Home, sweet home.

After 23 weeks, we are finally home and oh how I have missed this......

This is the view we wake to each and every morning.  How extremely blessed and lucky are we!

The trip home took us five nights with stays at Miles, Mount Morgan, Cape Palmerston, Alva Beach and finally Cowley Beach before arriving back at Palm Cove.  We always aim to arrive around 1-2 pm at our destination and try not to drive anymore than 400-450 kms in a day.  As Philip is the designated driver and I am the designated trip planner, five to six hours of driving (at around 90kph) is plenty.  We are usually sick of it by them.  Cowley Beach is a favourite.  Not much to do here except watch the sunset over the Coral Sea.  Drinks and Nibblies are a given of course....

Before we finally left Toowoomba we had a farewell lunch at Rosalie House with my Aunty, Uncle and cousins.  The meal once again was exceptional quality and I would gladly recommend it.  I chatted to the owner of Rosalie House and mentioned to her that the winery was recommended to us by a mutual friend.  We chatted for a little while about Jess but she was run off her feet on a busy Sunday so I left her to it.

Our final few days in the South East were spent with our friends at Leyburn.  They have a huge backyard well set up for caravaners with both water and electricity points. They have been our friends forever (or so it seems) but it is almost 50 years!  We have been through a lot of ups and downs together and although we don't see a lot of each other these days, when we do get together it is like time has not passed at all.  I was able to spend a little time with their gorgeous grand-daughter and her daddy so that was extra special.

 

 

We also paid a visit to Shane Webcke's farm outside Leyburn where he has set up a fantastic venue inside an old renovated shearing shed, to cater for any occasions from weddings to birthdays.  Indeed he was to celebrate his own birthday (50th) there the weekend after we left.  That would have been quite the party.

We don't have a lot planned for the next couple of months as we will be heading south again in December for Christmas with our son and daughter-in-law.  It will be a time to just sit back and relax and enjoy our beautiful home that we haven't spent much time in over the past few years.

Spring in Toowoomba

What a difference a month makes!  We have gone from very cold weather to heatwave temperatures and now back to average that is around 12-25 degrees.  Perfect for all the outdoor activities that we have been enjoying.  We keep commenting that we have been coming to Toowoomba for the past 20 years to visit mum but not once did we come as tourists.  So with time to kill until we sell Mums townhouse we are playing the tourists.....

It is almost "Carnival of Flowers" time so the gardens, all around Toowoomba, are looking magnificent and each week we are seeing more and more blooms.  Laurel Bank Park was an unknown to us until my Aunty mentioned it as being one of the best parks in Toowoomba.  After visiting the Botanic Gardens I was a little skeptical but I have to say, Aunty was right.  From the moment you park your car you are met with so many wonderful garden "rooms".  The first is the sculpture garden, followed by the Topiary, and then the potted plants.  Wandering further you arrive at the ponds that are surrounded by all the tropical plants.  There is also the Wisteria walk and then on to the dutch tulip gardens.  There is Thomas the Tank engine that I imagine the kids would love and the highlight is the viewing platform that overlooks a gorgeous display of flower beds.  You have to look hard to see various garden themes amongst the gardens for example the digging fork and the words "Hip Hip Hooray". It was such a treat to visit Laurel Bank Park and we will return in a few days to see the garden in absolute full bloom.

It 

Another place on our list was the Cobb and Co Museum.  We have been to a lot of museums in the past and some leave a lot to be desired, but not this one.  Not only does it house one of the best displays of horse drawn carriages in Australia but the venue is home to Exhibitions and Workshops.  There is even a blacksmithing shed adjoining the cafe where you can watch the tradesman at work at various times of the year.  At this time of the year it is all about the flowers so there is a competition for the "best hanging basket".  After we finished our Devonshire tea we wandered past the display that is pretty darn good. This circus theme was my personal favourite.......

Next we walked the short distance to the where the coaches were housed.  As you enter the building through a "tunnel", on both sides of the wall is a lot of information about the early days of the Cobb and Co coach and Philip was able to relate to me the trip that his family made to Combo Waterhole near Winton for the jubilee celebration of Cobb and Co where the coach below travelled from Port Douglas to Melbourne through the centre of Australia.  It took three months. Philip said it was amazing to see such a big turnout of people who had come from all around the west to cheer on the coach.

Philip probably enjoyed this museum more than me, because for men, the build of the coaches is fascinating.  I was intrigued to see however, an old wooden crate with the words "Say Tristrams Please" written on the side.  This was a real walk down memory lane for me as I recalled my dad, walking across the road from our home in Warwick, to the soft drink factory to pick up a crate of Tristrams Softdrink.  My favourites were Sarsaparilla and Creamy Soda. Such a great memory...

