Ross does foraging

Sent Ross out to clean his teeth and he came back with his pockets full of passion fruits - yum- muesli, strawberries and passion fruit with yoghurt for breakfast mmmmmm. Ready for day two of the Cania Gorge walks - we headed up the Dripping Rock and The Overhang - again a two hour walk. No wonder we are sleeping well!

Down to Cania Dam - a flooded valley that covered the town of Cania - stocked with fish it is an inland fishing and boating wonderland with heaps of birdlife. Ross discovered that there was reception for the iPad so we caught up on our emails and sat in the sun- pooped from our walk.

Cania here we come

Heading North again, through Murgon and Eidsvold (home to the RMWilliams Learning Centre) and through Monto on the Burnett Highway. There are signs of the floods from January when the Burnett River flooded because of Cyclone Oswald and wiped out whole towns. There are huge swathes cut through gullies and huge trees bent and flattened. Evidence of natures temper.

Not far from Monto we arrived at the Cania Gorge Retreat just outside the Cania Gorge National Park - a bush land setting where the minute you step out of the van you hear ............. Nothing, peace and quiet. The Retreat is surrounded by sandstone rock formations and tall dry rainforests and eucalypts. We pretty much have lunch and head out to walk the Bigfoot and Two Storey Caves Walks encompassing the King Orchid Crevice. There was supposed to be a bat cave but we missed it - I was kinda pleased about that anyway. All round about 2 hours walking.

Icy evening, donnas and blankets and wheat packs - again the sky was mesmerising - absolutely brilliant - but sheeeeesh it was a cold run to the loos.

How do you spell it again?

On the road from Kingaroy to Mundubbera, thought we would shop up big - Sunday trading in  Kingaroy is non existent, even Woolies is shut. Lucky for IGA. Heading out we passed a ghost town of small brick houses all on the side of the road empty - a bit creepy - an. Investment idea gone wrong we are told. Landed in Wondai to see the wood museum, their art gallery and a collectibles shop - another small town with a great vibe and lovely people.

On to Mundubbera a fruit town where the floods had wiped out half the town in January this year. They moved a lot of people into the caravan park and the government gave them some accommodation (mind you they are taking it back at the end of the year) and free washing and drying facilities - free washing yay.

They grow mandarins here and the companies bring in pickets from Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Korea for 3 months to pick. They had French as well but they got chucked out of the caravan park. So at 5 all the pickets return and take over the camp kitchen and amenities - they were all young and looked buggered. Very pleasant except for the ratbag that took our towels out of the dryer!

Another cold night - 2 degrees but feels more like minus 10. Snug as little bugs in the van.

Peanuts anyone?

Up early, freaking freezing and off to the Nanango Markets about 20 minutes from Kingaroy - trash and treasures galore but we missed the coffee and food stalls from the shire - lots of great plants and garden sculptures - but we can't carry them for 4 weeks so with a sad heart we left then behind.

Nanango is quite a nice little town, it has a good vibe, a great energy centre and a clean and bustling centre. The only oops was the line up of 15 year olds at the tattoo parlour. (I though you had to be 18 to get a tattoo). We headed back towards Kingaroy and had lunch at an old converted church the Whipbird Cafe. Beautiful gardens and good coffee.

Further towards Kingaroy we found a little lavender farm, Pottique, full of lavender goods, like something from Europe, and in the sunshine it was beautiful.

Kingaroy for the Art Gallery and then the Museum, good but the whole place is just a bit down. Of to Taste, supposedly a shop where you can taste all the local food offerings. The peanuts were great but the wine, you can taste anything we have open, oh sorry we don't have anything open that you drink. It was the closest I have seen Ross to spitting out wine. Hopefully it was just a bad day for the taste testing. But the peanuts are good!

Joh and Flo Country

Hi once again,

Headed for Kingaroy today with a quick stop into Oakey on the way to see the Army Airforce Museum - seems a funny one when its just the army planes - some division there we weren't sure of. Quite a good museum with lots of planes and memorabilia - there's an active base there too where the Singapore army learns to fly - fewer planes in the airspace than Singapore I suppose.

Dalby for lunch and a quick walk - quite a nice little town, miners everywhere and the town is well looked after with parks and walks again and a great aquatic centre.

Kingaroy late afternoon and the caravan park is a little tired but not many other campers and so it's quiet and we are close to amenities - best showers - hot n strong.

Freaking freezing overnight down to minus 2 - hells bells it's cold at 2 in the morning when it's toilet time but the stars are spectacular. If my chest wasn't hurting to breathe I would have sat outside to watch the sky.

Back to Toowoomba

Hi guys,

Well we headed back to Toowoomba, clear and crisp winter days, 700 metres above sea level and gorgeous views over the Great Dividing Range. The town of gardens and trees, private schools, sporting grounds, a bustling town but it has a bit of a country look too.

We started late, it was warm enough that the towels were dry before we headed into the information centre, then of on a driven up to Picnic Point, beautiful gardens, views and walks.

A drive around the up market homes on the ridge and then into town to visit Tosari Gallery, a walk down Margaret Street to the regional gallery (a bit disappointing) and a random drop in to a gallery that had some brilliant photography work, much better than the regional one. Coffee, home to the park and washing and a bit of a read after all that walking.

The next day we wandered to the Japanese gardens - so beautiful and calm. We saw a young guy, had to be first year, pimples and all, lonely and looking sad. As Ross said he either hadn't done his assignment or was tossing up wether to throw in uni or not - I felt like I should give him a cuddle - he would have run screaming being accosted by a Gray nomad but I really felt for him.

Headed to the railway station - great architecture, a couple of brilliant junk/ antique shops and lunch in Laurel Park in the sun. A drive around the private schools, great lawns, gardens, sports fields etc etc, can see why people send their kids - aquatic centres that take up a whole block and so on. Didn't see any public schools - probably hidden away in the back blocks - says something about our systems doesn't it.

Anyway back to the parks for a well earned wine and a steak dinner, cooked to perfection along with rosemary and garlic homemade wedges - James you would be proud.

Hugs
Xxxxx

Warwick Wanders

Hi guys,

Headed out from Stanthorpe on a crispy cool but sunny day, heading to Toowoomba via Warwick. Uncharted territory for us. Nice countryside and the van is purring along quite happily.

Arrived Warwick, home of the Gold Medal Winning Pie Shop, Ross is in seventh heaven - loves a pie he does, as you all know. so with the promise of a pie for lunch LATER we launched ourselves on a Heritage walk around the older buildings of the town. Warwick is a lovely little town with heaps of lovely old buildings and the walk was about an hour with plenty to see. The Catholic Church is spectacular - they own have the main drag and the buildings are beautiful. The parks are great - whats wrong with Byron Shire we ask ourselves, all these towns have beautiful parks with amenities, walks, fountains, gardens, bike paths etc etc, this is where we have most of our lunch breaks.

Next stop is the Art Gallery - Toni is in her element, the exhibition is about tea cosies, yes tea cosies. Photographs and explanations from each person about the significance of the particular tea cosy in their lives. Then on display interspersed were tea cosies - wild and wonderful, amazing creations - total fun and whimsical nonsense - I have to have a go.

Finally Ross got to buy his pie  - venison with rosemary and red wine, wagyu beef and mushroom for Toni. All eaten on the riverbank watching the water birds.

Finally we headed towards Towoomba to book in for the evening. What a lovely day.