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DSCN8113.jpg
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Some other dezinens of Ross River Resort are three peacocks - one female and unfortunately, two males. They are beautiful but very noisy, and at least one called all night long. Worse than roosters!
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DSCN8128.jpg
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This guy hung out by the door most of the evening... made for easy photography, though :)
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DSCN8134.jpg
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There was plenty of birds around in the evening when they watered the garden... honeyeaters, miners, and of course galahs played in the water.
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DSCN8148.jpg
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View of one of the rooms of the original station house (restored).
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DSCN8149a.jpg
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Instead of the Big Dipper of the northern skies,the most recognizeable constellation here is, of course, the Southern Cross. Center of the photo, lying on it's side...
One of the reasons we came to Ross River was so that John could practice his astronomy. The moon was bright, and the horizon hazy though, so we didn't see as much as we hoped: Jupiter and four of it's moons, a globular cluster, and some star clusters... Normally, outback Australia is a wonderful place to view the stars, very little to no light pollution.
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DSCN8163.jpg
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The swimming pool at Ross River, and the hill behind where we climbed before breakfast.
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DSCN8167.jpg
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View from that hill, looking sort of toward where we're heading this morning - N'Dala gorge.
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DSCN8169.jpg
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Not sure if I should call this "Vanity" or "Good Morning" or "Voyeur"...
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DSCN8170.jpg
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Morning at our accomodations. These little cabins were built in 1959, I think. This is a family cabin (has one double and one twin bed).
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DSCN8180.jpg
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Scenery not far past that gate. I liked how the curves of this dead tree echo the hill's curves.
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DSCN8182.jpg
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Turn to the left, and here's another interesting rock outcropped, framed by more skeletal(ish) trees.
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DSCN8187.jpg
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The 4x4 track into N'Dhala is different than the one to John Hayes... much longer, for one, and instead of being rocky is washboardy and sandy in places. I did actually have to use 4Hi to get in here. N'Dhala is famouse mostly for it's thousands - one website says over 5900 - petroglyphs, pecked or pounded into the rocks. This one tells of two caterpillars travelling together, who stopped at this place, and became butterflies.
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DSCN8192.jpg
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Some relatively recent rockfalls. This golden sandstone color deepens to red when exposed to air (like the rocks in the background). These fell recently enough that I could see a dead tree under the one furthest away. The edges are very sharp, and they look like they fell yesterday.
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DSCN8193.jpg
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This is where they fell from, the lighter, smoother looking area of this rock outcropping.
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DSCN8194.jpg
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An interesting cave. Inside there were mud birds nests, mud insect nests, and the footprints of some very small lizards.
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DSCN8196.jpg
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One of the random petroglyphs I found. Could be from someplace in Britain, this same sort of spiral was common in the Celtic rocks as well.
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DSCN8204.jpg
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Cliff over N'Dhala Gorge. I found it interesting that the center(re) area slid down, leaving a nearly smooth rock face, and the two "towers" flanking it. Rubble from the cliff is directly below.
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DSCN8206.jpg
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The same cliff from just next to the rubble.
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