'G'day' and 'Goodbye' Oz

I have stumbled across some treasure! It's a bit late perhaps but in the spirit of 'better late than never'.....

With only one day of the journey across Australia left, I followed some links and ended up in the webpages of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology . It is an absolute treasure trove of information about the weather and climate in Australia, as well as issues relating to global climate. I will certainly be bookmarking it for the future. However, the reason I found it was related to the route Mark followed into Brisbane today. Although the tracker is temporarily suspended, it was easy to follow the Gore Highway to Toowoomba which sits on the crest of the Dividing Range and on down to Brisbane.

Along the route it was field patterns which caught my eye and set me off on my investigations...... which finally led to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).

Shortly after leaving Millmerran this morning, Mark cycled past features which looked as if map contours had been superimposed on the landscape. Closer inspection revealed this image...

The agricultural landscape suggests that the area is marginal for cultivation. However, where there are fields, they have been ploughed to follow the contours of the land. This is a classic technique in semi arid areas and is practised to retain water on the land and to prevent soil erosion. There is a good explanation of the practice here .

This part of Queenland receives about 800mm of rain in an average year. The problem however, is that the rain is not reliable. Lying in the rainshadow of the Dividing Range, it is often 'cut off' from the moist south easterlies which bring much more rain to the coastal parts of the state. In addition, high temperatures mean that there are high rates of evaporation and so the average rainfall (which is not dissimilar to what is received in eastern Scotland) is much less effective.

It was while I was researching the rainfall in Queensland that I found these excellent maps on the Australian BOM site The first is the total rainfall received across Australia in the last calendar year and the second shows detail of Queensland. You can see that the rainfall falls away sharply as you go inland from the coast of Queensland. Indeed, along the route Mark has cycled today, rainfall totals vary from about 400mm at Millmerran to 1200 mm at Brisbane. That is a very pronounced rainshadow effect!

Contour ploughing is just one way of responding to the rainfall shortage. Another common practice is strip farming and again, there is much evidence of this along the route Mark has followed today. If you follow the link, Wikipedia again gives a good explanation of the technique seen below at closer quarters near to Toowoomba. You will have to excuse me if field patterns seem rather dull to you but, believe me, this is real 'textbook stuff' and will provide me with a good case study the next time I'm studying dry farming techniques in school! Mark, understandably, will have given no thought at all to the patterns in fields today as his sights will have been set on Brisbane. I know how I am feeling having 'got across' this continent, and I can only imagine the sense of elation and achievement Mark must be feeling having pedalled the distance.

Like all the big cities of Australia which Mark has just passed through en route to somewhere else, I will also pass through Brisbane fairly swiftly as it is impossible to do justice to the geography of a city of that scale in a few lines. However, here are some photos gleaned from Flickr. They give an impression of a highly photogenic city...

....at any time of the day

This short video also gives a flavour (and has a sound track which is a good 'valediction' to

Australia!)

And finally, after a 38 day crossing of Australia, Brisbane airport is where we leave this huge country. I used to think I knew quite a lot about Australia but all things are relative - I certainly know a lot more about it now!!

Goondiwindi to Millmerran

When Mark crossed the NSW/Queensland border at Goondiwindi earlier today, he was crossing into the fifth state of his journey through Australia. Having already crossed Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, he is now within one day's cyling of Brisbane, the capital of Queesnsland. Queensland, according to the Wikipedia entry, is actually the second largest state in Australia by area but it is also the fastest growing state by population. It clearly has its attractions - not least the sub tropical climate!

Administratively, Queensland is divided into a number of regions shown on the map below..


Mark has cycled today through Darling Downs - an area of extensive rolling plains and low hills named after the River Darling, the major tributary of the Murray River. The photo below is culled from Wikipedia and gives a good impression of the landscape. The crop in the distance is sunflowers.


The agricultural economy of the area is essentially mixed with vegetable growing and cereal production taking place alongside stock rearing. Much of the farming is dependent on supplies of water from the Great Artesian Basin (shown below) which underlies much of Queensland. Artesian water lies at considerable depth from the surface trapped in a permeable layer of sedimentary rock which lies between two impermeable layers. When a bore hole is sunk, water rises to the surface under pressure and without pumping. Supplies of Artesian water have made settlement possible in areas of Australia which are otherwise desert dry. The level of water in the permeable layer is maintained by rain falling on higher ground (in this case mainly the Dividing Range to the east) and infiltrating the rock layers where they intersect ground level as explained below...

