Miracle of miracles we made it to midnight NYE thanks to the
Edinburgh Military Tattoo and 'Last Night at the Proms' being on tele till 10 to
11pm. This last year has been amazing so let’s hope that 2013 is just as
interesting. It’s going to involve some travelling as our plan is to go back to
Geelong after our Neurum farm sit ends then we head to Hobart via Bamaga. Steve
and Tracey were here last Friday night and someone turned the spa temperature
up to 35* and blew up the mains power box so we haven’t been able to have a
swim which is a nuisance. John and Steve went fishing and caught so much! Tracey and I had to go down to the pub they saw from the water for lunch. I had a lovely afternoon chatting to Maureen and exchanging gossip - one thing you really miss when on the road is spending time with old friends. She is doing well and really getting into her bush poetry and photo restoration.
We also venture down to Birkdale to spend the day with Leiba and Brian. Aunty Mirriam is there as she can no longer live alone. She is looking very frail and spends her time on the lounge with her oxygen tank. Mouche arrives and it is lovely to see her again - must be 14 years since I saw her last - too long. We will have to make a point of seeing the Morton side of family every year. She looks well and is in good form.
We also venture down to Birkdale to spend the day with Leiba and Brian. Aunty Mirriam is there as she can no longer live alone. She is looking very frail and spends her time on the lounge with her oxygen tank. Mouche arrives and it is lovely to see her again - must be 14 years since I saw her last - too long. We will have to make a point of seeing the Morton side of family every year. She looks well and is in good form.
Barb and I have been making 3 Basils and a Basilette – rag
dolls for the grandies and despite her protestations we are having fun. There
seems to be quite a bit of sewing which Barb is doing on her machine, after I
cut all the pieces out, pinned them and have done a lot of handstitching. They
are gorgeous dolls – mine has green pants, green boots and gloves and a green
& white check shirt with dark tan hat for Jayden and red pants, red shirt
with different coloured spots and a light tan hat for Zahra. They all have a
white scarf with blue apples on and Basilette has blue gloves and orange boots.
Barb’s are in blue and red tones. We have enough of calico and felt left over
to make another similar one if it turns out that Lilly wants one but I can’t
see Barb making another one in the foreseeable future. Kate called to ask if we
would stay on for another day as she would like to go camping at Wivenhoe dam
with some friends on Saturday night so that will give us another day to work on
them. Basilette has now become Rosemary which is much more becoming.
Sunday afternoon Kate arrived home and told us all about her
horrid time with daughter and grandson – seems strange that a psychologist can
have so many problems of her own – but hope they can be sorted out for
everyones’ benefit. We have the car packed so after emptying our food out of
the fridge we head off to Laidley to make a salad for tea and then join Bill
& Yvonne for drinks and chat on their new deck. Bob and Valerie are coming
for tea so it will be great to catch up with them too. As it turned out Bob
came on his own as Valerie wasn’t well and we had a great night with lots of
laughter and stories. Their new back deck is great as the breeze comes through
the flyscreen but the mossies and flies can’t so we stayed out there till
10.30pm and then wandered off to bed. We were lucky that we could get to the
bed with all the stuff we brought back from Springfield being dumped on the
floor and table. There will be a massive job tomorrow to get it all packed up
so we can leave, but we do so and have a leisurely breakfast on the deck – must
remember to bring some marmalade up here the next time we come. We have
arranged with Steve to be in Cambooya so we can go to Bull and Barley for
John’s Birthday dinner. Let’s hope that it isn’t a disappointment as I have
been looking forward to this for 12 months. Some of the Barramundi we have
tried around the country wasn’t anywhere near as good as Bruce’s and we know
that the prices definitely do not compare.
7/1 Dinner does not disappoint us
as it was mouth wateringly good and great to catch up with Bruce and wish Dickie
a happy birthday too. All the bar staff were new so we couldn’t exchange news
with Tiff. She is Janita’s cousin according to Shannon and is a bit of a
nuisance as she updates her facebook 500 times a day and we get advised of it –
really don’t know why it is so necessary to tell the world everything that is
happening. The following few days go like this -
Tuesday – we both see David Van
Gend and I go over to get my ankle x-rayed, then we have lunch with Pam do some
shopping and head out to Cambooya for a barbeque dinner with S & T and boys
Lackie and Harry. It was great to catch up with Pam and hear all the BC news.
Evidentally Anne Todd is not well so will have to try and find her. We call in
on Obst street and all is going well there, though I am not so sure about
planting a pine tree next to bore – I would think the roots will be a problem
in the future and when it gets bigger you won’t be able to get to the pump.
They would like another spotlight above the barbeque so we will get Dave to
install one.
Wednesday – whizz into town to
get blood tests done and then it takes an eternity to get breakfast at The
Ridge before we see the bank manager about locking in the Wyreema mortgage for
another 3 years at 5.9% which is a saving of $7500 per year in interest which
will now come off the principle. John ordered a full cooked breakfast and it
arrived quite soon but my piece of toast with banana, ricotta and honey arrived
15 minutes later as a piece of banana bread – go figure. Then we spend the day
with Beris and she tells us the bad news from Beth. This was heartbreaking and
almost unbelievable that she could have numerous brain tumours, but we have a
long chat and a lovely lunch especially the mulberry tart. It is always lovely
to talk to Beris about the family’s comings and goings and life in Millmerran.
Coming back into town, we head to Jean street to try to find her, where Marilyn
tells us Beth is in St Vincents so off we go. A very helpful nurse rings St
Andrew’s to find out if Beth is there so we go over to St A’s. Beth is looking
very well and her faith is keeping her very positive. About 9pm we head out to
Cambooya for a barbeque tea with S & T and friends. Ben’s wife Brianna is a
niece of Myra James (a friend from high school).
Thursday – I drop a script into
Cain’s and we head up to Wilma and Lindsay for morning tea, which turns into
lunch and afternoon tea and lots of talks about travelling and Lions, and we
eventually get away at 5.30pm and race up to see Billie. After talking her into
coming out for dinner we head up to see Gordon for a quick visit and then go
back and collect her. We have a lovely meal at the brick and learn that Jimmy
Mylonas lost his daughter in a car accident 3 months ago, which must have been
horrendous for them. An enormous clap of thunder has us scurrying for the car
and a quick trip to get Billie home before the rains came. We have an amazing
lightening display accompany us back to Cambooya.
Friday – after racing back to
Cains to pick up our scripts – they were shut last night, we have morning tea
with Bill & Jan which turns into lunch and another great time was had by
all. They are a lovely couple and it would be good to do a trip with them. We
change addresses at the bank, council, main roads, Dept Vet Affairs and go out
to DERM to find out what I have to do change my name on the title deeds of Obst
street buy some groceries and head to Jenny and Dave’s for drinks and chats
before going to South T’mba Bowls club for dinner, then head back to their
place for tea and more talking before making it back to the van and bed. It is
a pity that the Lions Club had to fold because they are lovely people and we
will have to keep in contact.
Saturday – get out early so we
can thank steve for his hospitality when he arrived back home at 7.30am, and
then packed up and left for Neurum, via Stratford Drive. Nicole and Sonny seem
to be going great and the house and yard looked clean and tidy. The shower tray
in ensuite has a wobble in floor which we will have to check out. We have a
pleasant drive down even if J stops for lunch several times, but as we had told
Nancy we would be there by lunchtime I make him press on. Her instructions were
easy enough to follow and we pull in about 1.15pm. We meet Kevin and their son
Wayne, Theresa, Hayley & Sienna as they are all frantically mustering
cattle and putting in ear tags to stop the flies for 3 months. We spend some
time watching them at work, and help where we can but try to stay out of the
way. They are going to send some cows and calves and a bull to saleyards on
Monday so we watch them hot brand the calves, check out a lame cow, and one
with pink eye – Broxburn & Fiesta all over. The yards and sheds here are
full of junk I don’t know how they ever find anything. We have a few drinks and
a chat with Kevin & Nancy before tea. They were hoping to get away on
Monday but might leave very early on Tuesday as it is so hot. They are a little
worried about the feed and water situation and are planning to come back up to
Qld after the Tamworth Country Music festival ends. It is certainly very dry
here and the grass is very short. We have watched the cows in house paddock
churn through the mud to get to the water in the dam so I hope none of them get
bogged.
Late one afternoon while sitting
on front verandah having happy hour we watch a Willy Wagtail and Azure Kingfisher
playing ?fighting on the gate near windmill. They aren’t as destructive as the
cockatoos in pine trees. Every morning there are more branches on the ground
from their antics.
18/1 after spending the week
settling in and feeding and watering the animals and garden we head off to
T’mba to see Brent and David, where we get good blood reports – mine are
excellent, and my ankle xrays show no bone trouble or arthritis, so I go off for a ct scan
which shows significant soft tissue swelling – which means a visit to a Podiatrist
and Physio. We also drop off the tailgate for the ute to get the dent taken out
so we are driving around for a week with nothing in the back – Darby won’t know
what has hit him.
20/1 and we head out early to go
to Wooroolin for church with Tony, and it is great to be back in a familiar
service. Of course he managed to bring his caring for Dusty into the sermon
about being a good samaritan. Kate was most concerned that we might want Dusty
back but we allayed her fears. The little monkey let us pat her and scratch her
chin and then let us know that we abandoned her and stalked off. We join them
and friends and Megan for lunch and lots of wines and laughs. I get to drive
back of course but there is very little traffic until we meet the B’ne valley
highway. The road through the Blackbutt range is wonderful and the road lovely
after all the flood repairs. That is a beautiful drive through all the trees. On the Esk - Harlin road we come across 2 interesting front gates. The first has a horse's head high up in a tree and a horse statue at the gate, and the second one has a toilet as their letterbox - very interesting but it made you look forward to seeing them every time we drove past.
Monday and we head back to T’mba
to see Lisa the podiatrist who confirms that all is not lost and with an
orthotic insert in my shoes and some exercises my ankle will come good. Of
course my health fund will not cover this cost so more money goes out – really
don’t know why I have private health insurance – they won’t pay for anything
much.
22/1 Tuesday and we leave at 4pm
to go to Pittsworth for the Lions meeting and are made very welcome. We have to
tell them of our travels so I give the commentary while J flicks over the
photos onto the screen. They have a few things planned which we hope to
participate in. It is a long drive home to bed about 1am.
After all the driving of late it is good to spend the day at
home on Wednesday, but of course on Thursday we head back up the range to get
Jan to sign a copy of marriage certificate to get name changed on deed poll. As
it turns out what I thought was the original is only a copy, which she didn’t
sign so now it is back to square one. We have lunch at the Lazy Fisherman while
they put the tail gate back onto ute and then we head up to Scott Street Sleep
Centre to get John wired up. I am sure he doesn’t have as many attachments as I
had, but hope it all works. Then it is home to a lonely dog. We have been watering
all Nancy’s plants every second day and John is deep watering all the fruit
trees for 45 minutes at a time, and today it started raining with the weather
bureau telling us it is going to rain a lot as a cyclone is heading south. It
has already caused a bit of damage around Gladstone.
