No 15 - 2016 in Southern Queensland

A couple near us are forming “Church of Air” and are interesting to chat to. During the course of conversation we learn that they have a house for sale at Point Vernon so we get the address and will check it out later in week.

 Wed 17 We wind our way to Cracow where the caravan park at museum is donation only and had 2 of the biggest green frogs in toilets that I have ever seen. We check out the museum which is about the gold mining in the area and has 3 models of drilling over the ages cast in cement in front yard, and then die in front of air con until dinner time. J has read about Macca’s trip to Cracow pub so we walk down there for a steak and chicken which were done to a T or is that a Blue in the case of J’s steak. The locals were all 20 somethings and not very talkative to us so we moved out onto verandah where it was marginally cooler. The pub is owned by Fred Brophy the boxing tent man who has lots of memorabilia hung from ceiling along with several generation’s cobwebs. Visitors can write messages on walls and ceiling if you can reach it so it is quite a characterful place. The temperature is still above 38 when we walk back to van so I share the shower with a frog and wash off the days sweat.

Thu 18 Arrived in Biggenden and were made very welcome by Phill the caretaker. It is a lovely clean park run by the council and at $25 night with 6^th night free very economical.

 Fri 19 We wandered over to Childers to pick up wine from Post Office and there is traffic everywhere and no parking so we move on over to Hervey Bay to have a look around. Alan & Mirim’s house looks interesting but there isn’t any where to have fruit trees and a veggie garden. J thinks it will cost about $40M to put a verandah across front and down the western side so at $675 it will be out of our price range. We stop in at Nancy’s on way home to see where she is and have a long chat to her and the animals. We are about 400 meters from road so can hear the traffic quite well but it is rural so if neighbours Marrema dogs aren’t barking at us it should be reasonably quiet. As it is after 6pm when we reach town we head to pub for dinner and it was a lovely meal but took ages to come and J took ages to buy drinks so it was like I was eating on my own again.

Sat 20 Doug and Chris were married today in Dave and Jenny’s back yard so hope they have a wonderful life together.

Sun 21 We attend church here in Biggenden where they have a service on 1^st and 3^rd Sundays at 11am and are made very welcome by locum Fr Mike and members of congregation.

Mon 22 after doing the washing we decide to go out to Mt Walsh and see if we can walk to the lookout, but only make it to creek as the tree line is way up in sky near top of mountain. It is a lovely spot and the mountain is a volcanic plug. Coming out I take some photos looking across the paddocks and dams to mountain that I might be able to put on tapestry canvas.

John decides to head to Maryborough where we have another huge Indian meal which was rather tasty but far too much food. I didn’t like the Marsala tea as it was too milky and only tepid. Then we drove around town looking at houses for sale. We found some lovely old Q'lders on busy roads and some with river views but had wet feet during the floods so we wouldn’t be able to get insurance. It was good to see Maryborough going ahead and busy as the last time we were here it was dead, but it was fairly humming today.

Tues 23 and we move out to Nancy’s place this morning and set up and get chatting to her during the day and have Happy Hour on her verandah from 5pm when it was much cooler and the breeze cranked up. When we arrived Nancy was heading to the vet to take Penny in as she was not well. At 19 she has had a great life and had a stroke on way so had to be put down. It was very upsetting for Nancy as Penny had been her shadow since she was 6 months old. John dug a hole and we buried her in front yard next to another dog. Now we have Butzie a 10 year old Tabby and Stephanie an 18 year old Siamese/Persian cross who is very thin to look after along with Daisy and Annie and 2 other ducks. I hope Steph hangs in there till Nancy gets back. But they are affectionate cats and like a pat.

Wed 24 Nancy was in Woodgate today and it seems a lovely place so we will try to go over tomorrow with air con on in car. Today we went for a short trip to Paradise Dam and were very disappointed as the caravan park is a narrow grassed area at boat ramp with no facilities at all. The toilets are several klms away at kiosk?? Coming home we turn left at Coringa Hills road and take the dirt up hill and down dale to the bitumen at Danarill North road. There are lots of hills and creeks to traverse there and back.

Thu 25 Woodgate beach is lovely – very blue sky and water, white sand and gentle waves lapping the shore. Our journey took us to Theodolite Creek another beautiful spot where you can launch your boat or just fish off bank. We found a Spanish style place for sale across road from beach and next door to pub which on internet inspection has a 3 bed place upstairs and a 2 bed flat and studio apartment downstairs which would be a good investment at $695,000. There were quite a few other places for sale on esplanade but very expensive. Our chat to Real Estate Lady was informative as to all the things happening in town. It is very popular with Baby boomers so might be what we are looking for. Another 2 storey brick house with swimming pool is $550 and a wooden place with block base with 3 beds upstairs and 2 downstairs with ocean views but back 1 street is $595. The rates are fairly hefty with a block on esplanade costing $5,000 per year and I thought $3000 for Obst street was disgraceful.

Fri 26 Nancy left about lunchtime and we settled in the van with air on full blast as it was HOT and HUMID.

Sat 27 had us visiting Gin Gin markets without any cash money so only came home with some books and limes. We hope to collect some zipper bags from a guy in Bundaberg on Tuesday. They were fascinating as they are made from 1 zip only. I wanted a pencil case to take jewellery when we are away from van, and one for Michelle who will love the novelty aspect. Then we head west to Mt Perry through lovely grassy hills and visit an old railway tunnel which is now home to lots of small bentwing bats. In 1868 they hand chipped the rock to let the train from Bundaberg through. It is 192 metres long and you can see the sunlight at other end but it is rather dark in middle which it why the bats roost there I guess. Mt Perry is a small town with some lovely old homes but only 1 small general store.

It is half bitumen and half gravel to Mingo Crossing where there is a lovely caravan park along the banks of Paradise Dam. We have marked it in book to return to. Gooroolba has a few houses and a war memorial, and Didcot has less houses and a war memorial and Degilbo has more houses but no memorial (that we could find). The school buildings are still there but not being used. We arrive home to find a flat tyre so hope we make it to a garage before getting another one.

Sun 28  We attend Church in Childers and meet the locals and have a pleasant time with them, and then visit a Winery and Omaha Winery who had a divine Damson Plum Liqueur which came home with us and a macadamia one which could come with us next time. The lovely young girl who bought the place the day after visiting it for first time was very friendly and knowledgeable and said that the pineapple one was in process at moment and should be ready in a fortnight.At winery they have a resting spot with a marvelous panel van - wouldn't you love to sit here reading!

Mon 29 is another hot humid day which is spent doing housework and sitting in shade trying to find the breeze. J goes over to Childers to get new tyres and discovers that the front end badly needs a wheel alignment.

Thurs 3^rd has us visiting the RACQ Cruise expo in Urangan and learning all about the cruises we would love to take – just have to get a passport. We have lunch at the boat club and wind our way home via Burrum Heads and Buxton. Both places have some lovely homes on river but you would need a 2 storey house to see the water. As it was 5.30pm by the time we bought some groceries we decided to have dinner at Quirky Thai in Childers. The food was very nice but I will pay for all the chilli in my salad. The cats and ducks weren’t very happy at the hour we arrived home to get their dinners either.

Saturday 5^th was back to Hervey Bay to spend day with Peter & Helen Gardiner and we had a lovely time chatting to them before Helen drove us around Hervey Bay showing us the sights. As it was 6pm by the time we made Childers we decided to brave the cat’s displeasure and have dinner at Federal Hotel. Helen had fed us well with morning and afternoon tea so we shared duck spring rolls for entre and seafood basket for mains, and had complimentary cream of tomato soup to start off with. It was all lovely and very filling so compensated for being snubbed by cats till breakfast.

Sunday was church and lunch in Biggenden followed by long chat to Barb for her birthday. She had been out and was home for a snooze – how lucky can you be!

Wednesday 9^th has us exploring Toogoom (pronounced Togom) and being stunned by a 2 roomed corrugated iron fisherman’s shack with outside toilet priced at half a million. It was on 1100sq m of land right on beach but you would have to pay $100,000 to have house and sheds removed so $600,000 before you start to build a house. We did find a 3 bed brick place with trees between house and beach for $850,000. So we settled for lunch at Salty Squid Café and looked out over the water enviously, before venturing to Craignish and Dundowran Beach where there were some lovely views from up on hillside but you wouldn’t hear or smell the ocean. At River Heads we saw the Fraser Island Ferry dock and resolved to go over from here as it would be much easier than Inskip Point. There are some lovely green rolling hills in the area which would make fantastic home sites. Arriving back at van Nancy greeted us with her tales of life on Bribie while we sat back relaxing on front verandah. The cats and Daisy Duck were very happy to see her again – think they were all missing Penny. Daisy is bringing one of her friends to the van every meal time to let us know she needs her feed of bread or lettuce. Nancy has an Owl bag which was done on an embroidery machine and is amazing. I don't know how I could make one.

We told Nancy about the Mad Hatters Tea Party on Saturday so before she left on Thursday morning she produced some bright striped material for me to make J a vest a la Mad Hatter style. Guess what I spent all day Thursday drafting a pattern and sewing a huge vest for himself, consequently on Friday I wasn’t too enthused about putting some plastic flowers on one of Nancy’s hats for me to wear but I finally finished it in time for happy hours. (Happy hour here lasts from 3 – 4 hours). J spent the afternoon making a top hat out of green cardboard complete with 10/6 card in hatband.

The man with zippered handbags wasn’t at Gin Gin markets on Saturday morning when we arrived so I had to settle for some fruit and veggies instead – probably more healthier and economic but Michelle won’t be impressed. We wander around Gin Gin admiring their murals and enjoy morning tea in cafe before heading home.

J spoke to Kaye to wish her a Happy birthday on our way home and she is on holidays at Bermagui with Jacki and Hazel and having a lovely time. All too soon it was time to dress for the occasion and head off to Degilbo (about 15klm away) to startle the locals. Only 1 other man bothered to dress up his hat (by sticking lollies all over it) but most of ladies had hats on and some even went to gloves and stockings. It was no surprise when J won best Male outfit but I was stunned and embarrassed when named female winner. However we gave one of boxes of chocolates to Nancy for her material and loan of hat. After an enormous afternoon tea of sandwiches, homemade sausage rolls, savoury pikelets and cakes we weren’t too keen on dinner so spent several hours talking to Nancy about her life and travels. Her friend Lorraine is a craft artist and has published a book on mosaic patchwork which is amazing. I will have to try to photocopy some pages or try to buy the book.

 Sunday saw us back in Childers for church and after bidding everyone goodbye at morning tea we sampled the wines at Hill of Promise Winery. They only had 3 whites for me and a white muscat liqueur and coffee liqueur. We came home with a Semillion and Shiraz but I could have bought home the white muscat too. It actually rained on way home so that we had to put the wipers on. It is amazing how green the countryside is with no rain and such high temperatures. When we ventured down Danaril North Road the green changed to brown very quickly and remained that way down Stevens road which was different from when we first arrived and it was lovely and green.

Wednesday and we decide to visit Mirriam Vale which is a small town upgrading their Memorial Park so we had lunch at the café and it was lovely. We wander down the bitumen towards Bundaberg and check out Lowhead and Avondale before hitting the gravel to Kolan.  I think it was just near the highway at Wallaville we saw a very large Citrus nursery with ?millions of small trees in hot houses beside the road.

Stopping in Childers to check the mail my patterns have finally arrived. Strange how the envelope is postmarked Childers 24^th February and it made it to front counter on 15^th March!!! It is no wonder Australia Post is losing customers. At least I now have something to do – Australian Christmas hanging with kangaroos, koalas, wombats, kookaburras and blue tongue lizards etc. It also contained some red work embroidery patterns, beach bag with bikini clad ladies, and a mermaid bag which I will make into a library bag for Zahra. I have started on Christmas hanging and then will have to have a go on my “Domestic Bliss” ladies. Nancy arrived home with a pizza so we shared dinner with her and chatted about Bribie Island.

Wednesday is move on and it poured raining in Ban Ban Springs just as we sat down outside to eat our pie for lunch, so we huddled under the umbrella until finished and then dashed to the car. Just as quickly it stopped raining and was fine to Bjelke Petersen Dam where we managed to get a site for 2 nights as they were fully booked over weekend with 2 caravan clubs in town. We chattered to Philip & Beryl from next door over the two days and enjoyed their company. They are from Nambour and were on first caravan trip. Thursday afternoon saw John & Barbara arrive along with another couple from their caravan club so we all joined up for Happy hour. As it turned out John & Barbara have farm sat for Glenys and Wally so the small world is getting smaller. We head off to Bell for lunch at the park, and make it to Millmerran by 3pm. Val from the Lions Club stops to give us some info on Millmerran and Beris arrives home at 5pm so we adjourn to her backyard for drinks and nibbles, before dinner.

Voting Day has us at polling booth with a list of candidates (supplied by BS) to do our thing for the state. We end up voting for fixed 4 year terms for State Parliament and Paul Antonio as mayor. Di Warr doesn’t get in which I was pleased about – can just imagine what she would do for everyone else – nothing!! After lunch we go off for a drive and Beris directs us to park which overlooks the Power Station. There was a good view over the countryside with all its ripening sorghum, ash heaps and grass paddocks. In the distance was Mt Basalt with its’ phone and UHF towers so we had to climb them for a different view.

