We awoke to drizzly rain in Roma this morning. The cloud was out to the west and there was the most beautiful rainbow at 6 o'clock. We left Roma about 7.30am headed for 'Lightning Ridge' about 400 kms south. We will cross the border into NSW near a little town named Hebel. It is 6 months since we left NSW, when we crossed into Victoria between Eden and Lakes Entrance, on the 7th April. It was mostly grazing country after we left Roma. There was green pickings in the paddocks, but it did look as though anything that had been cropped, may have burnt off. Bit hard to see because there is about 75 metres af natural bush on either side of the road. We travelled on the 'Carnarvon Highway' and the condition of this highway wasn't any better than the others we've travelled in Queensland. There was considerably more cropping about 10 kms from Surat. The crops didn't look too bad either. There was a 'Gas Well Head' sitting out in the middle of a paddock. The crop was ready to be harvested. There was a lovely camping spot beside the 'Balonne River' as we drove into the town of Surat.  Surat is approximately 80 kms south east of Roma. We actually spoke to a young lad while we were parked in the town and he told us that there was a fishing competition on this weekend. This weekend being a long weekend over here. Today was the main day. That was why there was a tent and chairs, on the lawned area beside the river. "They catch yabbies, shrimp, yellow belly and jewfish in the river. And of course the nuisance fish carp" he told us. We looked through the viewing window to the 'Cobb and Co Coach'. The coach is the main tourist attraction in the town. The Museum is open on weekdays we think. The Library was within the building and there was a sign advertising the fish feeding time each day and welcoming visitors to be part of this! On the weekends the Museum is only open between 11am and 2pm, so we were too early to have a look at another Museum. The coach was the same as the one we had ridden on in Longreach. About 40 kms from St George, we came across a large herd of cattle grazing on the 'long paddock'. Most were very poor. The sign on the road said 'Droving Ahead'. We stopped for a chat with an elderly lady cracking the whip to keep the cattle together. She was one of the drovers. They had been employed to do the droving. Her husband was on a 4 wheel motorbike sitting under a tree. "Typical" she reckoned when Peter made a comment about him having things in the right perspective!  She told us "The boss was down the road chatting. Poor buggers, they've got no feed or water". I asked about underground water and she said "They haven't got $170,000.00 to put a bore down"! When we got to the boss, he was sitting in the water truck with a mobile water trough alongside, ready to give the cattle a drink when they got there. Another patch of Queensland doing it really tough! We asked her about the cattle sales in Roma. She said "Sometimes there can be only 1400 being sold and next week there will be 14,000 and they are distributed all over Australia from Roma"!   Mmm! Might have to keep asking I think!  All over Australia!  One would think with Saleyard costs and freight, the returns for vendors and buyers wouldn't be that great. Especially if cattle were going any distance.  The middle man doesn't miss taking his decent bit!More cropping as we got closer to St George and there was a Dorper Stud called 'Tinalong'. Of course they have electric fencing!  Peter's observation re the cropping is that they pick their spots to crop. It's only seems to be happening in the hollows. The larger the hollow, the larger the cropping area. There has been rain through here from the thunderstorms yesterday. Peter could see on the radar that it was raining at St George early in the afternoon and there was evidence of a reasonable fall.Morning tea was at 'St George' where we also fuelled up. St George is about 195 kms from Roma and looked a nice tidy town. The trees that were in full blossom, as we drove in from the north, were a picture. St George is on the 'Balonne River'.  We drove down to the river after morning tea and there was a boat there, with someone enjoying a Sunday morning ski.   We travelled through irrigation farming for about 20 kms south of the town. We lost the productive farming country then, as we became too far east of the river. We had turned onto the 'Castlereagh Highway'.  The Balonne River forms in the Great Dividing Range in Queensland and flows down through Dalby and then into NSW.  