It rained all night and we have had an inch which is
wonderful. We head off to T’mba to drop off all John’s robotic gear, then he
drops me at Grand Central and goes out to Pittsworth to get the car serviced,
while he talks to Lindsay about taking great photos. I get my hair cut and let
a spruiker talk me into putting on some make up – doesn’t look too bad but
feels yuk, and then head off in the rain to meet Meg & Paula for lunch. Unfortunately
Meg didn’t turn up and didn’t even bother to a message so I would have been
very pissed off if Paula hadn’t come. Feel rather cheated as it is - I don’t
see why we are ‘off’ just because we are friends of Steves’. After all we were
friends with him for years before we met Meg. We had a nice chat about her life
and very little about our trip or me – don’t know if she wasn’t interested or
just wanted to justify her lifestyle but it was good to catch up. We had some
great times in the not so recent past. My honey lamb salad is very nice – must
remember this next time I am looking for somewhere to eat. Wayne told us this
morning that if we get the heavy rain forecast, we might be flooded in so I go
out to Clifford Gardens and stock up. On the way home I ring Shannon and
suggest that it might not be a good idea to come up for the weekend as they
could be stranded. Rather sad as I was really looking forward to having them
all for some farm fun. It was raining lightly all the way and we get home to
see the mess the rains have made in Gladstone and Bundaberg on the news. J
spoke to Clive about a new car and he promises to get back to us with a price.
Saturday and we measure 57 mils
in the rain guage and spend the day inside the van watching the tennis. Because it was Aussie Day we had damper for
lunch and it was awful – don’t know what I did to it but it was fairly solid
but ok hot. About 6pm whilst watching the start of women’s tennis final there
was an almighty bang and crash and we ventured outside to find the awning over
the top of van. The wind had broken the stays in half except for one which was
still attached to the tent peg in the ground. We hastily tie the awning to the
top of van and collect up bits of poles etc to stop them from becoming flying
missiles, move everything into the garage and dry off.
By Sunday morning we have had
another 120 mls of rain and the road to the front gate is flooded as is the
creek on the other side of us. We feel like we are on an island. It rains all
day and blows a gale – it is quite frightening when the wind gets under the
canvas of the awning and it all bangs on the van roof. I fear the canvas coming
adrift and it being used as a sail and tipping us over or blowing us away down
the paddock into the dam, which is now overflowing. J is pretty sure everything
is ok so we wait it out. Fortunately we win the tennis mixed doubles and the
men’s match is fantastic so we don’t get toooo bored. It is a struggle to get
to feed the chooks and the dog but we change clothes regularly.
Monday and we have had 11.5 inches
rain and it has eased off and so has the wind. The tv is painting a picture of
destruction in Laidleynd it has eased off and so has the wind. The tv is painting a picture of
destruction in Laidley, Bundy & Gladstone with more to come in Brisbane and
Ipswich. This is the same time as the 1974 floods so hope they don’t come back
to haunt us. We stay around the van in case a wind gust causes more havoc.
Tuesday sees the sunshine and I wash all the wet gear so that it doesn’t go
mouldy. Despite the predictions that Brisbane and Ipswich will be badly flooded
it isn’t as bad, but many homes are inundated.
We make it back to T’mba to the Physio & Podiatrist on Wednesday
with only minor roadwork delays. There has been a landslide on the range near
Hampton that has messed up their new highway. We go up through Esk and Hampton
as it is a great road with very little traffic and only takes 2 hours. Lisa
makes plaster casts of my feet, and Wim gives me more exercises to do, and both
are very positive that all can be repaired. To fill in some time we go to Len
Pattis to see about a new vehicle and they quote $8500 changeover!!– we aren’t
going to buy one from them, both salesman & Darryl P are sleaze you
wouldn’t trust as far as you could throw, but the cash involved gets us
thinking. We have 304.5mls rain for month.
The man from canvas repair shop in Caboolture turns up early
on Friday to do the insurance quote and seems very positive that all can be
fixed very quickly though he will need the van for 2 days to get everything
done, so we will be camping out in the house for one night at least. We stay in
watching the west indies cricket match and it is all over by dinner time. Hope
this isn’t a sign of what is to come. Now there isn’t any tennis we need
cricket till the footy starts again because there certainly isn’t anything else
on the tv. Starting out on Saturday to go to Woodford to shop J decides we
should go to Caboolture for a look, but he says Caloundra so I navigate us
through Peachester, Landsborough and Beerwah before he says Oh I meant
Caboolture. Too bad we are going to Caloundra where we have a very nice fishy
lunch near the water at Kings Beach. The waves are very choppy and the water
brown so we don’t go swimming, instead we try to drive along the beach towards
Maroochydore and keep ending up on the highway lined with shops. In frustration
we keep going and turn in at Alexandra Headland to see where all the foam
covered the road. It was amazing that the whole area could be covered with 4
feet of foam. After leaving Nambour on the Mapleton road we stop at a lookout
and survey the view from Noosa to Bribie – it is stunning. Montville we have
visited on the bike but will have to come back again as well as Maleny. The
views along the range back to the ocean and then across to Glasshouse Mtns are
spectacular and it is disappointing when we turn onto Peachester road and head
west, but nearly made up for with the big trees. We stop at a roadside farm
stall and buy fruit and veggies and 2 lovely icecreams – J has passionfruit
cheesecake and I have ginger macadamia –before making it home.
We go into Woodford to church on Sunday and are made very
welcome by the congregation and Rev Jeanette. Browsing through their op shop we
find some wine glasses that should fit my cooler and a hot plate that J wants
so we will be back. After buying our groceries (that we didn’t get yesterday)
we have lunch and head home to a better game of cricket.
Monday 4th and we’re back in T’mba for a visit to
the dentist – not looking forward to this – but I have only got 2 broken
fillings, though he only cleans my bottom teeth – after numbing my lips, and I
have to come back next week to get the top ones done. We will need to buy a new
car after all the running back and forwards. The Dentist doesn’t even clean J’s
teeth before he sees the xrays he sends us both off for. Fortunately they don’t
need appointments and are all bulk billed. We have lunch at the Indian
restaurant at Westridge which is fun for me as I can’t feel anything and feel
like I am dribbling, drop off some eggs to Beth (she isn’t home so I wonder
what is happening), drop off the mudguard from caravan and go to ARB to get
quotes on all the accessories for the ute. We wonder whether it will be cheaper
for us to get everything done after we take delivery or order the vehicle
complete, so it remains to be seen.
Tuesday is spent doing the washing, and floors of the van
then relaxing on the verandah and Wednesday has us doing 2 very difficult
sudoku’s and a crazy crossword before tackling the mountain of emails to be
read and answered, whilst watching the cricket. After sitting all day I need to
get back on the exercise bike I am so stiff. As it is nearing the time we have
to leave I have to get stuck into finishing the 2 dolls for Jayden & Zahra.
They are starting to look great but it is all the fiddling little bits that are
left. Fiddling also means time consuming and hand stitching. The hats have
turned out really well and am wondering whether I will have to oversew the
brims or leave them floppy.
Wednesday the 6th and it starts raining again and
we measure 12 mls in the guage. After a trip to Mitsubishi dealer in Caboolture
we ring Clive and order our new vehicle. The salesman spent 10 minutes making
sure we would make a decision today and that we were really in market for a new
car, and then they wouldn’t give us a trade in price for Darby.
Sunday 10th – We have a lovely drive down the
winding mountain road passed lots of trees through Mt Mee, Dayboro and Petrie
to Church with Bill & Yvonne. We have a lovely catch up over lunch at their
local Thai restaurant which has wonderful food – we have to come back here and
try out some more of the menu, before heading over to Mt Ommaney to see mother
and Barb. They are both well and mother is still uninterested in anything. We
head home over Wivenhoe dam and through Somerset to see how high the water got
– it was amazing.
Ash Wednesday and a trip to T’mba to Physio & Podiatrist
where Lisa fits my new orthotics into my joggers. They feel hard but not that
uncomfortable so I hope they do the trick. It is too late to go to Brisbane for
Bill’s evening service and we have missed the one in Woodford so I am not happy
heading home.
15th Brent & Dentist and a scare for J.
Dentist tells him he has calcified bits along his carotted artery and should
see his doctor sooner rather than later. We have afternoon drinks on the
verandah with Wayne & Theresa who forget that they were supposed to pick
the girls up from a birthday party at 5.30pm so it is a mad rush at 7pm.
16th and a Saturday night Bikers Birthday party
has us negotiating flooded roads across Lockyer valley. J has a great time
catching up with Cheffie and Bry (90th birthday between them) Tank
& Margaret, Graverobber & Hooch, Gloria and others. The homemade rum,
bourbon and whiskey contest had lots of participants and a few were drunk quite
early on, but they kept the dancing going and bonfire was one of specials –
well and truly reached for the sky. Of
course I drove home well after midnight.
17th Beth is 62 so I phone her to see how she is
going – still a little wobbly but in fine spirits and sure that the last bout
of radium has done the trick – do hope so. Wayne turns up scratched to pieces
and it appears that he was chasing a rogue cow out of the neighbours scrubby
paddock when Lucy ran in front of the cow barking her head off, and of course
the cow turned tail and raced back into the scrub. When Wayne got home he
discovered that the roast he had taken out of freezer had disappeared along
with Lucy and he was ready to fire a few shots. Fortunately Lucy stayed away
until Theresa and the girls arrived back home – she’s not as dumb as they
thought.
18th Dentist – last visit fortunately, and Dr
David sends J off for a scan. After
another 4 inches we are not sure if we will be able to make it out tomorrow.
20th Lions YOTY is on tonight so we head off to
Pittsworth and take toothbrush this time as we are going to stay in Wilma &
Lindsays guest quarters. Have a good night listening to the 2 boys and 4 girls
do their thing. 2 of the girls were standouts so we hope they do well at the
regional finals on 9th. We promise to come back for the barbeque at
show and as the car is not ready we head home and take the caravan over to
Caboolture to get the awning replaced.
Saturday and the sun is shining so we venture out for a
drive. Yvonne tells us about the Kennilworth Cheese factory so we head there
and what a stop. Cheeses are yummy and quite cheap and they have some divine
icecream so we have our fill – J with Rum & Raisin (real rum) and I have
ginger mango. Going past Australia Zoo we stop at a lookout in Glasshouse to
admire the view and it is spectacular. We follow a forestry trail that points
to Woodford and come out in the middle of town without getting bogged or lost.
It is raining again and we measure 123 mls on 25th,
51 on 26th, 50 on 27th and 7 on 28th – 345.5
for the month. We pick up our new ute on the 27th and head home for
J to put the canopy, reversing light, GPS etc on while I pack up everything.