Then as we were on Koorangarra road and I haven’t been there we continued on. It is a pity that most of old buildings are hidden behind a high corrugated iron fence but we saw the church and butcher’s shop and a tank on the most precarious lean – you would think that a strong wind would topple it over.

The sign post from olden days said Stonehenge was nearby so we traversed the dirt road through cattle country to Stonehenge station. A little further on we came across the rabbit fence and travelled back to Mt Emelyn along it. MaryAnn rang while we were having Happy hour and was mortified that we would go so far out for an afternoon drive. We have another lovely dinner with Beris and thoroughly enjoy her company.

Ross takes Morning Prayer on Sunday and it is lovely to meet everyone here again. After lunch we move over to Cambooya where Trace is home alone after her big week. We put the chicken roast on for dinner with her and Steve and chat to them till 9pm when Steve has to go to sleep. They have finally had mediation with Wes over the house fiasco and are to get $70m from him within a month of signing forms so lets’ hope it is now finished. They are thinking of naming the place ‘Wesbungles’.

Monday and we go to Spotlight to get some materials and threads for me, caravan shop for more feet, and Clifford Gardens for more undies. Life can’t get more exciting can it? While there we call in on RACQ travel and meet Marie our Norfolk agent. After checking out the new craft shop in Food Hall we head out to Pittsworth and put money from S12 account into a term deposit as it earns more interest. We nearly have enough money for a European river cruise which is amazing or a cruise around Oz. While I am getting shorn J visits Lindenberg’s to try to get phone in car working again. Then it was home to dinner with S,T, Ben & Thomas. The 2 little boys are at their father’s for the week.
Tuesday was a rest day with a trip into T’mba thrown in. Unfortunately it was lunch time so we stopped at Steam Café in Hardly Normal centre and they took J’s burger bun out of freezer and didn’t bother to toast it, but my wrap was nice. We join our fellow Lions at Bowls before the meeting. It seemed to drag out though not as much as the last business meeting.   

On Wednesday morning we put suitbags into container and have a coffee and chat with Alex and Sonya. They would like a fan in Lounge room which we will talk to Dave about, and we will have to tell Youngs’ not to shampoo carpet every 6 months as it will rot. Then it was off to Beaudesert where we call in on Tony & Kate and chat to them for 3 hours before finding Foxtail Court and meeting David, Rachael, Orlando and my man Roman. He is 4 years old and loves to have a chat while he is opening every door in caravan. They invite us in for dinner and we chat for a few hours before letting them go to bed. David takes 1 ¼ hours to get to work art Eagle Farm – that would drive me insane. Rachael works in Archerfield so she is much closer and drops the boys off in Jimboomba on the way. They have 2 Rottweillers – Jenna and Beau. They look and sound fairly menacing but are very fond of a pat and rub.

Thursday and we head off to Springfield Lakes to takeover feeding Milton, a yellow Bull Mastiff and a brindle Irish Wolfhound who are also very big and sound like it but very gentle except when food is on offer. This is a very modern house with black stone benchtops and double vanities and a very rustic ‘Men’s shed’ complete with Billiard table.

After church on Good Friday John heads back to Cambooya to critique Steve’s training session and Barb comes over for a chat, where we cover just about everything. Jamie is in Mexico working as a PT and teaching conversation English which might be interesting to listen in to. Shannon and boys have gone to Bestbrook in a borrowed tent and trailer as her new Camper trailer hasn’t turned up. I would never pay out in full for something months before it is due to delivery – don’t know why she did, surely her work colleagues would have advised against it. I get to spend the night on my own and watch the Grand Final replay between Broncos and Cowboys mixed in with Aussie cricketers playing Pakistan in a close match. Broncos won in another Golden Point game where JT should have been awarded his try so I went to bed happy before Barb arrived to take me over to Maureen’s for the day. She didn’t stay more than 15 minutes which is a bit rude I think but who knows. M has a new dog (red heeler)Carmody; who needs some more training but after his initial excitement settled down beside my chair until J knocked on door when he went berserk again. It was lovely to chat to her about life etc before a very nice prawn and vegetable satay lunch. The GPS couldn’t take us home the way we came so ended up back on Centenary Highway – very strange how you can go one way and come back another, and they are both supposed to be fastest. J had a good time with Frosty though was a little hung over as they stayed up drinking until 2am. After Barb initially said she would come out to dinner she called off so we could have gone to church but as we had made the booking went off to Springfield Garden for dinner. The food was good but as there was a big group of ?Polynesians at next table we couldn’t hear each other so conversation was limited. We call it quits and head home to watch the Lions go down to Weagles.

Barb joins us at church on Easter Day but doesn’t stay to chat to Rev Peter Moore with us. It was nice to renew his acquaintance and we wished him well for the future. We spend the afternoon on internet in Ancestry site trying to find out how and when John Clark Calder arrived in Aust. We found Matilda Nutt and The Dempster family but JCC must have done a Dr Who. JCC married Emma Adkisson after Matilda died but we haven’t discovered any more children. Barb didn’t come over which I was sad about; but does call in on Monday for some time and we end up showing her how to print out the family tree, so hope she can get it to Val and Mark before too long. We spend the afternoon watching Geelong beat Hawthorn in a nail biter and then head back to Woodhill, via Dominos Pizza in Jimboomba. It was interesting to watch the production line at work and the screen that shows you the progress of your meal. They put out 30 pizzas in the 15-20 minutes we were there. The pizzas weren’t bad either – j’s chilli one was very ‘hot’.

Tuesday 29th was a rest day and David joined us for a beer before we joined them for dinner and chat. Roman kept us entertained with his insights. Orlando seems much quieter.

Wednesday morning Tony calls to chat and Kate asks if we would like to go to church in Rathdowney followed by lunch on Sunday so we agree, and then decide to join them for lunch at Chinese in Beaudesert so it was a very quick change before wrapping up the birthday presents and battling the roadworks enroute. Lunch was another great time with lots of laughs and too much alcohol and good food. Afterwards Kate and I checked out the Animal Welfare Op Shop while boys went home. I found some magazines to peruse and Kate bought about 20 garments for $10 to sell at the churches dress swap day. Some of the items were brand new (still had original tags attached) and all were very wearable. They kept passing Easter chocolates which did nothing for diet, but we came home with some of Tony’s leftover shakes and a resolve to try the 5 & 2 diet. Where you eat normally for 5 days and limit food to 500 calories on 2 days. If we have shakes for 2 meals and salad and protein for dinner on 2 days and shakes for breakfast on 2 more days we might lose some weight, though I think more exercise would be helpful. It is a mad rush to wrap Jayden’s parcels and get to Post Office before 5pm and we head home to find David’s father and brother Luke have arrived. They aren’t very chatty so we stay in caravan and go in on Thursday night to get our instructions about feeding the dogs and wish them well for their holiday. They are leaving at 5.30am so we won’t see them until they return. They think Doug & Chris will come down on Friday to see us before they arrive back on Saturday morning. Roman is very excited about going on a big plane to Singapore so it will be an adventure for both of them and Uncle Luke. The only down side is that David’s brother has been hit in side of face with a piece of steel and had to have emergency surgery but all seems be to ok. Guess we will hear more from Chris who is going up to Buxton to see him as all good mothers should.

After doing the washing we venture into Beaudesert to get some groceries and fuel and battle the traffic at roadworks again. We don’t turn onto Caswell road but continue on down Mt Lindsay Highway and see Woodhill Hall and Veresdale and turn onto Cedar Vale road. We will have to explore further down this road before we leave and also Veresdale scrub road. In one of magazines from Op shop I found a recipe for a pasta dish with mushrooms, parmesan and brussels sprouts with goats cheese on top so we try a version for dinner and it was quite nice but I still don’t really like B Sprouts. The Broncos beat Titans in a good game so the weekend starts off well – let’s hope it continues.

Saturday sees the Lions get beaten by Roos which I guess we expected but oh it would be nice if they could kick straight - Snowy can't bear to watch some games.

Sunday 3rd and we join Tony & Kate for church at Rathdowney and as Bill & Yvonne also join us it was ‘rent a crowd’ from Drayton. It was supposed to be their Patronal Festival for St David but he didn’t get much of a mention. Afterwards we adjourn to Rathdowney Hotel for lunch and have a very pleasant few hours chatting to locals. The meals were ok but nothing exceptional but as the place was droning from 50 motorbikes it must meet their approval. On our return to Beau Kate poured a very nice sav blanc from Balhannah (near Hahndorf) so will have to check it out when we are visiting Jim & Heather next. The dogs were very happy to see us and were desperate to get out the gate. I think the guy at back was riding his motocross bike round and round the paddock and the dogs must have been chasing and barking because they were hyped up and panting hard. We go inside to watch the T20 World Cup Women’s final where the West Indian women beat Aust with second last ball and then the WI men won over India with 3 balls to spare. Let’s hope it inspires more participants in the Windies so that they can improve their Test performances.

We are trying out the 5 + 2 diet and this is our second day of shakes for Breakfast and Lunch and a salad for dinner. So far so good and no one got cranky. We will have to swap 2 other meals for shakes as we have food for dinner on our rest days, but no alcohol. After lunch we head off down Cedar Vale road and after a few wrong ends we pass 2 new subdivisions and end up back on B – Beenleigh road so head through town to Kerry. It is 60 klm from Petrie Terrace so Kay must have had a nightmare trip each day to and from work. There are new houses everywhere but fortunately they are on an acre or more but it is still crowded. Then it was into my sort of country – hills mountain ranges and little flowing creeks (Albert River, Christmas Creek & Lost World Creek). Our first dead end was at Lost World Valley which you could get lost in very easily.
 Hillview had a few houses that had a view of hills from every window and Lamington is another very small village. Christmas Creek has a café and cabins and the park next door is the starting point to walk to Stinson air crash site. As it is an 8klm arduous trek along creek and up mountain to the site and takes over 8 hours so we will just read about it. Coming home the country flattens out a little but there are still lots of cattle with short legs on 1 side. It was lovely driving through all the hills and valleys with little creeks to cross. Most of them had water trickling along so it sounded good also. The camping area at Stinson Memorial Park which is start of Stinson walk is very pleasant and has got a big tick in our Camps Book. There was another very popular camping area at Darlington which is closer to Rathdowney.

Tuesday has us heading back south this time through Canungra and Beechmont (very much smaller than I remembered) to Binna Burra where we stop for lunch after checking out the info centre. It is all green and lush with lots of little creeks that could become raging torrents in heavy rain. Coming back to Beechmont we head down the mountain towards Nerang before turning back to Canungra. There are houses everywhere and all the traffic that goes with them.

Wednesday 6^th  Many years ago I heard about the Lions Road – built by Lions clubs from Beaudesert and Kyogle to join the two towns, so today we venture down it. A lovely winding bitumen road over creeks and around mountains to Railway Loop Lookout where you can see the loop in railway line to get up the gradient.

The bellbirds here were magnificent and after an hour of trying to photograph one we find one on ground several feet behind us. There must have been hundreds of them judging by the bird songs.

Then it was on to Kyogle for lunch and a stop at the lookout before trying to find the craft display which was closed. Then we returned home the same way with another stop at the lookout to try to find J’s glasses to no avail. Arriving home we call Jayden & Zahra to wish them a happy birthday and have a chat about their life.

Thursday 7^th   and we head over to Mt Tambourine which is very high up above Beechmont. Our first stop at the top is to watch 3 hang gliders gear up and take off. It seemed to take a long time for them to actually take off. But I guess you have to have the wind in right direction, and then they were gone soaring aloft just like an eagle. 

We drive around the top of mountain and admire the views but there are so many houses. We can’t find the shops I went to when the church came over here 7 or 8 years ago so we ended up at St Bernard’s Hotel and had a very nice meal looking out over the hills towards the Gold Coast. It is a rather steep drive back down the mountain to Canungra.

Friday8^th   and once again we join Tony & Kate for lunch at the Chinese restaurant and enjoy their company before Tony goes off to play golf.

Sat 9^th and everyone arrives home tired but elated after their holiday. They all seem too have had a great time so we bid them farewell and head for Peak Crossing where we stop for lunch. They have a lovely park with views of mountains through the trees – I think they are Flinders Peak and Mt Perry & Mt Goolman and with Main Range NP to the west you are enclosed in a big valley (Fassifern). Then it was into Laidley and an easy job today backing caravan into Bill & Yvonne’s bottom yard. We enjoy their company and the vista through the trees around their house.

We join Bob for church on Sunday and he remembers my name. His sermon was thought provoking and the whole service comforting. Valerie joins me for morning tea afterwards and it was nice to get to speak to her.

Monday is a very early start for Toowoomba to drop off the Waeco fridge to get repaired and then we join Tom & Wendy for breakfast and it was scrumptious. Fresh berries and yoghurt followed by croissants and little bacon and egg muffins. Wendy had lined muffin tins with bacon strips and then filled them with egg and sprinkled cheese and something on top and they were divine!!! It was wonderful to chat to them for a few hours and then it was time to buy Bill some more golf balls. While they were in Sports shop I wandered into Beacon Lighting and found they were having a sale, and they also had a very nice fan with retractable clear blades so after much persuasion J eventually bought it for the lounge room in Wyreema. We all enjoyed a curry from the café on corner of Mary & Margaret streets before heading to Hampton to wind our way back home. The views from Ravensbourne NP would be spectacular on a sunny day but were very pleasant in the mist. From Esk we turned off and came through Coominya and we wondered whether the Bikers were still living in area.

