Leaving Lake
Leslie (April 3) & off to Highfields near Toowoomba to visit Gordon’s old
army mate Ken Perry and his wife Marelle.
As always, we were made to feel most welcome – more at home than at
home! And once again, we ate too much,
drank too much and talked lots.
The late
husband of one of Gordon’s Legacy widows had been in the 7th
Division, and Laurel knew there was a museum in the Toowoomba region to which
she wished to donate some of Keith’s memorabilia so we took a little detour to
obtain some information for her.
Although we were unable to take a tour of the Milne Bay Military Museum www.milnebaymilitarymuseum.com.au;
museum25battalion@westnet.com.au
we were able
to speak with some of the volunteers and see the general set up which is quite
good.
We had
bought a new, smaller 2Kva generator before this trip; had only given it a
quick run before leaving and it all seemed ok.
But . . . and it’s a very big but . . . when we went to use it to top up
the house batteries in Toad Hall after a few grey and miserable days, all it
wanted to do was ‘overload protect’ and then cut out. Could manage to just run the power board
enough to charge tablet and phone or small 300w fan or 800w toaster – one at a
time – but anything more and it would automatically cut out, again. This made for a very unhappy camper and a
very angry one! So, after asking around
we were referred to ODES SUPERSTORE (in
Toowoomba) www.odessuperstore.com.au
. They
had a 2500 ‘gennie’, imported same as both of ours, on the shelf for $949. After having spoken over the phone, we
arrived to find ‘John’ had fuelled one up ready for us to try. Gordon asked for ‘best price’ and we settled
on $850. Took it straight back to Highfields
and gave it a test run. Gordon threw
everything at it – toaster, microwave, kettle and even the
air-conditioner. The only think it didn’t
like was the kettle (at 2400w). So young
John could rest easily . . . we weren’t going to be back the next day, having
told him if it wasn’t suitable we would be.
I was not expecting to be using the AC at anytime unless we were on
240v, so this is a real bonus. All I
really wanted was to be able to top up the house batteries and use the coffee
machine . . . anything more is in all ways super.
Saying
farewell to Ken & Marelle, we head off to Wivenhoe Dam, Lumley Hill Campground. This is only about 80kms from Brisbane which
will enable Gordon’s daughter Peta, her husband (another) Gordon and their two
children Emily and Andrew to come visit us over the weekend. They live in a very built-up hilly area in
Brisbane which would make manoeuvring – much less parking – Toad Hall extremely
difficult to say the least.
Lumley Hill
(they say) has sites suitable for ‘large rigs’.
Unfortunately Carmel (who took our booking) didn’t seem to classify a
27ft 5th Wheeler as a big rig.
It took quite a considerable amount of to-ing and fro-ing for Gordon to
be able to position us on site. Now we
can only hope that no-one comes in too close in front of us before we leave on
Monday. Fingers crossed.
With the
family coming for lunch on Sunday April 7, we went to Fernvale shops (about
15kms) to stock up for a barbecue. All
we can hope now is that the weather improves and the Met Bureau is wrong!
The
amenities at Lumley Hill are very good – certainly no lack of water. Showers are clean and hot, each site has its
own bbq and with attached undercover wood storage and the tariff doesn’t change
– be it Christmas, Easter, School Holidays or mid-week. Bookings only open 12 months on advance for
peak seasons and you can only book 2 sites per phone call. Overall it is a good spot and appears popular
with families. We have a Mum, Dad &
three littlies on one side and 3 Dads with three young boys in front in a tent
. . . all having the absolute time of their lives!
We left
Lumley Hill behind us on Monday April 8 and arrived at Imbil (south west of
Gympie) quite late that afternoon. Here
we were to spend time with youngest daughter Courtney and Little Miss Haylea
Jayne (5 months old). Once again, we are
unable to park Toad Hall anywhere near Courtney’s house. She was going to take in goats on agistment
to supplement her income & keep the grasses down, but even the goats couldn’t
climb the hill! So we booked in to The Island Reach
Camping Resort for an extended stay so Grandma could have her fill of
Haylea before she too was all grown up.
The camping
resort/caravan park was severely damaged (again!) during flooding earlier in
the year and they have been valiantly cleaning & gardening to try to
restore the park. Unfortunately for me,
the soggy grounds are a breeding ground for biteys of all kinds so we opt to
move out to Standown Park on the Gympie-Tin Can Bay road. www.standown.com.au facebook.com/Standown.Park This beautiful park is owned and run by Rod
and Pam Elkington who originally set it up as a veterans’ retreat, although it
is now open to all.
