Ok, so after the first day's adventure we headed of for Bunya Mountains, but first some words about Dalby. We have now experienced about about ten different small towns ( ca 10 000 inhabitants) in Australia and what strikes you is how similar they are. Dalby is a very good example. Streets are very broad in general and the main city center street is broad with 45 degree angle parking along the sides. In some corner you always find a "hotel" which is not a place where you sleep but a place where you have steak and beer. You also always find a little shopping center where the big food chains, Woolworths and Coles are dominating. Dalby is situated in a agricultural area surrounded by giant fields. A small river is floating through Dalby and in general the town feels quite wealthy. A quite nice place but unfortunately far from everywhere...
So between Dalby and Kingaroy is Bunya Mountains, a national park with highest peak about 1100m above sea level. The area is most known for the big Bunya pines and a rich bird life. A popular place for campers and bush walkers. A nice place, well worth a visit, but frankly there are other national parks closer to Brissie offering same or better experiences.
Next place for staying was Kingaroy, the peanut capital of Australia. The main attraction here are the big peanut silos in the middle of the town and a local vendor called peanut van selling the nuts from a little stall in a corner. Don't know if peanuts are being outcompeted by cashew and other nuts but the general impression was that the town is closing down. Lots of empty premises, no place to eat except for Macca's and KFC and we were almost alone at the motel.
However they had a small museum with the story about the peanuts and quite a lot of old peanut farming machines which was quite interesting for a farmer boy like me.
The last morning I woke up early and decided to go for a morning walk on my own. The rain was hanging in the air but still it was a nice morning and I saw some nice birds like cockatoos and lorikeets. Then, while walking through a park I saw him, high up in a stand alone tree. Mr Magpie! I actually hesitated for a moment, thinking is it safe to pass but then thought I was quite far away from the tree so walked on. 10m past the tree he hit my back head from the left, bang! Ouch! I screamed "bloody bird" and started walking faster. Bang! strike number two from exactly same angle and now I started running. Although now maybe 50m away bang, there was strike number three. Kept running and when I finally stopped I realised I was bleeding from my left ear. I won't laugh at the swooping bird alert signs again!
Back to the motel for breakfast and then it started raining and it continued for the whole day. We visited a local winery and then made the 4 hour drive home in one go. An interesting thing at the winery. While we were tasting the wines a small group came in. They were not interested in any tasting but just bought two 25 litres plastic containers of the local port wine. I'm still wondering, what would anyone use 50l of port for? But since they actually sell it in those containers I guess it's not unusual.
Cheers
Kingaroy street view
A Bunya Wallaby
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