My my my its Roma


 Sunday 4th July

What a relief it was to wake up this morning to cloudless skies again! Caravans and continual rain aren’t much fun. 

We decided to prebook our Roma stay which was just as well. Our first choice was fully booked until next Saturday so we went with our second….Roma Gun Club.

As Roma is less than two hours away we had time to start our day with a walk along Dogwood Creek which had proved too wet yesterday. Michael dropped me at one end and after getting his morning shot of coffee met me at the other end. Along the way I found the Tree of Lost Soles as well as signs of Departed Souls. The early settlers of the area failed to factor in the frequent flooding and so the cemetery was only used for a period of 30 years. 


I also found a family of Rufous Whistlers and when my attention was drawn to a beehive in a tree trunk I finally found a Striped Honeyeater which was not interested in the bees but seemed to be getting sustenance from the curled up leaves. Further along we noticed a family of geese out for a Sunday afternoon paddle.

Once settled into the Gun Club, where I suppose we should expect to see people shooting things, we headed off to find the Information Centre. 


Nearby we found the Sculptures Out Back Exhibition which only opened yesterday. It appears to be sponsored by Santos, which has quite a presence out here and has prize money of $21 000 so certainly worth the effort.  For once I agreed with the winning choice “A Bush Conversation”.

On the way back to camp we did a quick drive by the Roma Bush Gardens to check its birdwatching potential. As is often the case when wandering with binoculars in hand I engaged in conversation with a local bird enthusiast family. With information gleaned from them I will definitely be back there in the morning. Who knows perhaps tomorrow will be the day I hit the century.

Bird Count 90

Monday 5th July

Today we decided we would spend the morning doing our own thing. So while Michael headed downtown for a stroll and a visit to the Up the Creek Garage, I returned to the Roma Bush Garden.
Michael was very happy to putter around the collection of classic cars, rusty relics, murals & art, of  fifth generation local family, Robert & Edith Burton. He didn’t take any pictures though.
I followed the advice of yesterday’s family and circled both the ponds in the bush gardens. The walk encompasses the picturesque Railway Dam and the Ring Dam. The 14 hectare gardens showcase eleven vegetation communities local to the Roma region, including Brigalow, Coolibah and Mulga. 
It was a brisk 6 degrees when I set out but it was a glorious sunny spot and there were plenty of birds. I managed to add 8 new ones to my count, including the Australasian Grebe, so am sneaking up on the century.
After catching up over coffee we did a bit of restocking the food stores before going in search of Roma’s biggest bottle tree. Apparently Roma is renowned for its bottle trees and they are fairly prolific. We even have one next to our van spot, although it currently would barely shade a chair.
The Biggest Bottle tree was transplanted to its current spot in 1927 as an already mature tree. It now has a diameter of 9.51m and a height of 6m.
After rugging up well we headed to the Big Rig where we had managed to get tickets to the Big Rig NightShow Sunset Experience. It tells the story of the flow of oil and gas in Australia, although the first discoveries were accidents when they were actually looking for water. 

 

Bird Count 98 (almost there🥴)



Comments

  1. PMYJuly 5, 2021 at 8:49 PM

    I am glad you enjoyed Roma and the bottle trees.

    ReplyDelete

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