08-Jun-2005 -- Since I retired I have had the time to indulge in my love of motorcycle touring. To go and visit and photograph a confluence is a great excuse to get on the bike for a few days.

I set out with two confluences in South Western Queensland marked as waypoints in the GPS. I rode as close as I was able to the first confluence. To visit this confluence would have required me to leave the bike and camping gear unsecured next to a sealed road while I hiked the five kilometers through the scrub and back. I decided to return at another time when I had company.

On the second day I was in the area of the second confluence NW of Charleville, an area I had lived and worked on a sheep property some twenty years ago. I was interested to see how this area was looking in the long drought that has affected this country over the last four to five years. This is Mulga tree (Acacia aneura) country. Mulga is the most abundant livestock fodder tree in Australia. Without the Mulga trees much of this semi arid area in SW Qld. would be unviable for cattle and sheep and in drought the only fodder available.

This second confluence was south of the Charleville-Adavale road in the Mariala National Park. The GPS showed a one-kilometer hike from the road through the bush and stunted Mulga growing on this rocky ridge to the position 26° S. 145° E. Motocross boots and thick protective motorcycle pants don't make the best walking gear but I was too lazy to change for the short walk of two kilometers.

After this confluence visit I continued on to Adavale, which consist of half a dozen houses, a pub and a police station. I had seen only one other vehicle in the 190 klms from Charleville. I spent another three days in this sparsely populated area of Australia before returning to the coast.

In the Mariala National Park.