Statues in front of a building in Toowoomba which I took as we passed by as the lights changed

Wednesday we were off to Toowoomba for some retail therapy for the day. Had a lovely time in the Grand Central Shopping Centre right in town. Managed to pick up some talking CD books by Bryce Courtney should give us hours of listening when we resume our travels sometime next year.

A few hours of listening here.

Toowoomba was surrounded by smoke so some of the photos we took had a hazy effect.

A hazy view of Toowoomba

We are experiencing extremely high heat here at the moment temperatures are soaring in the high forties. I had a bad experience in target I brought and paid for two new tops but on arriving home I only had one. So my bargains weren't such a bargain after all. On the way home we stopped at the Big Orange and brought a box of Mangos. They are very nice and cheap here too.

Yesterday we ventured into Brisbane and over to Bracken Ridge to catch up with Carol and Graham we had a lovely lunch at the local hotel and drove home the long way. Bill wouldn't listen to me he followed the GPS and we ended up going right through Brisbane in Peak hour traffic around the most weirdest ways I've ever seen. If we went my way we would have gone up Gympie Rd over the Story Bridge onto the Ipswich Motorway and home. We took the scenic route but on the plus side we saw parts of Brisbane we haven't seen before. Although the air was a bit blue. Today was a quiet day attending to medical matters and other incidentals I did manage to cook up a batch of pumpkin scones and they were very nice too. We have to travel to Brissie tomorrow to have the radio looked at apparently we have another cell call number that we shouldn't have.

Talk again soon

Lowood Qld

We are in the centre of the back row

We arrived here in Lowood Tuesday 10th November after spending the previous night in a free camping spot at Harlem on the road to Esk. We are staying in the Lowood Showgrounds for $9 per night for power and water we will be here for a few weeks as we are leaving the bus in this area when we fly home. (only 22 more sleeps).

The view halfway up the hill

Wednesday we drove over to Ipswich about 30kms away for some retail therapy. Ipwich seems to have had a major over haul it looks quite lovely, a lot of lovely old queenslander houses in excellent condition. Friday we drove to Mt Gravatt Garden City to meet the DIL for lunch and to shop for some chrissy presents.

The view from the Showgrounds

Sunday we drove down to Brisbane to spend a few days with the family and to help Finn celebrate his 9th birthday on Tuesday. He received lots of lovely presents, one was a new camera. We had a lovely meal at the Manly Boat Club but it was slightly marred by an electrical storm during the evening. We arrived back on Wednesday after checking out a place to stay in Brissie. We also called in to see Wayne and Leslie who are camped at the Ipswich Showgrounds for a week. The weather over the past week had been extremely hot and uncomfortable. I hurt my back Thursday and went to the physio on Friday it is still sore but I can report it is easing a bit now.

More happy campers

Everyone rocked up for the HF Club Xmas weekend on Thurs and Fri, I think I counted 36 vehicles (caravans, buses, motorhomes) Plus we have had many day visitors from nearby areas. The Xmas lunch was held yesterday and it lasted nearly all day. Today we have leftovers for lunch and tonight we are dining at the local hotel. We have welcomed some old friends and have made many new friends. We intend to drive to Toowoomba for a visit and hopefully I will have some photos to show you soon. My photographer is having too much fun talking to take any photos.

Lowood

Talk again soon

Wondai Qld

A lovely creek at Finks Crossing

We arrived at Wondai on Tuesday and stayed with our friends Rhonda & John. John is an ex tour quide and we have had a lovely few days being shown around the area with an excellent commentary of the area we couldn't have asked for a better host. We drove to Kingaroy on Wed and up into the Bunya Mountains and surrounding areas, we enjoyed a delicious lunch at a lovely little town of Maidenwell.

Jan sitting on Statue at Bunya Mountains

We also explored Wondai, Byee, Proston and shopped at the local IGA in Murgon. We drove into Wondai last night for a lovely meal at the local RSL club.

Pelicans at Belkje Petersen Dam

We visited the Bjelke Petersen Dam and the Boondooma Dam, water is down as they have had little rain in the last few years.

Boondooma Dam

We are experiencing some of the storms which are effecting the Ipswich area but apart from some threatening lightning and strong winds we have not seen any rain. Our birthdays and wedding anniversary were this week and we received several calls from from family and friends. We were even serenaded by a few. We indulged in a Pavlova on my birthday which Bill surprised me by buying during a visit he made to Kingaroy. We leave today to travel towards Lowood where we are having a HF Radio Club get together and will catch up with new and old friends.

Bottle Trees are in abundance in the area

Only 36 sleeps before we go home Yeh!!!!!!!!!

Talk again soon

Maryborough Qld

We had rather a versatile weekend. We camped at the showgrounds and over the weekend there was a Dog Show on both days, Cross Country Horse events and Radio Controlled Racing Car Races. We made some new friends on Friday night and learnt all about showing Dogs and we spent most of Saturday watching the antics and the preening of the animals. The dogs are treated like royalty with some people spending up to about 8 hours grooming their dogs. I have enclosed a couple of pictures that may interest you.

This was a champion Standard Poodle out from the UK.

I forget what breed this dog is but it sure is cute.