Wednesday 13^th      We are on our way to Killarney area when Doug rings to say that John Anderson has died and his funeral is on Friday morning. It is unbelievable that someone so full of life and so well when we last saw him 16 months ago could be gone forever. We continue on and get lost trying to find back way to Gladfield so have to retrace our steps and then go past Yangan turnoff and end up in Maryvale where we have a comfort stop before backtracking through Freestone, Yangan, Emu Vale and Tannymorel to Mt Colliery where we turn into the forestry and follow some trails. When Yvonne worked here years ago there was a big bald valley high up in mountains and we were trying to find that spot but the trees had all grown and forestry roads changed with loggers moving camp. The road wound it’s way up the mountains of Main Range past a very pretty waterfall and into forest. We stopped for a very decadent lunch beside some insect catchers and then continued up and down trails but couldn’t find a road to top or a treeless area so ended up heading back to Mt Colliery and then Killarney before taking Boonah Road.

As we had all been to Queen Mary Falls we stopped at Daggs’ falls which were just as spectacular. Stopping at the lookout we had wonderful views of Mt Superbus and Wilsons Peak but Tambourine was obscured with haze. The café here is for sale and would have wonderful views across the valley, but I wouldn’t want to put up with all the wingeing customers so will give it a miss.

 Thursday 14^th     We bid Yvonne & Bill farewell and head up range to Cambooya to join Steve & Trace for weekend. As Frostie is on nights we share dinner with Trace & Benjamin.

Friday 15^th John’s funeral is a fitting farewell and he will be sorely missed by his family and the groups he belonged to. We were able to chat to the members of Bush Connection who attended and it was lovely to share our sorrow with them and Laura. He was diagnosed with a brain tumour and also had cancer spread into his lungs 9 days before he died. Luckily he didn’t have to suffer but the suddenness was a shock to us all. Pam is going to have a knee replacement on 3^rd May and will be in rehab for 2 weeks so hopefully I will get to see her while she is laid up. We collected the fridge and bought 2 camping stretchers before heading home to chat to Frostie before he headed off to work. Barb collected her new car today so we got a photo of it encased with a big bow, and I hope it goes well for her. It is the first new car she has had since Bob made her sell her Laser when they came to Qld in 1988.

Saturday 16^th Gardens in Pittsworth were open for 4 days and today was our turn to sell tickets at the Technology Centre. It was interesting and not too hard so the morning passed quickly. Reading through the book about all old homes depicted on wall I saw that they called Auntie Viti – Rene – don’t know where that came from so have taken the authors email address and will contact her to get it changed. We had lunch in Luxton’s old café which is now a very pleasant spot before calling in on Billie to see her and her new ramp. She is her old self though not as agile as previously but at 91 it is expected.

Sunday 17^th Lions Market day is warm and sunny and after helping Lyn display Bric a Brac I go to church and leave J cooking the barbeque. It is all the same when I return an hour and half later though I get to help serving on barbeque. Barb arrives in her new car which looks lovely and we chat for a few minutes before she goes off to try to find Janelle. When she returns we walk around the complex though most buildings are not open before going to collect Billie and have a drive around town. Then it was on to Brick for lunch and a final chat before heading back to Cambooya.

I love the penny farthing bicycle across the road!

Wednesday 20^th Car gets a service in Pittsworth and as Frostie is on a day off he drives J over and back and then I go over in the afternoon, before we pack for our trip south.

Thursday 21^st leaving for Sydney at 8am we make good time to Wallangarra where we refuel and stop at the bric a Brac shop for morning tea. In Deepwater we find a new scarecrow – a witch that has crashed into a power pole!

After our usual stop at the Strawberry farm in Glen Innes we make it to Murrarundi where we stop for the night at the White Hart Hotel. It is a bit disconcerting when we find our key doesn’t fit our door but fits all the other doors around us – so we move rooms and wait for dinner. Last time we were here they didn’t have the restaurant going but the meals tonight were very good.

Friday 22^nd   and we head into Cheese factory in Musselbrook for breakfast and have a lovely dish of mushrooms on toast with their cheese on top – yum! Then we head west to Denman and check it out – small town with big mine of doorstep. It is a pity that Singleton’s mines have spread out this far  - they really are a blot on landscape.

We take the back road through to Putty Road. This time we turn off and go into Putty to check out their mailboxes – loved the one with a church on top. 

Stopping at Grey Gums for lunch we find an owl on one of trees and lots of motorbike clubs flags adorning the flagpoles – wouldn’t happen in Qld.

 Arriving in Sydney we visit the Grandies and check out the new rooms being built at rear. They will have a decent sized house when it is finished but have no yard left. Bailey is well loved by his siblings and seems a lovely little boy.

                                                    

Saturday 23^rd   Somehow we are delegated to go to airport to collect Michelle and Pat. After Narelle tells us to head south on freeway J of course turns north and we end up in a cemetery in CBD. Then it is a slow crawl through the city tunnels clogged with football traffic and back out to the airport. It is a much shorter trip home the correct way where we stop at Subway for lunch before heading over to Grandies who had a delightful time with Auntie Shelle. We all go to Plumpton hotel for dinner and enjoy the night.

Sunday 24^th and Bailey’s Christening is at 10am and on his own so we have the church to ourselves.

It takes a while but is soon over and we head to Peter & Lindy’s for a barbeque lunch. One table is taken up with David’s friends, we sit at another and the Hessians sit outside near the barbeque - ?? which means it all gets a bit boring so we leave. Dave wants to go to pub for dinner but spends his time gambling with a mate and Michelle & Pat are going to Hungry Jacks so I go into restaurant and order my dinner. So much for dinner with his family!!

Anzac Day is early and not as cold as last time and Lilly enjoys marching with Poppy before their service. Despite the words being printed on programme no one around us sang hymns or anthems. There were a lot of people at the service including lots of under 35’s.

You have to queue up for an hour to get into the RSL Club and then it is nearly impossible to get a table – don’t know why they have to go there? Then we dropped Lilly off at home so they could go over to Riverstone to watch themselves on a television programme. We didn’t get invited to join them so took Pat & Michelle into Blacktown to catch a train to the city to go shopping. We ring Vic & Heather and go over to spend the afternoon with them and have a lovely time chatting. Peter calls in and seems on edge – on reflection I think he was high on drugs. Then it was back to Plumpton to pack up. Leaving Sydney we have to crawl along Pennant Hills road before we get past all the schools and traffic eases out and we head into Newcastle to see Richard & Margaret and view Louise’s new home. It is very modern but very nice and it is lovely to see them again.

Wednesday 27^th Heading to Lawrence it rains on and off most of the way but as the road is nearly all 4 lane it is a much quicker trip than in the past. K & J are very welcoming as usual and we have a late night chatting and eating all Joyce's lovely delicacies.

 Thursday 28^th We spend the morning chatting to Kevin & Joyce and have more lovely scones for morning tea so I have to get J away and we head to Woodenbong for a shake for lunch. The road through to Killarney is being upgraded in places so we have a few stops for 'stop and go' man. The road winds around the mountains and over creeks and has some lovely home sites but it is still too far from town. All to soon we are back at border crossing where we stopped to take Bill’s photo a few weeks ago and then it is 2 hours to the van. Then it was rush, rush – did a load of washing so we would have some clean clothes, made a batch of yoghurt so we could have breakfast tomorrow and said hello to Frostie and Trace and changed and headed to Pittsworth for Lions Personality Quest Chinese dinner. Like last time it was lovely with lots of different dishes, though they were a bit slow being served but I guess with 72 people in attendance it was to be expected. J sat next to Belle Hohn who chatted about the town and people and asked to be remembered to Barb. Mel our entrant spoke well and has worked very hard to raise funds and we believe she will make over $10,000 which is fantastic. She failed her first English speaking test to become a permanent citizen and asked for locals to help her conversation and David our President applied and she was able to pass second test with flying colours. Isn’t it amazing that a German woman can be working and fail the test and all refugees who can’t have a conversation get citizenship.

Friday 29^th Wondai is our destination after bidding Steve & Trace goodbye and we have an easy drive through T’mba and out to Highfields where the mist comes over but not for long. It has all disappeared by the time we stop in Cooyar for lunch. They always make lovely burgers at servo here. Then it was a very warm welcome from Neville & Lynnette and Checkers; and a more restrained one from Gemma. Checkers is Border Collie from next door who jumps the fence to visit with Gemma and see what is going on in this part of street. He is lovely and spends most of weekend with us as his owners are away for the 3 days. Neville’s brother Bob is also visiting for the weekend so we have a merry party. As we have no food we fill up in town and let the lovely girl in Butcher’s sell us some T Bone steaks and a Lamb roast and both prove to be exceptionally mouth watering. So much so that I eat the whole steak on Friday night and go back for seconds of lamb on Saturday!! Neville & Lyn are hoping to leave for NT on Wednesday to visit with one of their Grandsons who is working on Wave Hill Station. John wimps out on golf on Saturday morning but the brothers head off at 10am and come home after 6pm absolutely nackered. They revive a little after a beer and shower but both are exhausted so we have an early night. Lyn & I had a lazy day with me doing some embroidery on verandah and Lyn stopping for a chat between fiddly jobs.

Sunday 1^st May After renewing acquaintances at church and lots of lovely cakes and slices for morning tea and lunch we bid them a safe and enjoyable holiday and head through Murgon to Nanango to Sandy & Peter’s farm which will be home for next 10 days. They have 19 Angus/Brahman cows, calves and bull; 1 thoroughbred gelding Rapid Torque, 2 Appaloosa geldings Dakota and Shadow, 10 hens and 3 glamour coat German Shepherds, Beau the older male, Gemma a 10 year old female and Hunter a 1 year old male. They are big and have lovely coats and are very affectionate but I hope Hunter doesn’t run into me or I’ll go flying. We are to put out hay for cattle every evening and the horses get hay morning and night with an apple and carrot for breakfast as well. The dogs get biscuits morning and night and some meat in bowl at night so everyone is well fed. Sandy and Peter are very friendly and we get on well. They invite us for dinner and lunch until they leave on Tuesday morning and we settle in with me catching up on my blog and J trying to get satellite tv to work.

2^nd   Our days are spent feeding horses, cattle, chooks and dogs until a lovely possum climbs the tree next to van and dogs go ballistic. There is so much jumping around and barking we put a plank up from fence to bough of tree in the hope that possum will run down it and get away. However it doesn’t happen for several days until we leave the gate open one evening and the dogs go off down the paddock for a few hours and possum takes advantage of situation and disappears.

4^th     Leaving early we head down to Blackbutt for morning tea and have a lovely slice at the bakery before checking out the art Gallery next door and come home with a copper picture of sea horse. It has some dot markings which may make it aboriginal in origin but it is lovely and has pride of place next to microwave. Heading the back way to Moore we find Jessies Well - a lovely spot where they bullockys bringing logs to sawmill were able to water their animals and themselves. The old trough and sheds are still there. 

Then we head to Moore and up through Linville where we find Lions Camp Duckadang. We have heard a lot about it over the years and find it is a lovely spot and very well maintained, and has an amazing obstacle frame.

                                        We crossed the Brisbane river 39 times on our way to Mt Stanley. 

Some of the crossings leave the Storey Bridge to shame! and the water must travel under the rocks in places as some of crossings are dry. It is a lovely climb up past Mt Stanley and all the cattle grazing in grassy paddocks.

At the top we find an old main roads camp with the original building ( I hope) in good condition.

At the top we head west to rejoin NE H’way and pass through a group of trees with massive lichens attached. It was only in the one area which is fascinating as you would think that the lichen would cover all trees on top of range.

6^th   Today we reverse the drive and go back through to Elgin Vale which is an old station,  and Manumba and then turn south and wind our way down the forest trail to Jimna Forest and find Peach Trees Campground which is amazing. Lots of cleared grassy spaces among the trees with a creek running bye and very clean tidy amenities blocks means we will be back here. We find a memorial to the soldiers from 2/10 Btn, who camped there during WW2 beside the road and then go through Kilcoy and back to Blackbutt where we try one of their famous pies though not the pork and honey ones as they had sold out.

Wandering back through Yarraman we find lots of empty shops but it is clean and tidy so can only hope it is on the way back up.

9^th       Sees us take the back road up to Bunya Mtns and it is another lovely drive through the green hills and little creeks. At the top it is still much the same with hand sculpture and lovely Bunya pine trees, and the Clydesdales pulling a wagon full of tourists. A very friendly crow joins us for lunch and sits on window sill about 2 feet away waiting for some crumbs – we didn’t leave much. 

The pretty faced wallabies are also very quiet and their were some very cute joeys.

Then we wander home through Kumbia and turn off to find Ironpot where Tony used to take a service. We found the area and hall but no church so maybe it is held in hall – will have to try to ask T next time we see him. I loved a nearby letterbox or is that a tree box?

14th and were missing a cow at feed time yesterday so J took the bike and went over the paddock trying to find her to no avail. Low and behold today we have a beautiful baby girl. As she has black wavy  hair on her nose and is so cute she has been named Nigella. 

15^th   We bid Peter & Sandy goodbye and go over to Boondooma dam for 2 days. We are given a very warm welcome by the caretakers and their Cavalier dog and next morning join everyone for morning tea before a guided tour of the property. The house was built in 1847 and the current owner lived there as a young lad and is now restoring the property.

The stone hut built as a store is thought to be the oldest metric building in Aust. It is a very solid structure. The house has kitchen so far away (as a precaution against fire) that they needed a trolley on rails to get food to dining room.

