Gadding and Gardening.

Will went to bed before me last night. I just wasn't tired and I would only have laid awake while he snored.I suppose it was about 30 minutes after he went to bed and while I was still sat at the table, with the light on, that I heard the first rustle from the kitchen.The cheeky beggar! I jumped up to catch it but saw nothing...and then the lights went out! For a brief second I thought it might have been a rat trick! Well, if it can knock a lid off a bin it might be able to flick a switch!Luckily I had my head torch in my hand ready to shine it into dark places otherwise I would have been in a pickle, feeling around in the pitch black for a tiny head torch. I came to my senses and realised that we had used up all the solar power in the battery...there was nothing for it, I had to go to bed. Weirdly, I heard nothing more from 'Rambo', (for it is he) for the rest of the night.After a lovely cooked breakfast, where the gas did not run out on our eggs, we headed off for a day out to Boonoo Boonoo national Park (pronounced 'Buna Bunoo' by those in the know.) Will said there were some lovely pools for swimming in and it was the perfect day...clear blue sky!We got to the bottom of the drive and saw Dave, the neighbour, coming towards us in his Bobcat. He drove straight through the  scrub and pulled up at the side of Roxy like he was in some kind of Transformer. He lowered the front shovel, switched off the engine, pulled off his ear defenders, grinned and said 'G'day!'He had very kindly offered to push some of the bushes away from the sides of the track up to Frogknot with his 'transformer'. We said we were off to Boonoo Boonoo...it felt a bit wrong leaving him to clear our road while we went off for a swim...but we did anyway.The Boonoo Boonoo National Park was about 45 minutes drive from Glen Aplin, via Tenterfield and is in New South Wales, a completely different State. We filled up with petrol in Queensland because it is more expensive in New South Wales!From the highway to the Boonoo Boonoo Falls, we had to travel along 17kms of gravel road. Not all roads have tarmac here! They tarmac the roads which have the most traffic but quieter rural roads are just gravel. When we got to the falls picnic area we had it to ourselves. We dutifully paid the $7 visitors fee though I doubt anyone would have come to check on us. It was worth it. There were toilets,  two free gas barbeques and lots of picnic tables around. I am sure that if we had places like this in the UK they would have just been vandalised which is such a shame!We walked to the lookout. I was startled by a two foot long lizard that suddenly jumped up from beside the path and ran off on its back legs with its front legs up in the air. Despite the recent rain there was not that much water going over the falls but the view into the gorge was stunning. We walked back up to the rock pools above the falls and explored the different pools. We found one that had a small gravelly beach for swimming from. Will jumped straight in while I huffed and gasped but once in it was lovely and warm.We went back to the car and had lunch in the shade and then headed back to Stanthorpe. Will needed mulch for the garden which we picked up and headed home. Dave had been busy and the road was much clearer at the bottom. He arrived, just after we got back, on a mini -motorbike with little Nate sat in front of him. We thanked him for clearing the road and he asked about our day at Boonoo Boonoo. When he'd gone Will went off to his garden and I found more dust.

We had a lovely Pork Rendang Curry for tea. We don't eat so bad for the bush! We are going to end the day with a bath on the rock.What better way to end the day than with a lovely hot bath under the Milky Way?!