Monday 22nd July
Clive went for his walk this morning. Town is about 800m from the van park, so off he set down Saleyard Road to have a look at the cattle sale. It's a huge yard and the park manager said that the other fortnight they had 3600 head of weaners up for sale. So you can imagine the noise all night as they were calling out for their mothers. He spent nearly an hour there watching what was happening. Most of these animals will end up at the meatworks. Fascinating to watch the flow of how they move and sort the animals after sale. The yard was only recently built at a cost of $3.7M replacing the old timber yard built in 1950. The new yard opened in March. The old timber yards processed about 40,000 head of cattle per year however with the new yard this is expected to increase as the Biggenden yard increases it's importance as a major selling centre. Clive went by himself for a drive to Chowey Bridge after lunch. This bridge was constructed for the railways and opened in 1905 and was the first of it's kind in Australia. The concrete bridge is about 18km west of Biggenden and is supported by a 27m concrete arch and a number of smaller arches. To reach this bridge you drive though grazing land and feel like you are in the middle of nowhere. As it's about 3km from the main road there is no noise about you except the sound of the bush.