Roadtrip to Southampton (via St George, Qld) Part One

30th October 2015 - 1st November 2015

At 4pm on 30th October three quarters of the family (Mum, Dad n the Lil Princess - the Man Child had to work) set off from Beaudesert to deliver a bunch of calendars to a lady who I was yet to meet IRL (in real life) near St George - near is a term used rather loosely.

Kylie has been following my Facebook page (KAddy's Collection) for the last few years and has been a regular liker, commenter and purchaser of my calendars (by the bundle).  

When I was asking for suggestions of places to visit she commented on the post and suggested I "pop" out to her place, Southampton near St George (more about Southampton here at Central Station).  I thought I would take the opportunity to save her some postage and "run" them out to her (I was also in desperate need for a break away from the hustle and bustle of home/work life and I was also searching for my mojo and was hoping to find it out there).

This map fibs a little - all up we travelled just over 1100km there and back.

We travelled to Goondiwindi on Friday night and stopped over at the Comfort Inn - super helpful staff, comfy accommodation and a hot shower - what more do you need?

Luckily Macca's were open when we hit the road just after 6am - hot choccie fix - tick! (I did make sure everyone else got fed too!).

After a couple of hours we arrived in St George - what a cute lil town.  We refuelled at the bakery and then had a quick look around town and down by the river.  The Jacaranda trees were in full bloom and just gorgeous.

Our final destination was still 1.5hrs west nor west of St George.  Kylie had given me some awesome directions which meant we did not end up in Mitchell.  

On the drive in from the main road we came across this beauty.  While I was out snapping away the boss let down the tyre pressure to help the tyres with the rocky road.

We arrived at Southampton and were greeted by Kylie, T.J (her partner) and two of her three kids (the eldest is away at boarding school).  It instantly felt like we were catching up with old friends (not totally brand new ones).  The Lil Princess hit it off with her "new big sister" - there were puppies to play with and cats to pat - she was in heaven.

Spot the Wonderdog - he is cool!

Julie digging to China

After a chat and a cuppa Kylie and T.J took us out for a look around and to put some lick out for the cattle.  Given the dry conditions and lack of sufficient feed on the gound, lick is fed to the cattle to help sustain them. While driving around feeding the lick out storms could be seen brewing way out.  Decisions had to be made whether to put the rest of the lick out because if the lick gets wet it can make your cattle pretty crook.  Kylie was convinced that the storms would go around them so the rest of the lick was fed out....then...the thunder and lightening got closer...and...the fat raindrops started to fall.  We got back to the house just in time.  

What are "ewe" looking at!

  Cantankerous old ewe

 Penny getting into the lick

 Cute lil baldy calf (who did not want a photo taken)

 Check out the "old man" ear hair on this cow

 Kylie giving Penny a scratch

 Nice rack ;)

 A couple of the old girls getting into it

Heifers enjoying the lick

The skies opened and the rain fell...more rain than they has seen in a while.  The gauge read about 30ml after the two storms had past but I think some of the sideways rain missed the gauge and it was probably more like 50ml.  Watching the kids catch glasses of rainwater straight from the downpipes and seeing the smiles on everyone's face made up for the non existent sunset.  I'll take a storm in the bush where they need it desperately any day.

 My only lightening shot - well underexposed but I got it

 Pigeon was less than impressed with the rain

The whole time I was sitting on the verandah sipping my rum, eating nibblies and watching the rain, I had Ganggajang floating around in my head (I had to change a couple of the words as there were no cane fields in sight) This is Australia

Seriously "the" coolest front fence and an awesome outlook

 Storm clouds - a welcome sight in this part of the world

The kids were itching to get out into the puddles, even the cat got in on the action.  We went for a little walk when the rain stopped and there was water EVERYWHERE!  

Even the cat enjoyed the puddles

After a beautiful home cooked dinner of home grown meat we retired for the night to the workers quarters for a much needed sleep (and once we found the Aeroguard sleep came easily).  Bloody mozzies!

Part Two to follow....