Blogs from Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, Oceania

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

Just made it back from walking to Table Top Mountain and couldn't wait to post a few of the photo's. The views were as fantastic as ever and the walk was just as strenuous as Lyn remembers. As you will see from the photos, there isn't much, if any, flat track to walk on. It is all steep up or down and all rock from boulders to cliffs to large base ball size gravel, but that is half the fun. As it is the Australia Day holiday today, there was a lot of fellow walkers on the trail with a few of them piking out half way. Must be scared of heights. Any way, I hope you enjoy the photos as much as we had tasking them and doing the walk. For the rest of the ... read more