In Queensland, the Burdekin river or similar on getting closer to Townsville and the coast.  Unlike southern rivers this river has extensive wide flat sandy wet and dry areas possibly less than a third of which is pictured. Full flood would be something else. Townsville is reached at the end of the day with a full moon and the wide open plains left behind us.   Across this very long corridore, along the Flinders Highway in northern Queensland the population is insignificant in number and it is quite a task to provide what they've got.

Capricorian sunshine feels alright early in the day.  Townsville.
A big yell out for our government services and we are probably very fortunate. I can skite, like others before, that I've just had 5 hours and 9 mins of invasive surgery and a few days later am home again pottering around. So far so good!

Townsville in the deep north has colonial vestiges and this tree of the tropics. And humidity plus. 
SBS TV aired The Tree of Life and whatever else it is hughly nostalgic. Just what is nostalgia? 
Is also in tune with Kurri Kurri's retro weekend locally.

A closer look at a windmill  and a unique shelter in main street Charters Towers Hughenden. Queenslandicius.  The horse trough is another feature.

 Still 'lost' in central Queenslandicius. Communication.  A suitable sim card and correct mobile are a must. Conventional phone towers are established all along much of the way.  True high speed broadband, as promoted by the Gillard government, would be hugh in these communities. 

Abbottosaurus Australcapitalterritoricus

Terrifying!

In the town of Richmond is 'Krono' Kronosaurus queenslandicus - a  10 metre, giant marine reptile.
'The great inland sea which covered the Richmond landscape with 40 metres of water 110 million years ago has left behind an intriguing story of the marine creatures from the Cretaceous Period...'
The museum and the free fossil hunting sites are a must see.  Next time.  A winter visit to Kronosaurus Korner is a possibility.

The road to the East coast goes along the flat country in Queensland and crosses hundreds of dry and wet creek beds. Water flows south during the tropical-north wet season probably.That occurs late in the second half of the year off hand. So road and rail construction had its challenges.
For the Sabbath, today, the very ancient book of Exodus has Moses striking a rock so that water would flow out and that was a big relief because he was beginning to think the people would stone him if there was no water.  I read, once again, how living water is a metaphor for the devine...and for if there's an emptyness... was that know long long ago...it's a very old story....Queensland is a land far more ancient than Exodus....     

Travel east for 12 hours or south east for 24 hours till you hit the Pacific. Only by Greyhound will you chance upon seeing a dianosaur. 

The wide brown land seen from Virgin.  The search for debris in the Indian Ocean would need clearer widows than is usual.

The whole town of Mount Isa hardly stands out well. Where is the mount in Mount Isa?  It has a significant history of mining activity.

Links with Hunter Valley namely another mining town of Mount Isa and another Beaumont Street in very different surrounds.  It is just a matter of about 5500 ks to get there and back. The mine is at the 90 year mark.

The countryside in NW Queensland near the NT border is fresh and green following rain.  Never the less, the rest area was bare and I bet that red soil means trouble if there is any rain at all.  It sticks like glue. Can't say it was busy.

Dawn on our planet with another planet high in the sky. On 15 March 2014 Nth Australia

There is more to Indonesia than the Bali experience. 

In memory of Starman 1930 - 2014

Church of the Latter Day Saints in Sydney suburb.  The property is pleasant with a very very long hedge.  It probably took half and hour to travel its extent because of bumper to bumper traffic.  After one and a half to two hours in the traffic jam we pulled into Maccas - no let up - it was fast food chaos amid renovations and the chicken wraps were OK. 

On King

Coffee and sweet treats and more, all fresh, from a new venue in King Street with green paintwork and a few doors from the corner of Watt Street. Sweet treats and condiments are literally baked right there and are very morish. 

Regal Theatre has reopened after years of effort and will show only the best - indie films, art house, foreign, conventional and docos.
This is Chris Noonan, the Academy Award nominated director of Babe, taking questions while Babe was revisited during the weekend.
The famous choc tops were handed out during this free showing of a fine classic tale - (with a twist!)        
The Oscars degenerated into terribleness during those frequent interludes with the blond.  All the worse for I was only waiting and waiting to see Cate. I really need to keep my intolerance in check.

King street again. Something like the sixties in Eastern Europe in appearance? What will Putin do? Doing. It's unbelievable. Boycott the Para olympics in Russia. And more. Would Putin even notice that? And I would like to think well of Russian culture in its bleakness.

