31 Last Stop

I’m joining Becky in her July Square Photo Challenge over at The Life of B.  The rules of the challenge are simple: most photos must be square and fit the theme word tree. Look for #treesquare. Come with me on a Central Queensland road trip starring trees and the beautiful landscapes of my home state.

Judds Lagoon

Just like Becky’s July photo challenge our road trip is almost over. This free camp at Judds Lagoon, just east of Yuleba, is one of our favourites and we arrive early enough to choose a nice spot beside the water.

Once the campfire is lit there’s nothing left to do but relax and enjoy the sunset. It’s the perfect way to spend our last night on the road.

30 Touched By The Sun

I’m joining Becky in her July Square Photo Challenge over at The Life of B. The rules of the challenge are simple: most photos must be square and fit the theme word tree. Look for #treesquare. Come with me on a Central Queensland road trip starring trees and the beautiful landscapes of my home state.

Minerva Hills National Park

The setting sun casts a golden glow over the tallest trees in the bush and paints the sky with pastels.

As it dips below the horizon, the sun’s last light sets the sky ablaze.

29 In The Frame

I’m joining Becky in her July Square Photo Challenge over at The Life of B.  The rules of the challenge are simple: most photos must be square and fit the theme word tree. Look for #treesquare. Come with me on a Central Queensland road trip starring trees and the beautiful landscapes of my home state.

Minerva Hills National Park

A magnificent lemon-scented gum frames the view from the lookout at Fred’s Gorge.

The reflected glow of the setting sun highlights the craggy face of Dillies Knob, the weathered remnant of a volcanic plug formed more than 28 million years ago.

28 Spot the Wallaby

I’m joining Becky in her July Square Photo Challenge over at The Life of B.  The rules of the challenge are simple: most photos must be square and fit the theme word tree. Look for #treesquare. Come with me on a Central Queensland road trip starring trees and the beautiful landscapes of my home state.

Minerva Hills National Park

A pretty-faced wallaby rests in the shade of a cycad.

For a few moments she’s curious, carefully watching us watching her.

But she soon returns to more important tasks.

27 Threads of Gold

I’m joining Becky in her July Square Photo Challenge over at The Life of B.  The rules of the challenge are simple: most photos must be square and fit the theme word tree. Look for #treesquare. Come with me on a Central Queensland road trip starring trees and the beautiful landscapes of my home state.

Minerva Hills National Park

While the slopes of Minerva Hills National Park are brushed with gold dust from the wattle trees, the trees on the Skyline walking track are hung with delicate strands of spun gold.

The branches of the acacia trees are festooned with dozens of spider webs, their yellow strands of silk glinting in the soft light of late afternoon.

Who are the master spinners and weavers creating these beautiful webs?

Female Golden Orb Weavers work tirelessly to build these natural masterpieces. They live in groups of overlapping webs designed to deter predators.

While the females are quite large, the males are tiny. Luckily for the males, their gigantic mates are not aggressive and, although they might look scary, they’re not a danger to humans either.

26 Hills of Gold

I’m joining Becky in her July Square Photo Challenge over at The Life of B.  The rules of the challenge are simple: most photos must be square and fit the theme word tree. Look for #treesquare. Come with me on a Central Queensland road trip starring trees and the beautiful landscapes of my home state.

Minerva Hills National Park

When the wattle trees are in flower, the rocky slopes of Minerva Hills National Park look like they’ve been sprinkled with gold dust.

25 Made Out Of Trees

I’m joining Becky in her July Square Photo Challenge over at The Life of B.  The rules of the challenge are simple: most photos must be square and fit the theme word tree. Look for #treesquare. Come with me on a Central Queensland road trip starring trees and the beautiful landscapes of my home state.

Rainworth Station, Springsure

Three historic buildings stand on a corner block on Rainworth Station, not far from Springsure. While one is on its original site the others were relocated in 1987 from an adjoining family property. All three are time capsules, telling stories of the people who used them.