The house was very classy with painted walls. The gardens still have some original plantings and the dairy and stables are also standing.

 It is great that the buildings are open for everyone to enjoy and marvel at. After checking out the museum and a quick lunch we drive back into Proston and out to Boondooma Dam which was built to provide water for Tarong Power station. On the corner of main road to Mundubbera is a bottle tree park with lots of wonderful trees.

 18^th   Our stop tonight is Crow’s Nest CP because I mistakenly believe that we can go into Obst Street during the day and have a leisurely tourist trip home in the afternoon. Well we go for a drive to Lake Cressbrook and Perseverance Dam on Sunday afternoon. They are both lovely spots with lots of people out for a picnic and swim.

At Lake Cressbrook we see an old truck painted with Howard William Steers’ Outback Line Dancing'. We visited his gallery when we were in Broken Hill ½ a lifetime ago. We couldn’t find the top end of Cooby Dam so had a drive through the back blocks of Peechy.

19^th  Obst street was so depressing; it is dirty and paintwork peeling so we leave and go over to Youngs at Wilsonton to get the phone numbers for cleaners and a painter. Then we have to start cleaning out the rubbish and repairing bits and pieces.

20^th  Today is a repeat of yesterday only we get back to CN at 7pm so head to fish and chip shop for dinner and it is very fresh and not greasy.

21^st   We are back over at Frosties and still haven’t seen Cooby Dam or called in on Ros.  J helps Steve dismantle the pool deck in the hope of getting it rebuilt before next summer. We have offered to help them repaint and put up the fence but doubt that he will get around to it this time.

29^th  Sunday sees us at All Saints for church with John Thompson celebrating and it is lovely to see him and Jenny again. Paula is there also so we catch up with her news before heading home.

30^th  We have along chat to Cassie to wish her a happy birthday and learn that Murray is retiring on 25^th June so who knows what they will be up to now. After lunch we head down Flagstone Creek road to Bill & Yvonne’s for the night and have a very nice Thai chicken dinner – wish I knew her recipes. We didn’t take the Cpap machines so had a very restless night.

31^st  It is Grandparents Day so we get to say hello to Liam before school starts and then it is off to Chapel for a welcome before we head into Tyler’s classroom to join them in several activities. It was interesting except for trying to sit on very small short chairs which my knees didn’t like at all. The library had some wonderful books and of course you can buy some for your grandchild or donate some to the school. After morning tea we go back to chapel for a concert where the members of various bands and choirs and dance groups perform for us all. It was very well done and a credit to all the kids who take extra classes from 7.15am each morning.

 We have lunch with Barb at Forest Lake shopping centre and then head up to Gatton and take Ma Ma Creek road back to caravan.

1^st is State of Origin night so we join S & T and Harry and Lachy to watch a very boring game which we win.

3^rd   John and Steve decide to drive to Sydney to see Peter as he has been admitted to Psychatric hospital with PTSD. Unfortunately I am so sick I don’t get to enjoy the weekend without him, but as it is freezing cold, raining and blowing a gale I stay in van with heater on and do some embroidery. Steve doesn’t bother to say goodbye to Trace or say that they have arrived so she is quite unhappy but spends sunday cooking which is always a morale booster. I wandered off to St Paul’s for church and it was lovely to see Janice and Corrine and Peter again. Peter was in fine form telling tales to Corrine’s grandchildren. The car arrives back home absolutely filthy – it is amazing how much mud splashes up to window level.

6^th  The boys arrive back at 11pm and are more at ease with Peter’s situation but it is still a worry when he isn’t going to do anything about sorting the problems with Faith.

7^th        To celebrate our wedding anniversary we go into town eventually ( why we have to stuff about washing car when I say I am ready to go) and stop off at Obst street to drop off blinds and curtains and see how Travis is getting on. The house looks good and ceilings are much nicer. Then we have a table next to window at City Golf Club and enjoy the views over the links while savouring my chicken and mushroom pie. Coming home we collect the mail and my anniversary present arrives – a 'State of Origin' bracelet, as does my birthday present – a necklace in the colours of Dorothea MacKellar’s ‘My Country’. Both of them are stunning and I appreciate how much I am spoiled.

8^th   I get to go into town after lunch and spend a very pleasant 2 hours chatting to Pam. She is her old self if a lot thinner and in considerable pain after her knee replacement. I am beginning to think I won’t go down that path.

10^h    As the cleaners have finished and painter has changed the outside completely it is back to Obst street for the last 2 days to get curtains up, shelves made, garden mulched, watered and paths swept and all other jobs that need to be done. I painted the old wardrobe that Sudanese left behind with the blue paint from spare bedrooms and it is amazing how pale it looks, whilst the walls seemed so dark! We stagger home each evening and put feet on massager while recouperating with a cup of tea.

11^th        Our last day at Obst Street and the blinds go back up, fence palings are nailed back in place and side gate repaired before we dismantle the cedar wardrobe, sweep the floor and head off to Uni Plaza for lunch. While sitting in car eating (because wind was so cold) Meryl comes over to say hello. It is lovely to see her again and she is so busy – booked out over Christmas, Easter and all school holidays for 12 months. After a trip to chemist for more cough mixture and strepsils we go around to Dave & Jenny’s to say hello and meet Lauren who is a darling. The few wisps of hair she has are so blond she looks bald. Jenny is getting around well after her knee scraping on Tuesday so we have a chat before heading to the container to drop off wood and tools and then it is home to join Trace and Ben for dinner.

12^th     We bid Frostie and Trace goodbye and weave our way through Toowooomba to Yarraman where we stop for lunch before heading through Nanango and Goomeri. There were so many vans at the free camp in Ban Ban Springs that we continued on to Biggenden for the night. Next morning J sees a bloke walk past with a snake draped around his neck so goes to stickybeak. It was a 10 foot black headed python that was quite friendly but very heavy!!!

13^th We have a windy trip over to Woodgate Beach but as we neared Childers the drizzle hit the windscreen so it was not looking good until we turned onto Goodwood road and the clouds parted and we had blue skies and blue water when we hit the beach and it was shorts and tee shirts – at last!!

15^th started out very windy but then eased a little so we went for a drive to Walkers Point another lovely spot this time on river mouth with lots sandy beaches and wide blue river and Burrum Heads on opposite side. There were several pelicans waiting for the lone fisherman to catch something but it was looking like they might have to make other arrangements for dinner. Coming back we venture in to Burrum Campground – don’t find the camping area but do find the ramp to beach so drove back north to town then turned around and went south to mouth of river and only saw one other ute – a fisherman going home. There weren’t even any seagulls.

 Back through town and out along the woodgate road we come to Heidke road and go down to Hoppy Lark Creek picnic spot with a fishing platform over the same Gregory river that we had just seen at Walkers Point only this time it was very brown and muddy so it would be interesting to see how far up the river is tidal. One log coming out of river looks like a cheeky snake to me – what do you think?

J then decides to take the dirt track back to Walker’s Point and it winds it’s way through Banksia and paperbark scrub, narrow sandy tracks and over dry lagoons to the bitumen again. A very pleasant drive back to Woodgate where we drive around the southern end of town looking at houses – all of which are out of our price range. Everyone I liked was over $550,000 so it doesn’t look like we’ll be retiring here, even if it is much warmer than Cambooya and Wyreema. We do find a lovely home 2 streets back from water but with water views from front garden that has soaring ceilings but alas the bedrooms are so small you can only fit the bed in and the back yard wouldn’t be big enough for a dog let alone some chooks which it unfortunate as it was nearly the retirement home. We venture back to Hotel for lunch one day and have a lovely snapper in coconut crumbs while looking out over the ocean. Geoff and Cecelia in van behind us are friendly and come from Kootingal. Geoff is a cousin of Vary from Brookstead Hotel so we have to remember him to them when next imbibing there. Wednesday sees us back in Childers visiting the roadside stall and getting groceries that they don’t stock in Woodgate. The Bar & Grill takes our fancy for dinner and my Thai burger is very tasty and J loves his Mexican burger, but my coffee frappe is so sweet it is sickly. All pales into insignificance when we win State of Origin 2 and the series – our NSW friends are very quiet on the matter.

We have an uneventful trip back to Cecil Plains where we stop for the night. It is raining and cold which is a shock after the last 2 weeks of sunshine. The campers next door stay up all night drinking and the idiot is still condemning the FBI at 5.00am before he finally falls asleep. We fall out and get on the road before it gets too boggy and make it to Eliza and Rodger’s by 10am After connecting the power we head into T’mba to drop our passport and drivers’ licences into Heritage in case we want to get another loan. (They will loan us 72% of value of Obst street) We have another lovely lunch at Bayleaf before going over to Clifford Gardens to see Maree and collect our tickets for Norfolk trip. As Strandbags were having a sale I get a purple suitcase marked down from $230 to $90 before letting Brent readjust my back, neck, knees – everything really. Back in Pittsworth we join E & R for dinner and chat before retiring.

Saturday 25^th is Jenny’s 60^th and she is very bubbly when we arrive at 'Regents on Lake' for her Party. We join Cheryl and Bob and chat to them before the photographer and her husband (a friend of Catherine’s husband) join us and then Jane & Cameron Ott join in so we have a very pleasant meal. They had 3 different roasts as well as a chicken dish and pasta bake with mince along with roast vegetables and salads. After speeches and photos we indulge the sweet tooth with an apple and date crumble with caramel sauce and birthday cake which was chocolate with lots chocolate icing.

 We don’t go back to their home but head back to van to get ready for Lions Changeover dinner. It is a pleasant enough evening for one with lots of speeches, and again we have a big roast meal and dessert. Yvonne was awarded the J D Richardson medal and Wilma was presented with Melvin Jones award which is highest accolade for Lions members. Both were very well deserved.
Before breakfast we hooked into a live of Tessa Veale's funeral from NZ and it was very clear and so well done you felt as if you were there with them. It will be nice to get over there next year and meet everyone.

We joined Garth and the parishioners at St Andrew’s for church and chatted to them over morning tea before joining E & R for salmon sandwiches for lunch and a roast for dinner.

Monday morning saw E & R getting their passport photos and then J & E spent the next 9 hours trying to renew their passports on line – eventually it happened but you wonder whether it would have been easier to post all the info to Sydney.

28^th We make it to Lake Dyer for lunch after taking 70 klms to get to Eton Vale servo ( took a few wrong turns ) – no we took the scenic route and then followed the right road through Ma Ma Creek. We can just see the water from van as the Lake is very low. It is amazing how little water is in it with the two deluges that southern Qld has had in recent weeks.

Saturday 2^nd is voting day at last – after the longest election campaign in history I am bored stiff with all their lies and false promises so put in a disillusioned senate vote. Then we go into town to the chemist so I can get some more cough mixture and strepsils and hopefully survive the weekend. J wants to make Peking duck so we check out Schulte’s meats at Plainland and find a frozen one so it should make it to Monday/Tuesday. Thinking that Lowood was close by we wander over countryside and see a few possible homes around Brightview – we will have to come back for Sunday lunch at B Tavern – it has a charging bull on roof before arriving in Lowood at school where they were all voting. There were a few shops and lots of new brick houses so it must be progressing. Wandering through the backroads we find Glammorganvale – very small but with a school before arriving in Fernvale where we had to stop at the Bakery for a pie – they have 120 different varieties and are famous everywhere so J orders a burger !! My chicken pie was very tasty. We found an interesting wooden pin on a shelf and haven't been able to figure out how it was made so will have to chat to Kevin about it.

 From here we decided to check out the antique shops in Marburg and were a little disappointed as there wasn’t  much apart from silky oak furniture sourced from a convent - not the quality I saw here with Mother 12 years ago. Heading towards Rosewood we check out Tallegalla and see Penola homestead up close. It isn’t the same as when it was a restaurant and advertised down on the highway. You get some fantastic views from up here, across to mountain ranges in distance.

 Coming into Grandchester we check out Bigges Camp the original camp spot and it is clean and tidy but no camping is allowed. Out the otherside we turn off to Spicers Gap at Hiddenvale and find some very impressive front gates, but the place was overrun with lycra clad males on their bicycles so we left. Brenda Lloyd’s son John had worked here and advised that it was expensive and checking google when we arrived home he was right. 3 courses were $75 plus $24 for vegetables makes it a $120 meal (with wine) so we will give it a miss. We will come back to the smallest church here that has a service on 3^rd Sunday month. It was a pleasant drive in the sunshine so I warmed up and after several swigs of cough mixture made it home without too much coughing and spluttering. I didn’t watch too much of Wimbledon and only woke up once during the night so have had some sleep.

Didn’t make it too church as I didn’t want to pass this disease on to the elderly congregation and I couldn’t talk or sing without coughing so stayed in sun outside van. We move over to Bill & Yvonne’s on Monday and I go back to bed as I felt so horrid. J goes up to the house to spend time with them so I get some peace.

Tuesday has us heading up the mountain to see Dr David and get some pills to kill this disease. He think I have picked up a microbial bug in bronchial tubes so hopefully we can get rid of it as I am sick of coughing. I haven’t improved much when Bill & Yvonne leave on Wednesday morning so hope they don’t catch this and spoil their holiday in London. The rest of week is spent in van trying to keep warm and stop coughing.