King Street again

After a long time, this big dipper spanned by a bridge over a deep gorge has become less scarey.  On the road again, rainy day, M1 Sydney to Newcastle.

King Street Newcastle

Storm clouds seem to gather at the end of the school day.  Right on cue.  3pm.  Recently, shoes off,  we went walking homewards in the rain towards the end of a sudden cloudburst and it was pleasant.

West end pub, Newcastle. Time to go west and north south and east!

Top is first dairy factory and lastly is Nambucca River Co Op at Taylors Arm which closed in 1959 and is still barely standing. Macksville area.

Factory on north side of the river Macksville area 1912.
Before multi-national dairy. Local cooperatives have had their day.

More of yesterdays watermelon and fundraising in front of the supermart.  It's been said before we don't have to run raffles to fund the latest military equipment or ''jobs for the boys'' in London or Washington.  Things that really count are dependent on charity.

Make a donation and guess the weight.  In support of Macksville Hospital. The estimates were from 20 up to 40+ kg. A Macksville farmer would have more idea than most.

   A good watermelon growing season? Sunny days a must.  John Kerry, a US heavyweight, has just raised the international problem of climate change, strangely, during his visit to Indonesia.  He spoke strongly about the truth of the science of climate change.

Somewhere in Newcastle.  But today we have rain falling. Snow or jolly English people gently rowing on the languid Thames with green lawns and homes beside the peaceful waters are images that have another side to them, sad to say.
Any climate change is a global concern. The good with the bad, the rich with the poor.   

 Great to check safety on trucks but some hugh loads are seen whizzzing along the highways like the north coast yesterday.  Lollypop man on a stinking hot day, we could have detoured into Nambucca instead of this had we known.

This Australian industry could go a long way.  Forget about canning fruit.  Industrious workers are making tents, campers, caravans and motorhomes of all shape, size and price and were on exhibition over the weekend. The above Trooper seems to be a sturdy rig for off road conditions.
It is in our interests to protect the environment to support tourism and caravaning industry.
As our roads become first grade we are instead taking to bush bashing.  What will be preserved in the great outdoors after terrible drought, heatwaves and dangerous bushfires are our lot. Can we afford outdoor past times with this level of consumption?  Who knows?
If one was to pay $200,000 plus for a caravan type vehicle would they really want to take to the great outdoors and battle the elements.  The motel industry misses out business from the self-contained customers in motorhomes etc. One could travel round Australia in a comfortable car at good speed with good fuel economy and stay in Motels, go anywhere free of towing anything, for less than the cost of a hugh caravan.
Just saying. Since the 1960s, Winnebago Motorhomes have been available and made locally. However, it's strange but they had no connection with Winnebago USA. Fittings etc may have been imported and used. Then it was declared that the name Winnebago should not be used here so more recently the name Avida has been adopted by the manufacturers.
On the road again, below, packing up after the show.

Garside garden Newcastle.

The fashion in media is total absorption in Federal Government. Sadly, it deflects attention from what really matters in State and Local government.        And Federal matters cast a shadow of doom by anti-scientific, anti-intellectual, anti-sustainability, anti-humane, anti-union, revisionist, pragmatic,  driven by economics alone ideology.  Any trivial statement from an MP on matters outside his expertise is a non-event yet grabs the power.
        Hugh resources go into a federal government apparatus.  Do we really need three levels of governement.  They are totally out of proportion. 

And I will get a life. Cheers.

Escape the heatwave. Uncrowded, wide, ancient, flat as super bowl, golden, silicious, gritty, clammy, squashy, barraging, cooling beach.

While it is never to late to learn, another lifetime is a good idea, firstly for me to learn how to live and secondly to learn to write English prose.
A review in the Newcastle paper, The Herald, gave us the key to the use of adjectives.  A revelation. A suggestion for the word order of adjectives is there and word order is significant in English. No expert told me about the use of adjectives which usually stumps me.
  Goodness, recently it took me hours to recall the name  behind Universal Grammar namely Noam Chomsky who presents counter intuitive theories of language learning. Very mysterious.
Opinion-size-age-shape-colour-origin-material-purpose-noun... so there.
The Elements of Eloquence How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase by Mark Forsyth. Icon Press