In Brisbane

Tuesday 12^th February

We arrived in time for lunch and went to Chung Shan, our favourite Chinese restaurant.

We had an appointment with Kay, the optometrist at 2.45 and an appointment with the fridge people tomorrow at 2.00pm. The fridge people rang and asked to make it 9.00am tomorrow.

Kay was busy so Ron ended up seeing David.  It appears that there is still some active virus in Ron’s eyes so David has arranged an emergency appointment with a specialist, Dr John Pyle for 8.45 am tomorrow. Ron also has some scaring on his corneas as well.

We are staying at Newmarket Gardens Caravan Park tonight $35.10 (with CMCA discount). We will rearrange things (we have rescheduled the fridge) after we see the specialist.

Wednesday 13^th February

Number 13, lucky for some!!! We rocked up to the specialist after parking a million miles (typical Brisbane traffic) away and it seems the news is quite good. John has given Ron some drops and we have to go back in 3 weeks. What appeared to be active virus turned out to be antibodies still running about and the drops should fix that up and Ron’s eyes should continue to improve (the scarring abate) and John said that he has never seen a case yet where it has not gone back to normal with 12 months.

We then took the fridge up to Geoff and after much stressing and straining (and hitting with a big hammer) we managed to extract the fridge from the confines of the bus and leave it with him. Of course, it was not an obvious, quick fix, cheap problem so we are waiting for a diagnosis and quote.

We decided to go to Strathpine shops and buy a cheap foam esky to tide us over for the short term, when we ran into our friend Nelma. Aghast at the prospect of us buying an esky she insisted we borrow one of hers.

We have returned to Newmarket Gardens and are happily set up with our esky and our cold wine!!!! Oh, the simple pleasures!!! Thank you Nelma.

Thursday 14^th February

Today Ron and I are going to catch the bus into town and go to the APT7 exhibition at the Gallery of Modern Art.

Armed with bus timetable information we set off and almost made it to the bus stop as the bus was leaving. We were crossing 4 lanes of peak hour traffic at the time. Undaunted, Ron flung himself against the driver’s door and begged admittance. Much to our surprise we were allowed aboard. Of course as the journey progressed, I realised I had misread the information and we were in fact on the wrong bus. We did arrive close to our destination and only had to endure a fairly short walk to the Gallery.

The Exhibition was really great – so many fabulous pieces. I just loved it!! Ron had a good time too.

One of the first pieces we came across was this fabulous flying carpet where you were invited to sit on it. This is so unusual in a gallery with security guards everywhere that I was a little hesitant, expecting alarms to sound, nets to drop from the ceiling and being escorted from the building in handcuffs. My fears proved to be unfounded and here I am!!!!

Some pieces were self explanatory while others warranted in depth discussion and critiquing……

 

 

Still others made you want to twirl around with gay abandon!

 

 

 

Ronnie got all inspired and produced his own arty shots of the Brisbane River and its environs!

 

 

So much colour!!!!!

 

 

 

And to top it all off, would you believe, on the way out, I ran into a dear old friend, Rhonda, who I have not seen for about four years!!!!

 

Who would have thought that in a city with a population of 1.8 million, you would bump into two friends in two days!!!!

 

Friday 15^th February

We have had so many kind offers of places to stay here, thank you all, and at the moment we are on our way to my friend, Christina’s house for a few days to catch our breath and work out how we will get to catch up with everyone while we are here.

We set out this morning and by lunch time, the sky had clouded over and the rain had begun to fall.

We stopped at Logan Hyperdome with the intention of going to the movies but there was nothing that sounded good so we went and stopped near a park and watched ‘The Sapphires’ on DVD. It is amazing how much power you have when you are not running a fridge!

We arrived at Christina’s late in the afternoon and after several glasses of celebratory wine and a beautiful dinner prepared by hubby, David we settled down to a rousing game of Euchre with Ron and I partnered against Christina and son, Sam. It has been years since we have played but we fought the good fight and only went down by one point.

I think we performed admirably in light of the lucky fall or cards that went the way of our opponents. Here is just a sample of the types of hands they would get.

 

 

 

We are quite concerned about Ron. I think he is missing Xander quite a bit……so much so that he has taken to nursing random kittens!!!!

Saturday 16^th February

Today was an at home day and we watched a Johnny Depp movie, ‘Dark Shadows’ and I watched my first ever Bollywood movie, ‘Rab ni bana di Jodi’……let’s just say the jury is still out on that one!!!!

Sunday 17^th February

This morning Christina has kindly lent us her car and we drove down to visit Cheryee.

We had the loveliest day. We started off with a rousing game of Boggle (with a much better outcome than Euchre – I won!!!!)  Then after lunch she invited the family round and we had a great old catch up.  Ron and I found ourselves feeling a little envious of the fact that Cheryee has all her grandsons just five minutes away.

 

My pains in my shoulders and arms have started up again and it is quite bad.   

