After the lake we went further
north, on deserted roads, scattered
were farms, many of them for sale.
Some even deserted. Apparently
rural life here is not too easy.
The drought does now last for
years. There used to be a 20 year
cycle. A few years abundant rain,
then slowly less and less, till the
cycle starts again after some 20
years. However, this varies by
region.
In Mudgee, a wine centre we
buy a local wine, 3 times as
expensive as a better Australian
wine in Holland.
We spend the night at
Gilgandra. In the night we visited
the observatory. The Alpha
Centaurus, the closest star to us,
was good visible. Stunning was the
Orion nebula, a double star and
Venus. The rings of Saturn were so
clearly visible that Birgitt asked
if they projected a picture. It was
an unforgettable experience.
Next morning it's cooler, 30º,
we start our morning run early. We
run 9 kms in a flat landscape.
Thousands of parrots and cockatoos
make a terrible noise. Most are
grey with a red front, but many big
white Sulphur crested cockatoos fly
around as well. Some are joining
the groups of red/greys.
If you ever wished to have a
parrot in a cage, please come and
see here how these magnificent
agile flyers have fun together.
They never should live in a cage.
Then we set course top the
Warumbangol National Park. It has
many steep mountains, former
volcanoes. The top consist often of
vertical basalt rocks. Here we saw our first kangaroo this trip.
