, so the use of these floodgates at either side of the town are vitally important. The river itself is huge, probably at least 100 metres across.
We have had to keep our tourist activities to a minimum each day, otherwise we would have run out of things to do on day one. Although I would have been happy to go back to the Emu Egg gallery again. On our stroll around the town on day 3, yes, it was no longer raining, we got some photos of some of the murals. There is a really cool one depicting the transport heritage of the area, and another one of the agriculture and farming history of the town. The Public Toilets, directly opposite the police station, also have very quaint murals drawn on them. I think it shows a bit of pride in your local town, rather than graffiti.
On our stroll along the river we checked out the pilots memorial. There are references to 2 local pilots from the 2nd world war. One of them distinguished himself fighting the Japanese in Port Moresby and the other was the first Indigenous Australian Pilot. Their stories are on plaques at the memorial and both had heroic careers in the Australian Air Force. The first one mentioned above even had the Port Moresby airport named after him.
It was time to slow down from our hectic tourist stuff, so it was off to the St George Bakery. They have this fully restored 1917 T model Ford that they use to make deliveries. For a small donation, they also take tourists for a drive around the town. It was so cool. Quite breezy and no seatbelts of course, but very cool. There are only 2 gears, low and high, with 3 foot pedals, one is for reverse. It runs like a dream and they use it every day.
On our last morning, just for something different, we went for a walk along the river. Finally, at last, I have seen a bird other than a crow or galah. Finally got to see a very pretty parrot hopping around. It took a fair bit of stalking, but I finally got some photos of it. Now I need to go back to the van for a rest. Its been such a stressful few days.
Tomorrow we are off to the little one pub/one shop town of Hebel. We are only staying overnight, to soak up the culture, and then we will be off to Lightning Ridge the next day.
Speak soon.
Barry and Deb.
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