10^th saw us head over to Brightview Tavern for lunch which was ok but nothing to return for. The pub has a bull being chased by a butcher wielding a cleaver on the roof, and inside are pelicans suspended from roof and a large black boar chained to top of ceiling and a rather large python slithering along the air conditioning vent – bit different.

From there we wandered the back roads across Middletons Bridge to Atkinsons Dam which is also very low and on to Esk where we stop to stretch the legs at antique shop. It is owned by Salts from Crows Nest and has much the same junk and mass produced statues and art deco lamp shades. They did have some interesting bronze statues but they were very expensive so will have to leave the $995 girl with long flowing skirt behind. Sunday night saw Andy Murray beat Milos Raonic at Wimbledon in a great match.

Monday had Barb coming for the day and we were delighted to see Tyler hop out of the car. He didn’t have to go to school (Pupil Free Day) so came up to spend the day with us and had a ball. He was delighted to go down the hill and into forest with J and tried to decide what animal dug that hole and who left that scat, and what was that noise or bird. Then he saw Ernie the peacock and had to chase him around the yard. Wanting to give Ernie a breather we head out to Lake Dyer where he checked out the playground equipment and spent a few minutes trying not to squash a bug on slide but in the end it happened.

We weren’t able to have lunch at Rock and Roll Café as they were closed so had a stale cold pie from bakery before heading back to van and a walk over to Cunningham Crest Lookout. The views are stunning in both directions and he had a lovely time climbing the stairs with Poppy. All too soon it was time for them to head home to collect Liam from Kindy. Evidently he told Barb he had the funniest day.

Barb also bought up our mail and in a big box was some Teddy Bears that I had loved several months ago. J had bought them secretly so they were a lovely surprise. One is dressed as Moses with the 10 commandments in his hand and the other is Daniel with a resting lion. They are gorgeous!

After unsuccessfully trying to get a doctors appointment we decide to go to Wyreema anyway and head up Ma Ma Creek way. J unhitches the pressure pump and collects some grapefruit while I chat to Sonya before we head into town. As the Downs Hotel is full we drive up the street and see Howard's house with it’s new green paint and it looks good – just needs the yard tidied up. Coming down Anzac avenue we decide to go to Stock Exchange for lunch. My ravioli with pumpkin and spinach sauce was lovely but the huge meal opposite was offputting. J had ordered a mega burger and it was revolting. The bun and patty etc almost filled a dinner plate and in the middle was a pile of chips that would have fed 5 hungry people. We won’t need dinner after that. Afterwards we waddle down town and tell Heritage about my new card with wrong name on it and then I brave Zierra and get a pair of laceup shoes that hopefully I can walk in over some distance. The sales woman suggests a visit to Podiatrist as my right ankle is still falling over quite severely.

Wednesday is stay at home day and it is cold – the wind is blowing a gale from south west but the sun comes out from time to time.

Tuesday 26^th off to airport to catch a pleasant flight across the waves and then a big bump on landing.

 After checking out our accommodation and picking up our car we venture into town to check it out. 50kph is speed limit except in town where it is 40kph and 30 in school zone. Lots of shops selling small clothes, jewellery and shoes – loads of shoe shops. Our evening meal is Bounty Lodge Welcome dinner which was dished out by the spoonful by a very frugal woman. The first course is a raw fish dish done in lemon juice, capsicum and tomatoes which was quite tasty. There was supposed to be a fish cooking demonstration but it didn’t happen.

Wednesday morning we start off at Cyclorama which is a 360* panorama painting of the important points from when the Bounty left London to go to south seas to collect Breadfruit seeds to sow in West Indies, to the mutiny, life on Pitcairn and their arrival on Norfolk Island on 8^th June 1856. It was quite inspirational and has been impressing visitors for 10 years. After looking through the Guava Art Gallery we wander through Q Victoria’s gardens with some wonderful statues and lots lush sub-tropical plants. The inside of rotunda has the surnames of first settler families.

Our afternoon half day Island tour with John our bus driver from the airport was very knowledgeable and fun. There is a lot packed into the 34 square kl space and it is very hilly but green as we discovered when we drove up Mt Pitt and you get a lovely view over Burnt Pine and Kingston and out to Nepean and King Islands.

There is a convict built bridge near our apartment that is called 'Bloody Bridge' after an Irish uprising and it is still going strong.

We checked out the RSL club for dinner and J had a lovely fish meal and I had prawns. They had a guy singing Glen Campbell, Bee Gee & Beatles songs and he was very good.

Thursday morning was raining for our tour of Kingston so we all huddled onto verandah of house and tried to listen to a woman who wouldn’t turn up microphone or speak into the mouthpiece so you only caught bits of what she was saying. Then we moved onto hospital where we all tried to fit into a small room and once again anyone on outskirts didn’t hear much. While stopped I saw an interesting bird in tree and managed to get a photo of sorts to try to find out what it was. At one stage the second penal settlement ran out of food and killed tens of thousands of Providence birds to survive. They haven’t come back to Norfolk itself but a small colony has returned to King Island, so maybe one day they will reinhabit this part of world. We then drove up east coast to an old Pitcairn settlers’ home. When they moved away from Kingston and settled on their own farms they still kept the Georgian style of buildings with a central door and 2 windows on each side. It is a pity that the house has become derelict as it would be interesting to see inside it.

Then the rain came down again so we rushed back to cars and into town. While checking out the shops we found The village place with Hihi gift shop and their hand painted cloth and a jewellers with a woman making her wares so I ended up with a seahorse pendant and a mosaic glass one before lunch at the Olive Cafe. As the sky cleared we headed to north west of island to Capt Cook’s monument and a fantastic view across Duncombe Bay to Point Howe. While looking at the view J spied a whale breeching so we stopped a while to see if they would come back but didn’t.                                                          
                                      

On the way home we came across a very lichen encrusted fence which you would love to have.

When they first started surveying paddocks they planted some moreton bay fig trees along the fence lines and we found some really good specimens along one of the roads.

The evening’s entertainment was “Wonderland by Night” which J wasn’t too keen about but it turned out to be fantastic. Archie Bigg is a local Bush Poet who set up a wonderland of lights and different themed areas to match some of his poetry. We walked behind the moon buggy along forest paths lit by LED lights on the edges until we came to a spot where they had power set up and he would turn on the lights and recite a piece of poetry. We had granddaughter coming over to visit, grandmas laundry, Barney Duffy, Clever Cow and Outside dunny and some done in Norfuk language which were also good as we could follow them. Our last stop was at the Old Tin shed which he recited and then we ventured inside for tea, coffee and coconut cake. A really great night was had by all.

The rain stopped after lunch and clouds blew away in time for sunset at Puppie Point where they had an Island fish fry. Two guys cooked trumpeter fish in batter on portable stove by the trawler full and we helped ourselves to salads and ana (a sweet potato and coconut dish) and a vegetable banana slice and coconut bread. They kept putting out trays of cooked fish until we were at bursting point. Then coconut pie arrived for dessert! We were supposed to go to an outdoor theatre show of “Mutiny on the Bounty” but it was cancelled because of the wet? Nothing could cancel the sunset.

However some of local girls have learnt Tahitian dancing and they entertained us with their hip gyrations while dancing. They are raising money to go to an international dance contest in Hawaii so hope they make it.   

 Friday morning was a free day so we headed up the east coast to Ball Bay where we discovered a tanker manoevering into position so we stayed and watched the process. Once the tanker had backed in as far as it could and put out anchor, the small boat occupants used a fishing rod to cast out to pick up a rope sent out from shore and attach it to a buoy before going out to tanker and getting another rope and bringing it back towards the shore and attaching it to the one on buoy. This was then pulled to bollard by a small ute with some ballast in back reversing up the hill. This process was repeated again with the rope attached to another bollard 100 feet from first. Then the process was repeated to bring the gas line in.

 We went off exploring for 4 hours before coming back to see them dismantling everything. After 8 hours the tanker was able to resume it’s journey to Botany Bay. It had been to Noumea to deliver a load of LPG but hadn’t been able to discharge all the gas and has they would have had to pay customs duty on the remainder they called up Norfolk and asked if they would like it. They have a delivery every 3 months if the seas are low enough otherwise they leave or have to sit around for a few days and wait for wind to drop. Our drive took us along Two Chimneys road to another reserve overlooking the ocean. Some houses on the island have spectacular views, as does some lookouts along the coast roads.

After driving over to west side to lunch at Blue Bull and discovering that it is no longer open to public but they have a café in town we retrace our steps and check out the new meat in town. They have gone back to an old breed of cattle that have a blueish coat and the meat was tasty but hard to get past the dried crust on my kebab. The bull is in a paddock at the back of café – how does he do his thing with the cows from here?

 After driving around the north side of island and finding Cascades but no Cockpit waterfall we decide to go to the Leagues Club for dinner and joined a couple from Logan area who have a camping block south of Beaudesert. Of course they come around selling raffle tickets and we had to win a meat tray! Our apartment had a stove and various cooking implements so we bought some taco salsa, bread rolls and 2 packets of pasta mix and had 3 meals for $7, which was considerably cheaper than bought meals. As they grow most of their fruit and vegetables and there are beef cattle and chooks everywhere, anything else has to be freighted in so is very expensive. The meat tray came with a bottle of Hardy’s wine but don’t know if it had been left in sun or just a bad batch but wasn’t worth drinking. As there is so much public land here they have let people put there cows and calves out on roads to eat the grass and they do a good job – you just have to be on the look out for a cow who decides to wander across the road in front of you.

The roosters must have been let go from every clutch of chickens that hatch because there are thousands of them wandering about. We have a black hen and 7 newborn chickens at Crest and they come around several times a day and will wander into your room if you have the door open.

We are on ground level on the door side and the balcony is 8 feet off ground on western side – a lovely spot to sit and watch the sun go down, and most evenings we can hear the waves breaking on shore of Emily Bay.

Saturday morning we join Rachael on her Tag A Long tour of The Pier Store and Commisariat Store. She is brilliant, has a sense of humour, wealth of knowledge and speaks loud enough for everyone to hear.

 The first settlement at Kingston (on 6/3/1788) was by Phillip King under Captain Arthur Phillip’s instruction so that the French wouldn’t claim the island.  They were to cut down the Norfolk Pines to make masts etc for ships and get timber for buildings in Botany Bay Settlement.

Second settlement was by 1100 convicts and prison officers and lasted until 1855 when the surviving people were transported to Van Diemens Land. They have 3 flag houses along the wharf that houses all the semaphore flags used to get ships into the bay. With the Supply wrecked just off shore it is a hazardous operation. To get the provisions to jetty they use lighters and there are several lying around the port area.

 The Island had a caretaker for the next year when Queen Victoria granted it to the people from Pitcairn Island. They were the wives and children of Bounty Mutineers and John Adams the last surviving mutineer. There were 194 of them who stepped ashore on 8^th June 1856 and they have lived happily on Norfolk ever since. Until the Australian Government stepped in and abolished their Regional Council, GST, Health system and have taken over in the only way Bureaucats no how. They are spending $13.5 million upgrading Cascade Jetty. They will find out the hard way that you can’t put hydraulic cranes and machinery on the pier there because it goes under water regularly and it is too rough most of the time to get ships in to unload. The same applies at Kingston Wharf because the prevailing wind is from south east. If they had spent the money putting in a jetty at Anson Bay or somewhere along the west coast it would have been protected and used 90% of the year. By abolishing their GST they are now making their appointed council impose rates at 200% increase on previous amount. Gary Hardgrave the dickhead in charge doesn’t allow criticism over the radio or in newspaper and tried to stop A 60 minutes team from doing a story, but failed. The Australian and NSW governments have got a battle royal coming up as Geoffrey Robertson QC has taken up their cause at the UN and International Court along with several other British Lawyers and statesman. The Aussie public should be told about the undemocratic way this takeover has been handled. We might not have liked the way our councils were taken over but we still had a vote in local and Qld state elections the people of Norfolk don’t get a vote anywhere and when they didn’t agree with the referendum in 2015, the government abolished referendums on the island. After lunch we retrace our steps out to Two Chimneys to the winery and have a wine tasting of some very nice wines. A chardy and Merlot came back with us to Norfolk Liqueurs where we had more fun tasting half a dozen different ones. I chose to bring home Apres (alluring blend of chocolate and mint) and Ice Melon made from honeydews and will be delectable over ice cream. John finally decided on Sambucca (aniseed) and Maconochie’s Rum over Convicts Curse (whiskey). We had to stay in for dinner after all this alcohol so ate some more of our meat tray.

Sunday morning saw us in the wonderful church of St Barnabas for Holy Communion and I thought the sermon was very thought provoking – about spirits. Alas when we left the church Rev David Fell shook hands and spoke to the people in front of me, then held out his hand and went on to speak to people behind me – didn’t even look at me. It was so humiliating I am going to write to Focus and let priests know it is not on. He won’t hear about it as he is part of Sydney Diocese mores the pity. In the end we decided to go to morning tea and found a couple from Dalby and another couple from Goulburn who were much friendlier.

For lunch we journeyed out to Bumboras Point to Dino’s restaurant for a lovely lunch of risotto – mine had garlic prawns and J had fish and prawns in his. As we had booked the Island Fish Meal at Bedrock for the evening we had entrée sized meals and they were still huge. Being naughty I had a slice of honey, yoghurt cheesecake and J had a blue cheese plate – well we both had them as we shared – and it rounded off the meal nicely. To aid digestion we walk down to Bumboras lookout and watch a lone surfer ride the waves.

On the way home we found the remains of Barracks used during Penal settlement.

