Day 15 – Thurs 11th

We left Carnarvon at 8.30am, went past the Fairburn Dam on the way to Emerald, the one that was on the news recently with the flood and water pouring over the overflow. It is one huge dam, very muddy at the moment.

Also saw another Echidna crossing the road, it was nearly half way across when we stopped, luckily I had my camera out, I was out for the car in a flash, think I got some even better shots that the other day, again with his head out.

Echidna

It’s surprising very warm here. In the arvo we went for a walk around the gardens which cover and area of 42 hectares. With lots of different sections, we first walked along the supposed wet lands but we think it was washed away in Jan flood as it was just a mess. Lots of cockatoos flying over which we had fun trying to shoot. We then headed to the river and walked along looking for birds. Came back to the van all hot and sticky, had a break and then went for another walk along the lake that runs in the middle of the gardens. The gardens are very nice and done really well, if it wasn’t for the traffic it would be a really nice place to stop.We went straight to the Emerald Botanical Garden free rest stop, there for lunch, mostly day time cars here at that time. The bridge over the Nogoa River, the main route into town, is above the rest area on one side and the train track bridge is up over the other side with a small area in the middle with no bridges. We are on a nice level spot right under the rail bridge; hopefully not as many trains as there are cars and trucks going over the other bridge, going to be a noisy night. The place is now packed with other campers.

We had Red Rooster for tea, nice for a change.