1st March & another 8 mls of rain making 658
while we have been here. (27 inches in old language) Nancy & Kevin bring back some gear and have had a
great time. They went to SA after all as Wayne had told them about all the rain
here. They didn’t get any in Tamworth over the Aussie day weekend. Lions
reunion is on tonight at Dave and Jenny’s home so we head back up the range in
our new car to catch up with everyone and had a great night. Mark & Matt
and Ray & Ros were the only ones who didn’t turn up but the rest of us had
a lovely time. Jarred & Kieran have grown tall and changed quite a bit. We
get home around midnight.
3rd leave Neurum and head for Cambooya and
barbeque dinner with Frosty & family.
4th more visits to Brent, Lisa – keep exercising,
buy more orthotics for every shoe, and call in again when we return; & David
– J is fine and there is nothing to worry about.
6th to Brisbane for morning tea with Mother for
Barb’s birthday. The 2 little boys keep her interest which is just as well
because she ignores me. We take lunch to Shannons’ and spend the afternoon
talking to Barb and playing with the boys then put a roast dinner on to cook
for tea. We have smoked a leg of lamb as Barb likes lamb and have a baked
cheesecake for desert. Jamie isn’t coming over but we have a very enjoyable
night with Darren & Shannon and Tyler promises to come and wake me in the
morning, which he does. After reading a few books in bed it’s time for a quick
breakfast and then off to playgroup where we bid them goodbye.
Saturday 9th and it’s off to Pittsworth show for
the first time in a long while. The pavilion is packing up so I don’t get to
see any of the exhibits but we do our bit in the Lions barbeque shed. They
certainly put out some food, and I spend time talking to Matt Cleary about
“Burwood” and Brian Maclean before watching some very good fireworks. My feet
are killing me by the time we get in the car to go home.
12th and Kaye’s birthday so we call and J has
long talk to Ian about caravans as Kaye is at work. We will call her again
after 3pm and head into town to visit Beth as she is to get results of last
scans back today. What we find is devastating – Beth is in bed (and she is
never in bed – even when suffering after first radium) and says that she
doesn’t know anything as what the doctor was saying was so dreadful she stopped
listening. Now I really am worried but I am sure she will pull through as she
has every other time. Jane is pregnant again and the baby is due in August and
Beth wants to be here to see it. Trying to imagine Beth NOT being here is too
hard. She doesn’t seem to be able to read so I read a postcard from Ros O’Dell
and a Bible passage to her and then let her sleep. Judy Elliott is there also
so we chat to Jane for a few minutes and leave in shock.
Wed 13th March and we finally leave Cambooya and
head to Millmerran for Beris’s 80th birthday party, and have a
lovely time even if tinged with sadness. Dianne, Janine & Amanda with help
from Anika have decorated the hall and table and cooked up an amazing array of
lovely food. Have a lovely chat to Shirley Newton and her sister Margaret and
then tell Kevin & Joyce the bad news. Dianne makes a lovely speech to her
mum – it seems hard to believe that Beris is 80 – and we continue eating this
time birthday cake. Back at Charlotte street, Roger & Thomas join us for a
while much to Anika’s pleasure and we spend the afternoon and evening talking.
She is a lovely little girl and doted on by her grannies and aunts, uncle and
cousins. About 10.30pm we move the caravan down the street to the park and
crawl into bed. Next morning we move caravan back up the street and have
morning tea with them all before we head south. It was wonderful to catch up
with them all.
14th make it to St George to the same park we
stayed in 17 months earlier, fill up with fuel and get an early night. Enngonia is our stop tonight,
the park is at the back of hotel and full of burrs but hey! We head into bar to
get dinner and fortunately have finished eating when the power goes out in 3
fireworks displays. The poor people who had just ordered dinner had to go home
hungry and we went off to bed. The sign at entrance to town has a red back spider as part of its' display. As we arrived in Bourke early we head off to do
some exploring. The cemetery is quite close to town so we wander around seeing
Fred Hollows grave with it’s enormous black rock headstone, the row of nuns
very simple graves and the afghan graves. The Afghanis mosque was rather run
down so evidently there aren’t any moslems left in Bourke. The paddock next
door has some small headstones which got our curiosity going so we explored the
Pet cemetery too. On the way back to town we marvelled at the hundreds of round
cotton bales at the AA Cos depot, and a row of wheelbarrows containing flowers along the roadside. Bourke has some lovely old buildings and was
not barracaded with iron and barbed wire like Walgett. The caravan park where
we stayed was amazing – green grass everywhere, palm trees and gardens – it
really was an oases.
The Anglican church advertised that their service was at 6pm
on Saturday night so off we went. The Brother from Good Shepherd who looks
after the parish from Nyngan (includes Brewarrinna) met us at the door and had
a long chat before the service and then proceeded to look at the 2 women in the
front row through the WHOLE service. Everyone else in the church must have
wondered what was up with them it was so strange. As there was no church on
Sunday we went off exploring with the first port the lock and weir (the first
built on the Darling River) which is in disrepair but you could still see parts
of them. Driving around the area we saw quite a few lines strung up between
trees with large carp hanging off them. Eventually we weaved our way around to
the Fort Bourke Stockade, which sounds rather dramatic but proved to be
anything but. Tommy Mitchell took 2 days to build this stockade to ward off the
aboriginals, though how they thought it would prevent anything is worrying. J
rested his head on the top rail and any reasonable man could have sent a spear
or arrow through the gaps in walls. We had a good laugh about this. The fact
that Hamilton Hume was the first white man to cross the Darling River here
seemed more important.
Our journey on Monday took us through the countryside around where we saw some Longhorn cattle beside the road. They seemed quiet enough but you wouldn’t want to be within striking distance. Passing through we went on to Byrock to the Aboriginal rockhole where I slipped in the loose gravel near the information boards and must have torn the ligaments in my right ankle this time because the pain was excrutiating and I hobbled back to the car while J went on to take some photos. I was in pain leaving Bourke on 19th, but soldiered on through Cobar & Hilston to Goolgowi for a semi bush camp run by the RSL. Continuing on down the Kidman Way to its end at Jerilderie we then turn west to Conargo and Deniliquin before setting up camp on the river at Wakool for a few days. Something is going on here – people are roping off areas and the fire brigade are watering all the tracks around the place. Portable toilets are being delivered along with large hay bales. Not being able to contain himself J wanders off to talk to the neighbours and soon learns that 5000 people will be here on Friday for a fishing competition over the weekend. Needless to say we are leaving on Friday before things get too noisy. Walking back from the toilet I stand on a hard lump of cow dung and nearly die from the pain in right ankle. I have been staggering around with a walking stick since Monday and can hardly bear this.
Good Friday sees us head into Balmoral for the Uniting
Churches ‘Stations of the Cross’ service which is done walking around the small
town with members taking turns to carry the cross and say the prayers at each stop.
It was an interesting service but not what I am used to. There is no service at
any of the 3 churches in Balmoral on Easter Day – can you believe it. One year
I will put my foot down and say no we are going somewhere where there is an
Anglican church service. Balmoral have just finished a big mural on the side of store which looks quite good. Peter & Val arrive from Murray Bridge on Friday
afternoon and set up camp near Jim & Heather. As B & M and M & C
are in a house away from our camp the whole group doesn’t get together very
often during the day, but seem to make it for happy hour and then dinner. It is
Sunday afternoon before M & C take us over to show us the cottage they stay
in and it is in a lovely spot overlooking the water. The manager and his french
partner come for dinner and/or drinks and spend a lot of time wingeing about how
the water dept (who own the place) are ripping them off. Evidently they are
closing down in May because they can’t make any money. Saturday night we spend
shifting in and out from under the awnings to get out of the rain and have to
hold the umbrella over the camp fire to cook dinner.
Murray is sent to the shop for some milk and seems to have tried out the hosts home distilled whiskey before he stumbles back into camp several hours later. So then all the men start on the whiskey tasting. As we don’t have tv coverage I spend half the night texting Michelle to see what the scores are between Broncos and Storm. About 10 minutes from time Jim invites Elva and I into their van to watch it. Elva and Michelle were happy. Needless to say by Sunday I have the flue – don’t know why I come to Victoria. Afternoon tea on Sunday brings out 2 birthday cakes with candles and some presents for Murray. Heather went to a lot of trouble to find things that she knew Murray liked – food items – she is a really lovely person. Monday sees B & M, M & C and Elva leave for home and the 6 of us left carry on as before. We all leave on Tuesday, we head to Lake Bolac and the others to Hamilton. At the park beside the Lake we get talking to a woman with 5 kids who has lived there in her van and tent for 5 months. There were showers and toilets open to the air and not very hygienic but to live there for 5 months!!
Murray is sent to the shop for some milk and seems to have tried out the hosts home distilled whiskey before he stumbles back into camp several hours later. So then all the men start on the whiskey tasting. As we don’t have tv coverage I spend half the night texting Michelle to see what the scores are between Broncos and Storm. About 10 minutes from time Jim invites Elva and I into their van to watch it. Elva and Michelle were happy. Needless to say by Sunday I have the flue – don’t know why I come to Victoria. Afternoon tea on Sunday brings out 2 birthday cakes with candles and some presents for Murray. Heather went to a lot of trouble to find things that she knew Murray liked – food items – she is a really lovely person. Monday sees B & M, M & C and Elva leave for home and the 6 of us left carry on as before. We all leave on Tuesday, we head to Lake Bolac and the others to Hamilton. At the park beside the Lake we get talking to a woman with 5 kids who has lived there in her van and tent for 5 months. There were showers and toilets open to the air and not very hygienic but to live there for 5 months!!
We
head back into Geelong via Mortlake and Derrinallum for Murray’s 60th
at the Batesford Hotel. It was a lovely meal and i had fun talking to Ben &
Janes’ 3 boys. They obviously dote on their pa. Kaye & Ian came down from
Melbourne and Sandy & John were there, but didn’t talk to me. I sometimes
wonder if I am ‘off by position’ because they didn’t like Pat or if they are
just not interested. John spends time installing a handrail in the toilet and
tries to put one in the shower but it won’t stick. June doesn’t want one at the
front door. We got a walker to use as a laundry trolley so she can get used to
it because she is very unsteady on her feet. We are going to stay here a few
more days so we can take her up to Melbourne to see a specialist about her
back. She wants Kaye to take her into the doctors so we can give M & C a
break and maybe do the tour of MCG at the same time. On Thursday June is going
out to lunch with her friend Betty so J and I head out to a Dahlia farm near
Winchelsea which is amazing. The variety of colours and shapes was mindboggling
so we spent a lovely few hours wandering around. As it was late in the day the
owners gave us a big bunch of them to take home and we bought some quinces
which I stewed up for dessert and breakfast.
