Still on the road...

Other than eat and sleep, we didn't do much in Dubbo.  We left directly after breakfast with the goal of arriving at Warrumbungle National Park early enough to take a few short bush walks before the heat go too intense.  Our goal was partially met:  we did arrive by around 10 am after a 1.5 hour drive, but the temperature was already in the upper 20's C (low 80's F).  By the time we went to the visitors center and made our bush walks (about 1:30 pm), the temperature was in the mid 30's C (mid 90's F).  Eventually, the day topped out at 39 C (102 F), but we were mostly in the air conditioned car for the worst of it.  However, as we in WI are so fond of saying, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity"--and the humidity was not so bad.  (Although a shopkeeper in Coonabarabran (Don't you love the sound of Australian names?  The problem is trying to say them, remember them or read them off of road signs at 110 km/hr [69 mph]) warned us that it would be just as hot in Brisbane and also very humid.  (How can it be worse than St. Louis in the summer?)
I'm rambling a bit--back to Warrumbungle.  It is a lovely park, somewhat similar to the Grampians in that it is a range that seemingly arises out of nowhere on the plain, however it's geologic history is different and the flora/fauna are a bit different.  It is a place where both eastern wildlife and more western, outback wildlife may be found concurrently.  We saw kangaroos (again--they are everywhere), red-backed parrots of some type, a 3-m lizard (probably either a sand goanna or a lace monitor--unfortunately it was too quick to photograph), magpies, kookaburras, lizards...

A couple of roos near a creek.  We are always excited and fascinated to see them but they are so common that we wonder if Aussies pay much attention when they see them.

The park suffered a major fire 4 years ago and is now in recovery mode, however earlier this year there was major flooding, and that, too, has on-going repair work underway.

A view of one of the burned-off hills.  Lots of black trunks, but also lots of greenery regenerating.

Fire danger was high when we were at the park and open fires were banned.  Wildfires are relatively common in Australia and a much-feared event.  By radio reports, there are currently a couple of major fires in the Canberra area.

This is a view of the ridge from Spiry View, the end of our 4-mile bush walk.  It was too hot to even contemplate going much farther.

On a shorter nature walk along a creek passing around a small lava dome.

Upon leaving the park, we went back to the Newell Highway and after lunch in Coonabarabran, headed north and ended the day in Moree.  We still have over 500 km tomorrow to arrive in Brisbane, but gain an hour since Queensland doesn't recognize daylight savings time.
We left Moree with the primary goal of reaching Brisbane and not so worried about seeing the sights.  The first 120 km or so were just empty highway--except for the road trains--no towns, no gas stations.  At that point, however we arrived at the town of Goondiwindi, just across the Macintyre River in the state of Queensland.  Our observation is that Queensland is in some ways like the south in the US:  more religious signs (often home=made), more anti-abortion signs, more evangelical churches, not to mention the heat and humidity.
Since we had learned about the famous horse Phar Lap in Melbourne, I wanted to visit the home of another famous horse, Gunsynd, aka "The Goondiwindi Grey."  The horse is legend, is in the racing hall of fame and was named a Queensland Icon.  It appears that the locals have a tendency to anthropomorphize the horse.  Here is an extract from the Gundiwindi tourist brochure:
"Some of his lovable traits included, standing stock still at the gate before going out to race refusing to move until the applause reached the required crescendo. He would never give in during a race mostly under crushing weights. Often looking beaten, but when he heard the crowd roaring would raise another effort, fight back and most times win. He would come back to the gate, lathered in sweat, his great grey chest heaving and look up to the crowd awaiting their applause, then bow and always headed to the winners stall.
A fierce fighter on the track, off it he was a lovable "softie" resting his head on people's shoulders for a cuddle and would stand perfectly still while little children crawled all over him. The record "The Goondiwindi Grey" made the hit parade. Cartoons normally reserved for Politicians and World Leaders were drawn about him."

We took most of the Gunsynd walking tour as well as the museum in the visitor center. The tour passed by the old customs house where tariffs were collected on goods coming in from NSW prior to confederation in 1901.  We also spent some time at the botanical gardens, which displayed a variety of western Queensland trees/plants along with common aboriginal uses for the plants.

At the Gunsynd statue on the banks of the Macintyre River.

Illustrative of  how mad Australians are about horse racing, the museum had bottles of special edition wines to honor Phar Lap and Gunsynd.  There were also songs, poems and an old 33 rpm record with nothing but calls of Gunsynd's races.

The Victoria Hotel (built 1880 and modified in the 1920s) is interesting architecturally, but what makes it really significant is that the dining room here is where a local syndicate (i.e., partnership) put together the funds for the original purchase of Gunsynd.

In the botanical garden, we also spotted lizard of some sort (probably a sand goanna based on the typical range).

We then drove another 140 km or so without services or towns and stoped for a picnic in Millmerran, with temperatures in the high 30's.  Outside of Millmerran, the car thermometer hit 40 C (104 F), the highest on the trip north.
In another 85 km or so we arrived in Toowoomba, a city of about 110,000 at the edgei of an escarpment with a very steep descent to the plain below.

Panoramic view from the escarpment in Toowooba looking generally eastward towards Brisbane (about 106 km away behind some distant hills).  It is distinctly greener than what we have been used to.

At this point the Newell Hwy ended  and we picked up the Warrega Hwy, the grass turned green, the humidity spiked and the fire danger went from "severe" to "mild."  Until this point the "feels like" temperature was always lower than the actual temperature due to "wind chill" (not quite the right word, but you get the idea), however after Toowoomba, the "feels like" temperature was higher than the actual (heat index).  We made one more brief stop on the way to Brisbane at Marburg, strictly for a photo op.  (Susan has many family ties  to Marburg, Germany.)

Wesley and Susan at the sign for Marburg, "the friendliest town in Queensland."  Curious about the origin of he name, Wikipedia says:  "The story goes that, when the station master of the nearby Walloon railway station asked the settlers where they lived, the settlers responded with 'ober dar'. He felt that 'ober dar' should have a proper name and since he had read an article about a town in Germany called Marburg' he decided to register their produce as coming from 'Marburg'. The settlers liked this solution and the name stuck."

We finally arrived at the Brisbane Eberts about 4:30 Queensland time (Australian eastern standard time).  We are now ready for the adventures to begin in Queensland!