Aussie Icons

Its amazing to know/see three Aussie Icons not that far from home. We had the occassion a couple of weeks ago to get up close and personal to the closest one. It featured in the Brisbane trade Expo back in 1988, it is now just up the road a bit, outside of the local Historial village.

Matilda is about ninety minutes away and a good spot to take a break which we intended to do, however the roadworks have now been completed and means the highway not longer passing by her. Matilda made her debut at Sydney olympics and had a saucy wink. She now resides at a service station.

Further along the highway is or was the Ettamoga pub. It used to look like this.

It was sold and the new owners  had to change it, now it looks like a Bali hut.

 

Rainbow Beach sand blow

I think this does have another name but it is in Rainbow Beach and it is a sand blow. Except for geo caching I would not have known about it.

We rocked up to do it, it was an earth cache so needed tovisit and answer some questions about it. First problem, the path to the sandblow is in national park so Lucy cannot go there. Warren says to me, you go, I stay with Lucy in the car with a/c on. How hard can it be, only 420 metres as the crow flies. First corner and the path starts to rise, then there were steps (I hate steps!), these were one step up and a metre platform then another step, 60 of the buggars. I figured that I had done 57 at tge footy the week before so I could do these But any more and I was going back to the car.

Fifty eight metres and there are more steps, hum, so close, I did think about turning back but 58 metres surely a doodle, there were only 20 steps in that set. Yay, made it.

Very impressive. 

There was an info board there but the info that I needed wasnt there. I took photos of it and the sand and then wandered back. Took the time to read the info boards at the start of the walk. Well, blow me down, the info I needed was there. Did not need to go to the actual sand blow but glad I did.

Weird and Wacky Letterbox.

While at Rainbow Beach we drove further up to Poona. We stayed at Poona years ago and it was next to the beach but really needed a boat to do anything on water. The caravan park has been updated since we stayed and we wanted to see what it was like now.

It is a one horse town with one general store but that was closed and I think it still has the same closed sign on the door as it had six years ago.

However the caravan was very busy and they have opened a store as part of that so at least people can get some things from there. We took our pinic to a seat on the beach but didnt stay long as it was quite cool.

Someone has placed a couple of caches along bush walks so we went walking and found those. Lucy loved running along the bush tracks.

We also spied a very unusual letterbox on the way into town, I'm sure a lot were like me and stopped to take a piccie.

Obviously a Qld fan, judging by the colours.

Nail biting finish

Last week we went to our third match of football for the season. We try to get a package each year if we can, not followers of Brisbane lions but if we want to see a live game then this is our option unless we want to pay lots of money to go to Melbourne.

Our seats are set for each game and they are in the second tier which doesnt sound too bad but it is still up 54 steps, I know because I count the buggars. Good view though once we get there.

The game went as I thought with the opposition, Geelong, being about three goals in front at halftime, I was hoping that it would stay like that and not get any worse. Of course the prediction was that if Brisbane were to win, they would go to top position and knock Geelong from top to second.

The game seesawed a bit and then Lions kicked two in quick succession, was it possible? There was another one kicked and suddenly with 90 seconds to go, Lions were in front by two points, could they hold on. Oh, no, its coming down Geelong end, a free was given on the 50 metre line, to not a known goal kicker. He lines up and its looking good but hits the post, resulting in a point. Back to the centre, there is time for either team. Desperate play from both and then the siren. Heavens above, Brisbane has won and taken top spot. The crowd went wild and gave a standing ovation.

The road from our stand, the buses are lined up ready to take the punters back to the station at the end of the game.

Bats!

We are at a nice caravan park at the beach, except we cant get tv and therefore wont be able to watch the last game of football before the finals, oh woe is us.

I watched a movie on netflix while Warren was watching cricket on his tablet, internet works fine.

We went to bed about usual time and I guess as the lights went down, the bats came out. I did not realise that they made noise and what a noise it was. They chirp! And loudly!

It did make it difficult to get to sleep but I must have gone to sleep only to be woken this morning by noisy parrots. Nature is pretty wonderful but sometimes I wish they could keep the noise to a reasonable level.

Neat seats

Driving to our campsite, we stopped to have coffee and a break. Having the camper on behind meant that we couldnt park in the main street which was 45 degree angle parking.

Not a great hassle as we just found a side street where parking was along the road, what I call normal parking.

A little extra to walk but thats good after sitting in the car for awhile.

As we walked back to the bakery, these seats were on the side for people to sit.

 Great looking seats under a verandah for the full sun but the sun was available in early morning to enjoy. But take a closer look at the seats.

Art Classes

This term, I started drawing classes. First week I tried to draw cones and vases, hum not too bad then I was given some hints. Draw a grid and draw one box at a time good advice.

Next I was given a puzzle.

It was A4. 

I got some done in class but had no idea what it was supposed to be.

