Friday – off to the beach. A ferry over to Cooloola, or something like that. If you look at a map it would appear to be the mainland continuation (south) of Fraser Island. Because of it being school holidays we had been reluctant to do Fraser Island, and waiting 2 weeks for the kids to go back to school was going to prove difficult so this was a good alternative. It certainly had miles and miles of beach driving. Chauffeur was breathalised just before the ferry (and then again as we were driving south along the beach – they certainly take things seriously here, but then we have heard there have been some idiots on the beach). Anyway, we had a lovely day despite the fact that the fish weren't hungry that day. No wind, blue skies, white sand – perfect eh? Picked up a chook from Woolies for dinner and we were happy.
Saturday saw us pick up our Djan, whoo hoo. Hopefully, fingers crossed, it will stay dry in the rain, we will see. Certainly, Travelander seemed confident the leaks had been sorted. A quick repack at Lynn and Greg's and sad goodbyes, and we were heading south to Brisbane. Janelle and Gary, friends we had met in Calgary were awaiting us. I just love the way you can meet up with people you haven't seen for years, and things just continue as if there has been no time lapse. It certainly seem that way with the Dutton's. Made to feel very welcome and even met another friend of theirs who had been in Calgary as well so needless to say there was a lot of Canadian reminiscences. Yet another great time and Monday we headed out to Toowoomba to catch up with 'family', Tony, my Dad's cousin, and his wife Hillary. We took the scenic route East and drove over some very mountainous landscape, unfortunately there have been quite a lot of fires around, and the visibility was poor, to say the least, so I think we probably missed some great views, but you can't have it all, all the time.
Tony and Hillary, were yet again, fantastic hosts, and we had a wonderful time catching up on family history, with some hilarious insights into our 'ancestry'. One of their grandsons was staying, so we again had the enjoyment of a youngster around, plus their dog “Daffy” the daschund was quite a character. Fortunately, Lil, another hound in our family, had trained us well, and we put up with no nonsense. With some 'local resident' directions we headed out on Tuesday to explore Toowoomba. We were quite impressed with the place 30 years ago, and it was still good – despite the tragic floods earlier this year. Most impressive was the Cobb and Co museum, where I learnt to braid a whip and belt, and the Spring Bluff Railway Station – had been devastated during the flood, but you would never know now.
Wednesday September 21st and we are finally back on the road proper. I think Djan was beginning to feel a bit left out. We haven't slept out in her for 9 nights. It is lovely staying with friends and family in a real house, but it has been a great evening cooking outside and getting 'back to normal'. After leaving Toowoomba we drove South. Not far out the village of Nobby 'distracted' us. Signs of Rudds Pub got out attention. Thinking this might be one of those pubs in the “Australian Bush Pubs” book we pulled in. No it wasn't, but Rudd, who wrote Dad and Dave, used to live here. It certainly deserves a place in the book, character, memorabilia everywhere, but unfortunately at 10:00 in the morning, we weren't interested in a beer or two. However, they sold stickers, so with one in my paw, we took off. This countryside, the Darling Downs, is beautiful. Lots of farms, but rolling hills, and the odd volcano 'plug' sticking up. Lunch at Urbenville – can't believe these little villages, so isolated, but such atmosphere. We are trying to get hold of a friend of Ben's – Erin, who lives not far inland from Byron Bay, we believe. Heading up a mountain in a National Park to camp for the night – we have severe withdrawal symptoms of the bush, having been in towns for a few nights now, we came upon a large branch which had fallen across the track. Usually there is a track around these obstacles, but this must have been recent, and we were on the top of a ridge, there was no way around this, so the axe and machete came out. Can I do anything I asked, as I started to make myself a cup of tea. Yes, came the reply, grab one of these (axe or machete) and make yourself useful!!! Well, I tapped away, trying to be helpful, but wasn't able to make much headway, other than chop through some of the mound of vines and creepers that were wrapped around the main branch. Chauffeur soon had chopped through enough of the branch for us to drag enough of it to the sides of the track and we could continue. Eventually found the camp, only to read a sign that said the camp clearing was closed. The track here was at least 25km and no where had it said the camp at the end was closed!! Oh well, weren't heading back now this late in the arvo, so we followed the track a bit further to a parking clearing and have settled in for the night. Still lovely – just a clearing in the middle of Tunumbar National Park. The birds are very noisy, and we have seen lots of small marsupials (smaller than a Wallaby) jumping across the track – bet they ferret around Max and Djan tonight. Oh yes, finally found the source of the nasty niff in the kitchen area – a broken egg, eugh! Unfortunately, it has made the egg box a bit niffy as well, but I have no where else to store the eggs, so will have to eat them up quick. Glad Chris isn't with us, feeding him eggs would produce an even bigger nastier niff!! XXXX
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