The Memorial – awaiting consecration
Standown is
a quiet park – with none of the gimmicks designed to attract young children
like jumping castles and water parks – so costs are kept down and resting comes
easily. It is very well positioned as a
staging point for Fraser Island, Gympie, Tin Can Bay and even Maryborough is
only 77kms north.
The campfire
is lit at 16:30 precisely (half past four for the uninitiated) every afternoon
ready for happy hour (or two or three).
All very civilized. Here we met
some lovely people – Bob & Dawn, John & Esther, Graham & Mary, Jim
& Joy, Sue & Rich – among many others.
Some of these we were to catch up with again at the CMCA Rally in
Maryborough.
Like many
others, we took a day trip to Fraser Island with Courtney playing chauffeur in
her Jeep. I had last been on Fraser some
30 years earlier and no-one else had ever been so it was quite a trip for us
all. Haylea had her first ice-cream
(vanilla paddlepop; thanks Grandma) and Courtney, John & Haylea swam in
Lake Mackenzie. Well Courtney & Haylea swam & John almost managed a wet
chest. Said it was too cold – wimp. The
barge trip was just as I remembered it but the island was much more sand –
great vast sand drives which Courtney handled with aplomb. Well done kiddo! 
While we
were at Imbil, John had taken Gordon 4WDing and he was much more impressed with
Courtney’s driving than with John’s. Not
that John drove dangerously but it was much more adrenalin based than Courtney’s
‘family drive’ style.
From
Standown we also went to The Silky Oak Tea Gardens – a most delightful country
pub serving good food and cold drinks.
We had a night out with John’s parents – Jim & Suzette – for the Full
Moon Pig-on-a-Spit dinner; along with about 130 other people. Good basic wholesome food with fabulous atmosphere
and great company – you can’t ask for more.
We had earlier enjoyed Jim & Suzette’s company at Imbil Bowling Club
and were wowed by the food cooked and presented by Rainer
Kruse from www.foodandartsunshinecoast.com.au. A truly fabulous meal and not what one would
expect in a small country town bowlo.
Also from
Standown we travelled into Gympie for Anzac Day – a very moving march followed
by a Citizens’ Service in the town’s Central Park. The whole town was involved; combined schools
band and choirs, the Mayor affirming on behalf of the people support for all
troops and a commitment to remembrances.
So much to take in. And from out
of the crowd came Marianne and her husband (?Leon) from Taree! You can’t afford
to misbehave whilst travelling, you never know who might see you.
Monday 29th
April saw us head north to Maryborough for the CMCA Rally. This is a full week of fun, frivolity,
learning, meeting old friends and new.
There is just so much to see and do at a Rally that words tumble far more
quickly than I can type. Entertainment
every night. Trade stalls, craft lessons,
information seminars. On and on. Or one can just sit back and do as little as
you wish. All for $50 per person up
front and $9 per night unpowered. Full
shower and toilet facilities (and those provided at Maryborough were the best
we’ve seen in five years). Free shuttle
bus service into town, shopkeepers making special offers available to CMCA
members. It just keeps going. The showgrounds became a mini-city in its own
right. And someone was there filming it –
from the sky – in his own helicopter – towed behind his own motorhome. Boy oh boy, was that some rig! The trailer is
also his heliport.
The ball on
Saturday night is quite a culmination; and a chance meeting with another couple
from back home – Linda Parker from Telecross and her husband. Like I said, no misbehaviour because you
never know who’s watching & ready to report back home.
Maryborough
has some wonderful tourist attractions, including at Portside the Customs House
Interpretive Centre, Bond Store Museum, Maryborough Military and Colonial Museum
and the Customs Residence Cellar Dor – entry to all of which is just $5.50 per
adult. The Time Cannon is fired at 11am
daily and costumed characters mill about the area whilst old time piano playing
can be heard throughout the day. The
Military Museum is THE BEST we have seen outside of the War Memorial in
Canberra. The way their memorabilia is
presented and preserved would surely stand out as a model to be followed by
many an organisation.
Part of the Vietnam War Memorabilia
Various firearms arranged to
represent the Rising Sun Badge
In the next
issue – Hervey Bay and points further north.
Off to watch the Rabbitohs play the Titans in Cairns. “Live the Life You Love”
No comments:
Post a Comment