This Lhasa Apso is being groomed by our friend Pam

Sunday morning we watched the radio control cars racing and were they well organised. In the afternoon we took a tour along the Mary River on the Mary.

The Mary coming in to pick up the customers

That proved a very interesting and enjoyable hour.

The Mary River

Maryborough seems to be an older town and there a lots of the old Queenslanders about and I am quite partial to them, I had one in a minute if they didn't require as much maintenence as they do.

One of the newer Queenslanders still nice.

We took the heritage trail around town and we discovered that our trains are made here, so we took a photo of one of our future Perth Trains.

One of TransPerth trains being finished

I wonder how long that will last before it is covered in graffiti. We left this morning on our way inland towards Kingaroy perhaps we will look up Flo to see if she's got the kettle on and the pumpkin scones made. We are spending the night in Kilkivan, a pioneering gold mining town. Only a small town with a few historic buildings but interesting enough. Tonight we may lash out and have tea at the pub, the menu looks ok and it sure beats cooking.

Talk again soon

Fraser Island Qld

The ferry ready to be loaded

We decided to do a tour of Fraser Island while we were here and yesterday was the day. We were picked up at 7.45am and set off by bus to Riverheads where the ferries leave from. On arriving on the Island we boarded a bus to take us on tour for the day. What a nightmare (for me a least) the tour bus is four wheel drive and it is extremely sandy so all day long we were bounced and jolted all over the place and we had the misfortune to be seated at the rear of the coach so we had the backflip as well. We didn't stop for lunch until 1.30pm so by that time my sugar levels were very low, I had a headache, felt very shaky and not so well and we were given exactly 40 minutes to eat lunch, so I couldn't eat. I give the driver his due he managed the tracks very well and was an excellant driver. Bill enjoyed the drive as he loves 4 wheel driving and the places we went to on the tour were absolutely beautiful.

Wanggoolba Creek

Our first stop was at Central station and we went for a walk in the rainforest along Wanggoolba Creek,

we then travelled up the famous 75 mile beach

and viewed the wreck of the cruise ship Maheno

and the coloured sands of the Pinnacles.

We stopped for a swim at Eli Creek followed by a buffet lunch at Eurong Beach Resort. After lunch we drove to Lake McKenzie, a beautiful fresh water lake with chrystal clear water.

Trust Bill to get between two bathing beauties

We finished the tour then and drove to the boat ramp and ferried back to the mainland and dropped at home. We arrived home about 6pm, so I estimated we spent at most 3 hours at the various stops and with the 30 minutes each way ferry trip and the rest was spent bouncing around in the coach. Anyhow I live to tell the tale. We will move on tomorrow probably only as far as Maryborough only about 32kms South and will stay in the showgrounds, we had previously visited Maryborough but unfortunately we didn't take the camera.

Talk again soon

Torbanlea Picnic Races

The Marina near the Boat Club

Hervey Bay Esplanade

Saturday we went to the country races. All the Pomp and ceremony was there, the ladies dressed to the nines in their lovely frocks and high heel shoes and Hats, lots of gentlemen in their suits and ties and the riff raff in shorts and thongs. It included everything even a horse auction and a celebrity race. From there we drove to Toogum for a leisurely lunch at a cafe on the waters edge, then on to Barrum Heads and Dangaragan, both lovely coastal areas with the obligatory beaches and fishing areas. We dined at the boatclub and over coffee watched a demonstration of some Rock N Rollers. Sunday we went to the local markets then visited friends that we met on the way. Firstly Wayne & Leslie and then Ron & Delys. Ron and Delys come from WA from a lovely place called Safety Bay. In the morning Bill went with Rod to the Light Model Aero Club for some flying and I had a cooking lesson with Catherine on Glass Noodle Salad and some other salads, mainly Thai or from Shanghai. Absolutely delicious I know what salad I am taking for Xmas Day.

A little Niche on the Esplanade

I have also been a couple of times with Catherine's walking group doing Pole walking for 5 kmls along the beach. Now don't get excited I said Pole Walking not Pole Dancing. Today we are doing the mundane things like hair cuts and washing etc although we do intend to book a tour over to Fraser Island.

The local Police Patrolling the beach

Talk again soon

Hervey Bay Qld

The Lorikeets in our back yard

We arrived in Hervey Bay on Tuesday and are happily entrenched on a vacant block next to our friend's Rod and Catherine. Hervey Bay is quite a big city, originally made up of several villages which have since joined up to make one. The beaches are divine, the weather great.

One of the 3 jetties in Hervey Bay

They are actually filming here in the bay. They are filming "the Reef", we watched them for awhile last night and the only star I can point out is the guy who played Carl Williams in underbelly. We took some photos so I will add them to this blog later. We visited the supermarket "Aldi's yesterday and they stock some interesting items. and quite cheap too. I also visited patchwork heaven, there is a great patchwork shop here in town called Dew Drop In, they stock some lovely fabrics and bits & pieces. There were some great handbag patterns I very much like. Though truth be told I probably have them already at home. Tomorrow we are joining a local chapter and going to the races. It should be interesting.

Sailing yachts in Hervey Bay

Talk again soon