In the last three weeks we have been going out and about on days when the weather was nice. On the Fridays we have gone and played bridge at Brisbane Bridge Club and have got quite used to having to bid by writing the bid down, not to mention everyone else playing Standard American rather than Acol. They are lucky enough to have their own building which they lease from the council. It used to be a bowls club.
Friday, 19th Jan
After bridge we decided to head slightly south and visit the three water towers that were closest to Ipswich - a 3 hour driving trip. Bridge went well, we came 2nd top East/West - I was away with the fairies on a couple of hands - can't even blame David! We had a lovely lunch at a Greek cafe (Adonis) I had found around the corner from the bridge club They had a wonderful tiled mosaic on the wall - it was beautiful and the food wasn't bad either.
Our first water tower was on the Mt Lindsay Highway in Park Ridge so we knew access was likely to be an issue. However there was a layby beside it but sadly you could only see one side.
The next was in Boronia Heights. This one was quite sad. It was one of the few aboriginal designed water towers and it was next to a children's play park so I thought it would be easy to access but sadly the playpark had been overgrown and left to "rot" and you could not see the tower very well as there was no public access. I have to admit I was a little nervous walking through the undergrowth as I had sandals on.
The final water tower for the day took us a while to find. It was in the Ipswich Historical Society museum. The museum is only open Thur - Sat 10-2pm. It was after 3pm by the time we arrived but fortunately we could drive in. I was a little nervous as there was no-one around I could ask about access. I walked around the back to get my photo but I only took one as technically I should wait to pay the entrance fee.
We had meant to go back as the museum looked really interesting - time just got away from us/me writing the last of the post.
Boonah
On Sunday, 27th Jan, Nat and I finally found the time to go back to Boonah's Kooroomba Vineyard and Lavendar Farm. Nat brought me here in 2019 and it was one of my special memories from that trip and so I wanted to return with her. It was a lovely relaxing afternoon and the weather was kind to us.
Ipswich
Nat & Rob live in Brassall which is a suburb of Ipswich so we drive through it all the time. We haven't done any of the museum here but have taken photos of some of the murals and parks we visited. Aussies love their sport and the underpasses and road columns are festooned with sportsman around Springfield.
The car
Driving in Queensland has been interesting. I thought the UK had bad drivers but some here have to be seen to be believed. The majority "tail gate" and speed - very often in dangerous situations like up a windy mountain track. You are not allowed to park facing against the flow of traffic and you can do U-turns, even on main roads, when signed, some even have traffic lights telling you when to go.
We sold the car to Nat &Robs next door neighbour. Queensland doesn't have annual MOTs instead they have a certificate of roadworthiness which you only have to get when you sell your car. It costs $120 for the guy to come out and check it (each visit). You then get a list of things wrong and have 14 days in which to get them fixed. We knew our scary trip down the 4WD track in NSW would come back and bite us. We needed to replace the missing wheel gaurd an both front wheel, front and rear number plate lights, rear wiper blade and a missing left mud flap. In addition, the back left tyre needs replacing soon (but could be swapped out for the spare and replaced later) all to the tune of $700 plus an additional $120 for the retesting. We didn't want to spend any money on the car so were lucky we had given Andy such a good deal on the car he was happy to still buy it and do all the work himself. Yay no headache for us and more importantly we weren't leaving Nat & Rob with one either.
In total once my maths was double checked as I managed to be 3,000 km out last time - we did a total of 19,641 km, which included our hire car in Tasmania; all of which David drove - my hero!!
Last couple of days
Today is Thursday and I am trying to get all the blog posts caught up as we leave on Sat morning. Sadly, Rob went back to work on Tuesday to WA, so we are taking Nat to "
Stanley" (a 1 hat Cantonese restaurant we saw on this year's Australian Masterchef). Tomorrow we are off to bridge in the morning and plan to go to Mount Coot-The afterwards to see the lookout and botanical gardens, providing it isn't raining. That post will have to wait till we get home.
It truly has been a holiday of a lifetime and one I will always treasure. We are so grateful to all those who made the holiday such an experience but especially Nat, Rob, Georgia and Maddie - they deserve medals. We love you all loads xxx
Comments
Post a Comment