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Published: November 30th -0001
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Saturday November 6th - happy birthday to young Ben in Melksham, Wiltshire who was 6 years old today. We hope you had a great birthday.
We had considered straying further inland but felt that our first choice, Carnarvon Gorge, was just too far to fit in with our on-going plans. Also everything I had read about it mentioned that the caravan park in the gorge was quite a few kilometers along a gravel road. Graham felt that, unlike Pie, poor old Sweetie and gravel roads wouldn’t mix too well so we headed towards Kingaroy, a drive of 226 kms. There were only a couple of small towns on the way and we stopped in the village of Bell. It was named after Sir Joshua Peter Bell who at that time owned Jimbour Station that we had visited only yesterday. The huge area of the station included the village of Bell. Once in Kingaroy we decided to stay on the Big 4 site which was about 2 kms out of the centre. For a town caravan park it was very pleasant with rose bushes and picnic tables and chairs between some of the pitches. The site we were given had a
concrete block which gave Graham the chance to practice reversing the caravan which he managed pretty well.
Once we were settled we went off to the Information Centre and, as usual, we weren’t disappointed. An older chap picked out some leaflets for us, gave us a local map and pointed out where a few attractions were. He encouraged us to watch a short DVD on peanut farming since Kingaroy is The Peanut Capital of Australia. So we did that for 10 minutes or so and were surprised at our ignorance about how peanuts are grown! Peanuts are not a true nut but are legumes. From planting the bush takes about 5 weeks to flower - the flower pollinates itself and then a tendril called a peg appears and then bulbs start to form which after 8 weeks become peanuts. There can be up to 100 peanuts below the surface of each plant - amazing!
After that I went to the art gallery which was at one end of the IC and Graham went to the museum at the other end. The gallery was full of beautifully embroidered pictures and some large impressive quilted scenes. I joined Graham in
the museum, the central attraction of which was a very old peanut harvesting machine. The museum was full of interesting displays and information and we were left in no doubt that Kingaroy is indeed the peanut capital of Australia. We bought a few bits and pieces including some peanuts of course and then went to find the lookout. Just over 2 kms out of town up a very steep and narrow road is Mt Wooroolin. The lookout is an elevated viewing platform and has striking panoramic views across Kingaroy, where the peanut silos dominate the town, and the areas leading towards Kumbia and the Bunya Mountains in the east. Back at the caravan, Graham went for a relaxing dip in the very pleasant pool and I sorted out dinner.
During our stay in Dalby we had considered visiting the Bunya Mountains but decided against it as the distance was just too much for a day trip. But from Kingaroy we could get there fairly comfortably and so on Sunday morning we set out, complete with picnic lunch, to drive the 50 kms to the mountains. The first part of the journey was through farmland with large areas of deep
red soil having been ploughed in readiness for the annual planting of the peanut plants. It was a bit of a cloudy day but we didn’t mind that. We soon began to climb and after a while we stopped at the Cherry Plain Lookout car park. The walk to the lookout was not too strenuous and the view when we got there was well worth the stroll. We didn’t see too much wildlife on the way and we were almost back to the car when we saw what I think was a Rufous Fantail - a very striking rust coloured bird. We had our morning cup of tea there amused by a car full of young Japanese tourists who came for a few minutes, took a million photos and then were off again in true Japanese style!
We drove on to Dandabah where there was quite a large educational centre and lots of holiday homes. We strolled along part of the ‘scenic circuit’ which went through bunya pine forest. Even as far back as the 1860’s people were travelling to this area to relax and to enjoy the scenery. In 1881 a timber reserve of over 12000 hectares was
established and the area was declared a national park in 1908. From December to March bunya pines drop big cones containing edible seeds known as ‘nuts’. Heavy crops occur about every three years and for countless generations spanning thousands of year’s large groups of Aboriginal people from different tribes gathered on the Bunya Mountains to take part in what is now known as the bunya festivals. The bunya pine is a very striking, tall tree and usually towers above the other trees. The cones are huge and can be 20-35cm in diameter so there are signs telling people to watch out for them falling in the summer months but we couldn’t see any. Near the Education Centre there was some sort of rally taking place in the camping area which was very busy and there were lots of people around having picnics and generally enjoying their Sunday afternoon out. Around the grassy areas lots of wallabies lazed about too. Dandabah was obviously the place to be on a Sunday! We went back through the forest to Westcott and then walked to Westcliff Lookout before having a late picnic lunch. The clouds were beginning to look very threatening so we meandered
back to Kingaroy.
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