The largest is the stone storehouse, constructed in 1862 from hand quarried basalt blocks. The corrugated galvanised iron roof, extending beyond the building to create a wide shady veranda, is supported by posts made from solid tree trunks. With an internal temperature much lower than that outside, the storehouse was designed to keep food fresh in a time when everything had to be stored for long periods.

With its thick stone walls and sturdy timber door, the building gained a reputation as a place of safety in case of attack. Even though it was never used for that purpose, it became known as Old Rainworth Fort. It has also been used as a magistrate’s office and a post office.

The two relocated buildings are Cairdbeign Homestead and Cardbeign School.

Cairdbeign Homestead, built between 1878 and 1880, is an excellent example of a slab hut construction typical of this period. Large slabs of timber were hand split and pieced together to create the walls and floor. With its seven rooms, this sturdy homestead was larger than most pioneer homes.

Cairdbeign School is the newest of the buildings. Dating from 1897, it was built by the local community because the school in Springsure was too far away. It is also a slab construction, although the neatly cut planks are a little more refined.

After the school closed the building became a community centre, frequently used for parties, dances and as a polling booth.

Even the old outside “dunnies” are built with timber slabs. Surrounded by a traditional post and rail fence, they probably have stories of their own to tell.

24 A Bush Grave

I’m joining Becky in her July Square Photo Challenge over at The Life of B.  The rules of the challenge are simple: most photos must be square and fit the theme word tree. Look for #treesquare. Come with me on a Central Queensland road trip starring trees and the beautiful landscapes of my home state.

The Gemfields

A lonely headstone placed in bushland beside May Creek marks the final resting place of F.W. Schlieffen, an itinerant piano tuner who lost his life in floodwaters on 13 March 1906.

A plaque at the gravesite tells his tragic story.

23 Treasure Hunters

I’m joining Becky in her July Square Photo Challenge over at The Life of B.  The rules of the challenge are simple: most photos must be square and fit the theme word tree. Look for #treesquare. Come with me on a Central Queensland road trip starring trees and the beautiful landscapes of my home state.

Rubyvale, The Gemfields

There’s more to the Gemfields than precious gems.

The strudels at Muggachinno’s Strudel Hut in Rubyvale have an excellent reputation and we need no incentive to try them for ourselves.

Gunter is the strudel maker. Originally from a small village high in the Austrian Alps, he’s lived in in Australia for 65 years. Using his mother’s recipe he bakes fresh strudels every day, sometimes working a 20 hour day to keep up with demand. He tells us his strudels are better than the modern ones made in Austria because he sticks to tradition, never deviating from the original centuries-old formula.

The apostle birds and blue-faced honeyeaters have heard about Gunter’s strudels too. But they’ll have to wait their turn.

We have no intention of sharing ours – apple strudel on the left and cherry on the right.

We’ll leave the gem fossicking to others. We’ve found our treasure!

22 On the Gemfields

I’m joining Becky in her July Square Photo Challenge over at The Life of B.  The rules of the challenge are simple: most photos must be square and fit the theme word tree. Look for #treesquare. Come with me on a Central Queensland road trip starring trees and the beautiful landscapes of my home state.

The Gemfields, Central Queensland

The towns on the Central Queensland Gemfields may be tiny but their street art is larger than life. Every piece celebrates the riches found here, in the most prolific sapphire yielding region in the world.

The welcome signs on the edge of each town show a fossicker in his hopeful search for precious gems including rubies, emeralds, zircon and peridot as well as the beautiful sapphires.

The striking sculpture Sapphire Reflections greets visitors to Anakie. The coloured glass shapes sparkling in the the morning sun mirror the colours of the sapphires found in this area – the traditional deep blue but also yellow, green and black.

An oversized miner’s toolkit stands outside the general store in Sapphire, ready for a day’s fossicking.

Outside the Bobby Dazzler Mine at Rubyvale, a lucky miner shows off his find.

Even the shelter sheds celebrate the precious stones which can be found on the Gemfields!