Saturday and the twins 2nd birthday so on a trip to Point
Cook we ring David and have a chat. We have a very enjoyable lunch at the Little
River Hotel and would recommend it to everyone. We stopped in Lara to look at
the bell that they rang to warn of an aboriginal attack!!! But I was more
interested in a very old Methodist church next door. The You Yangs are a special place for Calder family as they often went there for picnics and scout outings so I was taken up there the easy way - by car. They are a small mountain range (read group of hills) with lots of lovely tall gum trees and lots of picnic areas and an information centre with a wooden statue of Matty Flinders who also passed that way. We head through the back
blocks to Ballang and Anakie junction and into Meredith where we called in on M
& C to see how the painting was going - Not very quickly, but we enjoyed a
coffee and another look around their new investment. I’m glad it was Ben up the
ladder to paint the top of walls. It seems hard to believe that they were
having trouble renting it for $280 week. This Sunday after church we are
allowed to go out for a drive and end up at on the water where we can sit and
enjoy the view with a coffee. It is lovely sitting in the sun and I can warm up
for the first time in a week. The house is freezing and we can’t put the heater
on so I shiver day and night. Bill is 64 and Karl is 36 today so
we ring Bill and have a lovely chat. June is invited to Karl’s place for a
family dinner with all his family and we stay home. If Jamie was ever that rude
to me he would certainly know about it. When you are having 12 or 14 for dinner
another 2 people won’t make much difference.
After an uneventful trip to Melbourne we head off to the
railway station to catch a train to the MCG. They have a new ticketing system
now which you keep topping up and swipe it everytime you get on and off a train
or tram. The woman at station tells us that it will be $5 and of course when we
leave the MCG and try to get on a train for home we don’t have enough money on
the card so they dipped out. I was not recharging it. Had a very interesting
tour around the hallowed ground, grandstand and members area, and saw Simon
O’Donnell’s chair (the one hit from his massive hit). They had the ultraviolet
lights on the grass to make it grow in the shade – it glowed yellow but was
green for the next match. Our guide wasn’t as pompos as Bill Lawrey but the ‘we are best in Australia and second only to Lords’ sticks in this Qld’r. We
wandered around the Sporting Museum until they kicked us out at 5pm and then
headed back to Kaye’s, where Bree and the girls had also joined them so we
could enjoy dinner with them before heading to Geelong. The sports museum is well worth a look with a lot of aussie memorabillia in all forms of sport especially olympics.
12th As Yvonne is 61 today we call her as we finally leave Geelong
and head to Ballarat for a few days.
Sovereign Hill is much as I remembered, but now has lolly
making shops ( the lemon drops were lovely as were the raspberry ones we bought
Barb). A lovely Cobb & Co coach took you on a 5 minute trip around the
street, before the Redcoats marched in to fire their muskets and after the
uprising was quelled they had their photos taken with the masses. The whole
complex is still in the era of mid 1800’s. We watched the melting of quartz
compound to pour off enough gold for an ingot – it gets VERY hot (about 1200* I
think), and then went off to see candles being made. All very interesting as
they drop wicks into a vat of melted paraffin wax, 3 or 4 times and then let
them set, before repeating the process up to 12 times (depending on the
temperature of day). After 6 hours walking around it was time to sit down and
head back to caravan park. They have a very big arch along Remembrance drive in
memory of WW1 servicemen killed which we pass through.
Ballarat from Black Mountain lookout is quite surprising as
it is a big city, with the evidence of old gold mines all around the place.
Today the wood working group have got demonstration on and it was also very
good. There were lots of items for sale and we bought some blank jigsaws for
Grandies, and watched a few men carving rocking horses and others using lathes
to make spinning tops and fancy handles.
John had previously taken Pat, Michelle & David to
Kryall castle so it was a trip down memory lane for him and fascinating for me.
Michelle would have loved it as would Tyler with all the dragons to greet you. In
the central arena we saw Maid Marion helping Robin Hood ‘slay’ the enemy with
bows and arrows before a sword fight, and then wandered around looking at the
buildings and their contents.
There is a chapel where you can get married (by a celebrant)
thrones and crowns in the Throne room, an alchemists room and the dundgeon
torture chamber which shows just how barbaric we used to be. They have a
guillotine, rack, iron maiden, nail spiked chair amongst others all graphically
demonstrated (with dummies) even heads stuck on ends of poles – very gruesome.
Getting back to more interesting things the round table was great, and the
graveyard hilarious. Someone with a warped sense of humour wrote the epitaths –
eg The Down family – Stan, Ida, Bob, Ben, Sid and pipe the dog.
Outside was quite restful and pleasant in the garden with a
sword in stone. I guess you have to know a little about medieval history to
appreciate it all.
They have just bought back jousting which we thoroughly
enjoyed even if the ‘blues’ won. The lances were made of balsa wood so they
wouldn’t hurt too much if they connected with the body but would still pack a
punch I should imagine.
Afterwards we headed to the Botanical gardens for a walk
down Prime Ministers Avenue, where they have a bust of all our PM’s (except
Julia) and an enormous bunya pine tree.
Then it was what I wanted to come to Ballarat for – a visit
to the Begonia House where there is an amazing display of plants, in every
colour and style imaginable. I had thought Begonias were mainly grown for their
leaves and small flowers but how wrong can you be. Some of the variegated ones
with frilly edges were divine.
When J finally dragged me away we found our way to Adam
Lindsay Gordon’s Victorian home which is now a craft shop in the gardens, but
they do have a bust of him on display at the front gate. Seems our namesake is famous (or infamous) everywhere. Nothing here beckoned
to be bought but on way to car we came across a pavilion with 4 female statues
and a large one depicting the ‘Flight from Pompeii’ which I could easily have
taken home. It was a lovely building, all glass walls and a high domed roof, with just these 5 white statues inside –
talk about extravagant. It was a mad dash to the car in the rain afterwards.
15th bidding farewell to Ballarat we head north
through Creswick, Daylesford, Castlemaine and Bendigo before crossing the
border at Echuca. We spend the night at Conargo before heading through
Jerilderie, Urana, Lockhart, bypassed Wagga Wagga, Junee, Cootamundra, Young,
Cowra and Blayney before arriving in Bathurst late in the afternoon and camping
at the showgrounds. One day we will have to stop and explore some of these
areas instead of driving through, especially Wagga, Cowra and Blayney. After a short drive around Bathurst we have
to head for Mt Panorama and a drive around the famous circuit. It is actually a
public road with people living along it. You would have to move out each
September/October unless you were a complete petrol head. I can’t imagine a
worse way to spend the weekend. However its’ name is appropriate as you get a
lovely view over the city and countryside and pit lane from the top.
Then I found the botanical gardens and another Begonia house
which nearly caused a divorce, but we survived and saw some more lovely flowers.
To restore the male ego we went off for a drive through to Abercrombie caves where we will have to
come with David, Rell and kids when the twins are a bit older. We could only
get to the entrance of cave as the guided tour had finished for the day, but it
looked interesting. There were lots of camping areas beside the river and it
was quite misty which would have made a campfire very welcome. Our trip home
through Rockely was lovely as the late afternoon light showed up the autumn
colours in the poplars.
After a hair-raising trip down the Blue Mountains from
Lithgow to Richmond we arrive in Sydney in time to set up and head off to the 'Brewhouse' to have dinner with David. Oh No – there was no lobster on the menu
tonight. Arriving at Glendenning the next morning we are greeted with lots of screams
and hugs; we really knew we were welcomed. Then it was time to get into the
swing with playing in the cubby, making toy brooms with sticks and grass, and a
tiara with roses from the garden and long lengths of kuykura. When the twins
went down for a sleep it was time for Lilly to play tennis and soccer with
Poppy. The tennis ball went over the fence several times and the soccer ball
got lost under the cars regularly, but a fun time was had even if Poppy had
aching knees next day. Zoe came to visit that afternoon and to amuse themselves
before bed they created a train with chairs and had a great time.
Saturday 20th and it is pouring rain and freezing when we head
off to soccer to watch the Doonside Hawks star player in action and she is very
good. Lilly is very agile and steady on her feet compared with some of her
teammates and didn’t seem too concerned about the rain – not like some of us on
sideline.
On Sunday afternoon we take Lilly shopping and she picks out
some brightly striped wool for scarves for her and Zahra. We take some cakes
home for afternoon tea and have it in the caravan as she wanted to see it and then spend the evening over at Sarb & Pretty’s catching up with them. Here we
try some fried lentils which are very yummy and Jayden & Zahra eat them out
of my hand. Sarb cooks up a lovely chicken curry with pasta and everyone eats
it, even his 12 month old daughter. Maybe that is where I caught the flue, but
spent the next 2 days in bed. When David went off to work at Ingleburn on
Monday John went with him to see exactly where he worked. They had thought that
David was guarding the same piece of dirt that John had done when David was
born, but the new housing complex is across the road from old barracks. However they did manage to find their old home.
That night we went off to Epping to see Vic & Heather
and had a lovely time at the Chinese Restaurant owned by their friends. The
food was lovely and company wonderful. They introduced us to the owners and
their 3 children who had been roped in to help for the night as they were busy
with a big party upstairs. We had heard a lot about Janey over the years as
they often go on holidays together so it was lovely to meet her. More time was
spent playing with all three kids on Wednesday where the favourite place is in
the cubby house making mudcakes, but we did manage to paint the blank jigsaws we had bought. Jayden & Zahra wore plastic ponchos but we still managed to get paint everywhere. Some of the pieces were so multicoloured you would never guess that they were part of a dolphin, monkey or rabbit .
As I haven’t been able to raise anyone at
Eurumbah, I ring Ros to see how Beth is going and she says that she is coming into
Roma on Friday for a doctor’s appointment and will see her then. An early night
had to be had so we would wake up in time for the dawn service next morning.
Fortunately it wasn’t too cold as the service was held under the Seven Hills
RSL clubhouse and there were hundreds of people there. Lilly wanted to wear
some medals so we dug out Mother’s and pinned them to her jumper. The service
was very respectful and Lilly, Zoe, Jake & Zac had a memorable experience.
I think nearly everyone must have gone inside club for free breakfast, but it
was worth it – hot bacon, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, sausages, hash browns and
rolls. We left there about 10am to drop Lilly at home before we went off to
Rooty Hill RSL for the rest of day. Narelle joined us for lunch after which the
bouncers removed people from table next to us and they got a little upset and
started abusing David & Nathan who very quickly responded. I left John
talking to Nathan’s dad Alan and drove back to van for a sleep.