Monday 18^th February

Still it rains!!!! Brisbane and the Gold Coast certainly have not put on their Welcome Home Weather for us!! Christina and I went to lodge her papers for her new job which she starts on Wednesday and had a lovely Thai lunch.

We had take away pizza for dinner – smoked salmon and anchovy on one and Black Angus beef and roasted pumpkin on the other……yummo!!!!!! (and very up market!)

My pains are getting worse and worse.

Tuesday 19^th February

Christina has put on her bossy voice and insisted I go to Yoga with her tonight to fix my pains. Ron has decided I need to sleep on an extra pillow and I have opted for drugs.

Wednesday 20^th February

It worked!!!! I don’t know which bit or if it was the combination of all three but today I am cured! It may not be permanent (in fact I’m sure it’s not) but I feel sooooo good.

This morning I went to Tai Chi and caught up with all the lovely ladies then it was off to have Coffee with Trish before high tailing it over to the north side (Brendale in fact) to pick up our fridge. $415.00 it cost but hopefully it is all better and good for many years of fault free service.

After we left Brendale it was off to the Breakfast Creek Hotel for pre-meeting drinks and then off to the Cricket Umpires Meeting.

I could not believe it……Ron broke the front tooth off his plate at lunch time and so has had to appear at the meeting homeless, toothless and living in a bus…..oh how the mighty have fallen….he used to be the Secretary of the Queensland Cricket Umpires.

It was a very pleasant evening and I’m sure no-one even noticed.

We returned the esky to Nelma.

 

 

Thursday 21^st February

We took Indie to our old mechanic down near Helensvale and had him all greased and oiled and his electrics checked and his motor tuned.

Ashleigh kindly lent us his car for the day while all this was being done and Ron and I went shopping and bought all kinds of goodies. I decided to buy myself a new pillow and use the Gift Card Cheryee had sent me for $mas. So off I went to Big W and found one for three cents less than the full value of the card….score! Of course when I got to the check out, the lovely lady informed me that it was a Coles, Meyer gift card and of absolutely no value in there. Undaunted, I then scuttled off to Target and after availing myself of their new Bra fitting service, and spending the best part of an hour there while the lady ran to and fro with what appeared to be their entire stock, I finally found one that fitted and now have some nice new $mas undies!!!!! (Don’t you just hate bra shopping!)

When we went to pick Indie up, the auto electrician told us that he had fixed the problem with Indie’s lights (we hadn’t noticed there was one because we never drive at night) but would need him back tomorrow to try and fix the wiring from the reversing camera and the CD, radio et al.

We drove back to Cristina’s and boy does Indie go like a dream….they did a great job.

David made us a lovely dinner and we got all the goss on Christina’s first day at her new job.

We have decided to move back down the Coast for a week so Ron can get stuck into the Stats for cricket (he is the Statistician after all) and we can do some serious catching up with folk.

 

Blowin’ from Bowen to Brisbane

Wednesday 6^th February

Today is our anniversary…..31 years today.

We were joking with Ben last night that we would leave at 9.30 today because it has become our standard departure time.  It seems that regardless of plans and preparations we always end up leaving about 9.30. If we get up early we are delayed and if we intentionally lie in we still leave around 9.30.

Determined to get away early this time, we were up, packed and about to leave at 8.30. Ben came home from work to say good bye and we chatted in the driveway for a while. He left and Ron went to back Indie up to fill him up with water and bang…..no go. He would start up, run for a few seconds and die. Ron had a bit of a melt down and pulled Indie apart and found a blown fuse. It seemed to do the trick so we went in and said goodbye to baby Xander, Anita and Dollar and drove off at (you guessed it) 9.30.

We bought provisions and headed south with no route or itinerary…..the way it should be. After a short stop at Home Hill we continued on to Bowen….beautiful, blowin’ Bowen.  We called at the Big Mango Tourist Info. Centre, bought a Mango Sorbet and went off to the Harbour Lights Caravan Park ($33.00).

 It was the nicest little caravan park, not least for its close proximity to ‘Arabon Seafoods’ at Bowen boat harbour just across the road. We went for a walk along the waterfront and then went and bought seafood for our dinner. I would go so far as to say it was the best seafood we have ever bought. We had oysters and prawns, the size of which were amazing, huge, ginormous and they tasted divine!!!!!

 

 

 

Thursday 7^th February

We drove through Bowen, bought a few groceries and admired the murals. They have heaps of them and they look really good.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to go inland because we wanted to avoid the flooded areas on the coast and we thought there would be lots of road works (repairs). We drove through Collinsville and Glenden and of course, encountered more road works than you could poke a stick at. We stopped overnight at (82) Lake Elphinstone. It was beautiful. The temperature was perfect with a lovely cool breeze and there were toilets, hot showers and electric BBQs all for free!!!! We camped about 20 metres from the water’s edge. The lake was teeming with birds….I am beginning to wonder if there are actually any black swans left in Western Australia at all…..we have seen so many on our travels.

