Meandarra

April 30, 2024 to May 1, 2024

Tuesday the 30th of April 2024

A mostly pleasant ride from Westmar to Meandara. A great surface for the first fifty or so kilometers and not much traffic. The last twenty became very narrow and uneven but we had reached the top of a slow poison climb and it was instead very gently downhill until the end.

Not much land given over to cultivation and none at all for the second half of the ride. Great to be out of the cotton belt.

We had our lunch sitting on this strangely shaped rock at about the fifty kilometer mark.

We picked up a few flocks of Cockatiels (Nymphicus hollandicus). They seem to be easier to photograph than the other parrots.

Meandarra is one more in the many small towns on the edge of the outback although it is larger than Toobeah and significantly larger than Westmar which didn't extend much more past the hotel. We felt we were approaching the outback again today as the scenery changed. Less cultivation, more stock farming. We saw emu for the first time since heading back to Walgett. Roma is now only a few days away and that is considered to be the start of the real outback in Queensland.

Not much available in the tiny cafe cum grocery store cum motel in Meandarra. We didn't feel like cooking so we settled on plastic pies.

We're staying in the little municipal campground in the town. Basic but the showers are clean and hot and there is a washing machine. After two hundred kilometers of use our cycling clobber is getting a bit dodgy.

Wednesday the 1st of May 2024

Our pitch on the western edge of the small campground.

Meandarra has a well known museum dedicated to the wars in which Australia has been involved. Wars are a difficult subject for me at the best of times and the right words don't come to me when the country that is hosting me emphasizes its involvement in them with a more positive tone than to which I am comfortable. The irony is that we seem to be drawn to war museums wherever we find ourselves in the world and always end up feeling depressed after visiting them.

A Landrover Series II with an M-40 recoiless rifle mounted. Series II Landies are classic vehicles that are much sort after in South Africa.

We are having a short ride to Glen Morgan tomorrow where we hope to do a bit of birding at the BotanicalGardens.

Today's ride: 75 km (47 miles)
Total: 2,362 km (1,467 miles)

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