On 26th we bid them all goodbye and head to
Richard & Margarets’ in Newcastle for a catch up. They are now retired and
have bought a very nice new van to go travelling in. It is amazing but it is 5
years since we were last here. After lunch at on Saturday we call in on John & Allison Tate. John is an
army mate who has been a quadriplegic for 2 years after eating partially cooked
chicken. He holds the record for being the longest inmate of ICU in John Hunter
hospital who came out alive. He is gradually getting use of his hands and can sit
up in his wheelchair and talk to you and drinks his wine and tea with a straw,
but can’t feed himself yet. It was good to see him at home on the patio
enjoying the view across the lake, but has made me very wary of eating food
that doesn’t seem to be fully cooked. On Sunday Richard takes us on a tour of
the city and then up to Christchurch Cathedral, which is a magnificent
building. Of course on top of the hill with commanding views over the city it
is even more impressive. They have some glorious stained glass windows, a
bronze soldier in memory of those killed in WW1 and some very impressive marble
alters. Of course being the home of Bishop Tyrell who sent Bennie Glennie to
the downs made it even more special for me. They have a chapel at the back in his
honour. Wandering around afterwards we watch a powerboat race way below and
then Richard takes us off to Morpeth where he went to boarding school from 7
years of age!!! and where Bp Tyrell actually lived.
While we were inside St James church looking for the pew
where Richard carved his name someone took the aerial off his car. It took the
gloss of a really lovely day. We were able to see messy church in action while
we were inside, so now we know what Cassie is talking about.
Bidding
them goodbye we head off to camp near Gloucester in the Barrington Tops NP. It
was a very popular spot but starting to get a little cold. After a leisurely
start we head through Walcha to Uralla for lunch, after which J suggests we
visit the caravan dealer where Richard & Margaret bought their van.
Thinking we would only be there for half an hour I agree. Mistake number 1 – 3
hours later we leave after placing an order for a new van which we have to pick
up next Friday. They seem quite keen to sell us the Regal van, similar to R
& M; and end up giving us $38,000 for our trade in which was only $1500
less than what we paid for it so we couldn’t refuse. They have to replace some
door handles and get new taps as the ones supplied don’t fit – why weren’t they
fitted when the van left the factory? But hopefully they have got the message
we have to leave for Malanda on 13th. It is a late arrival in
Inverell where we get the last site in town.
Inverell has also turned into a mining town - can you
believe it? We change our plans and head off through Ashford to Texas and
Inglewood thinking we would stop in Millmerran and see if Beris wants to go out
to Roma with us, but she is in Brisbane so we end up spending the night in
Nobby. Shortly after dinner Ros rings to say that if we want to see Beth we had
better come out soon as she is not good. It is unbelievable that she can only
have a few weeks left to live and is starting to distress me. We decide to go
to Roma the next morning and head out through Pittsworth and Cecil Plains
hoping to miss some of the road works. What we missed there was made up for on
the stretch from Macalister to Chinchilla but there were stopages all along the
highway. Visiting Beth in hospital still didn’t have reality hitting as she
looked quite good, sitting up in a chair looking out to the trees and talking
away to the friends who kept calling in. Linda, Charlie and Andrew were all
there for a meeting with the staff as Beth wanted to go home to Eurumbah. After
2 hours we left and went to Ros’s for a good cry, cuppa and chat, before going
back to hospital at 5pm. This time Beth was sleeping and on her own so I sat
with her while J talked to nursing staff. After waking we talked for a while
and as I had promised the nurse on duty not to stay for more than 10 minutes I
went to leave and then got my instructions. She was to be put next to her
parents in T’mba Garden of remembrance, and I had to make sure that the Aust
War Memorial put a plaque on John Campbell Anderson’s grave (Beth had been
organising this for some time) and take a bucket of water and scrubbing brush
out to Drayton Cemetery to clean Aunt Polly’s headstone as it had lichen
growing over it. It seems surreal that this was to be the last time I would see
her alive. It was devastating to walk away from that hospital and I just made
it back to Ros’s before I dissolved into tears again.
Most of the week is spent packing up the van and storing
stuff in Steve’s shed, laundry and backyard. It is amazing how much gear we
have, and the van has still got a lot left in it. After numerous calls to Tanya
about the caravan the taps still have not arrived on Thursday so we decide to
go to Kingaroy for the weekend and pick up the van on Monday. Tony & Kate
are happy to see us, even if we have wrecked Kate’s plans for a naughty night
(Matthew was having a sleepover with a friend in Nanango) and we have a good
time watching AFL all weekend. My phone rings at 7.45am on Sunday and my world
falls apart when Linda tells me that Beth has died. How I make it through the day is unknown to me, but Tony
prays for Beth in a moving tribute before the service starts.
Monday the 13th and we head down to Uralla to pick up our new van. We didn’t tell them we would be here for another week as they probably wouldn’t have done anything till the last minute. Then it was home to Steve’s to pack everything into new places. I am missing half my cupboard space so now have blouses in the bathroom! and my jewelry box doesn’t fit in the bottom of wardrobe so it is in lounge cupboard, but we get there.
Monday the 13th and we head down to Uralla to pick up our new van. We didn’t tell them we would be here for another week as they probably wouldn’t have done anything till the last minute. Then it was home to Steve’s to pack everything into new places. I am missing half my cupboard space so now have blouses in the bathroom! and my jewelry box doesn’t fit in the bottom of wardrobe so it is in lounge cupboard, but we get there.
A call from Linda asking me to give a eulogy on Beth’s early
life has another few rounds of tears but I am determined to deliver it without any
so we plod on. I still have trouble accepting that she has gone forever. It is so hard to believe someone with so much to give can be taken so young. She wanted so much to be here in August when her 2nd grandchild will be born. After
40 years of calling in to Jean street it is not sinking in.
Steve finishes work on Thursday so we have dinner with him
and Tracey and all 4 boys and then again on Friday and Saturday nights. I
finish Beth’s tribute and email it to Lyndsay to see what she thinks. It must
be so hard for her being so far away and having Clare going through the same
thing. After dinner on Saturday Steve
suggests we play 500, so we stay up till 3am playing. Can you believe me being
awake till then! And still getting up to head off to Wyreema to church which
isn’t on – one service for the parish on Pentecost sunday at St Mary’s at
8.30am so in disgust we head around to Stratford drive to look at the broken
retaining wall and drop all the Christmas decorations off in the container.
20th It
was a lovely service which Beth would have approved of, even if heartbreaking
for everyone there. Dianne & Janine accompanied Beris, Kevin & Joyce
came, Doug, Mark & Rhonda brought Val, Mark & Tim came up from Brisbane
with Ros and Shannon, Tyler and Liam came with Barb so we had a full Gordon contingent.
Afterwards we all met at the Southern for lunch and a good chat to everyone.
Even managed to get a photo of all the cousins and then one of everyone there
which I will send off to Andrew & Linda. Bidding farewell we head home to
call Lyndsay to see how she is taking today,
and then go to the Bull & Barley for Barramunday with S & T and
Harry & Lachie as a farewell dinner.
Tuesday morning we bid farewell to Steve & Cambooya and
head north through Dalby, Jimbour and Jandowae to Mundubbera for our overnight
stop. Chatting to the receptionist at our caravan park, she shows us the water
level at the top of doorway and it seems unbelievable that everything could be
so clean and tidy after being under so much water 3 months earlier. The road up
through Eidsvold is very pretty with lots of trees and creeks and of course
everything is so green. More fruit farms through Monto and cattle country
through to Duringa where we camp the night in a very popular free park in
middle of town. We stopped at the Dululu pub for lunch and it hasn't changed from when we were there on our honeymoon, only the barmaid wasn't doing the ironing this time. The CWA in Mulgildie have erected a bunyip beside the road as legend has it that he inhabited a waterhole nearby. If it is anything like the statue it would be terrifying to find it next to you in the river.
An easy drive into Emerald where they have an enormous Van Gough Sunflower painting (not the real one) on an easel in the park next to info centre. They have an interesting walk out to it with mosaic tile pictures inlaid and small info boards telling the story of each one along the path. Also in the footpath are 2 bronze serpents, several totem poles and a wall hanging of hands reaching out - all celebrating their aboriginal inhabitants. A big fossilized tree trunk is displayed at the front of Town Hall - it is reputed to be 150 million years old. Emerald is a big mining town and of course I have chosen a park without playgrounds but it is full of permanents and we have difficulty getting this long (22’) van into the tight spot so we are not aligned straight which upsets him who cares about these things. The lady at info centre tells us that it is nice to go out to Fairbairn dam at sunset so we venture out and have a lovely time photographing the sunset over the water and enjoying some wine, cheese and nibblies. But once the sandflies arrive we quickly pack and head out.
An easy drive into Emerald where they have an enormous Van Gough Sunflower painting (not the real one) on an easel in the park next to info centre. They have an interesting walk out to it with mosaic tile pictures inlaid and small info boards telling the story of each one along the path. Also in the footpath are 2 bronze serpents, several totem poles and a wall hanging of hands reaching out - all celebrating their aboriginal inhabitants. A big fossilized tree trunk is displayed at the front of Town Hall - it is reputed to be 150 million years old. Emerald is a big mining town and of course I have chosen a park without playgrounds but it is full of permanents and we have difficulty getting this long (22’) van into the tight spot so we are not aligned straight which upsets him who cares about these things. The lady at info centre tells us that it is nice to go out to Fairbairn dam at sunset so we venture out and have a lovely time photographing the sunset over the water and enjoying some wine, cheese and nibblies. But once the sandflies arrive we quickly pack and head out.
Our map says the road from Rubyvale to Clermont is dirt so
we leave the van behind and go fossicking in Jewellery stores in Sapphire and
Rubyvale, where I get a very nice parti sapphire ring (it has yellow highlights
in the blue) and we get Michelle and Lilly some birthday presents. We also pick
up 2 bags of rocks that you sort through to see what gems you have. Like
fossicking without having to dig up the ground. Hopefully we will get a few
bits to make some presents for the lucky ones. It is interesting how much
cheaper the unset stones and chips are here.
25th and a long drive into Charters Towers is compounded by getting stuck behind two 8.5 meter wide loads for 70 klms. Looking at the back of a dump truck travelling between 40 and 50 klms an hour for nearly 2 hours wasn’t fun, though the drivers kept us amused with their running commentary on the roadkill etc. They had police escort and had to block off the roads miles in advance as you couldn’t pass them on the narrow road, and at times they had fun negotiating narrow bridges. There overnight stop was Charters Towers before proceeding on towards WA. Hopefully they didn’t hold up the traffic on Flinders Highway as much as they did us.
26th An early
call to Shannon who was having a morning to herself before the boys came home
from their sleepover at Grandmas and Darren finished golfing before they had a
birthday barbeque with friends later today. We went into town to meet up with
an historian (who didn’t show up) so tried the information centre where the
woman couldn’t be more Unhelpful, so we wandered off to look for the Army Hospital
remains at St Columba’s College and found an old building that might have been part of the army base Mother nursed in.
25th and a long drive into Charters Towers is compounded by getting stuck behind two 8.5 meter wide loads for 70 klms. Looking at the back of a dump truck travelling between 40 and 50 klms an hour for nearly 2 hours wasn’t fun, though the drivers kept us amused with their running commentary on the roadkill etc. They had police escort and had to block off the roads miles in advance as you couldn’t pass them on the narrow road, and at times they had fun negotiating narrow bridges. There overnight stop was Charters Towers before proceeding on towards WA. Hopefully they didn’t hold up the traffic on Flinders Highway as much as they did us.