 

 

 

 

And of course when Ron went to cook our dinner, Huey, Dewey and Louie followed him.

 

Friday 8^th February

Because our fridge is playing up, we can’t stay out longer than one night now without power. We would have loved to linger by the lake but needs must so we moved on.

We drove through some pretty awesome country and past incredible mine sites via Nebo and on to Clermont.

 

 

The number of mines through here is staggering and they are enormous.

 

 

 

 

 

Actually, the colours are quite striking and although they are a blot on the landscape in places, out in the bush sometimes you would never know they were there.

After our long drive, our batteries had recharged and we opted to stay at (425) the BP Roadhouse. It was not the most salubrious of accommodations but it had hot showers and was free! It was also a truck stop so there were lots of road trains coming and going. Lots of travellers had been before and left their shoes hanging in the tree nearby. We have seen this done a few times now in different places.

 

 

We met the neighbours, Len and Nell. They were really nice and have been on the road for about the same time as us. They go fossicking for gold and were saying they use their findings for petrol money. They insisted we go out the next day and look at (426) Theresa Creek Dam.

 

 

 

Saturday 9^th February

We drove, as instructed, out to the dam via Copperfield. This is the first copper producing area in Queensland. All that remains now is the chimney and the store.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We continued on to the dam. It was beautiful. Sadly, there was no power there so we could not stay. We consoled ourselves with the fact that it was packed out anyway and they were having a Triathlon there tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

We continued on our way, through Emerald and Springsure and on to Rolleston were we stayed the night at (431) Rolleston Caravan Park for $25.00. I rocked up to the office and rang the bell twice….no response after 3 minutes or so…..so I went back out to Indie and rang up. They were very nice and didn’t even yell at me later when I broke their Coke vending machine…….I didn’t actually break it, my 50 cent coins just jammed it up and they had a dreadful time getting it all back together again after they dismantled it to retrieve my Coke and coins!!!

Sunday 10^th February

We set off early and stopped at Injune for lunch. I swapped my Ruth Park novel ‘A Power of Roses’ for ‘Murderers Prefer Blondes’ by Amanda Matetsky at the Tourist Info Centre and after lunch we drove on to Roma. We were going to stop at the Show Grounds there but they looked all locked up so we decided to go on to Wallumbilla Show Grounds. It was really hot and we were after power for the air con. As we pulled in, we saw the sign saying ‘closed till late March for refurbishment’. Undaunted, and armed with our ‘Camps 6’ we drove on to (641) Dulacca Hotel.

I walked into the bar and enquired as to availability only to be told that they are the new owners and camping is no longer available but the council will allow you to camp in the back of the park up the road. Do not park near the War Memorial or the police will fine you $75.00 per person!!!!!

We were hot, tired and miserable (not to mention a bit cranky) by the time we set up but the area was quite pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

Fortunately we got a bit of a cool breeze for a while and by about 7.30 it was lovely. We watched ‘Burn Notice’ for two hours and later it cooled right down.

What started out as a horrendous day of driving and finding no room at the inn (literally) turned out to be quite fortuitous in the end.

Perhaps the Lunar New Year will be a good New Year!!!!!

Monday 11^th February

This morning the weather is just divine….sunny but still with that lovely cool breeze. In fact, we are soooooooooooo over the hot weather, we can’t wait for it to be cold. To this end, I am actually knitting myself a multi coloured beanie!!!

I have booked Ronnie into the optometrist, Kay at Everton Park tomorrow so Brisbane….here we come!!!!

We arrived in Toowoomba this afternoon about 4.00pm and went to the Tourist Info Centre to find a Caravan Park. (Ronnie wants to look his best for Kay). As I was standing at the counter enquiring about accommodations, a customer sang out that the Caravan Park she was in was really nice. We had a choice of three in the near vicinity and finally decided on Toowoomba Motor Village ($32.00). We arrived without incident and set up camp. A fellow nearby stopped for a chat…he and his wife and baby had been out at the gem fields and found some orange sapphire.

Ron was feeling really tired and I decided to go for a bit of a wander and check out the facilities. Lo and behold, who should I meet but Roslyn, the customer from the Tourist Info Centre. We had a great old chin wag. She is from Rocky and she and her hubby keep bees. He is working down here for a while driving a grader

 

 

I went for a walk around the walking track behind the caravan park. The council has made the loveliest area there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is all open parkland with walking and bike tracks and the lovely waterways (I think they may have started life as storm water run off) which have been beautifully landscaped and planted with lots of  trees and shrubs.

Honestly, I don’t know if they are native or noxious, but I think they are pretty!!!!

 

 

 

noxious, but I think they are pretty!!!!

We ended up cooking our BBQ dinner in the Camp Kitchen and chatted to a couple from Newcastle who were just setting out on a roundabout trip to Tewantin and a fellow from Robina who was up here working.

We will be setting off to Brisbane in the morning and when we get all sorted out with eyes and fridges etc we will get down to some serious catching up with everyone.