Lockyer Valley

So today is Sunday and that means we don’t leave until after the Insiders program on the ABC. The rain had stopped but there were puddles to remind us of last night’s storm. We headed off from our little rest area stop in Nanango, and as usual, we were the last caravan to leave!

We drove straight through a number of small towns still on the Country Way, eventually stopping in Crows Nest in the Centre of town at a lovely park. We pulled up and checked out the ANZAC tribute as well as a statue of indigenous man Jimmy Crow and a replica of the hollowed out tree where he supposedly used to live. The tree was the meeting place of bullock drivers moving cattle from one location to another.

We walked through the park to see if the Crows Nest soft drink company, the oldest surviving soft drink and cordial company in Australia (established in 1903) was open. Unfortunately, being Sunday afternoon we were out of luck. I did peer through the door and could see rows and rows of small glass bottles of soft drink and I could see syrup samples at the counter. Oh well, there’s always next time.

Next stop was the big city of Toowoomba, which is the second most populated inland city in the country after the national capital of Canberra. We stopped at the botanical gardens and walked through admiring some of the beautiful European and Australian trees and flowers.
Being such a large town, we decided to drive through the central business district, despite most of the shops being shut, to get a feel for the place. There were lots of heritage buildings mixed with modern architecture.

We continued driving, with the sky becoming grey and moody for a while, however we continued on and the sun came back, making the journey through slightly undulating fields very pleasant.

We stopped in a rest stop in a small town called Dalveen. There were a few other caravans and vans there and we had hoped the sun would stay out so we could enjoy the last rays of the day. But luck was not on our side, as the sun disappeared and a sharp, bitter wind took its place. Oh well, we are cosied up in our caravan. We even tested out the diesel heater - first time in quite some time! Out came a lovely McLaren Vale Shiraz before we got around to making dinner and checking out some Sunday night TV.

Good night from Dalveen in the Southern Downs region of Queensland. We are getting ever closer to the NSW border, and of course, home xxRead more