Started to have a bit of an inkling so spent another hour finding the squares that I wanted to join up.

This was the final result.

My Sewing Projects

I had three projects to get finished before I started on some sewing that I wanted to do. My tendancy is to start something new before I have completely finished something else.

I was trying to break the mold. Two had a deadline of 19 and 20 August, the other did not but I wanted to put a deadline on it.

Whoohoo! Finally finished yesterday and today after a little bit of housework, I settled down and made one quilt.

I need to stitch some buttons on to it to hold the inner in place. Quilts will be going to a charity that I knit for already but I know sewing will be quicker to get items finished.

I covered a single doona that I bought for Lucy after cutting it to size. I love this fabric but could never decide what to make with it.  

Coffee morning

Thursdays we go in different directions, I drive and take Warren to the train and then head north while he goes south.
I finish earlier than him and then go to collect him from the train station again. This week, as I was waitinģ, he sent a message to say he had missed the train. It would be another half hour before the next one.

I offered to drive the 20 minutes and he could buy me coffee or lunch as it was getting to that time.

We had been for coffee at this particular place a few months ago. Came across this interesting path.

Coffee was a bit disappointing as it is a big place with lots of tables and chairs even a couple of sofas and lounge chairs but we discovered there was no menu and the only food they had was four types of sweet things in a covered fridge. We ordered coffee and one piece of caramel slice to share. On the way back to the car, we stopped into subway and bought a steak and salad roll.

Roadworks

I had the occassion to go south this morning, as I was leaving just after peak traffic times, my options were motorway or the back way. Motorway won out until I realised that the lane I was in only turned right. Buggar, oh well, the back way it was.

The motorway is quicker but lots of cars and everyone expects cars to do the speed limit. Backway is slower not by much, I used the backway when I was working as it was less likely to be held up by traffic incidents.

 The backway meanaders around and speed limits go from 80, 70,60 and even 50 in some places, there are also several school zones. It is a far nice way to travel and only adds about five minutes to the trip.

About twelve kilometres from my end destination where I needed to go around a roundabout, through the lights, across a lowlying bridge there were warning signs about roadworks ahead. As I turned the bend, I saw a temporary traffic light and it was yellow, I slowed even further and I was the first car to go once the light went green.

There was a lady in a vest by the light, not sure why but that was obviously her job to stay there. She waved and put up two fingers, I assumed it was only going to be a couple of minutes.

I amused myself by watching the guys move the traffic cones, light changed to green and I eased off the brake, then the lady gives a very exaggerated sweep of her arm as if inviting me to move. It was very funny and certainly put a smile on  y face for the rest of the journey. Good on her for making a boring job into something more pleasurable for her and the motorists.

Murals

Out in the countryside today and on the side of a building, I saw this mural.

I have been to this country town several times but do not recall seeing this before.

I remember first seeing murals painted on building sides in Sth Australia a few years ago and now they seem to be cropping up in lots of places.

The ones that I have seen are in good proportion and excellent colour as well.

This country town had excellent pies as well, I did only have one but there were many varieties to choose from, I settled for steak and bacon. Yum!

Tour de France (down under)

Out at the weekend on a country road and there were a couple of people with flags, we asked if it was okay to continue.  They said yes, but watch for cyclists. We werent going too far, and soon pulled over.

We watched them ride up and down a few times, each time getting more strung out. One riker did come to grief not far from us but people were closer to help and it wasnt long before an ambulance came down the road to collect him. He would have had lots of gravel rash I think.

Going through their paces

We visited a skatepark yesterday. It was an excuse to get out of the house, take Lucy for a walk and find a cache, of course.

It is a park north of us and Lucy and I have been there before, a concrete park path runs the whole way around a small lake with quite a bit of bird life.

After we had walked and found cache, nasty little blighter that was a bit tricky to find. One of those that once you see it, you cant unsee it. Then Warren decided to see how Lucy would go over the jumps.

She coped very well once she worked out that he wanted to her to go over not around.

Second day in Charleville

We decided to stay two nights in Charleville as we had been setting up for the night and moving on the next day. The park was quite busy the first night  I counted 53 vans, campers and tents but they all moved on except for four vans and there were only about twelve altogether the second night.

I wandered into town to top up with milk and meat, even though the fridge is small, I was quite amazed how much I could fit in there. As it is not connected to 12 vault we had to transfer things from the camper fridge to the car fridge, which is also not that large. I ended up using a shopping bag to put in the butter cream meat and milk from one to the other. The meat in the freezer remained frozen during the day so didnt need to move that.

One of the attractions in Charleville was a solar display running from 1pm til 9pm. Warren booked into the afternoon session and got to look at the sun through a large telescope, he was able to take pictures through it and it shows up a very firey orange red.