Tried
to find the Ambulance museum and couldn’t so called into the Zara Clark museum
where we found a very helpful volunteer who told us all about the army in area
during the war, and had a good look around their museum. After lunch at Country
carvery we travelled out to the Longhorn Cattle station hoping to see some
cattle but no, the tours around paddock are on Tuesday, Thursday & Sunday
mornings and at between $55 and $70 each we decided against staying. Charters
Towers has many very old timber buildings in good repair in their CBD which
looked great. We enjoyed driving and walking around looking at them all. The
Stock Exchange was particularly impressive with it’s high vaulted ceiling.
With nothing else on offer we drove east towards Mingela which had us stopping at the flood marker over Burdekin river at Macrossan bridge – the river must have been kilometers wide here. Some wag along the way has painted a sign on a boat left in paddock beside the road, miles from any water.
Mingela being a very small settlement meant we still had time to fill in so we headed to Ravenswood which is another very small village but has an amazing array of very old buildings. The railway station (information centre) is opposite the Mabel Mine site with a few relics. St Patricks catholic church dates from 1889 and is now ecumenical, the School of Arts was built in 1882, and are a lot more impressive that the miners hut which supposedly dates from 1868. This building was a bit flash compared to some miners’ huts we’ve seen.
They have shifted the old school residence to the
Courthouse, police station and stable complex to form their museum. The
Ravenswood and Imperial Hotels were also very impressive. All along the roads
here are brahman cattle (mainly grey ones), and horses - the bulls were a bit of a worry. We also saw a few
camels in a paddock.
27th and another long drive to Ravenshoe where we stop at the Railway complex. They have restored the station building and a few old trains and have a steam train ride once a month. It is raining here so we don’t go out exploring much but there are a few old wooden buildings. Dan’s great-grandfather once owned the hotel here which could use a scrub to get some of the mould off.
28th After a wet windy drive we arrive in Malanda
and meet Kate, Emily, Elliott, Oliver the dog, Ginger, Tabby and Whiskers the
cats, and & the rabbits. After coffee we set up the van and it is great to
be able to put everything up and know that we will not have to pack up for 10 weeks. This is the first sit we have had with no chooks to look after but there
are lots of fruit trees so we will have plenty of grapefruit, mandarins and
avocados to eat. I don’t think we will get any pawpaws as they look very green.
There are 2 trees with pink cottonball like flowers that are covered in
butterflies – the beautiful blue Ulysses and a huge green Cairns birdwing
butterfly. The area also has lots of possums, tree kangaroos and feral rabbits.
I haven’t seen the parrots to see what they are but they can squark.
Kate E & E head off to Atherton and the missing cat,
Tigger, comes home and after several attempts to get him off the roof in the
rain J finally gets him down so he stops squarking.
30th and Cassie is 58 so we try to call her and
catch up on all the Geelong gossip, but no go we don’t have coverage here. Fortunately Kate is letting us hook into her wifi so we have internet coverage.
Friday is an early start as we head down to Cairns to drop
the travellers off at the airport and then have a look around. The Esplanade
here is full of restaurants and eateries and we finally choose a Turkish one
and try the day’s special of Prawn skewers, barramundi and calamari with salad
and chips which I wash down with a Turkish lemonade and J has Turkish coffee.
My lemonade was lovely think it was made on soda water with fresh lemon juice
and tiny cubes of ginger. J’s coffee came in smallest cup I’ve ever seen and
wasn’t as bitter as we expected. After a walk along the esplanade which ended
too soon due to the rain we headed south and had a look around Gordonvale,
which also has some lovely old buildings; one hotel looked like the place to
have lunch when we come over for church and a catchup with Warren. Back up the
Gillies range in the rain we stop in Atherton to get groceries and find the
hairdresser and dentist. We came home to watch Lions play and Collingwood and
shouldn’t have bothered. Saturday’s match between the cats and suns was much
better. The suns played really well for 3 quarters and only folded in last
quarter.
Sunday saw us heading into St Matthew’s for church and a
long chat over morning tea. Once again they are without a rector and are
relying on 4 retired priests to keep everything going. Andrew & Hillary
were also visiting as he is a locum GP in Atherton at the moment. Their home is
in Marcoola and I was able to give them a contact to find Colin & Grace
Shaw from T’mba. At 12.45pm we leave and head to Gallo dairyland for lunch,
where we try a cheese platter with 6 of their speciality cheeses. It was quite
nice but of course we had to try the 2 blue ones that weren’t on the platter
and also a chilli one. We bought the chilli and a blue one to take home along
with 5 different chocolates. Wandering around the complex we found a sow that
didn’t seem to be able to stand up – don’t know whether she is injured or just
preferred to sit down to eat, and the dairy full of black & white cows
waiting to be milked. They have a round milking stand with 40 sets of machines.
I would have liked to see it in full swing, but as it was an hours wait we will
have to come back one day at 3pm.
Heading back into town we stop at Malanda falls which are quite small but run all year - I can believe that it hasn't stopped raining since we got here - and the Dairy centre and
look through the museum and collect some brochures and maps on the area, before
heading home to eat the chocolates. The museum had a milking set up similar to
what was at Broxburn so I felt quite ancient again. Outside they have a statue of man loading milk cans onto back of tractor with 2 kids in raincoats watching from the fence. It was rather cute and apt.
Tuesday’s trip into the Dentist in Atherton has us looking at fossils from Sahara desert. Once upon a time it was under water and they have a big tourist industry digging up shells and fossilized fish bones and sending them around the world. Some are set into granite to make basins and coffee table which look rather good. The Geelong dentist who glued my front tooth back in said that it would only be temporary as half the root had gone and that I should get an implant asap. Talking to the dentist here he said that it is an 18 month exercise as they would have to take bone from my bottom jaw and graft it onto top jaw bone to screw the new tooth into, so I am just going to get the root taken out and a new front tooth fitted onto a metal plate. He says it will be very satisfactory and only $1360.00 instead of over $5000.00. We have just received an email from Centrelink asking why we haven’t sent in the medical review report they sent us in April, so we go off to see them and get a copy. Australia Post obviously haven’t sent the mail onto Barb, so we are in a pickle as they need Janis to fill out the form and with us in Malanda and her in Brisbane it could be interesting. It is so maddening when we could have easily gone down to Brisbane when filling in time before we left and now we will probably lose my carer’s payment, and at $7000 per year that will hit hard.
After leaving Elly Bay we wind our way past the Garradunga hotel to Mirriwinni where I hoped to see Mt Bartle Frere but it was lost in the clouds. We
turned into Josephine Falls just as the heavens opened so didn’t get to see
them. It did ease off enough to walk down to Golden Pool where we met some
intrepid fishers who threw back everything they caught! Then it was into
Innisfail for afternoon tea (I was going to have something gooey because it was
a special day and I haven’t had anything naughty for so long) which we
eventually got at a Greek Deli because every other café in town was closed. Coming back into town there is a great mural on the wall of a house of a cow looking back over the bridge. There were plenty of art deco buildings as described in tourist brochures, but
they must have had a special on green paint when they were last painted.
After we lost the State of Origin on Wednesday night the Suns gave Cats a scare for 3 quarters on Saturday afternoon before they finally ran out of legs and the cats went on the rampage. With the Cowboys, Reds and Broncos also losing it is just as well the Lions had a bye or it could have been a very miserable sporting weekend for me. We arrived in Herberton on Sunday morning thinking we had time to go to the markets before church, but couldn’t find them, so went for a drive to Irvinebank (nothing special unless you like looking at old mine sites) and decided to continue on to Chillagoe – it wasn’t raining there. The road could have done with some water it was very rough, potholed and dusty but fortunately there wasn’t much traffic. Near Petford there was a fishing hole that quite a few were visiting. Almaden didn’t have fences so the brahmans wandered through town as their leisure. Along the side of road leading into Chillagoe were huge cubes of granite and marble. They would have been worth a fortune. There was also what looked like a huge fossilized tree in a paddock beside the road which would have been wonderful to see up close - alas the barbed wire fence was a big deterrent.
The information centre in Chillagoe has large poster boards telling the story of the town, its mining and cattle industries and the aboriginal inhabitants which was quite interesting. After lunch at the Post Office Hotel with a busload of tourists from Newcastle we retrace our steps but at Petford we stay on the bitumen and travel through cane, mango and avocado farms to Dimbula and Tolga, where we stop at the peanut place for a peanut butter icecream (yummmm) and some chilli-lime peanuts which were a disappointment. You get better ones in Kingaroy. The sign there says that the Atherton tablelands 60 peanut growers grow 10,000 tonnes peanuts annually and the remaining 1000 growers in Aust grow 40,000 tonnes which seems hard to believe since they send their peanuts to Kingaroy for packing and value adding. Along the back road into Tolga we pass more cane and mango farms which are all irrigated. There are narrow channels beside the road with small dam walls with every change in grade. In some places there was one every 30 – 50 metres the ground is so steep.
Kate had told us about the Tolga woodworks which we had to visit and saw some wonderful pieces. They had a Lazy Susan made out of ½” pieces of different woods that is going into my bag when we retire. They also had some fish pictures and wave pictures made the same way that were very effective. We would recommend this place to everyone coming up this way. Lots of the timbers were new to us with so many different colours.
We take the car in for its 15,000 klm service (yes in 4 months
we’ve clocked up 15,000) and spend the morning looking at the Yungaburra Arts
Groups works on display, buy a hat rack for the car, and wander up to the
Barron Valley Hotel for lunch. Barb has recommended it and it is quite old
fashioned inside. My lemon pepper chicken was very good but J’s fish was
swimming in oil which wasn’t good. I go off to the dentist to get a cast made
of my mouth and then as it isn’t raining we go up Halloran’s Hill to look at
the view. They have a small building with glass windows on 3 sides and some
amazing modern stained glass above them. We have still to go to the Chinese
temple here but as we have at least 2 more trips to dentist I am sure one of
them will not be raining.!
John’s father (an agronomist) spent some time working around Atherton before he
was married so this place has special significance for him. Pity his dad isn’t
with us anymore so they could compare notes. I bet the area has changed since
1948-49.
