It's Sunday, December 15 and we are up at 4 am. We took a little more time to get going though, but soon were headed back out the Cunningham Highway to Mosquito Creek Road. Very little traffic at 5-6 am on a Sunday! But, again, the road crews were working. We were so surprised to see the road crews working on Saturday, and there they were again on Sunday. I'm hoping they got serious overtime pay!
We turned down the road, and the first birds we saw were Apostle Birds--appropriate for a Sunday.
Soon we had Yellow-billed and Black-billed Spoonbills--in the same spot so you could really see the size differences. Straw-necked ibis also made an appearance.
We had the same birds, but the goal for Steve was always better video. Originally he meant to leave at 11 am to head for Brisbane and make some stops on the way, but he started getting such good looks that we stuck around.
I took a long walk down the road to stretch my legs, and looked at butterflies and birds along the way--Meadow Argus, Orchard Swallowtail, Caper Whites, all the finches, and the wrens.
Eventually we headed back out, with a final stop at the Omanama rest area. After our initial stop at Gore, this became our shop of choice and I had been in and out several times over the past two days, getting sandwiches, water, chips, etc. We picked up some water for the road, and had a final chat with the woman there.
As we were leaving, she says hold on, and gives me a postcard as a memento. (as soon as I can figure out this blog I'll get it posted, darn it!)
The road to Brisbane
At last we need to get going to Brisbane. We turn off that Cunningham Hwy at Karara down the Leyburn Cunningham Road. And immediately see a sign for Neighborhood Watch. There are no houses to be seen. Who's Watching? And, who ARE they watching?
Then we see an emu, really close to the road! That is eight for this trip, where I had only seen a couple in the distance on previous trips. It's a wildlife extravaganza.
Leyburn is a neat little town. I had tried to reach people at the motel/cabins there and never could. We drove through, just to take a look, and it looked like they were open, so not sure what happened there. There's a nice hotel, some shops, a rest area that we had stopped at in the past a few times. There's some historical significance from WWII where troops were trained here.
Again, lots and lots of beautiful country as we head for Toowoomba. Forest gives way to more farmland eventually. All is very green, with beautiful vistas.
After Toowoomba we head down the Warrego Highway towards Brisbane. Lordy, what a drive. Roadwork narrows the lanes to one each way, then opens up, then narrows, then opens up. All the way to Brisbane. It may be still work from the floods three years ago, hard to tell. But I would not want to be a commuter on that highway, which I think is the main highway between Toowoomba and Brisbane. Just miserable.
We made two stops, at Helidon and Gatton, but not much to be found and we wanted to hit the Sherwood Arboretum in Brisbane before dark. The arboretum isn't huge, and it was great to see it filled with families picnicking and playing ball.
Steve got really good video of red-backed fairy wrens here.
On to the hotel, and dinner, and to bed, as yes, we again had to get up at 4 am the next morning.
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