At night, there is no lights allowed, as people drive up they need to turn their car lights off at the entry and arrive fifteen  minutes beforehand to allow peoples eyes adjust to the light or lack of light.

Both tours take about two hours and Warren purchased a drink bottle and a mug and told me I could choose which one I wanted.

I took the cup, I like the periodic table, I dont remember learning about it when I was at school but we did quite a bit on it when I worked as an aide.

It can be used to make puzzles as well.

Charleville

We came back here to stay for two nights, there were two parks in town and one that was six kilometres south of the town. Warren gave me the choice and I selected the one out of town, after all we were there to relax.

It appears that someone had taken a couple of acres off their farm and turned into a caravan park. Very basic amenities but all that was needed. The shower was concrete floors and the walls were corigated iron. Cleaning time, they brought in a hosed and sprayed water around and then used a straw broom.

In the bathrooms was a large dish full of slivers of soaps for people to use, while sitting there, it also perfumed the room. The owner told me that she bought the soaps and cut them in half to sell and off cuts were put into the bathroom. Soaps were $2, mostly soaps like that are $4 to 6.

Very relaxing, did some washing while there, saved taking dirty stuff home.

West of Quilpie

We werent going any further than Quilpie but before we turned for home, we travelled out the road to do an Earth Cache. These are finding and answering questions about a natural spot. Some seem pretty hard but this paticular one appeared quite easy so we ventured out.

We needed to drive about 30 kilometres to a particular spot and take the elevation and fill in the blanks about a hand written sign. We saw a pair of brolgas and some emus while we were driving, unfortunately I did not have my phone ready to take pics.

Found the sign and it told us what the elevation was and funnily enough, our phones said 246 metres, then Warren realised that it was because we were holding them above the ground. 

Red dirt everywhere.

Drove back to town and visited the visitors centre and a lady from the local council shire, they are new cachers and will be attending the event in Blackall later in the year. Between them, they are looking after the caches in Quilpie. The earth cache and one other have been there for some years, the rest  had been placed only a few days before we arrived.

Next stop was Cooladdie again for a drink and ice cream.

Quilpie

Only another 120 kms along the road and we are nearing Quilpie. I got out my phone for the gps and in doing so I saw that a new cache had just been published and we were 5 ks away. Well, of course we were going to tryfor it. Warren found a spot to park the car within 79 metres and we went for a stroll or in my case a quick walk as a "first to find" is good to acheive. The cache was called Reference tree and it was a tree that had been used as a reference for roads. This tree was out on its own and there was a small branch about six inches long, at head high and there was a rusty o ring hanging on the branch. I plucked it off and underneath it was a magnetic micro and a clean log. Yay the FTF was ours. Such simple pleasures!

Warren had highlighted the Quilpie Lakes to stay at, it was a private property who had some powered sites for hire and  more spaces if campers were selfcontained. Even though it was only 3pm, their powered sites were all taken so we had to go in the caravan park in Quilpie itself.

After we set up camp in there, we went walking down the street and found the rest of the caches in there.

 This was in a garden next to the police station.

Pretty stained glass windows of a church, there were three churches in town. Photo has not shown how pretty it was.

Cooladdie

What a name for a place, just love it. Cooladdie was the only township between Charleville and Quilpie and where we stopped and got some lunch.
When I say township, there was a roadhouse which no longer has fuel but they did pretty good egg and bacon sandwiches.

I sent Warren in to get something for lunch while I got Lucy out and made coffee. Another guy pulled up in a4wd and cub camper almost tge same as ours. I assumed he was coming from Birdsville so I quizzed him about the roads. He said they were good on the way in but now on the way back, they were in a bad condition.

The flies were bad and we ended up eating our lunch in the car. On the way back to the car a mere 40 metres, poor Lucy started limping and we grabbed her opposite legs and took 8 or 9 three corner jacks from the pads of her feet.

After hearing about the roads, we decided that we would go on to Quilpie and then return.

Charleville

The map or GPS said that we should drive into town on the north side to a T junction and turn right which would take us on the outskirts and to continue onto Quilpie.

However, I had found a cache, the only one in town ans so we turned left, which sent the gps into a frenzy but cant help that. We only had to travel a kilometre to a local park.

According to the cache page, some traveller/cacher felt that there should be a cache there and contacted the local scouts group and now they maintain it, it is also on their fence line.

This was the cache and I had to laugh as the person before us had a "did not find". Really? How could you miss it?

The reason for the cache was to show people a piece from history that I certainly did not know before.

Charleville is towards the centre of Australia and very hot and dry. Back in 1902 on advice of a meteorologist, cannons were built with a view to fire into the clouds to make it rain. It was not successful. Two out of the orginal six are still standing.

There was a lovely park surrounding them including a small stream with a waterfall and a couple of small wooden bridge. We all had a very pleasant walk around the park before I made coffee and we had morning tea.  Then back into the car and headed for Quilpie.