Roma, 28th May, 2024

 27th May. Yesterday - Leaving Carnarvon Gorge National Park

Didn’t do a blog for the 27th so will go back to yesterday as we were leaving Carnarvon Gorge National Park. We got away at 8.00am to travel down to Roma approx 268kms so not too far.  After a couple of great nights in the Park. Didn’t do anything apart from travelling except we did the stop at Injune. Just a little old township but had this very new looking building with a big information centre one half and the other half was a flash, for this area, tearoom. We usually make a coffee in the parking bays along the highways but decided to stop and support this little community. Arriving in Roma about mid day.

Just as we were about to leave the National Park this  morning , this mum and baby were so near to us. Baby saying come on mum I want to play, jumping up to her.

Then baby would run round and round her.

Then came back ready to put its nose into mums pouch for a drink. Then she would start running around mum in circles doing its best to get mums attention. I think mum was too busy keeping an eye out for any danger. This routine went on for some time. Baby was so full of energy just running around mum.

We were now in our van leaving and the same mum and baby went over to this couple while they were having breakfast. She snuggled her nose right into this man’s arm. Waiting in anticipation for a feed. Note baby is now in her pouch. Must be tired after all that running around.

Just jumping into mums pouch. There were quite a few kangaroos running around the park. All very friendly. they usually hang around early morning or late afternoon.

 

Now leaving camp crossing the ford for the last time.

Looking down the stream while crossing over.

As we just left we were driving along the 40km road to get back to the highway. We were wondering if these mountains were the outside of the gorge, possibly.

Still leaving the area crossing another ford.

Looking down the creek very autumn colours.

As we are passing through cattle farming area we were expecting to see this site at some stage. This area we have been in is very big in cattle farming. 

The land isn’t fenced off from the road so they keep the cattle from crossing over to where they shouldn’t go by having these grids very frequently. So noisy to cross. We crossed over fifteen grids in the 40kms between camp and the main highway.

Now back onto the highway heading for Roma for two nights.

At the beginning of this blog I mentioned stopping at Injune for a coffee. Had to take this photo of the old General Store.

28th May, today in Roma.

This morning we went along to the Roma Cattle auctions for a new experience. Probably spent a couple of hours there. Started off with an hours tour getting all the facts on cattle sales. The  Roma Saleyards is the largest cattle selling centre in Australia with 300,000 to 400,000 head of cattle sold through the facility annually. Today they had just short of 8,000 cattle to sell at the auctions. Over 50 years, Roma Saleyards have seen over 11 million head of cattle sold at a value of over  $5 billion, The Maranoa region has a history based in agriculture, with Roma in particular being a hub for cattle Sales which have taken place here as early as the 1860s. This is why we have passed  many cattle station for a few days now. 

These individual pens go forever at the top of the photo you can’t see that they slip down the same distance out of sight. Forgot to take a pano to show how wide the rows went. Just under 8,000 cattle in there just today.

These pens are sold as a pen lot not individually.

The guys in the green shirts are the auctioneers. They are so busy. I just had to take a few videos it was the only way to capture it all. But as I have mentioned can’t get the blog to upload videos. The public have to stay up on the top platforms and stay well away from the auctioneers. They are practically running between pens on to the next bidding. In this photo on the left of the cattle the buyers are all standing on ground level under the roof, checking out and buying the cattle. They too are running up and down trying to keep up with the next bidding. Really all

Interesting.

These above cattle have already been sold and they are sent through these pens keeping them in the pen lot that they were sold in. As soon as one pen lot go through, the gate comes down above them to divide them off from the next group. The cattle we saw today were being sold to the farmers not for their meat. That happens on a Thursday. Tuesday is for the lucky ones to be taken to farms. So I’m glad we saw the Tuesday Auctions.

This is where the prime bulls are auctioned off one by one. None of that was going on this morning.

These trees are known as Bottle Trees as you can see why. They are everywhere in Roma, lining many of their streets.

This is the oldest tree in Roma. Huge. 

The height of it is 15m, girth 9.62m and the crown is 23m. This tree was transported from a local property to this site  in 1927.  It now stands proud by a reserve with a stream running through it. The Bottle Tree can live naturally for 200 years.

Looking down the Main Street of Roma. Took this photo to show that all the cars have to reverse into the parallel parking spaces.

Had to take a photo of this old building standing all alone and boarded up. Almost hidden behind the long grass growing around it.

We are now sitting out having a cool drink. At least I was but got up to take this photo😂 Note the little Bottle tree behind us.

A busy morning but time out this arvo. We are heading off to   Toowoomba for our last three nights to get organised and packed up to return the van on the 1st June. Then one night in a motel before flying out on 2nd June. Five years ago we started our first big motorhoming around Australia with our first stop in Toowoomba. We did this to get organised and get used to the van, to tour around the outback of Queensland and then back down to Brisbane via the coast. Bigger driving day tomorrow 353km. Few things to see around Toowoomba which we missed the first time. So the blog will still continue to the last night.

I have said that I can’t upload videos so I have just tried again and after I posted it, I went into the blog and it seemed to work. It just wouldn’t work for me last year when I tried.