Monday 4th September

Only a short trip today but it involves getting into the traffic at Toowoomba and a bit of freeway driving but most exciting part is the descent out Toowoomba, 10% downhill for some 4.5 ks, in 2 lanes so we are weaving between  very large number of long, slow moving trucks. We have to turn up the numbers on the brake controller so that the van is doing it’s share of the braking too.  

As soon as possible we get off the freeway and head north for a bit via Esk, the scenery is beautiful through here but the road is a bit up and down and has a lot of bends.    We’re aiming for Kilcoy and actually get there about lunchtime and get a site at the racecourse. It turns out to be a bit noisy as there is a timber mill busy during the afternoon.

Tuesday 5th September

Next morning the jockeys turn up with their horseboxes and proceed to train their horses going round and round the track. Today we’re heading for a caravan park not too far away at Diddillibah, just rolls off the tongue doesn’t it!  This is the newest C/Park in Qld and is purpose built with fantastic amenities complete with beautiful ceramic basins sitting on top of the benches, hairdryers in the female block, swimming pool with water slides, a nice restaurant and large, grassy sites. 

We spend 2 nights here getting the washing done, cleaning the car and van windows and exploring the vicinity. Very pleasant – so warm.

Thursday 7th September

We have to take the car and van in to Nambour for the satellite dish to be installed and getting the reversing camera on the van connected up to the car plus a few other little jobs.The work is completed on schedule and so we head off up the M1 to our friends place at Pomona.   They live in a beautiful spot in the rain forest but the immediate challenge is to get the caravan down the pretty steep and  winding drive.   Here is a link to a short video.

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AksnrQT2cvoGxUeS9cejyfDodOvn 

Once we have the van down the hill we can settle in with a glass of wine and start the catching up process.

We don’t usually get too busy up here however, we were taken out for the day to see  Dickabram Bridge.   The bridge was built in 1855/56 and is one of only two bridges in Australia that carries rail and road traffic.    Unfortunately when we visited  it was closed for maintenance and photographing the deck was almost impossible.    It crosses the Mary River in a very beautiful location.   It has a ghost story that originates from the disappearance of a concrete worker who it is believed, fell unnoticed into one of the pylons when they were filling it with concrete from barrows.   Fishermen say that you can sometimes hear someone tapping on the column!

   There are turtles in the river and we did manage to get a picture but it was long way away.    The turtle’s shell was about 700 mm long.

    We also saw a Mary River Cod, which was well over a metre long, unfortunately I wasn’t able to get a photograph!

From the bridge we went to find a pub for lunch and found one in Gundiah (pop c50!), the Prince Albert.   Didn’t look much on the outside but the food was quite acceptable.   Unfortunately we were a week late for the pig races and a week early for the bull riding!

From there we made our way to Maryborough and Adrian decided to go into MacDonald’s for a cup of coffee (the third time Roger has been into such an establishment!)  Actually the coffee wasn’t too bad!    Maryborough used to be a busy port on the Mary River but no longer although it still shows signs of the shipyards that used to be here.

  

We were in Maryborough so that Pat and I could go to the practice here (Sunday 4.30 – 6.00).   The bells have been rehung since the last time we were there and are really good to ring now.    Following the practice we went with Ruth (local Tower Captain) to the pub for tea, before driving back to Pomona.

Yesterday, we went to the ‘Ginger Factory’ which was interesting but disappointing in that the only dry ginger products came from New Zealand and India!    There were plenty of other products made with/ from ginger but nothing that we were particularly interested in buying.    The grounds were pretty being  full of tropical plants, including gingers.