We like to visit places in the afternoon to kill a few hours and last Sunday we drove the short distance to the Japanese Gardens at the University of Southern Queensland.  I had visited here many years ago when I was doing a photography course at the Uni and I loved it then and love it more so now.  It is beautiful and should be on everybody's lists of places to visit in Toowoomba.  We again enjoyed the spring flowering in the gardens that are bursting with colour.  

So that brings us to yesterday when we drove the Cobb and Co Tourist drive.  This is a terrific drive that starts east of Toowoomba and heads down the range to Spring Bluff and then on to Murphys Creek before joining the highway to take us back to Toowoomba.  This is a lovely area with lots of fertile grazing and farming land.  It is at the top end of the Lockyer Valley that everybody knows is the fruit and vegetable bowl of Queensland.  The area we drove through suffered a massive amount of damage in the devastating floods of 2011 where houses and people were swept away.  It was a very sad time in Queensland history.  The highlight of this drive was Spring Bluff Railway Station where a team of volunteers keep the gardens at the station looking absolutely beautiful, with once again, an abundance of spring colour.  We enjoyed Spring Bluff so much that we have booked ourselves on the train that leaves Toowoomba and travels downhill through many tunnels to reach Spring Bluff.  Will let you know how it goes....

In the meantime here are some photos from our visit.

That's our past few weeks in a nutshell.  I feel a little sad that I used to write this blog for my mum to enjoy and now I don't know whether anyone will bother reading it.  However, it is my "diary" so I will keep writing for me.

The past four months.......

It really has been an incredibly busy and emotional time for me over the past four months, culminating in mum's passing.  Settling mum into the nursing home and then emptying her unit to get it ready for sale, was challenging to say the least.  And just when I was ready to put it on the market, mum passed away.  

Toowoomba in winter is really not a great place to be.  The temperature drops to the very low numbers and the wind seems to blow right through you.  Because Toowoomba lies high on the mountain range the fog is another thing to have contend with and I can tell you that driving in it at night is a nightmare.  We are staying at the Toowoomba Motor Village, that feels like home after this length of time, and have enjoyed our morning walks/cycle along the West Creek walkway.  I think it was the walks that kept us sane and even though I don't like the fog it can be quite beautiful early in the morning.

We have enjoyed catching up with family over the past few months and have seen quite a bit of my aunty and uncle who live at Pittsworth.  They invited us to join them for lunch at Picnic Point to help them celebrate their wedding anniversary.  It was a lovely meal and we have been back a couple more times to enjoy the food and views.

After mum passed away, Philip and I decided to get away from the Toowoomba chill for a few weeks while we waited for the paperwork needed to sell mums unit to come back to the solicitor. We were lucky enough to get into a caravan park at Golden Beach (Caloundra) for four nights where we enjoyed long walks along the waterfront and then taking a drive to Kondallila Falls for a long circuit hike through the rainforest.  It was invigorating and something we have been missing.

After Golden Beach we shifted camp to Hervey Bay.  Once again we were lucky to score a site for a week because it is the middle of their peak whale watching season.  The caravan park was close to the jetty and each afternoon we would walk the almost 1km jetty and then head to the tavern for sundowners to watch the sun setting.  It was idyllic and if anything is going to rejuvenate you it is this place.  Some of the restaurants we ate at were excellent, some not so good but the seafood platter below was one of the outstanding meals. We really like Hervey Bay and have booked a site prior to Christmas when we will be returning.

From Hervey Bay it was Tin Can Bay.  Wow.  We really, really like this little town and could easily make it home.  I can't recall being in such a friendly town where everybody greets you with a smile and hello. There are certainly a lot of grey headed folks living here so that is probably what attracts us the most.  Crime seems to be almost non-existant and even the young are polite to the elderly.  We were there for nine days and also drove to Rainbow Beach a couple of times.  It is the polar opposite of Tin Can Bay with a lot of young people and very busy.  The beach here though is beautiful and even though the weather was not great for our visit you can tell that it would be a wonderful place to be on a hot summers day.

One of the tourist attractions of Tin Can Bay is the dolphin feeding each morning.  The morning we went, there were eight dolphins (including a baby) quietly splashing around in the shallow water.  Gee I love these creatures (who doesn't!) and there beautiful eyes seem to look right into your soul.

We ended up staying in Tin Can Bay nine nights as the weather turned into very wet conditions and our planned stay at Marco's place would mean us plowing through mud to get to the house.  As it turned out we still had to negotiate a few muddy spots even after the rain had gone.  But it was lovely to spend the night with Marco and Suzie.  We enjoyed a delicious Lasagne, packed full of vegetables, and conversation that flowed for hours.

The next day we drove to Leyburn to stay with our friends Michael and Wendy.  It was the weekend of the Leyburn Sprints that we have been eager to get to for years.  I must admit that I wasn't all that keen but OMG, I am now totally addicted.  It is a timed 1km course, where competitors line up on the start line one at a time and are waved to start around every minute. There were 200 competitors and each driver had four starts.  That's 800 cars over the course of two days. It was non stop action. 