Unfortunately, recharge of the water has historically always been less than extraction rates and bore holes dry up. As the Great Artesian Basin underlies parts of Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and the Northern Territory, which each operate different approaches to managing the water, a coordinated "whole-of-Basin" approach to the management of this important natural resource is required. The Great Artesian Basin Coordinating Committee (GABCC) provides advice on efficient, effective and sustainable whole-of-Basin resource management.

It was, however, almost a relief (after days of 'agricultural geography' ) to come across some extractive industry when browsing the area around Millmerran where Mark overnighted today. In a small patch of higher res imagery, it was possible to pick out this open cast mine. A bit of investigation turned up the fact that this is a coal mine supplying the adjacent power station (bottom right)!

Millmerran power station only became fully operational in 2003 and boasts an impressive raft of environmental specifications. The link between the coal mine and the power station and the stock piles of coal awaiting combustion show up more clearly in this image... And below a sunset 'view'....

It seems a strange place to locate a power station - so far from other industry or large consuming populations but given that coal is a bulky commodity which is expensive both literally and environmentally to transport, it doubtless makes sense to burn it as close as possible to source and to convey the electricity rather than the coal.

By my reckoning, Mark is now only 200kms from Brisbane and might well be there tomorrow. It's about 38 days since leaving Perth. It feels like it's been a long crossing! Writing this blog has certainly given me a sense of the distances which Australia entails.

Queensland in sight

The title of today's post says it all really! After a marathon effort today, Mark has reached Boggabilla which is just a few kms short of the Queensland border. He has cycled 215kms from last night's overnight stop at Narrabri. The photo left was taken in a farmer's field very close to Narrabri and shows a crop which is particularly associated with this part of NSW. If I am honest, I don't think that I knew that cotton was grown in here and I certainly didn't know that Narrabri was the cotton capital of Australia nor that cotton contributes $1.5 billion to the economy.

The map above shows the distribution of cotton country in eastern Australia and you can clearly see that it is associated with rivers. Since cotton requires between 600mm and 1200mm of rainfall and since much of this part of NSW receives less than 600mm, irrigation water from the rivers is essential to production. The Australian Cotton Centre, where you can be "be entertained and educated about the worlds most popular fibre" is located at Narrabri and you can link to its web pages by clicking on the logo to the right.

Both Narrabri and Moree, which was the next settlement of any size along Mark's route today, are located on tributaries of the Darling river which, in turn, is the major tributary of the Murray. Moree is in the middle of a very flat and pretty vast plain. This is borne out by Mark's diary today "after Moree there is a stretch of 118km of exposed prairie with no overnight rest stops ". Certainly there is no cover for these 'emus in a stubble field near Moree' which I gleaned from the embedded photos in Google Earth and the Newell Highway (below) between Narrabri and Moree is straight as a die and flat as a pancake!
Moree is located on the Mehi river seen here on the left and, like Narrabri, is at the centre of a cotton growing area based on supplies of irrigation water from the river. The climate of NSW becomes slightly more 'tropical' as you head north with a summer maximum of rainfall. Indeed, Mark has been noting heavy rain showers in the last couple of days. Nonetheless, in this area which lies in the rainshadow of the Dividing Range, the total annual rainfall is still only around 600mm. Brisbane, which is only a few hundred kms but on the 'right' side of the mountains with regards to the prevailing winds, has twice that amount.

If you read the Wikipedia entry for Moree you can learn something of its significance in the fight to bring racial segregation in rural Australia to the attention of the media. I found it quite sobering to read that well within my lifetime Aborigine children were being refused entry to the public swimming pool in Moree. On a more 'trivial' note, the youngest child of Charles Dickens, after emigrating to Australia, lived in Moree. He became a local MP and was eventually buried there.

And so, after a long day's cycling Mark reached Boggabilla, within striking distance of the Queensland border at Goondiwindi... Somewhere in Boggabilla is this sign which I guess Mark was delighted to see!

Warrumbungles and beyond

Post 100 on the blog .........

Having overnighted in the Warrumbungles, Mark has today continued on via Coonanbarabran and the Pilliga Forest reserve towards Narrabri. I made a brief mention of the Warrumbungles yesterday and it is clearly an area worthy of designation as a National Park. Clicking on the link will take you to the web pages of the NSW Parks and Wildlife Service where you can read lots about its interesting scenery and wildlife.

