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.