15th Lions Malanda Markets are on today so we head into town and spend some time talking to a Lady Lion who invites us to their Changeover Dinner next Saturday night. The Lions club here also owns 13 retirement units – 10 single ones and 3 doubles, and they are currently negotiating with the Council about developing a vacant block into a disabled unit. It will be interesting to hear more about their activities. Our trip to Nerada Tea plantation is lovely as it is sunny and you can see across the tea plants to Mt Bartle Frere. The lovely lady suggests that as we aren’t on a time limit to come back during the week for the tour, as they don’t go into the shed on the weekend so you miss out on seeing the drying (cooking) process. During the cutting season they work 24 hours and as it is nearly harvesting time we will come back later. We do enjoy our Devonshire tea where we share a white tea (very delicate and not milky) and a chai (mixed with cinnamon and Cloves) and very aromatic. We bought a cast iron teapot with enamelled insides for us and some different teas to send to Michelle. Mt Bartle Frere at 1622m is the highest mountain in Qld and part of the Bellenden Ker range and is visible (when there is no cloud) from all over the area.
15th Lions Malanda Markets are on today so we head into town and spend some time talking to a Lady Lion who invites us to their Changeover Dinner next Saturday night. The Lions club here also owns 13 retirement units – 10 single ones and 3 doubles, and they are currently negotiating with the Council about developing a vacant block into a disabled unit. It will be interesting to hear more about their activities. Our trip to Nerada Tea plantation is lovely as it is sunny and you can see across the tea plants to Mt Bartle Frere. The lovely lady suggests that as we aren’t on a time limit to come back during the week for the tour, as they don’t go into the shed on the weekend so you miss out on seeing the drying (cooking) process. During the cutting season they work 24 hours and as it is nearly harvesting time we will come back later. We do enjoy our Devonshire tea where we share a white tea (very delicate and not milky) and a chai (mixed with cinnamon and Cloves) and very aromatic. We bought a cast iron teapot with enamelled insides for us and some different teas to send to Michelle. Mt Bartle Frere at 1622m is the highest mountain in Qld and part of the Bellenden Ker range and is visible (when there is no cloud) from all over the area.
Then it was off to Lake Eacham where we walked the whole 3 klms around it. At various points you could stop off and look at the turtles and fish the water was so clear. There is no stream running into it or out for that matter as it is the crater of old volcano, but the water rises up to 4 metres during the wet season and then it evaporates out again – no wonder it gets humid.
16th Mareeba Skybury Coffee was our first stop
today, where they do tours and have a lovely restaurant overlooking the
plantations. We will come back here for the tour another day as we had a 2 hour
wait after a lovely lunch on the deck. I had duck and plum sauce rolls with a
salad and J had a hamburger with home made rissole and an interesting bun (not
the usual mass produced dough). A pet cockatoo had been let out of his cage
near the entrance and he made a beeline for a table where he proceeded to open
every packet of sugar and eat most of them. A baby magpie came to watch but was
too timid to come close. There were also 2 kookaburras in a nearby tree waiting
for a morsel to be thrown to them. My lunch was too good so they missed out.
After we contacted the Insurance company they sent a Rep out
to look at the damage to retaining wall in Wyreema and then decided that it
wasn’t in our policy so they aren’t going to pay for repairs. Since Nicole is
out of pocket for her medical bills we are trying to claim them off our public
liability policy; so they sent another investigator here to talk to us on
Monday about what happened. He was here for 3 HOURS typing rubbish into his
laptop – all that for about $250.00. Madness!!
18th The
weatherman says that it is going to be fine again today so we decide to go back
to Ravenshoe to see the Little Millstream Falls, Tully Falls & Gorge. Millstream
fall were very pretty and even though it is the dry season they had quite a bit
of water going over them. (Well it seemed a lot to me who is used to Queen Mary
Falls which are dry most of the time.)
Ravenshoe is the highest town in Qld and of course the pub ‘The
Tully Falls Hotel’ claims to be highest pub in Qld, as does the post office and
everything else. They have a marvellous carving of a wagon team in the rainforest, on a log. As it was too late to head to Tully (the town) we wander
through the Misty Mountains to Milla Milla. You can do several walks through
the mountains (from 7klm to 26K) which would be alright in sunny weather but I
bet it’s cold in the rainforest when raining. My 3 K’s around Lake Eacham was
the limit for this intrepid explorer!
After another long dusty 4WD track through the countryside we give up on Scoutia falls and head back to the highway, only to see a small sign beside the road. On investigation you would have needed a machette or brushcutter to cut a track in and as there are stinging trees all through the bush we decide not to attempt it.
Milla Milla is quite small (around 1000 people) but has a
lot more shops etc than Wyreema. They once had a big milk factory however it
has now closed and all milk comes into Malanda to be processed by Dairy
Farmers. There are a lot of dairy farms with black & white cows (not sure
if they are Holsteins or Friesians) in the area.Their
statue of a milking disaster was quite appropriate to the area, as was a wood
carving of Christie Palmerston and his companion Pompo which we found in the town
park. Palmerston was an explorer and gold prospector in this area. Milla Milla falls are quite
close to town and are spectacular. Dropping some 240 metres to a big pool where
all the young backpacking tourists were swimming, they would be brutal during
the wet season.
Our next stop was Ellinjaa falls where we had to climb down
a hundred steps to the water’s edge as you couldn’t see the falls through the
vegetation. It was worth it they are magnificent also. The plants are all much
the same (palms, tree ferns, staghorns as well as lots of others) but being so
lush they seem rather exotic. It was lovely and cool and peaceful before the
long climb back to the car. By the time we got there I was hot and my heart was
beating so loudly I needed to go back down again but resisted.
There is a market on every Saturday and this week is
Yungaburra’s turn so we wander around there for a few hours. They have a lot of
stalls of quite reasonable quality goods and fresh fruit and veggies. I spoke
to a woman last week who comes up from Toowoomba (lives in Kingfisher gardens)
every winter. She spends the summer sewing dolls, towels etc and then when they
sojourn north for the cold months she sells it all at the markets. I wonder how
many others are doing the same? I buy a packet of dried melons (rockmelons,
honeydews and watermelons) and they are rather nice, as well as 2 buttons for a
quilted wall hanging thing with pockets I am making to store scarves, hankies
and all the remote controls. Here I tried sticky rice wrapped around a banana
and cooked in banana leaves which was tasty but rather filling.
An old church has been converted to a gallery
where they design, print and make materials into tablecloths, napkins, cushion
covers etc and there were some very nice bright items on display. Pity we don’t
have the need or room as I could have bought some pieces. The woodworks next
door also had some lovely pieces. A huge bed head made out of red cedar was
fantastic but oh so heavy. An enormous Maple table and chairs took J’s fancy –
must have seated 16 people. Neither would fit in van or even Wyreema so we left
them behind. We have been passing the sign to Curtain Fig Tree every time we go
to Atherton so we go for a look (with quite a few others) and it is something –
a Strangler Fig has formed in a crevice in the top of a tree 500 years ago and
as the host tree died it sent its’ roots towards the ground. When the host tree
fell onto another tree it all took on a lean. The boardwalk through rainforest
around it is also lovely with all the ferns, palms, staghorns and crowsnests.
Another
fascinating thing was the different colour lichens growing on the tree trunks –
in camoflague pattern and the way that vines were twisting around the trunks of
trees.
Someone
is learning – you don’t go past a lookout. He did on the way into tree but
turned in on way out so we could visit the Gillies Lookout. The road sign says
no caravans or trailers and it is good advice as you nearly need 4WD to get up
some of the hills but the vista at the end is spectacular. We can hear the
traffic way below on the Highway but can’t see any road. There are several large rocks with flat tops that have ferns growing out of them - really looks as if they were in a vase. In the distance it a
small clearing with a few houses and curiosity got the better of us so we head
off to Gordonvale to try to find it. There were no maps or info centres that we
could find so headed back home when a little brown sign said ‘Goldsborough
Valley’ with boat ramps, picnic areas etc. It must be a new housing estate for
Gordonvale because we found lots of new houses but no shops. Continuing down
the road we cross the Mulgrave river several times before coming to a closed
road on another causeway. They meant business as there was a padlocked gate
across the road. One day we will try to come in from the Babinda end and see
what is going on. It was probably just as well as we are going to the Lions
Club Changeover dinner tonight and need to get home and showered. Some wag has painted a green frog face onto one of the very big rocks beside the Gillies Highway. This road is to be travelled to be believed. One hairpin bend after another for 20klms. Upto the 1960's it was one way and you were stopped at a gate while waiting for the traffic to come through from the other direction. Quite a few people won't travel this way to Cairns they take the 30 minute longer road through Mareeba but I quite like it.
There is a Lions club with 33 male and female members and a big
Lioness club (25) in town and they join together for their Changeover night. We were
made to feel very welcome and noted that they only had their own members and a Lions
PDG and his wife the current Lioness DG from Yungaburra as the only other
guests. They made no note of where they had donated moneys or anything special –
it seemed like a normal Dinner meeting with the induction of 2 new members and
the new boards for the 2 clubs. However we are going to the next Lions dinner
meeting to give our little spiel and exchange bannerettes. They have 1
Charter member left, and will celebrate their 50th anniversary next
year.
After church on Sunday we head to the Post Office to get the
mail and ring Murray & Barb to check on how things are going and all is
well. Then it is home to await the start of the BIG football game between Lions
and Cats and what a heart stopper it is. The Cats were leading by 52 points at ¾
time and we outkicked them in last quarter 10 goals to 1 and we WON for the
second time since J & I got together. There was lots of screaming at the tv
and hand wringing moments but MY team won. J is disconsolate and I am ecstatic –
makes for an interesting time! Let’s hope the Maroons can do the deed on
Wednesday night too. Whilst skyping Bill & Yvonnee they commented on how it was dark in Brisbane at the time (5.30pm) and it was still very light here. I made note on 21st the shortest day, that it was daylight from 6am to 6pm here, it would be interesting to see what it is like on the equator on longest and shortest days.
Monday 24th was dentist day – The front tooth
that I have been having trouble with for last 10 years came out. It didn’t want
to and had to have some muscle applied to before it budged. My new plate is
taking some getting used to – feels very strange but guess I’ll get used to it
eventually. J spent the time talking to auto electrician about the problems with
the fridge – it won’t run on DC power when we are travelling and since Regal don’t
know or don’t care we need help before we set out again. He gets some ideas so
we head home to try them out – guess what when the plug was connected a wire
was left out (the wire to fridge) so now all works!!
Back to the dentist to get everything checked - all ok, and since it has stopped aching we
head to Chinatown to visit the Temple but alas it is closed on Tuesdays. As it
is a nice sunny day we decide to go to Yungaburra for lunch at the Pizzeria we
saw on Saturday but they are also closed. Last Saturday, Julia was here with
the Heads of Aust Army & Defence Force to open the ‘Avenue of Honour’.
Corporal Ben Chuck a Commando, was killed in Afghanistan 3 years ago, and his
parents live here. They enlisted the community and Tablelands Regional Council
to help establish a memorial to all the soldiers killed in Afghanistan and it
is wonderful. In a park along banks of Tinaroo Dam they have a long path
flanked by Flame Trees and with steel bollards with rosemary cutouts
interspersed with seats and plaques, leading to a rotunda with the names on a
steel wall. The broken wings signify broken bodies, and the dog is for the 5
explosive detection dogs who have also been killed in that conflict. There are
several plaques with statements from Head of Defence, Head of Army, Commando
Head and several poems or parts thereof. It is very moving and peaceful there beside
the water. No mention was made of Julia either.
