Merry Christmas;

My two granddaughters rehearsing Christmas Carols.

I wish you all wonderful Christmas days and a happy New Year.

Last leg...Birdsville; Longreach; Charleville; Coolangatta.

Patterns in the desert;

Please click all the pictures to get bigger images.

Approaching Birdsville;

The Birdsville Pub has seen the lot;

Famous for huge Hamburgers;

Over the Simpson desert;

Approaching Longreach;

Hall of Fame has lots to offer.

I would have written "The Men and Women".

The poem was written in 1900 when it still was mainly a man's world.

A tribute to the women in the outback;

The future of any country.

Longreach home of Quantas. Its birthplace was Winton but was moved to Longreach as it was thought to be more central.

Here I have to include a story about early flights. A Family living in the outback, the father was manager of a huge property. In 1926 two of the girls, there were 4 girls and a baby boy, were send with a Quantas plane to boarding school. The cockpit was open, at the back was sort of an enclosure, but the windows had no glass. The children had to be bundled up in warm clothes and blankets, as it must have been freezing up there. Everybody came to the airport to say goodbye and brought presents for the girls.

Later the father flew with a Quantas plane to by bulls in Victoria. On his homeward flight the plane came down and he lost his life. The mother with her 5 small children could not manage the big property and moved to Brisbane. She did not have the money to go to her husband funeral as he was buried in Tambo where the plane came down.

Little Corellas settling like flowers on the tall gumtrees.

( I thought they were Cockatiels but Arija Garden Delights said they are little Corellas.)

Sunset in Longreach sensational with huge flocks of birds rushing by and finally settling for a roosting place.

Charleville a pretty and tidy town.

The Gold Coast, not far to to Coolangatta and home.

This is the last post of a series of The Outback;

1. Back O'Bourke

2 .Still in Bourke

3. Adieu Bourke

4. Coober Pedy

5. The painted desert

6. Last leg, Birdsville, Longreach, Charleville, Coolangatta.

I hope you enjoyed my mainly birds eye view of the harsh but absolutely beautiful Outback of Australia.

The painted Desert;

Please click the pictures to realise the vastness of the desert and to see the colours.

The bitumen road turns into a desert road.

Very picturesque.

The stones are millions of years old, slowly integrating, not in my lifetime or the next...next...to us humans whom are only a short time walking this planet it is infinite.

The painted desert comes into view, it is breathtakingly beautiful in its abstractness.

Where does it begin and where does it end?

After taking in all this strange beauty, our driver asked us would you like to have lunch here?

We all said, yes it would be nice to have lunch now. He, Guenther, started to prepare the table to cook on, the food etc. only one little thing was missing the frying pan, it was forgotten to be packed! Meant as a joke, I said we could go to the next homestead and ask for a frying pan, as we had driven many hours without seeing a house or people. Guenther said, ok, packed everything up and off we went. We drove and drove and drove, the only sound some rumbling tummies! Suddenly like aFata Morgana a homestead and outbuilding came into view.

Guenther went to the door, knocked and came back triumphantly waving a huge, black frying pan. Well to make a long story short, we had a good lunch, even as we had to hold on to the lettuce leaves, as it was so windy.

Patsie's car is another story; Patsy was a Governess and drove for many years every Sunday, attired in her sunday's best, hat and white gloves to church. When she died, they left her car on the side of the road where she used to drive to church.

Sometimes there was a grave along the road; this one was for a little boy, only four years old; so sad.
Plants are very tough buddies in the desert. They have adapted to hot and cold, strong winds and no water.

The stony desert is an awesome place.

In the desert this is a good way to go; home!

Today's Flowers; if a tree falls in the forest, does anybody hear...

My son in law and my daughter send me this message;

This song made it to the charts 20 years ago and not much has changed since then. Heard it again today and then found this on you tube.

See you 2morrow

Please click here and listen to it. ( I generally do not post you tube, but this one is important.)

Click here for Today's Flowers;

Skywatch Friday; Into the blue;

Neat rows of orange trees; outside Bourke.

Click here for SkyWatch Friday

SkyWatch Friday; "Outback" sky;

Looking for skies? CLICK here;

Photo TS

Coober Pedy;

Mining started in 1915. In 1920 the town was named from the Aboriginal word Kupa Piti;

white man's hole or water hole. ( for a better view please click to enlarge the pics.)

The mining areas look like anthills from a birds eye view.

The desert Cave Hotel where we stayed. some of the rooms are dugouts.

I had a dugout room, or cave room. No windows. It is pitch black. It was very comfortable and very quiet. The stone is soft and crumbly. In an emergency I probably could have dug my way out!

The town looks like a perpetual construction site.

Most people live in dugout houses. Summers are very hot more than 50 degree C and winter is cold. The cave houses keep an even temperature of about 23 degree C.

A pretty arrangement at the entrance of the church.

One of the many cave churches.

The cemetery for all religious nominations. The Christian graves face the desert and the Muslims face Mecca. There are about 45 Nations in Coober Pedy.

No this is not Egypt, this is a mining area.

They never lose their sense of humour.

The holes are very deep, it is dangerous, because there are so many and generally one can't see them. Our driver drove very close to them!

The stony desert;
Everybody wants one!

A splash of beauty. The aptly named Desert Pea.

continued;