August 5th

The morning dawned clear blue and chilly after a very cold night camping in Bald Rock National Park. It is not surprising as the altitude is 1128 metres.

We left this pretty bush and drove a short distance to the Boonoo Boonoo National Park. This was also very pretty with a lot of wattle in bloom. It was a much more user friendly park with several short walks. We all went out to see the Boonoo Boonoo Falls. They were amazing with a lot of water flowing over the rocks and down quite a distance through a deep gorge. The flowers in the bush were really great.

Boonoo Boonoo Falls

Lunch was enjoyed at Deepwater before we left the Highway to go cross-country to Inverall...disappointingly one of the roads we wished to travel on was closed because the Severn River was in flood. The detour we had to take took us a very long way round.

Ellis Cousins June & Gordon with Cocky

We eventually arrived  at Gum Flat to visit my cousin Gordon  Ellis, and his wife Marilyn, at their property 'Oxley'. Gordon is a keen Ferguson tractor enthusiast. Marilyn has an interesting collection of ornamental shoes...made from china, glass or pewter. They are all displayed in a large cabinet. There was plenty of talk about tractors, cropping, Ellis history and Australian outback travel. We had the pleasure of camping near their home and farm sheds. Gordon has a wonderful old cockatoo  that makes a lot of squawking noise from time to time and does enjoy a walk on Gordon's shoulder!