Well West

This week has been my most Western loop. If you go any further West, you're interstate, in South Australia.

The year is turning, and there's a chill in the air. This was a bit of a shock when I jumped into the car, and I hadn't packed any warm clothes. I had to stuff around climbing in through a window to retreive a jacket when the cold air hit. Unlike my own cars, the fleet vehicles don't have house keys on the key ring.

There aren't a lot of perks attached to leaving for work at 5.45am, but watching the sunrise over the Eastern Downs is one of them.

These shots were taken as a panarama from the Charleville turnoff near Morven, to try to provide a sense of the space out here, but it's hard to convey. Click on the images to see them full-size.
The cow-cockies are complaining because they can't find their stock. They're hidden in the lush grass.

I've never seen growth like this on the side of the road in the five years I've been doing this work.

Magpies are cheeky out here. They also look different from the ones we see back home - smaller and chubbier. The car window was down - and he sat there until I drove off.

The country begins to brown off once you get West of Charleville, but it still looks great, with plenty of surface water.

This is Lake Bindegolly near Thargomindah. Normally it's saline, but I doubt that's the case at the moment.

There's a lot of driving on a trip like this, but I've learnt the hard way that you drive the day before, and arrive at the school fresh in the morning if you are to be any use to anyone. Save the driving for the PM.

There were some strange-looking vapour trails on the way back (near Tara). It may have been F/A-18s on exercise. There were plenty of high-level circuits happening.

This was my last trip this term. In all, I drove over 2000kms. I'll need the next few days to recover.

When I was younger, I could drive these distances without needing recovery time - not any more.