Day 59 - The birds and the bees... and the frogs, and the massive mosquitoes!

Pilliga to Wee Waa 61km

As the sun set at the bore baths last night out came swarms of enormous mosquitoes.  I'm talking the Airbus A380 of mosquitoes, and they were vicious, even Kerstin was dancing and slapping and she is usually immune.  We ate dinner in the tent in an effort to reduce the itch, but had to squish the twenty or so that followed us in.  Speaking of the tent, we are pleased to inform you that it withstood an overnight thunder and lightning and big dump of rain.  Of course we didn't know that it could withstand it, so we spent a number of nervous hours lying in the dark listening to the storm and the rain striking the tent, waiting for that moment when you realise you are lying in a puddle and lightning is striking around you, good times.

After a less than peaceful night we were put to shame first thing by a pair of septuagenarians whose tent did not fare quite so well overnight.  They were still bright and optimistic, if damp.  They were travelling, to have their hearing aids checked, as it was a two day trip from their home in Forbes.  They trundled on merrily, after offering to host us should we find overselves in Forbes.  We would find their place, no worries, it's the one closest to the tip.  Having found our own bright side thanks to this pair, we trundled off towards Wee Waa.

We are traversing the central plains, heading east towards Narrabri, we can't get lost, it's all one road today.  A road that has obviously seen some flooding recently, as their is quite a lot of damage, and with the rain overnight, lots of puddle dodging.  But all the rain has brought out all the birds.  From the tiny pardalote to the big arse Emu we saw a huge variation out there.  I am not great at bird recognition but definitely spotted black kites, brown falcons, apostlebirds, egrets, comorants, wagtails, tree creepers and even a group of the odd looking Noisy Friarbirds.  I'm hoping at least some of these birds eat mosquitoes!  The apiarists are busy out here too, with lots of well organised hives to be seen.  Although the bee themselves, sensibly are staying in, as it drizzles and threatens more rain.  The frogs however are loving it, there is a constant frog orchestra, of many different calls, from boinks, and bonks to whistles and hoots.

The few times we can't hear the orchestra are for the first road trains we have come across so far.  There have been plenty of B-doubles but today even the frogs are drowned out by the rumble of the triples rolling past.  The drivers are excellent, and give us plenty of space, and the occasional friendly wave.

We have good timing for arriving in Wee Waa (pronounced We war), a Kamilaroi word for fire stick or fire for roasting, as the rain is no longer just threatening.  We splash out on a cabin in the caravan park.  For the bargain price of $60 we have some respite from  the weather in a converted caravan, sure it was converted in the 1950's, but still it is dry and has an armchair.  I can't tell you how much you miss a comfortable seat until all you have is a picnic table at best.

So it has been a menagerie of a day, but I have saved the best sighting til last...