Our evening meal out at Bedrock (on northwest corner) was the most enjoyable – Byron and Heidi have 10 – 12 people so that they can join in the meal and it was so friendly and intimate. We started with wine on back deck overlooking the water at sunset!!! And then moved into dining room where the dog and 26 year old cat Bam Bam also joined us. The most delicious smoked fish chowder was our first course and I could have had several bowls of it and forgotten about the remainder of meal. But didn’t because we had a huge piece of kingfish sitting ontop of a sweet potato/yam mash with a lovely mixed salad, beetroot salad, a curried fish dish and the lemon cured fish and coconut bread again and it was all very tasty. Byron kept us entertained with his tales of island life and the current political mess. He is a very generous person (electrician) who is trying to get some grants through UN to put a solar system on Pitcairn Island so the 52 inhabitants can have a slightly better life. He thinks it will cost about $500,000 for the parts and he will install it gratis. Desert was a choice of mandarin or raspberry slice followed by tea or coffee and more talking before we left them to the dishes at 10pm – our latest night so far.

Monday we had another Tag A Long museum tour with Rachael who took us through the Supply Museum and the museum house at 10 Quality Row – both fascinating insights into how the people lived back then. When the Pitcairn women (Tahitian) arrived they were amazed at the indoor fireplaces and terrified at footsteps on stone floors.

While excavating the sunken ‘Supply’ they discovered the balls that were used to keep inside of canons from rusting and then found the pebbles that were used as ballast – they have been geologically proven to come from Thames riverbed. There were some lovely grass baskets woven by Pitcairn women along with lots of blue and white china. 

They soon allocated each family a few acres which they could build houses on and grow their food. All the roaming cows and goats that the penal colony left behind were a bit of a worry too.

Afterwards we checked out the cemetery down on Emily Bay and found Fletcher Christian’s wife’s grave along with lots belonging to small children. Most of the soldiers and prisoners here would have been fairly young except for one counterfeiter who was in his 90’s. We went home for lunch to cook up the last of our meat tray and then went up Mt Pitt to see the plane take off for Sydney only to see it fly into the clouds 10 minutes early. There is some very large leaved plants growing over the mountain and they help to make it appear very lush.

We back tracked then and checked out the Melanesian Mission cemetery behind the church which had some old graves and some simple crosses with just one name on and others that were a bit confusing.

From here we went back to Commissariat Store which has been turned into All Saints church. It has some wonderful stained glass windows and would seat 3 times the people that St Barnabas' does.

Monday night we had a Norfuk language class where we had another half hour talk on history – bit tiresome when you have heard it 4 times already before learning a few words and getting the vowel sounds – but fun. The only place we had been recommended but not eaten at was the bowls club so we were joined by 50 other people from the class who descended on masse. J hadn’t got his steak fix from our meat tray so had a big lump of beef which he proclaimed was very tender and cooked?? to perfection. My Garlic prawns weren’t quite as good as the RSL clubs but still very nice. We reneged on dessert to keep the waistline from exploding.

Tuesday morning we enjoyed Bacon and eggs and my muesli, berries and yoghurt before a last walk around shops and our cheese tour. John Christian and his brother decided to start making cheese from Beef cattle as a side line. They have now invested in 3 portable milking machines and have roped in the local farmers with cattle to have a small yard to catch the cows and tie up the calves so in the afternoon the boys go out and milk the cows and then let the calves back with cows overnight. It seems a win win as the cows are making more milk, thus bigger calves, milk for cheese making and another sideline for the tourist industry. We checked out the yard where he milks his father-in-law’s cows, the sawmill and wood shed where same 80 year old FIL makes ukuleles out of Norfolk pine or Banyan trees and strings them with fishing line. They looked very novel but at $380 were a bit exey for me.

Then it was off to his daughters back verandah where we sampled the cheddar, feta, blue and haloumi cheeses washed down with some NZ wine while chatting and looking out over the ocean. Allison also had some banana chutney, guava jelly and local honey to add to tasting plate and it was all very moreish. Just shows what can be done with some imagination and the local seasonal produce. Hope it all goes ahead in leaps and bounds now that El Nino had broken (or so they say). We thought the island was very lush and green but evidently it is drought stricken – they should see western Qld for droughted land. All too soon we had to get our car back to Crest and wait for John C to collect us for our trip back to airport.

 It was a thoroughly enjoyable holiday and we will have to come back to check all the things we didn’t get to – Clifftop Barbeque breakfast, Sound and light show and Mutiny on Bounty, Fletcher’s fate dinner, progressive dinner, Glass bottom boat.

Our trip back was fairly uneventful as was the journey across Brisbane until we hit the Western freeway when we came to a standstill and crawled all the back over the river. Arriving home we found a message from Jenny saying they had been delayed so we could sleep in the next morning. Unfortunately Steptoe passed away on Wednesday morning which was very sad for all concerned. His funeral the following Wednesday was well attended by Cambooya locals and it was lovely to see the girls again. Tania and Justine have grown and both have long hair now. Katrina is still very pretty and will miss her father so I hope she has someone to talk to. Bluey and Joy were back without car (which has melted a piston) and caravan (which transport company put a forklift through wall near hot water system) so they are in a rental car and staying at Burke & Wills – goes to prove that RACQ Ultimate is well worth the money. Also saw Paula and her new man, whom she didn’t introduce and Meg. We went out to Bull and Barley afterwards and then everyone turned up there. By the time we went up to Paul’s for a drink in the shed Frosty was on the way and went off at us for criticising him to Trace. Goodness knows what has got into him so we will forget about going out there again. We are able to catch up with friends and appointments while in Toowoomba, so we have had teeth cleaned and I’ve got some new inserts for my shoes. Beris called in one afternoon for tea and we had a lovely chat and then Kevin & Joyce came in a few days later. We ended up going out to Millmerran to spend the whole day with them and had a good catch up. Going to church at St Mary’s we get to see lots of people and go back the following Sunday for the Bishop’s visit and morning tea where I get to chat to Tony’s office manager from Kingaroy. For my Birthday we meet up with Barb at Wivenhoe Dam and have a lovely lunch on the verandah of Cormorant Bay Café. It was lovely to be able to sit and chat for a few hours. Jamie and Sandy sent sms messages and Murray rang and chatted for 2 ½ hours with all the news from Geelong.

Tuesday nights’ Lions meeting had an Olympic theme and David had us answering questions, throwing straw javelins, lolly shotputs and playing card discus, then charading various games. We bid them all goodbye and should be back in 2018 if we don’t stay with Vaughan and Karen next May.

Pat rang on friday morning to say her mother was dying and she was going back to Tassie so would we look after Molly again so the poor cat was collected and brought back to Kearneys' spring. She doesn't seem too concerned until I leave back door open and she tries to climb up Budgies cage and very quickly gets put back inside.

Saturday afternoon I checked out the fashion parade at St Mary's and had a pleasant time chatting to Barbara Thelander and Howard. They had 3 young boys and 2 girls, 1 teenage boy and 2 girls and 5 women to show off the clothes from Brampton's and Target. Kate Free and Tina & Chloe Woodall were 3 of models and it was lovely to see the girls growing into lovely young ladies. The hall was packed for the tasty afternoon tea and we were lucky to buy a tray of leftover cakes and slices. I managed to win a blue scarf in one of raffles.

After our last service at St Mary's (for some time we hope) we stopped for a cuppa in Highfields before heading to Goombungee for lunch with the Reddings.  It was lovely to catch up with them all and see Val in good health. Rhonda is going to give her an 85th birthday party but don't think we will be able to be there unfortunately - but who knows.

We have a lovely chat to Mort & Meryl on monday when we take Molly over to George's Place. They are a lovely couple and devoted to the cats they look after. Then it was into town to a new Indian restaurant where we have another nice meal. 2 curries, 2 rice bowls, 4 papadums and 2 garlic and 2 plain naan breads, with 2 drinks for $35, so good value too. Then it was over to Drayton cemetery to find Aunt Polly's grave. After wandering around Presbyterian section 4 we discover she is in section 3 and soon find a barely readable headstone. It responds well to a scraping and wash with ammonia so hope the lichen stays away for a few years. Then we wander through the C of E section to find Simon's grave, fortunately it wasn't in need of a clean so we could head home for a cuppa. Then learned that John & Sandy retired at lunchtime so we are all happy for them. Maybe now they can relax and have a good break after working 6 days a week for over 10 years. 

Saturday 3rd sees us head off to Wondai to see Neville & Lyn and we spend a lovely 4 days in their back yard catching up on all the gossip.

Wednesday 7th September and we are off to Hervey Bay to housesit. It was quite a short trip via Kilkivan and Woolooga onto the Bruce h’way for a short while till we turned off in Maryborough. We spend time chatting to Bev and Bob before retiring to van for night. They leave at 9am to head to airport so we settle in to get to know Dasha, the cutest little white poodle.

Friday we checked out the Esplanade and had lunch at Aquavue where my salad was divine. Looking out over the water was very relaxing.

Saturday 10^th at the pier markets we filled up on fresh fruit and vegies before finding the fish warehouse. Then there was an open house with a red cedar house with verandahs on 3 sides and a covered outdoor area linking it to a studio with bathroom/laundry. It is on 1 acre of land and full of mature gum trees but the gardens which were au natural needed a little work. It is priced at offers over $500 so we decide to give it a miss, but it is interesting to see what we can get for what money.

Sunday church and we are made very welcome and chat to a few people over morning tea. Lorraine wasn’t there so we will have to wait to see her again.

Tuesday is whale watching day and it looks to be good as we set off on Spirit of Harvey Bay. They head out alongside woody island and then up Fraser Coast and we see lots of whales. Stopping at one spot a young calf decides he wants to find out what this big thing is and swims right alongside the boat, with mum very close by.

There is a lot of breeching and rolling over waving flippers in air which we are told is the males trying to impress a female so she will mate with him. At one stage the crew drop a microphone over the side and we hear the male singing. He has the same song for a year and next year when he comes back he will have a different one. One of them must have thought he was in with a big chance as the breeching display went on for an hour, before we left.

Then we came across a female with her head in sand and tail in air where she stays while expressing milk into the water to feed her calf. Their milk is 47% fat so when it hits the cold water it solidifies and the calf swims along eating it up. She expresses 800 litres a day to get the calf strong enough to make it back down to Antarctic before she gets to eat again. They don’t eat while they are up here – fancy going for 5 months without food. It was a brilliant day and value for money to go on 5-6 hour trip as opposed to 2 or 3 hour one.

Wednesday dinner at Club House is very nice looking out over the first and 10^th tees as sun goes down.

Thursday trip to Howard to look through the Drapers who have a large collection of patchwork materials, actually they have a large collection of everything you can hardly move in the shop. We have a long chat to Trevor, the owner, and buy some materials for the pirates pants, a Christmas something and braces for J’s shorts so they won’t be falling down all the time. Around the corner is Brooklyn House, built in late 1860’s and once home to Dame Annabel Rankin the first female mp. We have a lovely tour by Jan who with her husband have done a wonderful job restoring the house over the last 30 years. They now want to sell up and go caravanning so I could have it for $700,000 and I would love it. But if we wanted to keep up the tours and Devonshire teas we would have to live up in the attic as they do and it is reached via a narrow steep staircase so no good for me. To imagine how big this house is – they have 3 bedrooms, a lounge, office and bathroom upstairs. But it is so appealing to me. We have a drive around town – clean and tidy but worn on edges before heading south and stop for a cold pie at Burrum Heads which we eat on shore looking over miles of sand banks. The tide is really out and an older gentleman who stops for a chat tells us that the fishing is not what it used to be – funny that you need water to catch fish. As J has booked us into dinner at Hoolihans we check it out. Very basic tables and uncomfortable chairs but the décor is Irish and food very nice so we end up having a pleasant meal. It would be better at lunch as you could look out over the water.

Friday lunch is at Black Dog Café which is also very lovely looking out over the water and food was great too, then we have a trip to Dundatha (near Maryborough) to look at a house that is for sale. It was a bit plain but found some others on the river but out of our price range. We end up stopping at Australiana Crafts on way home and they have some lovely craft and pottery items for sale and extensive gardens with animals and birds dotted throughout. I come home with a cute pair of pink flower earings.

On Saturday there is an open house around the corner which has 30 mango trees on 5294 sqm, so we check it out and J falls in love before we get to the house. There are 3 double garages (one has been made into a granny flat with small workshop) and a huge entertainment area joining one of garages to house. The place would have been perfect if it had had more room in dining/ lounge area. My dining suite wouldn’t fit anywhere, which is such a pity. To console ourselves we go back  to fish markets for a 5 kg box of prawns and some snapper and sweetlip fillets.

Sunday after church J suggests that we could extend the lounge area so that is food for thought.

Monday we find the Z-Pac theatre for Patsy Cline show which is brilliant. The singer is a PC look alike and a great singer and she has a sidekick who tells the story between songs and has us in stitches. There are 2 men playing guitar and drums and that is the cast. Everyone was singing along and clapping when appropriate so we all had a thoroughly good time. Around the corner was a little Indian restaurant so we decided to go there for lunch – great idea but the power had gone off so they had to hold a torch to see how to cook the food. We sat out on verandah looking over the water so it didn’t matter to us. We find out later that there has been a car accident and ¾ of HB is without power while the pole is repaired. We then decide to go back to look at house so arrange to meet the agent at 3pm. This time we check it out with the idea of extending 3 metres and that puts a whole new spin on it. Agent Charles Couper suggests a builder who might be able to give us a rough idea on how much it will cost.

