Mt Mee

On Thursday after we had lunch, we made our way up the mountain to the township of Mt Mee. I had not been that far up before, we had often been to the look out at Mt Mee but the township is a few kilometres further.

It is a pretty little town with stunning scenery. We were looking for something at "Birches and Churches" and wouldn't you know it, there was a restaurant called "the Birches" on one side of the road and on the other was a church and that was where the GPS was directing us. There was even a handy parking spot with bench seats to look over the surrounds.

A very easy find for the geo cache which then enable us to take in the scenery, unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me.





But thank goodness for the internet as there were some of the scenes that we saw.

What $25 can buy!

On our trip into Brisbane and getting off at central Station, there was an office for Queensland Rail and Warren said we should stop in there one day and find out about pensioner passes now that we qualify. We were walking past the office at the time.

I noticed that there was no customers and said lets drop in now while they are not busy.

Oh my Goodness, the lady at the counter was very helpful and we came away with some brochures to add to our existing pile of travel stuff.

We already get a concession for travel and I think a trip into Brisbane an hour by train, a trip on City Cat and another train in the middle of Brisbane and then finally home, cost us a grand total of $5 each.

That is local travel BUT we are entitled to two trips a year anywhere in Queensland for the sum total of $25!!!!

We could go to Townsville 1400 kms away for $25, out to Longreach about a thousand kms West for $25. We could pay a little extra on both of these and then get a sleeper compartment for $200 which includes all meals if we wanted to go that way.

Now we need to think about where and when to fit in a trip although that which still be available next year. What a lot of travel for $25, definitely going to take it up, sometime or other.

A trip to the big Smoke (Brisbane)

We needed to clarify something today and how better to do that but to go straight to the Horse's mouth so to speak. The ute was booked in for a service and was needed at 8 am so we drove it down and then walked to the train station.

We were dressed for a warm day in town and it was a bit breezy at that time of the morning on a brisk kilometre walk esp when walking in the shade but we knew we would be comfortable after about 10 am. Actually at 1 pm I was feeling a bit warm as what happens at this time of the year, cool in the mornings and evenings but warm during the day.

We got off the train at Central Station and neither had been to central in years but soon discovered what entrance we needed and walked out and down the hill. Central is on top of quite a hill, bit of a climb to get there.

Love this little church tucked away and along side of businesses houses.

This church or cathedral is on the other side of the little one, almost opposite it, I could only fit half of it in the photo, I couldn't go back any further to get it all in or I would have been in the middle of the road.

Then there is the clock tower at the Town hall, I did a tour of the Town Hall a couple of years ago but Warren had never been inside it so we stopped off to have a peak. He was taken aback at the tiny tiles on the floor and was marvelling at how long it would have taken some to lay them.

We conducted part of our task and then walked to Eagle Street Pier where we caught the City Cat and went on the River for a few stops to South bank where we had a great lunch. I had Egg plant with cheese on a tomato sauce and Warren ordered calamari, they came on serving plates and we had our own plates so it was easy to share. Yum, best calamari I have tasted for a long time.

Caught the train back and went to out second port of call walked to Roma Street and got the train home. Best thing yet, the ute was ready to be picked up when we arrived.

Morris park

Lucy and I went for a walk this morning at this park, it is about a twenty minute drive from home.

Great park, everything in it plus a geo cache! which I hadnt been able to find. we were there last week and did a walk around then some searching but decided it was one that I couldnt find. Other people had found it before and after me so it was there just not apparent to me.

This is the top end of the park, it goes from one road to the other, a skate ramp is on the right of the photo. I would say that it is about 2 kms around. last week we walked clock wise, today we went anti clock wise. Houses are on the edges mostly with big barking dogs and although Lucy was looking at them, I think she had realised that they are behind fences and cant get to her.

  A bird watching shelter and some gym equipment.

Lucy was interested in the ducks and water fowl that were on the water.

Then finally after getting a hint yesterday from a friend, a cache! Pesty little thing.

