dwainandlorraine

Saturday we planned to take a picnic lunch and drive around to some more beautiful spots in the town of Toowoomba. First Robert wanted to take me to a few more of the classic old Queensland style homes. One of these can be rented for special occasions such as parties, dinners and weddings. It is called "Gabbinbar House" and was once a private home and estate. Wandering around the grounds I said to Dwain, can you imagine living in a place like this about 100 years ago and wandering around the grounds?? It must have been fantastic. Then we visited the University of South Queensland which reminded me of the University of Victoria with the beautiful gardens surrounding the buildings. This is also where we wandered through the Japanese gardens.... read more

Last Tuesday we packed our bags and moved from Yvonne’s house to Rob’s place in Toowoomba where we will stay for the rest of our time in Australia. Their house is up on the bluff where they get an expansive view over the escarpment toward the east. They graciously moved out of the master suite to give us the privilege of staying in there where we are very comfortable and able to enjoy the expansive views from the bedroom and sitting room windows. While here we have had opportunity to take day trips around Toowoomba and the surrounding area. I have enjoyed some of the old Queensland style homes that have been kept in good condition over the years. They have such character with the verandas and wrought iron work. We have also seen more modern, ... read more

As part of the Flower Festival a special excursion train ran from Toowoomba Central Station to the little station at Spring Bluff where steam powered coal trains used to stop halfway up the escarpment to take on water. The little station and stationmaster’s house have been preserved and beautiful flower gardens have been planted. Picnic tables and well-manicured lawns welcome day-trippers from the city. We enjoyed this little trip with Yvonne, Robert & Marge. The trip also gave us a clear perspective on the huge bypass highway being built to take truck traffic up the escarpment without going through the city. Ravensbourne is a National Park, and also an administrative area containing two man-made lakes: Lake Perseverance and Lake Cressbrook. In this quiet countryside setting we ran across kangaroos again, and a number of campers out ... read more

Flower Garden Competition Around 100 stunning private gardens enter the Chronicle Garden Competition and are open for public viewing throughout the festival. Of course it was not possible to visit all of these gardens so we chose a few of the top prize winners. The patriotic and unique garden of Kevin and Dianna Drew won the title of 2016 City Reserve Grand Champion. We were amazed as we wandered through this beautiful and unique garden. Apparently Kevin is a collector of antique motor cars and had several on display in his garage. We also met Kevin’s sister, Bev who had a display of her beautiful quilting and “needle and thread painting” pictures for us to enjoy. It was a pleasure to talk to her and learn more about this new and unique art which involves sketching, ... read more

On Wednesday, Sept 14, the day after we arrived at Yvonne's place in Crows Nest, we packed an over-night bag for our trip up into the Bunya Mountains. Robert had reserved a holiday house up there for us all to stay in for two nights so we could enjoy the wildlife that come out in the evenings. Nights are alive with the sounds of the nocturnal creatures and a myriad of stars on a clear night. The Bunya Mountains is a spectacular wilderness range forming an isolated section of the Great Dividing Range located about 150km from the coast. The immense subtropical range of cool, green rainforest, eucalypt forests and woodlands is home to the world’s largest forest of bunya pines. The Bunya nuts are very large and look somewhat like a pineapple. The nuts can ... read more