Tuesday 20^th and Sandy’s birthday, after chatting to her for 30 minutes about their retirement (one week in) we go off for a meeting with builders at the house and we put in an offer!! Gill says that it would cost $38K to extend out 4 metres, $35k to go 3m and $32k to go 2m, so we might get 4 metres added on, which will give a great lounge area.

Wednesday and offer is accepted so it looks like we might be able to settle in HB. Barb had a small melanoma cut out of her scalp and put the photos on facebook for us all to be swallowing hard, but let’s hope it all test okay.

Thursday we take a trip to Maryborough and find ladies making dolls at Croydon Foundry Art and Craft space. Walking around city centre there are a lot of empty shops though everything is clean and tidy. At top end we find the markets and come home with some orthotic thongs (to wear around house) very tasty chilli and lime olives, blueberries and peanuts. Back at Mary Poppins House for lunch, we learn that PL Travers the author of MP grew up in bank house. Down on riverbank we hear the sound of a Paddle Steamer but can’t see anything so will have to visit the info centre next time. Coming home we stop in at a chemist to get scripts filled and I chat to Pharmacist who thinks my rash is something I’ve eaten or injested, so have to change shampoo, go on strict diet and then late next week do a liver detox day and then we will see what happens. Unfortunately the Cats go down to Swans in AFL so we won't have a team in any Grand Final in 2 weeks time.

Saturday we go to collect J’s new glasses and walk around Stockland for hours! And buy a set of ‘Flavourstone’ cookware from Harris Scarfe. The afternoon is spent copying paperwork that Heritage need for the loan and then more disappointment as Giants don’t make it to Grand Final but Storm beat Raiders to go into NRL GF.

Sunday after church Chrissy comes for a holiday so Dasha is beside himself with joy – it is to be hoped that they wear each other out or we won’t get much sleep.

Tuesday I head off to chiropractor thinking I will just have an adjustment and then leave but no Lex doesn’t like the state I’m in so it’s off to Radiology. Then a trip out to Stockland to OPSM where they decide my eyesight hasn’t deteriorated in last 3 years so instead of reading glasses I get a new pair of prescription sunnies for $530!!

Wednesday it’s off to before a quick lunch and back to Orchid street to meet the Building Inspector who comes up trumps. There are a few white ants in paperbark tree in front corner which we will get treated when we take over, and a cracked window in one of bedrooms, a few bubbles in ceiling paint above shower and a wet spot behind the vanity near shower which is a worry. However they think it might just be a drip from a flange not tightened when the bathroom was renovated a few years ago. Darren and Rosemarie are going to get that looked at so it should be all systems go on Wednesday. I have so many ideas for what I‘d like to do, but will have to curtail my energies for the time being. Guess that in 18 months I should have everything worked out and then change it all when we move in.

Thursday and J has discovered what is wrong with his knee which he can hardly walk on – GOUT has moved from his big toe. When we came up here and started eating prawns he decided to take the pills to prevent gout but alas they haven’t worked as they were supposed to, so now he can take the get-over-gout pills and have diarhorea for next few days. Barb had her stitches out today and got the okay that melanoma was benign which I am very thankful for.

In order to try to get rid of the rash over my face I am doing a liver detox today – a drink every hour, alternating between water and a cranberry/ginger/nutmeg/cinnamon/lemon juice concoction. Fortunately it doesn’t taste too bad. What is surprising is that I haven’t felt hungry all day!! Might have to do this more often and we might lose some weight.

My chiropractic visit on Friday was a little scary as the x-rays show stage 2 osteo-arthritis in my neck and shoulders so it looks like I have some uncomfortable exercises to do to try and reverse the curvature but it will be worth it.

For a little exercise we wander out to Akarra Tea Gardens and check out the lagoon with a pair of black swans and their 3 ½ grown offspring who share the water with a hoard of turtles and 1 big eel. The gardens were a little disappointing but the café was lovely with individual ‘garden alcoves’ where you could have a lovely meal. J wasn’t feeling well so we left and 10 minutes later he asked what I wanted for lunch – obviously he didn’t want anything healthy so we settled for Migaloo Café at the Urangan pier where he ordered a steak burger and chips and then didn’t eat the chips. Why he has to have a burger everytime we eat out is beyond me. Afterwards we walked out half way onto the pier but you couldn’t see anything in the water. It was crowded with schoolkids fishing and 2 boys had 2 whiting and a little girl was so excited at pulling in a 5 inch bream. I don’t know if it was the legal limit but it wasn’t going back in water. Then it was home to start my exercise regime and have a SCAN.

Saturday afternoon AFL Grand Final sees the Bulldogs trounce the Swans so David won't be happy.

Sunday after church I had lovely breakfast at RSL of wild mushrooms on cottage cheese toast with rocket and oil/tar drizzled over. Then J wanted to see Tina so we spent 90 minutes talking to her and then had a very quick trip to 2 houses to check out the gardens. The first one was modern with grasses as feature plants and a water wall which we looked up on internet and is classed as a sleeping Budda. It was black and probably 4 feet square and looked very nice. The second garden was full of colour and plants. We had a long chat to the owner about what we could grow here after I saw a long garden bed of roses with no black spot or mildew anywhere – he uses Rose Shield every 2 weeks. I think I’ll skip growing them and just buy a bunch each week. He had been told last year that if he wanted to win the garden completion he needed more colour so he has planted hundreds of petunias and impatiens along with lots of shrubs. Grevilleas also do very well in this sandy soil so we should be able to grow a few of W’S lovely bushes. We didn’t have time to go to River Heads to see the champion garden as we were expected at Lions Den for lunch. They have a social barbeque lunch once every 3 months instead of social meeting. There were only 9 members present out of 16 members so we got to talk to most of them. Our contact Ian is also in Nashos so J has got somewhere else to go. We have been invited to next Lions social lunch on 25^th October, before Nashos lunch on 26^th; all before we leave on 28^th. Then it was home for a catnap before the NRL Grand Final where Storm lost. It would have been great for Cronulla to win their first except that Paul Gallen is Captain.

Monday and we head to Bargarra in drizzle to meet Amanda & Mal. They seem a very nice couple who are doing lots of renovations to their home and it should be great when finished. They have 2 kids Claudia, 12 and Angus 4; 3 dogs Murphy, Doug and Louise; a cat and 5 budgies so that shouldn’t be too difficult. After chatting to them for 2 hours we head down to beach for some fish and chips before heading out to the Turtle Centre and home in rain, via the Icecream shop in Childers where I tried an avocado icecream – very strong avo taste but a bit bland, just needed something extra. If you were creating a dessert that needed something green that would be the answer.

We had a good storm on Monday night so Tuesday morning was spent raking and sweeping leaves before Shama rang to say that our loan had been approved – yippee!!

Wednesday 5^th and Michelle is 40 and Jackie 31, so J now has a 40 year old child. She had a lovely day if rainy weather. We have a few calls to Heritage and the solicitors before the house is signed over to us so to celebrate we go to Santinis’. The little Italian restaurant we went to when they first opened and had a superb meal. Sharing a Gorgonzola Gnocci and Scallop Gratin meant we could taste both and both were lovely but the gnocci slightly more so. Then we had to have his Garlic and Rosemary Pizza which we tried last time and it was still as good as we remembered. To round it off we shared a Black Forest Trifle and Tiramusu. The service was wonderful and everyone was so cheerful we will be back – might have to make it a monthly date when we move here.

Thursday saw Dasha go off with Martin to have a bath and spend the day with Chrissy so we took ourselves off to the Botanical Gardens. Not sure how Botanical they were it was more like a bushwalk, but lovely and cool and an easy walk. They have 2 lovely fountains in duck pond with masses of duckweed so the turtles must have eaten all the fish. After checking out the Chinese garden we found the orchid house and gazed in wonder at all the orchids that are blooming at the moment. They have added lots of ferns, anthiriums and African violets in amongst the orchids so it looked spectacular. J got to make lots of mental notes of what I would like my orchid house to look like.

Friday 7^th   Wild Lotus for beckoning for dinner and did not disappoint but was a little expensive. We shared our meals and it was very tasty but not Thai as I had expected.

Thursday 13^th     Marina markets were cancelled because of wind and it was blowing a gale so we ventured to the Thai Diamond Restaurant for dinner and it was also lovely food but the service wasn't quite as good as at Wild Lotus. Once again we shared the meals so we could taste 2 dishes and will have to come back to try some more.

Friday 14^th     Dinner at Bowls club with Helen and Peter, and then we went back to there place for cards where we learnt a new game ‘Frustration’ and it is well named.

Saturday 15^th     We checked out a garage sale where there were some lovely tables and chairs but alas nowhere to put them, but did buy a round decoupage box to store dolls in and some black and silver wallpaper which hopefully will cover those 2 mirrored wardrobe doors.. As J found a gorgeous grandfather clock for sale for $150.00 and we couldn’t buy it as have nowhere to store it I think we should rent a shed and collect up stuff there, but guess we won’t be back in area for 6 months so it will be hard to put things in it. I did find a blue bottle in shape of guitar which did come home with me.

Sunday 16^th   Nikenbah markets have an amazing array of plants for sale cheaply so we will return. While we were having another breakfast Doug rang so had a lovely chat to him and Chris.

Monday 17^th   Michelle rang about the Council not signing off on a building permit so we have something else to try to remember to get fixed.

Thursday 20^th   This morning we met up with Steve our architect who measured up the house and will draw up some plans for the extension. All seemed to go well – how difficult can it be to move a wall 5 metres and put in 2 windows?

Friday 21^st   Today was supposed to be house payment day but owner’s bank is being difficult so it has been postponed to 7^th November. As we had no reason to celebrate we went back to Bowls Club for dinner with Peter & Helen.

Sunday 23rd sees us bid everyone at church goodbye after a lovely service with Bishop Jonathan Holland confirming  3 teenagers which is a good sign.

Tuesday 25^th and it was Lions meeting day so we joined them at Lion’s den – they have a lot of sausages to be cooked in next 2 months it is a pity we won’t be here to help. We pick up our architect plans and they look ok so take them out to Gil the builder and have several hours chatting to him and his wife.

26^th had us back at RSL for National Servicemen’s lunch. J had a chat to several members so will probably join when we get here.

Thursday night instead of washing dishes we had dinner at Oriental Palace and it was a very nice meal. Chrispy Duck in plum sauce and seafood combination with prawns, scallops, calamari and fish pieces with some steamed dim sims for entrée. It was very filling so we had to skip the fried icecream.

Friday 28^th and we are packed up by 11am and waiting for Bev & Bob to arrive home. Dasha wasn’t excited until they reached the door.

 After chatting for a while about their trip – liked Charleston and the New England area best we bid Dasha farewell and head up the highway to Gin Gin where we stop for the night in a freebie in a pleasant spot but it is beside the highway so very noisy all night long. From there it was 4 hours to Coolwaters at Kinka Beach where we set up camp for the fortnight before exploring Emu Park which is a pleasant town with spectacular views over Keppel Bay and must be very popular as it has masses of new homes going up. I guess as it is only 30 minutes from Rocky it is probably a commuter suburb.

Oct 31 Zambrero’s Mexican café beckoned when we had finished shopping so we tried a pork chokito for me and J had the bigger version a burrito. They were very tasty and are supposed to be reduced fat so are healthy according to owner. They are also donating a meal to person in Africa for every big meal sold which is an interesting concept – let’s hope it catches on. We meet up with Bob the groundsman, who is Maureen’s friend from Bush Poets and he tells us that he has had another poem published so he must be good.

November 1 was Melbourne Cup Day so we stayed in and watched the race in air conditioned comfort.

As we have the Cricket test starting on Thursday we head into Rocky on Wednesday for a look around but J sees a shopping centre with a big W so we head in there and waste time looking for them only to be told that they don’t have anything to do with online stuff you have to phone them. While walking around the centre we see another Zambrero’s so it is another chokito for lunch before we drive around a bit more and then head up the highway to see what is at Marlborough – not a lot. It is a very small village on the decline so we head back towards town with a detour along dirt road to Shoalwater Bay Military Training area where we were met at the gate by 2 soldiers from Malaysia. The Malaysian government is going to invest millions into upgrading some of our military facilities so they can train their soldiers here. There were a few brahmans in paddocks but not much to see.

Thursday is spent watching the cricket and we seem to be doing well for a change but alas it doesn’t last as on Friday we bat and lose 10 wickets for 86 runs! After shopping on Saturday morning we settle in to watch South Africa make 360 runs so we can’t blame the wicket.

After church on Sunday we find the singing ship on point at Emu Park and it does make a noise. The ‘mast’ poles have small holes at the top and that must let the air through so when the wind blows it ‘sings’. What a lovely spot looking out over Keppel Bay and all it’s islands popping up out of the green water. They have a new Anzac Memorial wall on the foreshore with a wonderful boardwalk up to singing ship. The craft markets at information centre have a variety of items with clothing and jewellery making up most stalls. 

Monday was an early start to stop off at Bunnings (yes I went there – but just to get some paint charts) before heading to Byfield to Nob Creek Pottery where there were some wonderful pieces of pottery, handblown glass, and some balinese dot paintings – don’t know why we had to have Balinese and not aboriginal. They had also imported some rock and stone hand basins which were lovely – pity they won’t fit in at Orchid avenue. I could come back for some large bottle shaped lamps with grass etchings as they were pretty stunning. It mightn’t be long before we come to visit Pam. Then it was home to the air con to see the aussie get trounced in cricket. The beach at Byfield NP was deserted which just added to the magic.