The 'spires' in the landscape are essentially the more resistant remnants of the ancient shield volcano which once covered a large part of the surrounding area. Millions of years of erosion and weathering have removed the surrounding softer rocks, leaving the plugs and dykes as prominent features in the landscape.
After cycling close to the Parkes Observatory a couple of days ago as described in this posting ,
Mark's route today has taken him very close to another internationally famous observatory at Sliding Springs (above)located just to the north west of Connabarabran. It is described as Australia's "premier facility for optical and infra-red astronomy". It has several large telescopes including the 3.9m Anglo-Australian Telescope. Even if you have only a passing interest in astronomy, I would encourage you to click here to link to the AAT webpage and to have a look at some of the 50 favourite images (link in the right hand side bar). They are stunning! The time lapse ones of the night sky are awesome and I wish I could put one on the blog. However, they are strictly copyrighted so you will have to look for yourself but please do as they are really wonderful!


As the location map shows, Coonabarabran is located in the north east of NSW - probably a day and a half's cycle from Queensland/NSW border. As the photo below shows, it has the air of a 'frontier' town. This Wikipedia entry about its shops and services made me smile!

Being a small country town, Coonabarabran has limited shops. There are two major chain shopping centres, Woolworths and Coles plus the fast food stores Subway and Eagle Boys Pizza. There is a newsagency, and two video hire stores, as well as a local bakery, catering service, two Chinese Restaurants, a Thai Food store, Mini Golf, and several hotels. The second part of Mark's route today has taken him through the Pilliga Forest reserve. It looks much hillier than the flat plains of recent days but hills and forest probably makes a welcome change from endless fields. It would appear that Pilliga Forest is an important remnant of the once more extensive semi-arid temperate woodland in Australia. The dominant species is Cypress Pine. There is a vast network of roads throughout the scrub, many of which are former forestry roads. The forest once supported a large forestry industry in the surrounding towns (harvesting mostly cypress pine and ironbarks) however this has been greatly scaled back since 2005 when much of the forest was "locked up" by the NSW government for environmental conservation.


Fire plays a major role in the ecology of the forest with many plant species depending on fire to regenerate. However in unfavorable conditions fire can be extremely intense, spread very quickly and threaten nearby properties as well as laying waste to entire ecosystems. If intense fires occur less than 15 years apart there can be a loss of plant and animal biodiversity .

Some relief in sight!

That's better! I see a rash of red dots now appearing in Oz. Many thanks to John (see recent postings and comments) for not being too offended by what I said the other day and for raising the profile of Mark's journey in Australia. He even got on his bike and went out to to meet Mark. Now, if all you new readers in Australia could just email all the folks in your address book, maybe the Australian press might pick the story up too .
In the spirit of 'are we there yet?' and to satisfy my pupils who keep asking 'when will Mark get to Brisbane?', the map (right) is to put his current location into context. Brisbane is now on the radar and I'd guess just 3-4 cycling days away - though between 'here' and 'there', there's a few hills to climb to cross the Great Divide.

Mark's first port of call today was Dubbo, which according to Wikipedia, is the crossroads of NSW. The aerial view below shows how it is a focus of routes, being located at the intersection of the Mitchell Highway, the Newell Highway and the Golden Highway. Dubbo is considered the cross-roads of New South Wales. From there you can drive north to Brisbane south to Melbourne, east to Sydney, and west to Adelaide

As noted yesterday, the landscape is clearly in the grip of a drought - except on the golf course and in the zoo! The blue dot on Google Earth opens up to reveal some very photogenic lemurs!




I am not a huge fan of zoos but the Western Plains Zoo website is certainly worth a visit and has a clear statement of their conservation aims. Below, a view of Dubbo.. and a description of its climate which states that "wind patterns are consistent over the whole year. The prevailing winds at Dubbo are from the southeast, south and southwest which account for a combined 64.4% of the wind direction over the whole year." This is clearly producing the tail winds which Mark has been very pleased about! Dubbo has a population of 40,000 but since its primary function is as a rural service centre, the additional population of its agricultural hinterland helps to support a very large range of services in the city.

