Outback Qld (only just)

Over the long weekend (5,6,7 May) Rob and I joined other members of the Queensland Succulent Society on a trip out west.
Whew what a trip it was!!!!

Rob had to pick up the mini bus from the rental garage at the crack of dawn on Saturday morning, I followed him in our car/ute/bakkie (which was needed to carry all the luggage - and of course any plants!). A couple of the fellow travellers (3 elderley ladies) boarded the bus out our way. Rob was educated on the drive out to the central meeting point as the 3 women on the bus with him, aged between 65 and 80, were chatting about a past member who had been particularly lecherous. Poor Robert felt extremely uncomfortable listening to their conversation which went something like this:
"yes old Charles was a dirty old bastard, always brushed himself up against me"!!!!
Not quite what Rob was expecting from the more mature members of the Qld Succulent Society, although it did bode well for an interesting week end away!

We finally arrived at Greg's place and picked up 9 other travellers, 12 people in the mini bus and Rob and I with umpteen suitcases, set off on the long journey to St George.

A few other couples also travelled separately, all in all a total of 22 headed off out west.

We arrived in St George at about 4pm - the distance travelled was approx 600 km's and we stopped many many times! Plenty of pitstops for the old ducks; toilets were needed; the much needed stretching of the legs and of course the proverbial cuppacino/flat white/latte/chai latte/pot of tea/meat pie/muffin all to try and keep us all awake.
We had pre booked into a couple of the local motels and upon arrival were happy to throw down our bags and head off to Roy and Jan's house.

Roy and Jan have belonged to the society for quite sometime and had been inviting everyone to come out and view their collection of plants. I don't think they really thought anyone would actually take them up on their offer!!!

They are typical country folk, so you can imagine the wonderful hospitality.

We were all quite travel weary but soon cheered up at the sight of all the delicous cakes and biccies next to the hot urn! To hell with the plants was my first thought (well to tell you the truth that was my thought waaaaaay earlier on in the day).
All the society peeps then went on to view someone else's garden, but seeing as I had had my fill of cake I headed on back to the motel and managed a wee cat nap!

That night we all went back to Roy and Jan's for a BBQ, Rob and I were the last to arrive and realised we were the only ones who had carried in a huge esky full of beer and wine! We shared it all amongst the oldies and soon the party became a little bit more racuous. A lovely evening was had by all with me (the only non believer) chuckling at the different conversations:

"So tell me have you seen the syphphytum on cacti spridiumaaata ,........ ooooh no I didn't know that John had that in his collection......... mmmmmmmm well I think that the pachypodium is from genus blah blah.....

Thank goodness they all know that I am a total plant ignoramus so they are truly kind to me and always draw me into the conversation with queries about me and girls! (Of course I do oblige by boring them with my stories!)

We finally headed off to bed as we knew we had another early start the next day.

Not quite at the crack dawn but still early enough we gathered for a good old brekkie buffet. Plenty of bacon, eggs, beans etc etc. And at about 8am with the convoy organised we set off to Lightning Ridge.

The pub rules at Hebel Hotel (enroute to l/ridge)

Now for those of you who remember the Crocodile Dundee movies, Lightning Ridge was were dear old Croc Dundee was from!!!!!
It's actually the only place in Australia that produces the Black Opal. Beautiful stones that are way out of our budget!
Lightning Ridge Resident

But I digress.

We did not go to Lightning Ridge to look at opals but rather to view a rather spectacular Cactus Collection.
Mr Bevan started this collection many many years ago and although he has since passed away his son continues to keep it going and, I'm told, it houses many magnificent plants some of which are 120 years old! A mere sample of the cacti on display at Bevan's Nursery

Now if you really really like Cacti then by all means make the trek out to Lightning Ridge, but otherwise I'd steer clear of it if I were you!!!!! It was not a beautiful town and it had an awful"Deliverance" type feel to it!!!
We did buy a couple of fabulous little paintings though???

What I did enjoy was the opportunity to see a really small bit of the outback, yes we travelled a total of 480 km's in one day and although it looked alot like the Free State, Karoo and Mafeking; just with lots of dead kangaroos lying on the side of the road, it was virgin terrority for us.

After travelling west all afternoon our eyes and bodies were truly knackered so as soon as we got back to the motel Rob and I went for a much needed walk along the St George river. It was so lovely to actually stretch the legs plus it gave us a chance to see a little of what is really the major attraction to St George.
That night we all went off to the local Chinese restuarant for dinner (it was the only restuarant open).
We had great fun and once again I marvelled at the conversations going on around me. Plenty of scientists, botanists, chemists (and an entomologist), funnily enough football was still one of the major topics covered! We then headed back to Roy and Jan's for the leftover cake and coffee. We eventually all fell into bed that night, I don't think any of us were looking forward to the great trek home.

The trip home was long, boring but thankfully uneventful. We arrived home to the girls, ready for a good nights sleep in our own bed!

So we can now tick St George and Lightning Ridge off our 'must see' destinations..................

Where to next?