Mining wealth comes to Miles

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We are now travelling through the “Western Downs” which is cattle country, so we see lots of road trains transporting cattle. Are they supplying the new deal with Indonesia that was recently negotiated by Tony Abbot?



We are also seeing lots of prickly pear plants. These are the remnants of the major outbreak which occurred early last century and was finally brought under biological control using “Cactoblastis”. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cactoblastis_cactorum



One of the weird things that can occur when travelling is the change in price for specific vegetables. Back home asparagus was expensive at about $3 a bunch but here we have bought it for less than a $1, together with similarly cheap snow peas. With a little Oyster sauce they are a great combination. Yum!



As we approached Miles we started to see evidence of mining activity. The Origin vehicles finally gave us the clue – this is a coal seam gas area. The town of Miles is being transformed. A new airport is under construction, three new large motels will soon add to the existing motels and there are dongas everywhere. Our caravan park is crammed full of them and when council limits had been reached they have installed large caravan versions. Up the street and over the back fence are mini suburbs of dongas. The main street is full of white 4wds with the familiar mining fluorescent yellow tape. A strange mix of huge cattle and mining road trains constantly thunder down the main street. Our drive today was relatively quiet but it is obvious that we will be joining the road train rat race tomorrow as we head for Theodore, our next stop on the way to Rockhampton.

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Photos

Prickly pear mixed in with the bushland.
Predominantly under trees so they must be spread by birds.

Asparagus and snow peas are always a good combination.
It is a tough life on the road.

Comments

[Yvonne Bruce]

Remember that song, little boxes on the hill side little boxes made of tricky tacky little boxes little boxes little boxes all the same .. There were green ones and some pink one and some blue ones and some yellow ones ......... Well you get the idea

[Angela]

Cow envy
Very interesting re the dongas - boy, they've improved them outa sight. Amazing to see mining history in the making (we missed out on the gold fields era). BTW Mum thought the cow was lovely. Thanks for the blogs!