Lucy's Toys

I washed Lucy's mat and towel yesterday and they came up pretty good however she needed some coaching to sit on them again, it appeared that they did not smell the same. Her mat goes on the carpet square in the family cum dining room and looks like a big paw with extra padding in the toes part part. Sometimes she does lay her head on the thicker part and sleeps.

The towel goes over Warren's cane chair in the family room and she is allowed to jump into the chair if the towel is on it. Sometimes of an evening she will stand in front of the chair and look at it and then at us in the lounge room, waiting for it to be placed down so she can jump up.

I should have gathered her toys and washed them too but I didnt.

These are Lucy's toys, looking a bit worse for wear. The teddy bear on the left she has had for almost a year, it was the first toy we bought her. It did have four limbs and they were gradually ripped off, not all at once but every couple of months teddy would lose a limb and she would play with just that, throwing it up and chasing after it.

The cookie man was on special after Christmas and it did have a red hat but she couldn't have liked that as it didn't last long but everything else is in tact.

Chookie is the latest one, only a couple of weeks old, Warren thought its legs would not last any more than a day or two but it was the head that was ripped, we found stuffing around the yard and a plastic thing. Apparently the plastic piece was the squeaker. I stitched up the head last night while she paced in front of me waiting for it. As soon as I had finished she grabbed it and ran outside with it. She likes to play with them but showing them to us but if we go to take them she runs off with her head held high and then she will sit just out of arms reach, goading us to try to get it. funny dog.

Captain Thunderbolt

Bush ranger country. Coming up the New England Highway, there were huge boulders called Thunderbolt Rocks. I dont know the history of why they are called that but the history that I do know is there was a bush ranger in the area and he was nick named Captain Thunderbolt because the police used to lose him in these rocks. There are also caves in the area so he and his party would ride into these and fool the police.

Captain Thunderbolt was almost as famous or should that be infamous as Ned Kelly.

This is just one small area of these boulders, we didn't stay long as it was very cold and getting on to evening time. Unfortunately as often happens, people go out with spray paint. 

The boulders themselves are about three metres high and massive clumps of them. There was a signs for caves about ten kilometres up the highway but we didn't stop there as we wanted some food and a nice hot shower.

Boomerang bags

This morning I went to a sewing bee. I had heard of these Boomerang bags through an online friend, some-one that I haven't met but "know" through a forum that we are both on. I had stated that I had plenty of fabric but lacked ideas what to make with it.

I was given the website of this organisation, contacted the woman who is running the one closest to me and it was their day to meet today.

Boomerang bags started for people to be given cloth bags to use rather than plastic bags. at first it was expected that people use and bring them back but then it was decided to make them use and reuse. Fabric is donated that would other wise go to landfill so it is a good thing around.

These are the pockets that are sewn on to each one. The local fruit stall uses them and takes several each month. I didn't take my sewing machine this morning as Christine said there were other jobs to do such as cutting out and screen printing.
Luckily there was a machine for me to use as only three people were there this morning and I made three bags while I was there.

As I cant go to the next morning meet, I have brought some pockets home. I told them I had plenty of fabric to use for the bags.

I have done two with other one ready to sew up. This piece will make two and I will have to choose another piece to make the handles. looking forward to reducing my stash of material and for a good cause.

Goombungee

Warren told his bike mates that he wouldn't go again in the afternoon as he may find himself getting tired and then making mistakes. he said he would go in the morning but ended up didn't because of the rain.

We went instead into the township of Goombungee. Not sure how many people live there but there were two coffee houses, one doubled as a general store, the other doubled as a gift store. There was newsagent/post office and a pub with the school also in the main street.

After coffee we walked the town, there was a geo cache to get, two in town and we got both. The road was divided down the middle and there were play houses on the grassed areas between the roads. the play houses were painted up in licorice all sorts colours and there were blocks also painted suitable for kids to sit on.

Goombungee Trail bike ride.

This was about 9.30 am on Saturday morning, all clean and ready to go, he was waiting for his two mates to come past as everyone needed to ride with a buddy.

Fast forward two and a half hours.