Coming
back towards Nerada Tea the fence on corner is covered in fishing buoys –
hundreds of them.
After doing a grocery shop it is home to watch Wimbledon.
Back
in Atherton on 28th we can visit the Chinese Temple and Graham our
guide gives a very thorough and interesting tour. The 33 acre block once housed
over a thousand chinese people, who had ended up here after trying their hand
at gold mining and failing. The temple is corrugated iron outside and has
blackbean and maple timber inside. Unfortunately a lot of the artifacts had
been taken when the last caretaker died, but some have been returned so he was
able to tell us the stories on them. All of the timber pieces were made in
China and shipped out to Aust – don’t know why they weren’t made here – the chinese
seem very adept at most things. The Temple has 3 steps up into it, and 3 doors - gate, front doors and 2 inside the front door that are only opened on very special occasions. Around the grounds there are plaques telling of various activities that happened in that spot and some intricate steel etchings. The well has water 6 feet below the surface. They have also got the old post office as a
museum and art gallery which was also very interesting with lots of posters
detailing life in the area and the histories of a few of the old chinese
families.
Not far from Chinatown is Hasties swamp which is known for
its bird life and there were thousands. Mainly ducks with a few native hens,
shags and divers at the early time we were there, but you can imagine how many
there would be at dusk and very early morning. One duck with paler beige wing
feathers and long legs was the same as some we saw at Metricup Bird park in Margaret
river, and we still can’t work out what it is.
Whilst
looking through scrapbooking and patchwork shop in Atherton I see an ad for a
quilt and craft show in Mossman over the weekend, so on Saturday we head north
through Mareeba and Mt Molloy. There were 2 lookouts going down the range which
gave some pretty spectacular views over Mossman to the ocean and of course it
is lush green rainforest beside the road until you get to the plain at the
bottom where the sugarcane farms take over.
Quilt show was wonderful – there are so many very talented
people in this area, even J enjoyed himself. Part of the show was a prize for
the most popular one and we had trouble deciding which one we would vote for
but eventually J chose one that was machine stitched but in an outback theme
and it was very clever and well done. Mine was a traditional patchwork of shoes
and handbags lavishly embellished. Another that I liked was of Elvis, and I am
sure that Leiba would have loved it. Didn’t buy it for you as I thought the
colours would clash with your pink and white bedroom!!! I found some black and
white materials to make Michelle’s cat bag so now I will have to get busy
again.
After lunch we go driving but instead of Mossman gorge we
end up in the Daintree and I get talked into going on a crocodile spotting
trip!! I really do not like those creatures but it was quite interesting. I
guess the ‘captain/host’ made it – he was full of information and jovial, and
swapped jokes with J. We saw a 2m young croc that had a 50% chance of surviving
his first year and then it is 25% chance of reaching maturity at 13 (females)
or 14/15 males. Then a 3 m 14 year old male (he had been tagged by National
Parks) an older 3m female who had been in that part of river for many years,
and then a 4m one lying in the water with its’ back just above water level. A
fully developed 6m male would weigh 1100kg. The 3m ones we saw were probably
about 500kg, but I am rest assured that I can outrun one because having such a
heavy body and legs out to the side means that they can only run at 3 kph for a
short distance. I don’t wish to have to find out.
Coming
back I got our host to tell us about the mangroves here – there are 69 species in
the world of which 53 are found in Aust and 29 only in Daintree area. There are
14 fern like ones (reproduce from spores) here as well. It all makes for some
lovely scenery. The river is not very wide but both sides are covered in palms,
ferns, mangroves and rainforest trees as far as you can see. Mt Thornton and Mt
Kimberley seem to tower over it keeping watch. As it was too late to take the
ferry and head to Cape Tribulation we will just have to come back another day.
We bought some sugar bananas from a roadside stall and they are like lady
fingers but sweeter and have a stronger banana flavour. Will have to try to
find out more about them.
2/7 Last checkup at
Dentist and then it is off to Military museum in Mareeba, which has a good
collection of military vehicles. They have a Navy Neptune which seemed quite
big compared to the Vampire next to it, but all was dwarfed by the Canberra
bomber. A very strange looking one (from the rear) has a square back think it
is a . The Ikara missile was interesting and much different to the older ones.
How it can swim around under water looking for a submarine is amazing. You
wonder how people can dream up these things and then build them and make them
work. They also have a portable motorbike which folds up into a crate so it can
be parachuted into an area and then put together so that the soldier etc can go
riding around. It was so small compared to Harleys next to it and miniscule
compared to the Suzuki or Honda J had. We would never be able to ride it.
Turning off the highway at Tolga we took the forest track
around Lake Tinaroo to Kairi and Tinaroo and home along Danbula road. There
were a few lovely camping spots around the lake we will find next time but won’t
bother with Platypus rock lookout – the trees have grown up so much you couldn’t
see any water only leaves. Mind you the rock itself is very majestic. Stopping
off at Lake Euramoo we take the track believing it was a 600 m walk to lookout
and would take 20 minutes (according to brochure) After 10 minutes walking I
ended up on a dirt road then discovered we were 20 metres from where we
started, and the lookout was 50 metres further up the road. Oh well it was a
lovely walk through the trees, and the lake is quite unusual for a crater lake.
They are normally round but this one is like a figure eight, as it is 2 craters
joined together in the middle.
3/7 Lions meeting in Malanda was very strange – no formalities
at all. We discover that you go into restaurant to help yourself to buffet ($17
and nothing special) come back and eat it and then the President asked for
volunteers for show. The woman in charge of Billy Cart promotions spoke for 2
minutes, J said his spiel and exchanged bannerettes, and then we all went home.
Each September they hold Billy Cart races with the Lions club having 3
machines.
4th of July is very auspicious -Tony’s b/day and it is raining so we head into town to phone him – no answer must be playing golf and then head to Herberton to the Spy & Camera Museum, which is fascinating. The owner gives you a guided tour explaining the history of lots of different cameras and how they worked. He has a very extensive collection and quite a few Russian spy cameras – the ones in buttons and cigarette lighters. At $15 this place is well worth a visit.
4th of July is very auspicious -Tony’s b/day and it is raining so we head into town to phone him – no answer must be playing golf and then head to Herberton to the Spy & Camera Museum, which is fascinating. The owner gives you a guided tour explaining the history of lots of different cameras and how they worked. He has a very extensive collection and quite a few Russian spy cameras – the ones in buttons and cigarette lighters. At $15 this place is well worth a visit.
After lunch at Royal we decide to go to Golden drop winery
where we buy Mandarin Cello and Lemon Cello – fortified liqueur wines. Tasted
Mango, Lime and Dragon fruit cello as well as sweet, dry & medium Mango
wines and a Mango port. The medium Mango wine was also very moorish. For a
fruit (Mango) winery the wines were very good. They have 17,500 very nicely
pruned Kensington Pride mango trees which produce 150 mangoes per season. Guess
they are very busy around Christmas.They have developed a Kensington Red Mango
which they use for their wines. It has a red skin and higher sugar content than
the others. One of the women suggested that we call into Jacques coffee
and by accident (we headed off down a dirt road – Shanty Creek road - to see
where it went) we found it and it was lovely. They have a coffee plantation
with farm tours as well as a café and wine tasting of their 2 ‘brews’ one a
coffee liqueur and the other similar to Baileys – Coffee Temptation, which we
bought. Talking to the young man behind bar we learnt that they are to start
harvesting next Monday so we left going on the tour till then, tried their
coffee with a piece of tiramisu cake – both were very nice. He told us that his
wines were made at De Brueys winery nearby. It is a lovely setting with lots of
different plants around a waterfall in the garden and a very spectacular
ornamental ginger in flower. He also spoke to us about using our new cast iron
teapot to make coffee with coarse ground coffee so we are going to try that. The road in is very appropriately named too!
Heading home we pass a sign to De Brueys so head up there
and have a lovely 2 hours talking to Bob De Bruey about his life and wine
making endeavours. He makes wines from Mangos, Lychees (which we bought), Passionfruit,
Jabotica, Bush Cherry as well as ports made from Mulberrys, Mixed fruits and Mangos.
We thought the Passionfruit one would be very sweet but it was rather nice as
was the Bush Cherry and Jabotica. Then he had his take on Baileys and we bought
Envy made from Honey Dews which has a green tinge and a lovely taste of honey
dews. Temptation, Strawberrys & Cream and a coffee one rounded up his
selection. We also came home with the Mulberry Port so what was going to be a
quiet day turned into a big wine tasting one.
5/7 Malanda Show started today and we are to help out the
Lions club. J is on the gate for 4 hours and I get to take photos of their
entries in the street parade. Every September the Lions club run Billy Cart
races and they have 3 entries being towed along. There are a lot of old cars
(and I mean vintage) as well as ones from 50’s and 60’s, old fire engines,
trucks etc as well as Mitre 10’s truck carrying a big group of girls. There
were also a lot of people dressed up as nursery rhyme characters walking the
route around town and into the showground to do a lap of honour. I think the
whole kindy group must have been there all dressed up and having fun. Two young
girls dressed as moths were on stilts and looked great. Unfortunately I didn’t
get the photos focussed properly so they didn’t turn out too good.
Sunday morning we go to the show in time to see the ‘celebrity
milkoff”. They had 12 people milking 4 cows by hand and whoever had the most
milk in bucket won a $500 donation to a charity of their choice. The winner was
a cyclist from Atherton who had 1800 mls in his bucket after 3 minutes. Pretty
well done I think. Apart from Bob Katter, Senator MacFarlaine and Joe Hockey
(federal parliamentarians for the area) and the local state member they had
Noeline Ikin LNP and a woman from Greens who are standing against Bob Katter,
the manager of Dairy Farmers in Malanda, 2 ABC journalists from Cairns, their
citizen of year and an 85 year old woman who used to milk by hand and she was
second with 1600 mls. The compere kept up the banter and it was all good fun
and brought back lots of memories. Of course the cow mascot filled up DF managers bucket with milk out of a bottle, and there was a bit lost when the cows kicked the buckets - seemed they didn't really like novices playing with their teats. Walking through the Dairy Cattle shed it was
interesting to see all the AIS cows mind you they seemed so much smaller than I
remembered, but they all pooed and urinated over the milking stand just like I
remember them doing at Broxburn. Somethings never change! The pavilion had some
good photos and a large display of quilts along with a small offering of
cooking, sewing and floral art. We spoke to a woman selling craft items about
an interesting tapestry she had done of a jacaranda tree with people sitting at
tables underneath. The trunk and branches of tree had been backstitched over
the cross stitches and the people and tables were done in petit point which was
very effective. We might call into her shop one day and buy one.
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