Michael and Wendy have been our friends for almost fifty years and every time we visit is like we only saw each other yesterday.  They cooked breakfast and dinner for a large crowd over the course of the weekend and it seems almost effortless for them, but I know it takes a lot of planning to feed a crowd.  It was a real treat to be at the Leyburn Hotel on the last night to see Michael and John being awarded "Volunteer of the Year".  They put an enormous amount of volunteer time into the event and even though Michael hates being the centre of attraction his smile says something different.

So we are now back in Toowoomba and have laid the groundwork to place mums unit on the market.  Toowoomba is a well liked area and mums unit is in a sought after area.  The agent seems to think that it will sell very quickly with most units selling within seven days.  Fingers crossed, as we are really missing our home in Palm Cove, but we can't really leave until we have an unconditional signed contract.  Time will tell.  On the bright side, the weather at the moment is glorious with lows of around 15 and highs of around 25.  Perfect.....

The last goodbye

When we arrived at Toowoomba on Mother's Day in May,  I had no idea that we would still be in Toowoomba four months later.  It has been a roller coaster of a ride.   It started with mum having a fall shortly after we arrived.  This was the beginning of the end.  We found mum a placement at Beauaraba Living Aged Care in Pittsworth in a lovely north facing room that was actually a double room.  The room had lots of wall space for photographs and other memorabilia so the room very quickly looked homely.  Mum seemed to enjoy Beauaraba and we visited her almost every day in between emptying her unit to get it ready for sale.  But just five short weeks later mum was admitted to St. Vincents Hospital with pneumonia and just two weeks later, on the 16th July,  mum drew her last breath.  

The funeral followed one week later and there was nothing for the family to have to agonise over because mum had planned it down to the very last detail.  Around 50 friends and family gathered to bid mum farewell and I'm sure if she was watching from heaven she would have loved it. So, goodbye mum, until we meet again in the room next door.

"Evergreen", Gundiah, Qld

 We have had a lovely quiet time caretaking our son's property "Evergreen".  We have been waking to magnificent sunrises with the sound of birds chirping.  It hasn't all been sunshine though.  The first few days were showery but the upside of that is that it gave me some glorious sunsets.

We have been entertained each afternoon by the resident kookaburra that finds the longest worms that I have ever seen, in the mud puddles created by the rain.

My daughter-in-law gave me some home grown pumpkin and sweet potato before they left to go camping so I have been coming up with vegetarian recipes to use the produce.  The best recipe was the lasagne that was very delicious and will be repeated.

Of course there has been drives around Evergreen that is looking lush and green after all the rain.  The cattle are in prime condition that is in stark contrast to just a few months ago when the country was extremely dry and our son was hand feeding the cows.  It's hard to imagine but it is the reality of life on the land where you can go from feast to famine in a matter of months.....

 

Philip found a broken fence wire on our drive and quickly repaired the break.  You can take the man from the country but you can't take the country from the man! He really does enjoy being back on the land and will come back down later on the year to help our son with a new fence line.

Tomorrow we head to Toowoomba for two weeks.  In that time we will also make a trip to Brisbane so that I can have some pre-cancer sun spots removed from my face.  We will also enjoy spending some time with my mum and I'm sure she will have lots of chores for us.......

Mary Valley Rattler Steam Train

As an early Mothers Day present, Marco and Suzie purchased VIP tickets aboard the Mary Valley Rattler.  The train departs from the old Gympie Railway Station that has been restored to its former glory. The train is run by volunteer workers and it is really a credit to them as to how professionally everything operates. 

 Our journey was the annual "Bushrangers" ride where people were invited to dress in period costume.  Many did and put a lot of effort into their costume.  The bushrangers come riding along the track on their trusty steeds and ambush the train at one of the stops.  When they board the train they go from carriage to carriage demanding, at gunpoint, the gold that we are given as we board the train.

Waiting for us, on entry to our cabin, is a delicious tray of snacks including cheese, salami, pickles, grapes, chocolates, biscuits both sweet and savoury.  It was a meal in itself but at our destination lunch stop at Amamoor Station, we were handed a lunch pack that consisted of Thai Beef Salad and Chicken Nachos!  Everything was soooo delicious.

Once we reached Amamoor Station the train is detached from the carriages and turned around on a giant turntable.  I have seen these operate previously and the process still amazes me. 

Amamoor is a very cute little village that consists of nothing more than a general store but a couple of the locals have set up produce stalls that are well patronised. I didn't see anything that I needed.

On the journey to Amamoor our carriage was the second from the front so of course on the return we were second from the back.  It was certainly a lot rougher on the return journey but still very enjoyable.  I would thoroughly recommend the Mary Valley Rattler if you are in the Gympie area.  It is a unique experience that embraces the early days of steam travel.  There were certainly bushrangers in this area at the turn of the century and even though our bushrangers were "pretend", it would have been terrifying for travellers back then.