It was to the west of us all the way down the highway. There was lots of cotton on the side of the road. Only a small area of Queensland grows cotton. St George is one of them. Other areas where it is grown are Darling Downs, Dirranbandi, the Macintyre Valley region, Emerald, Theodore and Biloela in Central Queensland. There was a big John Deere Dealership in St George with at least 6 big Johnny headers lined up with different fronts to what we are used to seeing.   We assumed it was a front for harvesting cotton.There must have been a really good storm 20 kms from 'Dirranbandi' yesterday. There was lots of water laying around and the wildflowers on the side of the highway had certainly been freshened up. They were really lovely. We stopped in the main street of 'Dirran' as it is obviously called by the locals. There was a park opposite the pub with a statue of a runner facing the footpath. The photo shoot revealed it was 'Tom Dancey'. Tom was born in Hebel, but later moved to Dirranbandi. He worked as a stockman in the area and in 1910 at the age of 22, ran in the 'Stawell Easter Gift' and won. He earned 1,000 pound for his trainers and was decorated by the Victorian Governor with a blue ribbon and presented with a silver cup. Tom was the second aboriginal to win the prestigious 'Stawell Gift'. The statue and plaque was placed in Dirranbandi in 2011 by the Balonne Shire Council. Lunch was in the town park beside the artesan water supply in Hebel. 'A Town Steeped in History' the sign said. We are assuming the history is the fact that 'Major Mitchell' passed through here on the 27th March 1846 on his exploration to find a path from Sydney to Darwin. It was his 4th expedition. There was a sign providing this information under a nice shady tree and the spot became our lunch park. Hebel was also a 'Cobb & Co' stopover which opened in 1894.  I have since found a bit more history on Hebel'.  It was established in 1889 as 'Kelly's Point'.   It has been claimed that Dan Kelly and Steve Hart, members of the infamous 'Kelly Gang', resided here under assumed identities.  Apparently there is a 'Kelly Gang' painting in the pub, so if we ever come through again we will have to stop at the 'Pub'!I will lighten this blog by recording our lunchtime story! Peter decided he would take his shirt off and sharpen up his tan while I was getting lunch. He suggested we eat our lunch at one of the tables beside the artesian water hole. I said to him "It's okay for you! You can just take your shirt off"! Reply. .."You can do the same"! One would expect that response from him.Before I had the lunch ready, a vehicle drove in and there was a fair bit of noise happening outside. A peep through the window revealed a ute full of blokes who had obviously been drinking! A couple were sitting on the back of the ute amongst the swags and eskies! Into the pond that was full of weed, they went. Peter came back for the camera because when one of the blokes surfaced, his face was completely covered in weed. By the time Peter got back they had started to come out of the water and the driver had stripped off! The conversation between Peter and this guy can't be recorded in the blog, but Peter's response to something this guy said to him, was one of your fathers 'One Liners', Kim! So glad I took no notice of my husbands suggestion for sharpening up the tan during lunch, and that lunch was not ready when the ute turned up! Also not sure about Peter and the camera either! There is definitely one photo that I need to hit the delete button on. From Hebel we only had about 70 kms to travel to 'Lightning Ridge'. My goodness the countryside is damn harsh around here. Pete reckons he'd definitely rather live in Yuna than here! There's a few sheep scattered around but......Pete's comment is "The poor bast....! They sure do it tough"!We arrived at Lightning Ridge at 2.50pm and our phones decided that it was the first day of 'Daylight Saving' and suddenly it was 3.50pm. Loved what had been written on the blackboard at the 'Opal Caravan Park'. Mark the owner, dislikes daylight saving with a passion.  There's only 181 days of 'Daylight Saving' to go!Sunday night was 'Karaoke Night' on the lawned area from 4 until 6pm. In the winter months they light the fire pit each night and caravaners gather around and share their stories. We took our chairs down about 5pm and enjoyed the music under the trees. It was a pity that they allowed the children to take over towards the end, but then if the adults won't get up and have a go, then the kids always will!

I'm sure we will enjoy our few days in 'Lightning Ridge' and who knows I may even be lucky enough to get another opal!  16 photos