20230620 Qld St George to Toobeah

Once again we find ourselves in St George, it’s one of those major outback town where most people stop for supplies before moving on. Our plane was to stay a night and head to the Nindigully Hotel to watch the State of Origin but the rain stuff that up so we stayed in town. Well if we’re staying I’m going for a ride so we removed my bike and I grabbed my camera and went exploring. I found a few shops to browse through, stopped for coffer and cake then went to check out the Cotton Farm tours which I’ve always wanted to do and for $50 which includes a Vineyard and lunch, that will do me.

After the cotton is harvested they sit in the paddock until collection, bails can be left for up to 12 months, one bale is worth $3,000 and trust me there are lots in these fields.

Growers usually choose to harvest the cotton crop once most bolls have opened and fully matured. It is extremely important that cotton is dry when it is picked.

I was told the flower looks like a hibiscus, he was right.

The new John Deere round bale cotton picker costs about $1.3m+, making it one of the most expensive agricultural machines available in Australia. The cotton industry is one of Australia's most significant contributors to the agricultural sector, with exports worth around $2 billion each year. Australia is one of the world's top four cotton exporters.

Over 20 years ago farmers sprayed 17-18 times per season and weeds were taking over their crops, they feared cotton was becoming unsustainable but thanks to the new genetically modified Bollgard, technology farmers might spray once in a season, weeds are more easily controlled, and cotton crops are producing three times the global average. This seed cost $1o,ooo a ton but the farmer here (Snow) said it’s worth it.

A new and improvefd way of watering crops, a network of channels and drains serves land on the bank of the Balonne River, extending 32km south-east of St George and is supplied from Beardmore Dam, via Jack Taylor Weir, on the Balonne. All supply channels are of open-earth construction with manually operated gravity flow control structures.

Onto the wine tour at Riversand Gardens, a family venture since 1996 Riversands has a well established brand name in the wine industry producing around 50-60 tonnes of wine grapes per annum which makes around 3,000-4,000 dozen wines.

After harvest the vines are trimed back then wound around a trellis, the old growth is unnecessary, so heavy pruning is safe as long as you leave renewal spurs.

Well I got to try all these and I was surprisingly quite impressed, I found the flavours quite smooth and not dry like some wines and the Ports was delightful, 

time for a nanny nap I feel.😋

It's more ruby in style and has a Berries, plums & spice burst in the mouth, leaving a nice, clean finish. There's also a delicious hint of chocolate and the sweetness is lovely without being to sickly, it really is a, "Fucking Good Port".

But this was my favourit, the Black Magic Vintage which honours, Leonard Waters who was the first known Aboriginal fighter pilot in the war as distinct from bomber pilots. 

What a great story, Warrant Officer Leonard Waters was the only known Aboriginal Fighting Pilot to serve in WW11. It wasn’t uncommon for an aboriginal children not to attend school because the Government believed Aboriginal people wouldn’t aspire to an occupation that required higher education but Leonard studied until three months short of completing Year 8. He left school at 13, worked as a ring barker (ie killing trees by ring barking them) and shearer - like his dad.He joined the RAAF in 1942 as a flight mechanic at 18, despite barriers to non-European enlistment but the Royal Australian Air Force was willing to take people of non -European descent). When the RAAF called for aircrew trainees he was accepted for pilot training and graduating as a Sergeant pilot. He conducted 95 ground attack and fighter sweeps over Japanese held positions and islands in New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies during 1944 and 1945. By the end of the war he had completed 95 missions in his Kittyhawk fighter which was called "Black Magic". The name "Black Magic" was not his idea, it was the previous mount of John Blackmore. It was perhaps fate that decided Leonard getting this aircraft!".

The Wobbly Boots was started as a collection in 2001 and was moulded from the boots of local fellow Simon Southwell, the tawny port filled pottery boots follow in the foot steps of other famed outback identities such as Edna Jessops (female droving legend), Tom Kruse (mailman of the Birdsville Track) and the local Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce.

Esmond Gerald (Tom) Kruse (1914-2011), a former mail carrier on the Birdsville Track between S.A and Qld, became know as the John Heyer’s 1954 film, The Back of Beyond. The year after the film's release in the 1955, New Year Honours, Kruse was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for "services to the community in the outback". The famous Badger mail truck which delivered more than 7000 letters from all over the world.

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