Australian Adventure 2013 - 6

Six thirty in the morning of Thursday saw Pam & me pleasing our doctors by stepping briskly along the sea front.  Since we had taken the car down we were able to start where we had left off previously and see a bit more, although at low tide the picture was not scintillating.

Much later in the morning, while Nick was playing at home maintenance, Pam & I went and did a routine grocery shop.  Having learned that my US credit card works on the PIN system used heavily down here I made it a contribution to the household expenses.  It was a very ordinary basket of necessities but the bill seemed more like a Jungle Jim one than a Marsh one, although admittedly the Aussie dollar is slightly less valuable than the US one.

In the afternoon we again took the City Cat ferry up the river, but this time we got off on the South Bank, a former expo site and now a major city park.  It is school (but not university) Spring Break in Brisbane and the park was being very well used indeed.  We walked to the far end and back, took another Cat just across the river and headed up into Brisbane’s Botanic Garden/park which unusually literally butts right up against the very heart of downtown.  Having walked through it we came out by another ferry wharf and took a Cat all the way downriver to our original boarding point.

Friday morning after breakfast Pam put together a substantial picnic and we then headed down the main road south.  Faye & family are camping beside a river near the coast.  Their camper-trailer is massively heavy duty and is capable of being hauled “off road” if necessary.  Once opened up it becomes a massive tent, with a queen-size bed on the trailer itself and an “outdoor” kitchen that pulls out to one side.  We were to join them for lunch.

Objective number one was to show me Gold Coast, commonly known as Bris-vegas.  It is a huge and hideous collection of high-rises, a substantial majority of which are for rent by the week or more since this is a premier vacation destination for those who like a mass of humanity and a huge number of ways of separating fools from their money, including a gigantic casino (or two?).  It is in every way “not a John place”.  Since this is Spring Break it was packed and to add to the confusion massive road works are ongoing, as is the installation of a tram line, plus they are in the process of setting up the road course for an upcoming Indy-car race to be held sometime soon.  Parking was impossible although Pam found a cul-de-sac where she stayed with the car and Nick & I walked a short way on to the beach.  The sand here is very fine, very soft and very white, almost glary.  I took a snap of the coastal side of the city and Nick took one of me actually on a beach & then we moved on back into the traffic confusion.  The city, always somewhat dubious, currently has an unenviable reputation for the amount of illegal drugs changing hands.  I was quite happy for us to move on.

We continued south, past a tall modern “art” monument that delineates southern Queensland from northern New South Wales and into some very pretty countryside.  Sadly, some freak of atmospherics meant that anything at a distance was misty-looking so scenic photography was not possible on this trip.  We reached the town in which Faye & family were camping, had a coffee while we waited to make contact (they were kayaking when we arrived) and then both parties arrived at a crowded parking lot simultaneously.  We set up our picnic in a shelter house (shelter from sun rather than from rain) at the edge of a grassy area next to a small bay with a sandy beach all around it writhing with humanity.  The open ocean at the mouth of the bay was throwing up some great splashes as the waves hit the rocky outer shoreline.

After all eating ourselves silly we packed up and headed back to the campground - dry camping but with full city water/sewer facilities at either end.  Faye brewed tea for us all and showed off the camper as set up (I had only seen it in travel mode in their garage previously).  We sat and chatted for a while and then we left them to go back to their activities and headed for home, but on a rather more scenic road.  We stopped for a little while at an art gallery, but none of us liked any of the various collections being displayed, so we carried on, joined the main expressway and wended our way home.  The Friday afternoon-before-a-holiday-weekend traffic was bad our way and horrendous going the other way, but apart from two or three traffic jams we made decent time.

Australian Adventure 2013 - 5

After a relaxing Monday afternoon & evening of catching up & getting reorganized, we woke up on Tuesday morning to a “hot fog”, quite dense and 60 degrees F.  Pam claims not to have seen such a phenomenon before.

