We are back on the road and in tourist mode again. It's been awhile. Today we took a detour to Warwick, my old home town, on our way to Toowoomba. It was easy to park the van up against Leslie Park and we set off on foot to explore the town centre that is full of spring bloom and beautiful old sandstone buildings.
The first thing that I noticed was just how green and inviting the town streets were looking. There are trees lining all the streets and lots of lovely garden beds full of colourful flowers. Back when I was a kid there was not much incentive for councils to "go green" in the town. If you wanted to find a shady place you went to one of the parks. The streets were stark with hardly a plant in sight. Nowadays, almost every council has a Parks & Garden team to ensure that the town looks green and lush. Warwick has done an excellent job at achieving this goal.
It was interesting walking along the streets as a tourist. You see things through different eyes. When I was young, all the buildings that I now find interesting, were just seen as old buildings. Age has a funny way of improving vision. The Town Hall stands proudly in the centre of town but I don't know what has happened to the clock in the tower as it seems to have stopped working. Perhaps it was too expensive to repair.
I remember that there were many hotels in Warwick and it was the usual thing to go to one of them on Saturday night for the "disco". The old Langham Hotel was a favourite and the last place that I ever drank Bacardi & Coke. Yep. Bad memories of that night.
The Horse and Jockey Hotel was where Philip and I met. It seems so out of place amongst all the lovely old hotels but it was a favourite drinking hole for the Rugby Union players and it was where I worked as a barmaid after moving back to Warwick after living in Brisbane for quite a few years.
The Warwick High School is on the diagonally opposite corner to the Horse and Jockey and it is where I went to school. Looking through my 65 year old eyes, it looks such an elegant building but I'm certain I never appreciated it when I went to school there.
As we walked past the old Kings Theatre Philip and I both laughed at our different memories of those old picture theatres, but both our memories were the same. Sitting in the back row kissing your latest beau. Kings Theatre looks a bit sad but she certainly has a bit of age about her. There is no streetscaping in this street - Grafton Street - that is a bit sad.
We stopped at a great little coffee shop cum gift shop in the Main Street and had the most delicious brunch of Brioche Bacon & Egg Roll. It was a bit hard to eat, but goodness me, it was good!
After that enormous breakfast roll we continued our journey along Palmerin Street all the while stopping and admiring the lovely buildings.
It really was a wonderful walk down memory lane for both Philip and I. Mustn't forget that Philip spent quite a few month here before he headed to Western Australia. We probably would have stayed longer and driven around the town if we didn't have the van behind us. I would liked to have done a drive past my old home but maybe we will do that next year when we return.
Now we are set up at the van park in Toowoomba and of course the first thing I do is put on a load of washing. I must have killed a chinaman because the washing machine gave up the ghost. A quick ring around and we found a replacement at one of the caravan centres. We have now installed washing machine number three.
When I was checking into the van park I found these nifty awning clothes lines that they had for sale. $40 each and it will now mean we can get rid of the folding clothes line that takes up quite a bit of room. Philip is pleased.
We are just about to head over to mum's place for afternoon tea so I cooked up a quick batch of honey biscuits. I keep the uncooked dough, rolled into a long sausage, in the freezer and when we want a batch of biscuits I just slice the frozen dough into rounds and pop them in the oven for ten minutes.
So that's been my day. We are both feeling much more relaxed and looking forward to the next few days in Toowoomba. Tomorrow, Philip, Mum and I are driving to Pittsworth to have lunch with a couple of my favourite Aunts & Uncles so it should be a lovely relaxing day.
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