Leyburn to Cecil Plains

 Leyburn to Cecil Plains = 83km
Cummulative totals = 1849km and 21,850km
Cecil Plains caravan park = $5 unpowered (bargain!)

What a day it has been.  We woke to a very light ground fog that quickly disappeared but not before it had made everything extrememly wet and poor little Kouta just couldn't settle as he doesn't like sitting on wet grass and didn't fancy sitting in his basket that was on cold concrete under the table ... he is so fussy
The wind this morning was a fairly strong east south easterly and so was behind us for at least the first half of the ride.  It is fairly flat hence the name of the area - Condamine Plains as all the irrigation of the farms are from the Condamine river that we basically followed.  At sometimes during this first half of the ride we were riding along at 20km per hour which is relatively fast.  We got to really enjoy the riding and also the extremely quiet road.  Plenty to look at in the fields - there were a lot of sorgum fields ...

 and a close up of the sorgum plant ...

 off course it is left to dry out in the field before harvesting ...

 what sorgum is used for ... I don't know and neither does Neil!
This road ends after 36km and you come out on the Gore highway which goes to Toowoomba.  Now this road runs east - west and we had to go on it for 6km and by now our east south easterly had turned into a east north easterly so it was a headwind.  This highway is a major thoroughfare for trucks, not too many passed us the brief time we were on it but there were heaps going the opposite way!  When we came to our Cecil Plains road we decided to stop for a cuppa since there was a layby of sorts ...

 ha some truckie had left his trailer there so we made use of it and leaned our bikes on it!
From here we take a road that runs in a north west direction and we have a side wind blowing instead of a tail wind.  Fortunately as the day progresses the wind eases a bit.  Not long after we started along this road we come across a farmer that is picking his cotton crop.  Cotton is grown a fair bit around these places so it was interesting to stop and watch and the farmer even stopped and chatted with us.  All his bails are going to the gin in Dalby.
Below is a photo of 2 large bails that weigh 17 tonne each and then next to it is the machine that packs the cotton into place and then next to that is the tractor and machine that picks the cotton - more like a vacuum really!

 these bails are massive ...

 here is a closer look at the packer and picker machines

 ou can see at the front of the picker the vacuum shoots that pick the cotton and then it goes into a cage at the back and that is emptied into the packer which compresses and shapes the bail.

 One thing that is typical of cotton (apart from it being all over the place alongside the road!) is that it grows in really black soil.  We are not sure if that is natural soil (as I always thought Australia had red natural soil) or if it has been pumped with chemicals and the like to create a soil for cotton to grow.  All I know is that there are massive dams near these fields full of water as cotton growing isn't exactly light on water!
Really when you look at a field it is like seeing snow ...

 it really does look like  the cotton balls you buy in a bag!

 Riding along here there is plenty to see.  The large bails at 17 tonne are worth $14,000 each (the farmer that chatted to us mentioned it ... ha funny when we were chatting to him and his worker all they wanted to talk about was us and our journey and all we wanted to talk about was the cotton process!)
Another thing about cotton is there are 2 ways to bail  - the large bail or these hay bail types ...

 we never got to see these being done so we assumed the are picked and bailed at the same time just like a hay bailer.  They are carried to the gin on a road train with either 5 or 6 bails on the front trailer and 6 on the back trailer.  We had a few overtake us today!
When you touch the bail it is so soft but compact and has all bits and dags hanging off it as well as some of the plant it came from ... I suppose they take it to the gin and that is where it is cleaned ...

I think if I collected all that is along side the road I would be able to make a 17 tonne bail!

We have been to Cecil Plains before on our way back 4 years ago.  It was quiet at the time and now since it is in the middle of cotton picking season the caravan park is busy as well as the alternative, which is by the river, there were heaps of free campers down there and I even think some of them were working in the fields on the loaders as they looked like they were set up to stay for a while along side the river.  We opted for the caravan park as she only charged us $5 for unpowered and it even has a free washing machine so we did some as we arrived here mid afternoon.

Tomorrow is a short day to Dalby, where we will have a rest day on Thursday and weather permitting we will head off on Friday.