We head south on Tuesday to visit Port Curtis and Port Alma. Not finding Port Curtis with it’s multi million dollar development we are disappointed with Alma as it is obviously only used to send out Cheetham salt and bring in petroleum products, though it has a wide mouth to the open ocean. All along the road in was salt pans with several piles of salt. From here we found our way through Gracemere and it’s undercover sale yards and continued on to Westwood where we met the Leichhardt and Capricorn highway intersection. Now we have travelled the length of Capricorn highway from Rocky to Longreach. From Rocky it is 1074 klms to Townsville, so we will leave finalising the Bruce highway section from Marlborough to Ingham for another day. After lunch at Punjabi Tandoori Restaurant with it’s strange meals we get a new watch band and then a new light bulb for the outside light on van before heading home. Near Tanby we stop at a roadside stall and buy 2 pineapples for $2; one was the sweetest I have ever eaten the other a bit sour but J liked it. At 4pm Michelle rings to say that the house is ours so we check the bank account and yes we have a $483,000 debt. As we had such a big lunch we weren’t interested in dinner so kept our celebratory meal till tomorrow.

Wednesday afternoon we head back into Rocky to try to buy a catch for the fridge – with 40* temperatures the catch on fridge breaks aaaaahhh. Unfortunately they don’t have any and you need the model number so we head back and go into Joskeleigh a small farming area with a lot of makeshift buildings so we couldn’t decide whether they were blockies or miners getting a sea change. Keppel sands is an old fishing village with a few new brick houses and a lot of old fibro ones in need of repairs after the cyclone. They have slightly overdone the palm thing!

 After grocery shopping in Emu Park we find the pub and it’s lovely view of the water so we head home to disperse the groceries and have a quick shower before going back for dinner. The special of macadamia crusted red emperor captured our tastebuds and did not disappoint. Then we celebrated with dessert a caramel tart and sticky date slice – nothing to write home about, but it was a lovely evening until the sun dropped and our view went to blackness.

Thursday morning we check out the art galleries in Yeppoon and found some lovely pottery which I would have bought if I had some way of storing it. I did buy some books at the yellow door which will have to find a place for. We got back along esplanade to a café advertising $12 lunches and park across the road where we discover the Keppel Bay sailing club next door so go there instead – it had a better view of water, which we could see in the distance as tide was out. There was a $12 fish special and $19 calamari but J decided we had to have the seafood sensation at $79 with a bottle of wine and cob loaf included. When the platter arrived it was laden and very tasty. Natural and Kilpatrick oysters, fresh and tempura prawns, half moreton bay bug each and a large piece of crumbed fish. With 3 jugs of mayo – aioli, thousand island and tartare, lemon wedges and a large chunk of watermelon to finish off – YUMM. Had to go home for a scan afterwards and skipped dinner again.

Friday we visited Joyce a lovely old lady we met at church who lives in one of the villas here. I made some scones and a chocolate brownie slice and we chatted over a cuppa for an hour or so on her verandah where there was a little breeze. Back under our awning we had no breeze and it was HOT so after getting the sheets off line I had a cold shower and retreated to the air con where we stayed until 5pm when we had to venture out to pack up and clean the awning and it was still hot.

Saturday saw us retrace our steps to Westwood and turn to Biloela for an uneventful trip to Mundubbera where we stopped for the night. Had to go there as Eidsvold servo was closed and our fuel light was on; but it is a lovely clean park with friendly staff, who mentioned that the pub had opened a restaurant and it was worth checking out. We did this and the staff were very friendly if a little ‘uncouth’. My bottle of wine was kept in fridge after it was opened to keep it cool, but when another table arrived it got plonked onto our table – no wine cooler or icebucket so it heated up pretty quickly. The food was nice and J’s steak met with approval.

After lunch in Nanango we were given a very warm welcome by Peter, Sandie and dogs and settled in for a long chat and then dinner which was very nice of them. Today the moon was the closest it will be to earth for some years so it should be quite large -

 Both Peter and Sandie worked on Monday so we got into the swing of things very quickly. Horses given apples and carrots for breakfast and every 3^rd day they got a mix of pellets, cider vinegar, molasses and hay. The cows got a bale of hay every evening and the dogs had breakfast and dinner and whatever they could scrounge. They decided to help John start the bore one morning -

 Even the chooks came under the van for a scratch and peck. One of heifers was not looking well so Sandie put her in yards with some hay and water trough and we kept topping up her hay and she looked ok but was not walking around very much but on Saturday she was trembling and frothing at mouth before dying. We don’t know whether it was tick fever or 3 day sickness. The days went by until Friday when we had arranged to go to T’mba to see Dr, Real Estate and have lunch with S & T. Unfortunately they were fighting so we went into the old Chutney Mary’s and shared a curry which was very tasty. Dr David decided that the rash on my face which flared up dramatically yesterday was rosacea so now I have 2 more potions to administer. This has to be a reaction to all the shellfish we ate last Friday so I’m a bit worried about not being able to eat prawns and oysters etc. We called in on Ros on way home but she was out so left a card in front door but haven’t heard back. The Cuckoo Clock centre called us in as we passed through Cabarlah and we found some nice grandfather clocks for $5000 and lots of lovely Christmas decorations. The cricket test match in Hobart was such a disaster that it was all over in less than 3 days so we didn’t have to spend much time in van watching it. One morning I see some different calves walking past and on investigating find 5 of neighbours bull calves have wandered in so we had fun getting them out – bike wouldn’t go so J had to find car keys and then get it going – just as well time wasn’t of essence.

Wednesday J decided he wanted to go to Kingaroy to check out S/h furniture shops – there aren’t any we discovered when we got there, but did find K affordable furniture who had some lovely bits and pieces. A French look alike bedroom suite that I loved he didn’t but did like a white painted timber one with tongue and groove boards. The white outdoor table with polished wood top he did like but we don’t need another table. I am going to paint ours white and add a polished slab top to it. On the way home we stopped at lavender shop where they are supposed to have antiques but it is all massed produced modern stuff. Sitting back after feeding animals I am stunned to see the horses walking past so we had a fun half hour catching them and getting them back into their paddock – someone had left gate open when he fed cows.

We spent a lovely day on Thursday with Neville and Lynette and her sister Ann and husband Leigh in Wondai. It was a very relaxing time chatting on back verandah and all too soon we had to get home to feed animals.

Friday and Saturday were spent inside with me trying to finish all the machine sewing so I could pack machine away and J watching the cricket and this time we won over 5 days and it was a great game. Isn’t it amazing how a team can change with 3 new players in it – and they were 3 young debutants. Sandie and Peter came home late Saturday night after a wonderful holiday and had a good catch up with kids, grandkids and Sandies Dad in Mackay. As Sandie has to go to Roma on Sunday afternoon and Peter is working Monday we stay on to feed animals. Monday afternoon there was a storm which gave everything a much needed drink and we measured 50mls. It was only a 2 hour trip over to Gayndah on Tuesday with an extra 45 minutes for lunch in Goomeri at Trig’s café which did a mean chicken aioli sandwich. We get no 1 spot in caravan park and have a lovely view of river even if it is very low and covered in algae – hard to imagine it in full flood.

 A German couple next to us come over for a chat and we spend a pleasant few hours talking to them before dinner. It is his 5^th trip to Aus and her 2^nd so they must like the long plane trip. They are also planning on coming back in 2 years to do Darwin to Adelaide. He is a paramedic and Suzanne is a kitchen designer for Ikea and they have a son at university studying to become a doctor, and live in a village of 400 people in centre of Germany. They don’t like big cities and love the Australian outback.

As J had left his hat in Nanango Sandie dropped it off on her way to Eidsvold so we had an early trip down town on Wednesday morning. Wandering along the main street we find another furniture shop and this time I see a grey rhino suede recliner lounge which will look very nice in Orchid avenue so it has been put in decorating book, along with 2 bedside tables painted white but in old style that I liked. The current trend of painting each drawer a different colour has also given me some ideas for the pine furniture we have. There are a few empty shops and not many new houses so things must be tough around here it is certainly very dry. We drove up 2  lookouts and checked out the surrounding countryside. Archers showed how dry it is and McConnels had the green of citrus orchard and river winding below to soften the brownness.

 Continuing up the road towards Mundubberra we come back along Burnet highway to Ideraway where we find the upside down bridge. It looked very intrigueing but there were no signs to tell you why it was built that way. The flood debris was 50 feet above ground level. The afternoon was spent reading and crosswording in cool. We get an afternoon breeze off river from about 3pm on so that helps to cool things down somewhat. 

Another morning we check out the museum with all its local photos. They are still repairing things after the flood of 2012 so hope they get there eventually. The art gallery was not open despite a sign saying it was and people in the room next door so we didn’t get to see any art works. We head the back way to Eidsvold and then across to Mt Perry for a cold drink before heading into Gin Gin and down to Coringa for a chat to Nancy. The roadside was quite green and very hilly so it made for a pleasant drive. Nancy is back on her feet but taking things slowly. Stephie is still going wobbly and has had a hair cut so looks very skinny. The ducks also came to say hello but it was very drive there. We meet some of the locals at church and chat to them over a cuppa.

Wednesday sees us move over to Elliott Heads where the caravan park is opening up a new amenities block which is lovely apart from the card entry which doesn’t work properly and the doors banging closed everytime they are opened – it isn’t pleasant at 5am. We go walking every morning and find a turtle nest on beach at surf club one day and then another around point near kiosk a few mornings later. The tide goes out a long way here so you are left with masses of sand to walk over to the 2 small islets. Dr Mays’ island was closed to public as all the migratory birds were nesting. There isn’t a lot of beach – it is mainly rock. On the headland was a submarine lookout during WW2 but they don’t tell you much about it. EH is mainly a sleepy fishing village until holiday time when it is packed out. We have a couple of trips into Bundy to check it out and it is a large city with wide streets.

December 16 has us arriving at Bargarra after Tomtom took us for a jaunt across some narrow dirt roads - why they can't develop a program that doesn't take dirt is beyond me. We set up and join Mal, Amanda, Claudia and Angus for fish and chips for dinner then watch the cricket with Mal. Saturday has them setting off for Rocky to check it out for a few days before heading off to Proserpine for Christmas and NY and we settle in to watch the cricketers win in Brissy. This was a miracle after they were trounced in Sri Lanka and SA and then SA beat us so badly in Hobart last month. We have had several trips to Bundy where I found some interesting material for lounge covers and curtains. It is a nice clean city with a lovely park in centre of town next to Christ Church. We don't have any luck buying a 12 volt cable for my c-pap machine but guess I won't need it for a while. I do get a tiny white triangular christmas tree and some wattle and gum leaves to decorate it with so with my bush christmas lunch embroidery and table runner we will have a little spirit. The people at church are very friendly but no one has invited us for coffee.
Christmas lessons and carols at Christ Church was lovely but it was very disappointing at the few people who attended. We went back on thursday for their lunchtime concert which was also brilliant. They had several guest artists who had come home for christmas and they were very talented. There were more people in audience this time. We have a trip out to the Port and lunched there looking over the river and another one to Woodgate beach for lunch at the pub which is always lovely. Had another trip to port to see HMAS Tobruk which is here to be stripped and cleaned before being sunk in middle Wide Bay as a dive site. I didn't know the bay was so deep because the ship would have to be 100m high.
The Big Bang cricket made it easier to stay awake for Carols by Candlelight and then we could sleep in and go to 9am service here at St Peter's which had the church full to overflowing. Prawns and Pavlova were on the menu for lunch which was started with bloody mary oyster shooters. They were too strong for me so I tipped out half the fluid. Being well sated we rested for the afternoon until Steve and Trace arrived. We played Frustration with them till late and then headed out on Boxing day to show them the sights of the area. Steve didn't want to do the tour at Bundy Rum so we came home and then he and John went off fishing and Trace and I watched movies on tv. At 8pm Trace and I ate dinner as the men wouldn't answer the phone - so much for preparing a nice dinner. Wednesday and we head off in separate cars to go to 1770 !!

We are there for a drive around the streets and then they decide to drive back to Elliott Heads for lunch - so much for having a walk around to stretch the legs. By the time we had driven into Baffle Creek and Peel Beach and then tried to find something to eat in Bundy I was so stiff I could hardly move and in agony. They didn't want any dinner because they had had lunch at Bargara Hotel? so we played Frustration and 500 till 10.30pm.
They decide to go home on Wednesday so we have breakfast at the beach - my mushrooms on sourdough would have been nice if bread wasn't so hard. I think it must have been toasted hours before and left to sit beside toaster. Afterwards we came home to watch the cricket which was washed out so many times over 4 days it is amazing that we ended up winning on friday afternoon. The big bash every evening is also filling a big gap in nighttime entertainment as we couldn't get to do the Mon Repos tour as they were booked out a month ago. It is a pity we didn't know that months ago or we could have booked in ages ago. Shannon sent me a Christmas greeting on Monday which was lovely after I have been ostracised all year. Naturally the mob in Sydney didn't bother to send a card or any message. It will be interesting to see if they remember J's birthday.
We have had some rain nearly every day since Christmas and my arthritis is killing me and the grass is growing fast.