Stanthorpe, 28 36 24 S, 151 49 48 E, (341 Km).It was great seeing Ken again plus his 6 Jack Russell’s, especially the 7 month puppy Zeus which has taken a shine to me.We were also pleased on 2 further counts, he hadn’t sold our cold weather clothes and other bits and pieces we had left with him on a “Trash and Treasure sale (UK = car boot sale) and we found out shortly after our arrival that Queensland does not have daylight saving time so we have put our watches and clocks back a hour.I said we are pleased, actually Jenny isn’t, we fly from Brisbane to Singapore on the 19th January, Jenny thought that she would have 3 extra hours on her birthday because of the time zone difference , she now has only 2.
Wednesday 14th January 2009.
Just 1 more time zone to go and the next one will be Greenwich Mean Time, thesechanged times play havoc with my “beauty” sleep this morning I was awake at 5:30!We had a very relaxed day, Ken drove us into Stanthorpe and we collected a few bits of shopping, had a look around Ken’s property and caught up with all Kens news. Jenny had broken the fastening on her trousers, (say no more), Jenny stitched a leather reinforcement into the fabric, Ken whose a craftsman in leather then fitted a new stud to them, I meanwhile played with Zeus, I think we’ll both sleep tonight.
Thursday 15th January 2009.
Toowoomba, 27 35 28 S, 151 56 19 E, (162 Km). We left Stanthorpe just before lunch, It was a bit upsetting for Jenny saying goodbye to Ken, but, who knows we may be here again. After a re-fill with fuel (if we’ve calculated right our last) we stopped in Warwick (no, not that one) to see Donna, Jenny’s Niece and the children, Adam, Nathaniel and Caidan, spending a pleasant hour or so there before continuing to Toowoomba which is a further hour or so along the New England Highway.We found the Big4 caravan site straight away, thanks to Betty (the SatNav), and had a nice yarn to the people on the next site before we had even plugged in the power.After a bit of sorting out of washing etc, we drove out to Kingsthorpe where Ken, Jenny’s nephew lives with his partner Kerry and her lovely daughters Lisa and Millie. Ken (senior) warned us about their dog Max, a German Shepherd/Rottwieler cross that was the size of a small house, he was right, he nearly licked us to death, the big softy.We also met Kerry’s mum Thora who lives in central Queensland and had made a 800 kilometre trip for a knee examination in Toowoomba, (and we moan at a 30 minute drive to a hospital for treatment). “Fatso” amusing us by trying to catch flying insects as he perched on the window ledge, his balance wasn’t that great. Tomorrow will be our last day ofhigh(ish) kilometres, as we drive to Brisbane, we are stopping at a place called Gatton on the way to visit Lyn, a lady that was with us on the Cape York Tour.
Friday 16th January 2009.
Parkinson, Brisbane, 27 37 68 S, 153 01 53 E, (142 km).A short drive from Toowoomba to Lyn’s home near Gatton,We found her “house” without the aid of “Betty” who did not recognise where we wanted to go, it is a good job that Lyn gave us some explicit directions.Lyn and husband Eddy breed Arabian horses and have a 300 acre property with a wonderful panoramic view over the surrounding hills.We had a lovely time with Lyn chatting about our Cape York experience and the travels we have all done since,We also enjoyed the Chocolate Croissants that Lyn had baked as an experiment, the first time we have been used as “Guinea Pigs”, for a food tasting, they were delicious, Lyn asked us to stay for lunch which was very kind, again more of that great Australian hospitality.We reached Mark (Jenny’s nephew), Margie’s andJames home late afternoon, it was May when we last saw James and he has certainly grown.We will stay with them until Sunday, before driving to a caravan park the other side of Brisbane, which will be close to the Britz/Maui depot and the airport.
Thank you Lyn, if you read this it means at last you have made it into the “cyber” world.
Saturday 17th January 2009
A lovely day with the Penn family, Mark had a meeting to go to in the morning, Jenny and I chatted to Margie and played with James until he returned and then we drove out to Woodlands Country Fair which was about 21 kilometres away, good job Mark was driving we would have got lost, (although we do have Betty to help us).We thoroughly enjoyed the fair, especially seeing James reaction to the variety of farm yard animals, goats, sheep, a calf, 2 pigs, a good few ducks and poultry and even some guinea pigs in an enclosure kept all the children (and me) amused.We had a burger and a drink there before coming away with the inevitable balloon and a balloon sword made by “the cowboy balloon man”.Lasagne for our evening meal and Margie surprised us both by baking a birthday cake complete with candles for Jenny’s and my birthday next week (no I’m not telling you how old we will be).
Sunday 18th January 2009
Aspley, Brisbane, 27 21 27 S, 153 01 20 E, (49 Km).Well this is it our last complete day in Australia, Jenny talked to Mark, Margie gave me a tutorial on a particular type of photograph editing (raw files) and we both played with James, who delighted us all, especially Mum and Dad by standing up unaided this morning, well done James.Margie had made some biscuits which we are taking with us and we left them with some of our “bits and pieces” we no longer required i.e. the Telstra phone, a lantern, and assorted plastic boxes etc.Early afternoon we said our goodbyes and drove the short distance to the other side of Brisbane via the toll road, $4.80 for approximately 36 kilometres, how much is the M6 toll now?That much?What a rip off!We have cleaned the motorhome and packed, we did try and eliminate the rucksack which we brought and tried to fit everything into just 3 holdalls, but we had to admit defeat, I guess the 4 blocks of Woolworth’s fruit cake didn’t help and Jenny insisted on packing her underwear, anyway we eventually got everything organised, despite miss-laying the locks to the bags.Jenny’s fault she had put them in the computer bag, next problem?What were the combination numbers we used 8 months ago, we went though every birthday, anniversary, etc before remembering them.We have used up all the food so tonight we walked up to “The Red Rooster” for a take-a-way of chicken and chips, and with Margie’s home made biscuits we had a banquet.Well I did promise Jenny a nice meal to celebrate our last night in Aus, G’day Mate’s!
Monday 19th January 2009
Happy Birthday to Jenny my wonderful wife, lover, best friend, and hot water bottle. XXXX
Brisbane Airport, (19 Km exc’ taxi).Up early this morning for a final clean up of the motorhome and to finish packing.We left the park just after 7:am and arrived at the Britz/Maui depot at 8:03 (not bad planning they opened at 8:00am), we judged the fuel to perfection the low fuel warning light came on last night on the way to the camp site so we knew we would have enough to reach Britz/Maui as we were only 12 kilometres away.We had paid for a full tank “up front” so we didn’t have to fill it up before dropping the motorhome off, likewise the gas which we have only filled once in the whole of the 8 months ($25 for all our cooking and hot water).The paperwork at the depot didn’t take long and we were soon on our way by taxi to the airport, rather earlier than we anticipated but that didn’t matter.We couldn’t check in until 11:00 am so we had a nice breakfast in the restaurant (bowl of fruit, which we shared, followed by bacon, eggs, tomatoes and toast).After checking in and getting the seats we wanted (well not exactly, I actually wanted the one right at the front with the front window seat, but some guy had got more “stripes” than me).We are now having our last “smoko”,a coffee and muffin, (we needed to get rid of the Aussie change) before changing our A$ to S$, I have left Jenny to organise the currency exchange, its all to complicated for me.I am still getting used to decimal currency, anyway I’m like royalty, I never carry money with me.Just had a quick look at our Australian Trip recorder we have travelled 29,627 kilometres, excluding the Cape York, Kimberley tours etc,and the ferry to Tasmania. See you in Singapore.
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