Western Queensland Road Trip #14 Cunnamulla
In the heat of mid-morning there’s very little movement in the bush. Every now and then an unseen bird calls to its mate but it’s the constant hum of insects that dominates.
On the edge of town, a line of red sand hills rises up out of the trees. From a distance they don’t seem high, but the slope is steeper than it looks. Climbing up proves to be a challenge as the fine red sand moves constantly beneath our feet.
Once at the top our effort is rewarded. Cunnamulla’s buildings are just visible through the hardy mulga scrub and the Warrego River sparkles like a silver-backed serpent in the distance.
A small mob of kangaroos rests in a shady spot and they watch us watching them. They stop feeding on the sparse ground cover, lifting their heads to catch our scent. One seems to decide we’re no threat; he returns to his grazing and the others follow his lead.
For a while we copy the kangaroos, finding a cool place to sit and enjoy the view. And when it’s time to leave, the descent is much easier than going up.
Join Jo for Monday Walks
Such a blue sky! That cheers me up on a dark, rainy night.
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It was a hot sunny day and I was very pleased we didn’t wait until the afternoon.
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I love the views of the river and the town, and the kangaroos! It is always hard walking in sand, isn’t it?
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Even more difficult when it’s uphill and slippery.
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I can imagine!
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I can’t quite imagine being so nonchalantly surrounded by kangaroos. I get excited if I see a rabbit 🙂 🙂
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We like seeing the roos too. They were quite wary and we were very careful not to get too close.
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Love the kangaroo group. The bright blue sky is beautiful.
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It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for walking
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It is always interesting to see your different landscape, and, of course, I love seeing the kangaroos. Walking in sand is not an easy thing to do. Applause to you hikers. 🙂
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We enjoyed seeing the kangaroos too. We stayed at a distance though.
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Wow!! Kudos for going up a soft sand hill – I would have needed a wee lie down had I done that 🙂 And the Kangaroos off in the distance – such a wonderful Australian walk and view.
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It wasn’t too difficult. Going up sideways made it easier, and it was worth the effort to get to the top.
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Looks like the whole area is built on sand. Semi desert country? I loved seeing the kangaroos in the wild, not so much when they run alongside you whilst driving.
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Yes, this is desert country. It’s even worse when a kangaroo decides to launch itself across the road when you’re travelling at 100km an hour. Silly things.
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We were warned about that and not to drive at dusk. Fortunately I never had it happen to me.
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I am surprised that the river wasn’t dry. Have you had rain out there?
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Lovely photos but I just can’t imagine the heat and dryness as we’re in the middle of weeks of rain and damp weather.
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We could do with some of that rain, especially where the fires are.
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I think I’d swap your sunshine and blue sky for the weeks of interminable wet weather we’ve had here, and I’d definitely get excited at seeing the roos 🙂
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And we need rain so badly and would love to have weeks of it. It was nice to see the roos quietly feeding.
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I can almost feel the heat reflecting off the sand and coming through my shoes. On a sidenote, a kangaroo has been taken from a private garden in Belgium by a wolf! You have a lot of scary beasts in Australia, but I don’t think you have wolves!
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No we don’t have wolves, only dingoes. That’s a bit sad.
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It would feel quite lonely for humanlife but there’s clearly lots of wild life there!
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Even though it was close to town, we did feel isolated. There was no one else around.
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Wonderful seeing this landscape through your lens. It has been devastating to read about the fires in Australia and the impact on wildlife.
Peta
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I’m glad the kangaroos decided that you weren’t worth further investigation – it could have got nasty!
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They weren’t really big roos, but we still didn’t go close.
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