After breakfast Pam, Nick & I went for a walk, taking a car for the first ¼ - ½ mile so as to not have to climb the horrendous hill when we were leg-weary coming back.  This time we went the “other way” along the edge of the mangrove swamps.  The rest of the morning was relaxing & largely spent at the PC.

In the afternoon we went to Wellington Point.  By now the day was beyond breezy but a number of young maniacs were kite-surfboarding.  There is a beach and also a fishing pier there.  We took a stroll before heading back into town for a quick and unavailing shop for fabrics for Pam followed by a delicious ice cream cone break for “tea”.

We eventually went on to Faye’s house where her Peter cooked us all a delicious steak dinner.  It was a simple and pleasant day.  Peter did a great job, but having now had steaks in several places I am concluding that Aussies prefer their steaks tougher than Americans do.  Since I am living in what amounts to a largely “English” house I am finding all home foods very familiar.  Resisting temptation is a bit difficult at times.  I am also drinking a great more tea than coffee.

Now that I have been here for a number of days I can reflect on the similarities and differences that particularly strike me.  Coming from the Indiana flatlands and noticing both the immediate area of Wynnum as well as two of the highlands to which I have been taken I am struck by the steepness of the hills.  Roads seem to have excessive amounts of markings in all urban areas, and of course there is a plethora of English-style roundabouts instead of four-way stops.  Evidently most of the funding for police of all kinds is derived from traffic fines as typically rather low speed limits are very strictly enforced and fines are high.  Driving, of course, is on the left so crossing streets on foot requires more attention than usual.  Many vehicles are familiar but many are not although largely similar. 

Heavy trucks are impressive.  Excluding the Road Trains of Outback legend, which of course I have not seen, the term has obviously been downgraded as it is used on some road signs.  Tractors, both US and European, are similar, although there are a great many more "cab-overs" compared to conventional tractors when compared to the modern day USA, but trailers appear to be slightly bigger and usually have three axles at the back.  All through major city streets one may see “doubles” where the tractor has a steering axle and three driving axles carrying a trailer body or tank or up to two shipping containers at the back of which is a triaxle bogey, partly for the rear of the front load and partly for the front of the rear load at the back of which are three more axles.  In other words, on roads with two lanes in each direction one may be beside a behemoth of 10 axles using 38 tires!

Things here are expensive, including food and clothing, and especially restaurant food, but pay is apparently generally high.  House prices are usually spoken of in millions or large fractions thereof.  Because of heat and especially high sun loads large overhangs provide shade and many houses are elevated on short (or even long) stilts so cooling air can blow underneath.  Water is a big deal.  Although “averages” may be reasonable even in non-drought years rain tends to come rarely and in vast quantities when it does.  Virtually every free-standing dwelling has multiple large water tanks fed by run-off from roofs.  Although they could order up a tanker for resupply so far Joe and Gayle’s entire water supply has been supplied from the heavens, for a good few years.  Pam & Nick use their tanks for garden watering and toilet flushing.  Solar panels for both heating water and making electricity are widely used.

There is rather less emphasis, so far, on handicapped accessibility, but one oddity is that shops built on hills often have sloping floors, instead of flat ones with occasional sets of steps, and take a little getting used to.  Australia is a “coastal” country, literally.  At 70,000 population Toowoomba is the second largest “inland” city in the country, beaten only by the national capital of Canberra with its plethora of bureaucrats and the shopkeepers that support them.

Aussies are famous for not using whole words if a shortened version will do, some of which are quite odd-sounding to a stranger.  The accent is pronounced (but not “Crocodile Dundee”) and takes some concentration.  I am sure that there are many perceptions that have slipped my mind here, but I thought I’d note a few, and I am always open to responding to specific questions.