This is after, the only part of his face shows is under his nose and it looks like he has a mo but no, its just dust and dirt.

He thought he had broken his knee guards but it seemed that a nasty stick had "jumped up' and spacked him on the knee and the rivets had popped out and he found them in his socks.

How the bike travelled to the event.

It rained in the afternoon and apparently poured during the night even thunder but I was sleeping and didnt hear any of it.

This was the way out of the paddock, with Mary having to pull the van as well as the bike's weight, we waited until lunch time when it was drier before we left, even then the ute slipped a bit and she was struggling, a few bike riders were watching us and we got cheered on especially when we got to the top of the rise where there was no mud.

The bike rides are a real family affairs.

A dad holding his daughter back until it was safe to cross, she then slipped it into gear and putted across the road to the pee wee track.

We left about an hour after this, we went to check out the best way to get out. 

Chicken Meat Balls

I made these yesterday and they are ready to pack for our weekend away. So easy to do with the help of the thermo. I blitzed some cauliflower about a quarter of a small one, 10 secs at 5, then I had taken out a chicken breast from the freezer and it was slightly thawed. Roughly cut into smaller pieces and put that in for the same but the pieces were a bit big so i gave it another 4 secs, added an egg and some onion salt.

Rolled into balls and coated with chick pea flour. The last bit I did four hamburger type patties, I was sick of rolling. The meat balls were cooked in garlic fused olive oil and the burgers were cooked in coconut oil and i think they turned out the better ones.

We will have no electricity so they can just be reheated using the camp gas stove. fresh eggs and bacon are going too and thats about it. I checked the pantry in the caravan and there is enough tinned food in there to feed several people so no need to take anything more.

I will pack our lunch for on the way.

Deepwater

Now a township with Deepwater as its name? We didn't see any deep water but this is the sign post coming into town.

Why? because it is the scarecrow centre of Australia it claims and later this month July, there will be a scarecrow festival in town. We didn't see any others but this is a cute one.

We just may have stopped because there was a cache there. A magnetic one which lead us to believe the cache was somewhere on the sign but no, it wasn't. In front of the sign, was a large log, good for sitting on and the were bolts at the base of it, pesky little cache was attached tot he bolt.

Nice colourful sign to greet newcomers into town, got to put a smile on faces.

Inverell

I think that is how it is spelt. A nice place with a lookout and a lake which is where we spent most of our time in town.

After crunching over icy grass at Armidale we headed off to Inverell and this was the first stop. off to the left is the look out. A lady was there with her dog? that is the white scrap of fluff following Sheridan. Zac the pup was four months old and he really didnt think that we should have been there interrupting his day.

He spent a lot of time barking at us and when we walked over to see the look out, he followed her still barking. His front feet lifted off the ground when he stood and barked.

We did our thing and then drove down town tot he lake. Some one promised me platypus sightings! hah, they werent silly they were staying where ever it was warmer but we had a nice walk around half the lake before returning to a warm car. The path was concrete for about 100 metres and then went to a well formed dirt path, with a few seats along the way.

oaj

Bus trip to the Ginger factory

An organised trip to one of my favourite places for coffee and scones. As I am not eating things like scones and bread it was only coffee today after I had visited the NutWorks factory across the road.

Lots of different nuts and hand creams etc using nuts, especially the famous macadamia nut. I didn't end of buying any as I would have had to carry it for the rest of the morning. 

Our trip started at 9.30, and we spent two hours there before returning for home at 12.30 pm.

I had a look in the shops at the ginger factory, they always have stuff that is different and I wanted to buy a couple of small things for gifts and felt that I could get something there that would be suitable, which I did.

I also took a walk in the grounds, some areas I didn't go into as it had rained over night and not all the paths are paved. 

Beautiful big trees, although it was cool today it was still very pleasant.

There are a few fountains around and mostly there is a seat nearby so people can just sit and watch the water if they want.

Animal tiles in the main path.

Almost back to the cafe there is this massive tree, I love the way the branches twist and turn.

A nice day out and then three of us had coffee to determine next months outing. A small train goes around the gardens regularly and that is rather fun to do but I have done it before, I prefer to walk the area.