The city's largest employer is a company which exports lamb . Other local industries reflect the city's status as a regional base in an area whose economic backbone is agricultural. Its second-largest employer is the Dubbo Base Hospital, as the town provides medical services to the surrounding region.
Dubbo is also considered a major shopping centre for the surrounding rural areas in the Central and Far West of New South Wales. It has major department stores, supermarkets and smaller specialty shops which service customers from up to 500 km! away. That's like living in Edinburgh and going to Birmingham to do your shopping!
North of Dubbo the landscape seems unremittingly dry with many examples of pivot irrigation providing the only green respite from the parched land. Average annual rainfall (when an average is received!) is around 600 mm. This is not much less than the south east of England. However, evaporation rates in NSW are much higher than in England and, as a consequence, the 'water budget' is much more precarious

In a good year there will be just enough for cereal cultivation but when a drought hits, the situation can become very serious. You can read here about the current drought status in NSW. One of the consequences of the low rainfall and high evaporation rates is that river flow becomes seasonal and there are many examples of dry river beds as you range over the region through which Mark is currently cycling. Indeed, Mark himself comments on them in the web diary today....."Been passing dried up river beds for days". Here, for example, is the Castlereagh river which is near to the town of Gilgandra and a photo of the same river uploaded to Flickr just a few months ago.

There are, in fact, a lot of good images of Gilgandra on Flickr which you can browse here. Amongst them this postcard which particularly caught my eye....
After what seems like hundreds of kilometers of dry plains, there might be some interesting relief in the vicinity of Gilgandra! And indeed, it would appear that Mark camped in the foothills of the area at the end of today. These unusual features are the volcanic Warrumbungles - remnants of a massive shield volcano which occupied the area about 15 million years ago. Most of the volcano has since been eroded away exposing the resistant interior 'dykes' and 'plugs'. As Mark approached the Warrumbungles from the Newell Highway, they would have appeared as below on the western horizon - a bit of 'relief' from the plains (or perhaps not, if you have to cycle up them!).

"One small step for man"

This is another of my "it will become clear, I promise" postings.

Firstly though..... another 'big picture' which is very appropriate on the day when Mark's computer has shown that he has cycled 12,000 miles (two thirds of the total for the race). Here is where he was at close of play today........Sometimes when I'm explaining distances to pupils I might say something like "12,000 miles...... that's like going from here to Australia". Except.... given that Mark hasn't gone in a straight line, it's actually further than here to Australia! 12000 miles as the crow flies is Edinburgh to Dunedin in New Zealand and by any calculation, that is a LONG way. Incidentally, if ever you want to know the direct distance between two locations, try this handy website.

When Mark set out several weeks ago to cross Australia, I was certain that the hardest bit for me (in terms of finding something to write each day) was going to be Nullarbor. In the event, the Nullarbor was easy compared to the outback of New South Wales. After two days of fields and small agricultural service centres this has been another day of fields and small agricultural service centres! Even Mark is saying "same farming countryside with fields all day". However, just here and there are small pockets of higher res imagery which give more intriguing insights into the geography of the area.

The first settlement of any size which Mark reached today was Forbes . With a current population of just 7000, it is a fraction of its former size in the late 19th century when gold was discovered in the alluvial deposits of the Lachlan River on which the settlement stands....

A closer look at Forbes reveals quite a lot about the living conditions of its residents....

... and it might be worth comparing the contrasts of fortune we have seen along the route of Mark's journey. Above, the residential area of an outback town in Australia - low density housing with gardens and pools and below the high density housing of Tabriz in Iran.

Going back to the aerial photo of Forbes, the aridity of the view is very apparent. I am certain that these high res Google images have been taken during the recent droughts in NSW while the 'greener' low res images are much older. To give you some idea of how dry the region has been, above is an image of the area I picked up on Flicker. It would certainly seem to match the 'view' on the high res Google images.

Amidst these scenes of aridity there are, nonetheless, some patches of green...

This is the golf course at Parkes - how can those golfers not feel guilty about using precious water supplies?!

And finally, we get to the subject matter of today's posting. Did you know that the first images of the Appollo 11 moon landing were received and transmitted around the world by the Parkes observatory?

And in 2000 a film was made about the role of the Parkes Observatory in that historic event. The Parkes Observatory is located just off the Newell Highway (sadly in a pocket of low res imagery otherwise we would have certainly seen the 64m dish). Mark, however, is almost certain to have seen it before reaching his destination for the day at Tomingley which he describes as a "one pub, one garage" sort of place...

And because I am posting late today, it's Tuesday in Australia Mark is already up and away!