Birds, birds, birds

What a lovely surprise to find a stunning lagoon filled with white water lilies the size of dinner plates. And so many different birds to feed our growing belief that we might one day call ourselves birdwatchers!

Living on the NSW north coast you don't get so excited about water but after thousands of km of dry (dead grass and some trees) to very dry (rocks and no dead grass) land, its a delight. And we could park just a few metres from the water. How amazing that the farmer would allow travellers to stay in this beautiful place for free. It didn't get much of a write up in the books - one of those lovely surprises.

We saw magpie gees, green pygmy geese, cotton pygmy geese, wandering whistling ducks, straw necked ibis, glossy ibis, comb crested jacana, great egret, blue jay, wedge tailed eagle, kites, brolga, blue winged kookaburra...we became joined to our binoculars and cameras for a day.

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Leichardt's Lagoon, much more talked about although not as spectacular or as peaceful as the previous lagoon, was the spot where Russ caught his first Barramundi. We watched for crocodiles masquerading as logs as we scrambled over tree trunks along the banks of the Leichardt, flicking in lures wherever there was a break between trees. Then second throw from the jetty, he got a much longer for barra. Sadly the tape measure revealed he was 5cm short of the 60cm minimum size, so after a sad goodbye, he returned to the river.

It was a characterful stop, with a Slim Dusty concert at the camp kitchen and one lovely woman handing around her home made chocolate log to the hundred or so campers on their camp chairs. We were careful to obey all the written and verbally reinforced rules given to us by John at Midge when we paid our $8 a head fee.

Being at a lagoon, we again scanned the water for birds and found a few gems. A sarus crane (which is only different to a brolga in having the red coloured bit extend down its neck a bit further than a brolga), more magpie geese and of course the ubiquitous corellas which we adore.

Back down the road a bit we came across a couple of lovely small towns trying hard to engage locals and travellers.

Capella had commissioned some stunning art to commemorate the fallen soldiers of the local area. The several sculptures were made from thick sheets of iron, one was 3D and the others 2D.

Croydon, once the 3rd largest town in Queensland during the gold rush era, and now just a little village on the highway, has restored some of its buildings and proudly makes them freely available for everyone to visit. Even the sandstone curb has been kept.