A group of Brolgas. (Grus rubicundus)

Last night we all went into Rubyvale to the Hotel, so I drove the Toyota in with PJ & K. Met up with friends there for the evening and got the hotel bus back to K's place. God thing we did, as there were 3 kangaroos that went across the road in front of us at different times. One of the hazards of driving after dark on the Australian roads.
While at the hotel, a local miner offer to show our other friends and myself around his mechanical mining operation this morning.
So K took me back into Rubyvale before going to work to pick up the Toyota, and then I went to have a look at sapphire mining, done by machinery, not hand.
When I arrived, P had just started up the old tractor that ran the pump for the water which is essential to the whole operation. As we walked around to the other side of the big heap of soil that the machinery was on, the engine noise changed. P went to have I look, and I wandered on around. There was smoke/steam? going everywhere. Result was a piston had gone through the engine casing............ so now no water. P said he had another couple of tractors back home but it would be a wasted day for working.
When Doug & Kerri arrived with their 2 children, P showed them the race where the sapphires had been sorted out from the other stones before the breakdown. I took a photo of the rough sapphires, but as I was leaving Rubyvale, I came across this group of Brolgas on the side of the road.
Last year there had been a pair of them in the paddock by K's house, doing the mating dance. I am waiting for them to perform again this year......