Qld Government Department fails to care appropriately for dingoes on Fraser Island and try to cover up their failure by hounding researcher, photographer and author Jennifer Parkhurst and abusing government backed power to stop her publishing the results of her research. If my animals were in a similar condition to that of the dingoes on Fraser Island I would be prosecuted for neglect and animal cruelty and yet a Government department responsible for the care and management of dingoes on Fraser Island seems to be immune from such actions nor do they seem to care or perhaps they simply do not know what to do. Read more about Queensland Government actions against Jennifer Parkhurst here.
It is three weeks since I broke my wrist. I am staying with friends near Tara currently but moving soon to Goondiwindi. Isn’t it comforting to have friends in a time of need? But boy it’s hard making the bed and doing simple things for myself but it is getting better. Hope to get to the Elvis festival in Parkes in the new year. This is just another reason for selling my current travelling combo, perhaps something smaller with auto transmission is the go next time.
After inverell I head back to my camp spot near Tara and will be helping my local fire brigade with their monster fundraiser auction on 21 August. Following on from that I willbe involved in a combined emergency services fire exercise the following weekend and then will be off to Benarkin (near Blackbutt in Qld) for a couple of weeks to stay with friends, Meriann and John. Might get some gardening done and perhaps give a hand with renovations.
Well I have been well and truly overwhelmed by the typical New England winter – it has been cold and wet which results in mud being tracked into the MH by myself and the doggies. I have 7 horses to feed twice a day and 5 of those to coat and uncoat depending on the weather and there is also a geriatric donkey in there as well. I’ve not been bitten yet and have dodged a couple of half hearted kicks. The dogs (5 of them) see me as their food and “walkies” person and the cat (an oldie) likes to be fed whenever she sees me as she seems to forget when she last had some food and drinkies. Oh and I must not forget the 7 geriatric sheep who also get some extra feed twice a day.
A friend comes in a couple of times a week to take out extra feed for the 17 cattle and 20 sheep and another 4 donkies who mix in with the cattle.
I leave here on the 17th August and head back to my camp spot near Tara.
Well this trip has been interesting. Learnt how to coat and uncoat horses near Inverell with minus temps overnight. I finally got the gearbox fitted for the awning, had the squealing belts fixed which turned out to be worn bearings, had the vehicle serviced and a leak underneath the camper fixed in Stanthorpe where I stayed at the Happy Apple Resort at Thulimbah. Happily left Stanthorpe to head back to base and just north of Warwick a terrible tearing noise and when I quickly pulled over and stopped found my solar panels had been ripped off by the horrific cross winds on the New England Highway. A quick call to Ken Tame and Associates Insurance had me covered to replace the solar panels so I did a quick detour to Brisbane and found Soalr RV and Battery Traders and a nicer group of people you could not find in business – very service and customer oriented. The next day I had my new solar panels fitted, tested and working perfectly. So thanks to Border Caravans, Solar RV and Battery Traders and Ken Tame and Associates for making this trip a little less traumatic than it could have been.
My friends all know that I currently have three small dogs who travel with me and walking them all at once on leads can get us all knotted up until I can unknot us or release them. They are Zeb (male and 16 years old and I have had him since he was a little sperm), Misty (female and 12 years old and I bred her, sold her to a lady with breast cancer and then she came back to me when her lady died) and Cassie (female and elderly – age is unknown as she came to me as a rescue and she is almost blind). All three are Silky Terriers which is ideal as they are small, do not shed hair and rarely have that “doggie” smell..