Wednesday (25^th) started with my taking a rather more strategic exercise walk down to the shore where now the tide is almost fully low at that time of day.  Uncovered by water the mudflats are far from attractive!  I took a picture or two and returned, well exercised.  The big event of the day, rather a hot one, was a trip to the Tamborine Mountain area that is just inland from the “Gold Coast” or national playground area.  Once again the final stages of the journey, and I was glad that young healthy Peter was driving, was even more “not a Rita road” than Bunya.  We parked and headed into one of the many small national parks in the area (Joalan Natl. Park??) to take a trail through the rain forest.  It was very nice, and downhill all the way.  We ended at Curtis Falls, took a picture or two and I then discovered that we had to retrace every step, except it was now uphill all the way!!!  Actually it was very pleasant and no doubt was very good for all of us, both aerobically and calorie-burning!

We drove a short distance to the tourist village of North Tamborine, parked, and found a restaurant for a nice (expensive) sandwich lunch, as we all wanted something but not a major meal.  Then we wandered the various shops and galleries and found a mildly upscale tourist shop where I spent money.  I have no doubt I will buy more souvenirs but I am now happy that if I buy nothing further I will not be coming home empty-handed.  We then returned home, realizing as we got here that it truly was quite a bit cooler (out of the sun) in Tamborine than in Wynnum/Brisbane.  I commented to Peter about role-reversal, remembering hideous drives from Kings Island with a vehicle full of somnolent kids, while he was driving a vehicle full of somnolent seniors!!!

Australian Adventure 2013 - 4

This Thursday (19^th) we have designated as a “quiet day”.  Pam did some laundry for us all, we all slipped out for short shopping expedition that was mostly supermarket, but mostly we did our own thing.  Between getting up (late, by my usual standards) and breakfast I went out and did a solid half-hour of fast exercise walking.  All was well as there was a nice breeze along the sea front but the last 150 yards up the very steep street, followed by what amounted to three flights of stairs was a real killer!  I quite regretted having had my shower before I left rather than waiting until I got back!

Tomorrow we head up to Toowoomba for a long weekend of visiting and sightseeing, hence the need to keep today quiet and make sure we were all caught up on everything.

Friday morning, after a gentle normal start to the day we departed and drove, necessarily, through a great deal of outer Brisbane suburbs before finally heading more or less due west out into the countryside and across the local area breadbasket of assorted farms.  Mileage signs were typical, giving the distance in kilometers to various places including Toowoomba, but always having at the bottom the distance to Darwin, approx. 3400 kilometers!

After a long period of rising almost imperceptibly we finally started the serious ascent up the Great Dividing Range (so named because rain falling on the near outskirts of Toowoomba would find its way east to the Brisbane River but rain falling on the far side flows west and on down to Adelaide).  Our first stop was a swing by Pam & Nick’s old house which has partial views of the many miles across which we had driven, since it was located right on the edge of town.

We went into the city and soon thereafter parked and had a lunch of sandwiches and coffee or smoothie in Nick’s case.  Almost everything is expensive in Australia and restaurant food is very high, three light lunches costing almost $50.  Nick left to go to a nearby hairdresser who had been a close neighbor when P & N lived in Toowoomba, and Pam and I cruised a few shops and saw where the horrendous floods had rushed through Toowoomba, although almost all signs have now been eradicated.

Then began the pretty part, as this was the start of Toowoomba’s annual Carnival of Flowers.  First we went to the Queen’s Park Botanical Gardens, one of the prime sites, gave our eyes a visual feast & I tried to not take too many photos!  Our second port of call was Picnic Point Park, also very pretty but our primary purpose, as the park is on the very edge, was too look back from our roughly 2,000-foot elevation at the plain across which we had driven in the morning laid out below us, as well as one the extinct volcano cones called Tabletop, which Pam once climbed when she was a lot younger!  Finally we went to Laurel Bank Park for an almost better visual feast of flowers.  In all parks about half the flowers were familiar, or at least recognizable and the other half I had not previously seen.