Letter boxes

We found quite a few letter box caches while we were away. I have always found these are quite cute, especially if they are an actual letter box.

Often there is a little puzzle to work out to get the combination lock to open it. I had solved one, the questions all related to Noah's Ark and that was also the name of the cache. I knew all the answers I thought but did check with Mr Google on the number of daughter in laws that Noah had, better to be safe than wrong. In the end we didnt pick that one up but it is there for a later trip.

This one is also called Noah's Ark. The middle part opened up and the log book was inside that. Thhis was was very similar but the questions were different. It was outside some-one's house but the greenery was quite thick and it was quite a way away from the house.

Slow boat to China was the name of this one, so cute, the back opened, a typical junk.

And then there was this one, called The Cream Box. The others are for real, the name on the letter box is G Cach, it had a "No Junk Mail" sign on the front, combination lock with the numbers in the hint.

We did a fourth one but silly me, I didn't take a photo of it.

It was in the shape of a very skinny man, using a gas bottle as his middle, pipes for arms and legs. His legs had been cemented in to Rubber boots. One arm had a letter dangling from it which had the combination of the lock. Ha, had to find the key first! his hat twisted and raised just enough to get the key out which had been placed in a mint tin to keep it dry.

Inside his belly were two containers, one with SWAG and the other with trackables and log book.

What a great find that was, it did have 152 favourite points and I can see why, I also gave it a fav point.

Sleeping!

Dont know what it is but Warren and I have both had trouble sleeping of late. Being in the caravan there is no hassle.

So Warren yesterday suggested that it might be our mattress. Shouldn't be as we replaced in March or around then.

He also went on to suggest that we swap our mattress with the one in the spare room. Luckily they are the same size.

Boy oh boy mattresses are hard to move, its not so much the weigh more the size of them and then also getting them around corners etc.

Anyway we changed them over and we both had a good nights sleep, thank goodness.

The new one that we bought was quite firm across the thicker part of our bodies and Warren felt that he was sleeping on a slight rise with his head and feet hanging down the other side. I didn't have those sort of issues but it was very nice to get a good nights sleep.

Glen Innes

It was very cold here.
This was unexpected, not the cold but what we found there. I didnt know that it existed but Sheridan had been there before.

It was in Australia’s 1988 Bicentenary Year that the Celtic Council of Australia developed the idea of erecting a national monument to honour all Celtic peoples who helped pioneer Australia. Glen Innes responded with a 46-page submission for Australian Standing Stones, inspired by the Ring of Brodgar in Scotland’s Orkneys.

 Glen Innes was chosen. But no money came with the right to build the Stones.

They spent three months scouring the bush within 50km of Glen Innes for the stones. They had to stand 3.7 metres from ground level, which meant each to be 5.5 metres in total length.

They found only three stones which could be used in their natural state – others had to be split from larger rock bodies. 

It took more than six months of further effort, spearheaded by Bob Dwyer, who went on to become Glen Innes’ Mayor, and businessman Ted Nowlan, using a 12 tonne forklift and other heavy equipment to load and transport the stones on a timber loader to the Centennial Parklands site. The weight of the stones averaged 17 tonnes.

The above paragraphs have been taken from the Glenn Innis site. the park where the stones sit has been improved since the photo was taken and it is a very nice area now with picnic tables and bbqs just the other side of the stones. The stones area has been paved all stones numbered. 

Gunnadah, a town in New South Wales

Driving into Gunnadah, we were looking for a particular road, missed it and had to double back to go up to Pensioner's Hill Lookout.

This shelter was on the top with picnic tables around and BBQs.

Just over the edge of the hill, a structure had to been built so that people can walk further out. it was a very strong looking build so i had no qualms about going out on to it.

Apparently the park had been revamped over the last few months and had only been reopened last month.

Dotted along the path to the summit, (that sounds rather grand, the summit, and it was a summit but we had only about 160 metres to the top from the car path) were these fantastic sculptures, there were about a dozen of them.

