Hey shipmates, before the journey Boris and myself got the Whale Call bus all tuned, washed immaculately hehe...

and ship-shape ready for a majikal journey bout 250 miles north west of the coast into high mountain country to a small gold mining town of 300 folk called Nundle ~ herez a pic of the vista from the top of Breakneck mountain where Boris and myself camped the nite we arrived...

Boris waz to teach kids how to pan for gold beside some of the old time miners  ~ the kids' parents buy them a small bucket of soil mixed with gold thru it for $5 ~ and i waz to look after our Whale Call stall, but Debs, Whale Call's secretary, gave me the frame for our gazebo to pack in the bus, but not the cover, so i had to chill under a maple tree, and still managed to get a little sunburnt ~

I'm having hassles loading the pix into my album, like taking heapz of time, and then not even uploading errr ~ so i'll try and continue tomorrow, sorry bout that hehe  

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the rain that hits this mountain range could go west or east - if its west, it goes thru the outback to enter the southern ocean at adelaide, if east, a far shorter trip to the pacific.
where we camped, the trees had been stripped to the west, but not the east- the impact of beef farming and its deforested paddocks is obvious - but in the forest life abounds - wombats, a couple of wallaby species, parrots, eagles, finches, wagtails, butterflies, tiger quolls and more still call the mountains home.

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Yes, i loved it up there with the pure fresh mountain air and the crisp cool water at a nearby waterfall ~ and you could feel the incredible energy 1500 feet above sea level up on the ridge of Hanging Rock mountain ~ in small pockets of the remnants of a massive rainforest there were really high palms which made it feel like you were in Jurassic Park hehe ~ herez one of Boris' sunsets from the ridge...

Herez a pic of the bush track up to the ridge...

I'll get back to the mountain and the bush doof party we had on the ridge after the festival finished hehe ~

herez some pix of relics of the mining days, though they're still finding gold there today ~

A gold mine shaft where the'd winch up buckets of ore

An early 20th century miners' tree slab hut and tin roof with attached tin chimney, where you wouldn't have enough room to swing a kangaroo...

A still working steam engine which ran the ore crusher...

An old gold mine winch...

Meanwhile, back at the festival hehe...

Chillin under a shady maple tree on a lazy sunny Sunday afternoon lol ~ one of the joys of saving the whales hehe...

The propeller from a Dutch twin engine plane which crashed into Hanging Rock mountain in 1945...

Hope y'all enjoying Boris' pix, i still haven't found my #@$%^*@  camera lead yet, ahhhhhh ~

to be continued... 

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It is fascinating to see you working so hard as you sit under that tree people watching ....

Aren't the different camera connectors a royal pain .. time for a universal plug for the blasted things !!

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Yes, Foxy, you're not wrong, i get a buzz out of making people aware bout the plight of our whales ~ i dig blowing them out with knowledge of whales which most don't know ~ and the simple joy of the smiles on kidz faces when i give them one of IFAW's green wristbands like the one i wear, which says, 'protect animals - respect nature' hehehe

herez some more pix from Nundle...

 a mushie colony on a gumtree stump

 an old rustic wood slab and tin house, and with a front verandah ~ the owner must've found plenty of gold hehe...

Boris shot this pic of the Whale Call bus from an old abandoned mineshaft...

and a pretty butterfly...

Hanging Rock 1500 ft above sea level...

a ringneck wallaby in our friends garden on Hanging Rock mountain...

another pretty butterfly...

an eagles nest... 

a live yabby from the dam, and yes, he waz put back hehe...

and a peace sign to y'all  from moi in the Whale Call bus in the middle of a pine forest halfway up the mountain... 

more pix to come, hope you're  enjoyed our trip az much az we did shipmates

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Well i'm back online shiupmates, had to get a new putr so therez some work to catch up on hehehe

and, yes, Gayle, i have a blue chip facility on the new putr which i can place my camera chip, soz herez some more pix hehe

Sunset from Hanging Rock ridge...

Boris teaching children how to pan for gold...

'Back in a sec Boris hehe ~ the Nundle pub and what a lovely chilled beer iz to be had there...

Boris gold panning with the kids...

'Back in a sec Boris'...the steam engine for crushing ore across the street from the cool Nundle pub hehe

Eureka! Gold! in dust in he pan...

The log fire at the reggae doof party on the ridge...

The DJ at the party...

The mirror balls...

 Me bopping to the music whilst levitating hehe...

  Boris has a stretch outside the bus before bed... 

Hope y'all dug the pix from our last boyz own adventures hehehe

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