Driving west out of Cobar on the Barrier Highway towards Wilcannia, and eventually Broken Hill, the countryside was surprisingly quite thickly wooded. About 40k along the bitumen is the turn off onto the good gravel road and 30k in is the Hillston historic site. Here, the vegetation was even denser, with a wonderful variety of arid country trees – white cypress, box, mallee, acacias covered in pale yellow flowers. Beautiful country! The kind of country that makes you want to sit down in it for a while. Grass was abundant and there were so many goats that I wondered for a while if they were being farmed. But no, they were feral and in plague proportions. Lots of babies too, so the good seasons are obviously benefitting the pests as well the natives. Given the voracious nature of goats, I have to fear for the countryside.
When we stepped out of the car, the bush was alive with the sound of birds. There were a number of kangaroos and emus about, also a fox and a rabbit.
A short walk (of course we managed to go wrong way round) took us to the three galleries of aboriginal art – paintings and stencils, painted over layer upon layer over the years. Fabulous galleries! Well worth the drive. Sadly, no-one alive today knows what they’re about.
(In my post about Griffith, I forgot to say that the town was designed by Walter Burely Griffin and turned out to be just about as confusing as Canberra with circles within circles and roads radiating from the circles. Even the GPS got confused. It's a problem trying to write stuff days later when the memory is not what it was.)
Great photos Sandra - love the one of the rock art! Too bad about the goats - must be about as bad for the country as rabbits! Hope the weather's being kind to you! Great down here in southern victoria today - sunny & 18.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the entries - it's fun to read