After we went into the township itself looking for breakfast. We ordered eggs and bacon, hold the toast, with a side serve of mushroom and avocado,  what a feast, we couldn't finish the plate and we didnt eat for the rest of the day.

Another road trip.

Its amazing what can happen in school holidays.

I knew Sheridan was thinking of going south for a few days but didn't know when.

Texting her on Tuesday regarding work rosters, she said that she would be heading out in an hour or so. I asked heading where?I wasn't sure if she meant home or somewhere else as I knew she was out at the time.

Soon the phone rings and she says, couldn't be bothered texting so ringing and then said that she was leaving to go south about 4 pm, it was now 3 pm.

Then the comment came 'Unless you want to come for a drive."

Me "Well, I had thought about it!"

Her "Throw some clothes in a bag and get down here"

Me "It will take me til 4.30 at least to get there"

Her 'I can wait"

Meanwhile Warren's saying "Go on, off you go, get off the phone and get some things together." Looks like i am going on a road trip!

Warren helped me pack and then drove me to Sheri's arriving at 4 pm, it is a 40 min drive on a good day. We transferred to her car and off we set. Just on dusk, we did a little deviation to pick up our first cache, then into the next town/city for a well earned rest and hopefully a good sleep.

As I was told that we would be leaving at or before 7 am, we did!

 My packing was good, didnt forget anything, except some perfume but I can live without that for a few.

In three and a bit days, we travelled about 2000 kms, talked and laughed a lot, took some pics and saw lots of new and different things. more blog posts with photos to come. thank goodness, my camera was sorted.

Canada Day

One hundred and fifty year this weekend. One thing about geo caching they/it likes to celebrate lots of things.

Sheridan put on an event for cachers to meet and greet and enjoy pancakes, maple syrup and ice cream for breakfast in her local park starting at 8 am.

I packed coffee for us as well.

A nice group of people came and it was good to put faces to names. I meet and chatted with several there and it wrapped up by about 9.20 am.

I realised that we were two off a little milestone so we tried to find two caches on the way home. We did but had to visit five to get two.

As a result of attending  the event day, we get another souvenir, woo hoo. Now we have one of every state in Australia except Tasmania, one for China and one for Canada.

Fat Head Pizza

What a name for a pizza! Thats what we had for dinner tonight. Of course when I suggested pizza I had forgotten that the oven was stuffed, just the switch but it means that it cant be turned on at the moment.

I have seen Jamie Oliver make a pizza in a fry pan so I thought  if he could do it why not me?

This is the end result.

The crust is made from mainly grated cheese and some cream cheese, an egg and a little almond meal to make it form, roll between two sheets of baking paper then into the hot fry pan.

It was too soft to turn over so i just added the toppings. there is no tomato paste but tomatoes, mushrooms, olives some cooked pork topped with more cheese.

Warren favourite dish when we were in China was twice cooked pork and while this was cooked pork I suppose it was only warmed though as i was concerned the base was going to burn.

Warren offered to get it out of the fry pan, I retired to the lounge room so I didnt see what he did. The bottom was crisp and not burnt and it did taste good.

The recipe was enough for two so i have frozen one for next week as cant have pizza two nights running can one?

Coo-ee Muster

I had heard of the Cooee muster but didnt know too much about it. Paying a visit to Gilgandra and there was the story.

Here was the statue in the middle of the town. This is a town that we have driven thru many many times heading north or south but because the highway bypasses it, have never actually been intot he town before. The highway cuts along to the South and just touches a little bit of it but there was so much more to it.

it was war time 1915 in France and Allied had taken a lot of casualties, recruitment numbers were down. The local butcher William Hitchen with his brother the local plumber felt the need to do something and they came up with a plan to march to Sydney and sign up to fight. Due to lack of money and poor roads, little transport, they had to walk, all 320 miles. Twenty six brave young men left Gilgandra, towns along the way held rallies and fed them when they came into town and usually a few from that town or area joined in the march. By the time they reached Sydney, there were 263 of them, all ready and willing to fight for their land and freedom.