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Published: December 16th 2010
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Saturday 11th and, alas, we woke up to rain which was quite persistent although not heavy. We needed to go the Post Office again so went into town quite early but we’d forgotten that Aussie Post Offices don’t open on Saturdays! Warwick is a great place with plenty of parking no matter where you need to go in the town so we were able to park close to the indoor shopping centre. I wanted to print off a few photos so we went into Big W where they’ve got a few handy self-service machines that you can print off whatever you want. I wished I had studied them before and then we might have come up with some proper photo cards to send but we are not as clued up as Sarah and Darryl – the cards they sent last Christmas were just fantastic and must have taken hours of thought and preparation but they were so appreciated by everyone who received one. For some reason I thought the photos would come spewing out of the machine straight away but no, we had to go back 45 minutes later which meant we had time for a cup of coffee. On the
way I nipped in to The Reject Shop and bought a $3 umbrella - It might only last a short time but we were hoping that the rain wouldn’t last for ever!
We had a very casual cup of coffee and one helping of raisin toast between us. I had never been in this particular café before – it was also a gift shop so I took the opportunity to have a look round. They had lots of interesting, tempting things but nothing that quite took my fancy except for one small flower arrangement. For 10 minutes or so the rain became torrential and caught a lot of unsuspecting shoppers out. So the new umbrella and the one S&D had left in Sweetie were going to be really useful.
Back in Big W the photos were ready although I was disappointed when I had a good look at them as quite crucial people (mainly me) had been chopped off. It has been a long time since I got photos printed in a shop as I usually do them myself so it was yet another lesson to learn for the future. In fact, David had printed a couple off
for me the day before even though he was worried that the colour ink cartridge was “low” and although the colours were a bit strange at least all the people were there! We needed to get some wine so we drove round to the bottle shop - I always feel slightly awkward going to a “drive through” bottle shop and only purchasing just one bottle of wine!! When we got back to the house David was just about to vacuum round so I got busy doing that for him while he washed the tiled floors. The rain continued all afternoon so that gave us a chance to write a few Christmas cards. Originally we had planned to start our journey south today but there had been a lot of torrential rain further along the route and a check on the internet showed that plenty of flood warnings had been issued in NSW. Apart from that David had encouraged us to hang on as we had been given an invitation to dinner tonight from Mele.
Mele lives about a 10 minute drive away from David. We had been asked to get there quite early, for 6.30, and when we got
there we could see why - Mele had invited some other friends round as well and they had a 16 month old toddler. So we got to meet Mele’s young Tongan friend, Sita, her husband David and Joshua. Also there were David’s parents Kathy and Rod. Once Joshua got used to us we had a great time – he was quite steady on his feet and charged about the room looking at anything and everything.
We had a delicious Tongan style meal and got to know everyone and learned the remarkable story of how David met and married Sita in Tonga. They were a delightful couple and Mele said that Sita was typical of the small Tongan Island that she came from - bubbly, outgoing and very enthusiastic about everything. They would make sure that as Joshua grew up he would learn about and feel part of the Tongan culture. Joshua had a nap while we were eating and then seemed to regain his energy again and kept us entertained. His Mum, Sita, loves to dance which she did initially with Joshua in her arms and he loved it. What she hadn’t told us was that she had danced
since the age of two and, at aged eight, had danced for the King of Tonga. She proceeded to give us a demonstration of a typical Tongan dance – it was wonderful for us to see and to have some of the movements explained. How lovely that a young girl now living in Australia still has such strong ties to her homeland that, hopefully, she will never lose.
Time had simply flown by and we suddenly realized that it was gone 11.30pm and time to go. What a special evening it had been – thank you for the invitation, Mele.
We were all a bit tired on Sunday morning but thrilled to see a blue sky and no rain. We had a lunchtime engagement today but because we were definitely leaving on Monday we needed to get a few supplies and prepare for our onward journey so we nipped into the closest supermarket. Then we collected Sweetie from her holiday home and parked outside David’s house to enable us to re-load everything we had taken out for our stay at David’s. Although it’s early days, when we checked the wardrobe it was dry even after the torrential rain
of the previous day – so fingers crossed that we have solved the problem.
Because PIE was hitched up to Sweetie ready for a swift get-away the following morning, Mele came and picked us up in her car and drove us on the scenic route to what is fast becoming our favourite restaurant: Spring Creek at Carr’s Lookout. The road bridge by the weir in Warwick which had reopened just a few days ago was now flooded again which was a bit worrying for us and our ongoing travel plans. But today, we were safely able to follow the rural route to Killarney, passing through lovely countryside with the backdrop of the Great Dividing Range. We stopped for a while at the Queen Mary Falls car park and went for a short stroll although the lower walk was closed because of all the heavy rain. David had been warned that the restaurant was very busy and, so it was. But when we arrived they had our table ready for us. For a change Graham and I had rack of lamb which was delicious and both David and Mele chose Barramundi. Last time we had a meal there Graham had
been the only one to have a sweet but today David and Mele shared a wonderful looking cheesecake and Graham and I shared a very large cheeseboard. It was another super meal.
By the time we emerged from the restaurant it was cloudier but still a pleasant afternoon so we walked the short distance to the lookout - we never tire of the glorious view. We drove back towards Killarney and stopped at Browns Falls. We intended to walk to the falls which none of us had ever done but after only a short distance we realized that we wouldn’t be able to do it today because none of us had decent walking shoes on and it was a bit hazardous in the slippery conditions. David and Mele will have to complete the walk another time and let us know what it’s like. We stopped at Mele’s house for a cup of tea and a piece of delicious Dorset Tea Cake and by the time we got back to David’s it was getting late but we just had enough time to pack a few more bits and pieces in the caravan before it got dark.
We didn’t need
much in the way of supper and we were all pretty tired so we had an earlyish night. What a wonderful weekend to end our stay in Warwick!
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Darryl and Sarah
Wallaby Wanderers
Fabulous scenery...
despite the rain! What a shame you've had so much rain but it hasn't dampened your spirits! Great to see everyone looking so well. Hopefully speak to you over the weekend x x