Our final “tourist” point of call was the Chocolate Café for an excellent pot of tea each and a little indulgence, mine being a lovely Tiramisu.  When we were done we wandered through the adjacent and associated tourist shops, all of which were surprisingly upscale – we did not buy anything.

Finally we went to Gayle & Joe’s home where we were welcomed and settled in.  After a while we all piled into the car and went to what I assume is a typical Aussie country pub/restaurant for a steak dinner that was more than most of us could eat!

Saturday morning saw a separation of the sexes.  After a great breakfast Pam & Gayle headed into Toowoomba to various quilt shows no doubt timed to match the Carnival of Flowers, which they thoroughly enjoyed.  Joe took Nick & me in his convertible hardtop VW, with the top down, out to the Jondaryan Woolshed Open Air Working Museum on a former major sheep station.  Our timing was immaculate as the morning conducted tour started within a minute of our buying our tour tickets.  Many of the early buildings are somewhat restored and had literally been moved to be together, rather than scattered over thousands of acres, but the woolshed (sheep shearing building) has been sited there since 1861.  Terry, our guide, was really knowledgeable and interesting and the tour concluded with him actually shearing a sheep for us followed by a demonstration of his border collie heading some sheep and his kelpie yard dog running them into pens.

After the tour we went for a traditionally prepared cup of tea and a slice of “damper” with butter and golden syrup, and thereafter were on our own to wander amongst all the old vehicles and equipment in the various sheds, ending at the main, former bank, building & gift shop/restrooms.  It was a very interesting morning.

As we headed back we stopped off at an RAAF museum, full of small planes and helicopters, many of them really ancient but beautifully restored and preserved.  Back home we had a very late light lunch of pizza.  The ladies returned and the rest of the day was social and watching TV with a lovely lasagna dinner in the middle.  Gayle is a very good cook indeed and we are eating like kings and queens!

Sunday morning started with another superb breakfast, followed by the preparation of a “picnic” sized to feed a small army.  Our departure was a little delayed as Gayle & Joe’s younger son, his girlfriend (assumed fiancée) and their month-old baby were able to join us, much to the grandparents’ delight.  We then headed off in three vehicles, more or less in convoy across country and finally up to the Bunya Mountains.  The last stage was most definitely “not a Rita road” being narrow, steep, very twisty-turny, without guardrails but with periodic steep drop-offs, but it was very scenic indeed.

We reached the state park area which is very nicely set up indeed and appropriated a picnic area and state-provided electric-powered barbecue grill.  After settling in we wandered the immediate area and then five of us headed down one of the many trails, getting a real sense of a temperate rain forest.  We ended at a high waterfall, the kind that here trickles 355 days/year and is torrential the other 10.  This day was a trickle.

Back with the whole group in due course, after having nibbled on tasty bits for ages, we had a picnic that was more like a feast, starting with a steak and some sausage each with both hot & cold accompaniments of all kinds.  We sat and chatted afterwards occasionally taking pictures of birds.  Tom and Courtney left with baby Riley and a little later we walked up to the main concession for delicious coffees all around.  After that we started heading back, stopping a couple of times for some scenic views that gave a sense of the terrain.

Since we were all still so full from “lunch” we dined on nibbles and dessert and just relaxed for the evening.

Monday morning Joe left early, having said goodbye the evening before,  Gayle left a little later after hugs all around and we had some breakfast, tried to eradicate all signs that we had been there and left ourselves.  We headed into Toowoomba and parked on a street that divided Peter’s alma mater of the University of Southern Queensland from a Japanese peace garden.  We wandered through part of the garden coming out of another entrance and crossing to the edge of the university, before returning and wandering some other paths in the lovely and peaceful garden.

After a few redirects & turns around (memories start to fade after a few years) we started down the steep side of the range but on a back, and hence lesser-traveled, road and cruised through a mix of scrub and farmland before eventually joining the main road back to Brisbane, getting home just on time for a late lunch.  Thus ended out great “Toowoomba” adventure weekend.