In a normal year we would normally be going on our ‘big’ holiday for the year. As we all know, this year has been anything but normal, so we are heading off on a local trip around south-east Queensland. We had planned to get down to Melbourne, to see the family down there, but that was not to be.
So we are heading up through the South Burnett Region and will spend a few days on the beach on the way home. So today, we left home once we got mobile this morning, not feeling pressured by airline schedules and other predetermined things. We had breakfast at Spokes Cafe in Samford to get started and then took the Mt Glorious road to head west. We stopped at a lookout that provides great views of Lake Wivenhoe, which supplies Brisbane most of it’s drinking water, before driving past Lake Somerset.
With this weekend being a long one, and the last weekend of the school holidays, the hordes head to Lake Somerset for water skiing. It amuses me how the camping crowd talk about getting away from it all … and the end up living more closely with neighbours than they do in suburbia. Added to that is the romantic hum of V8 boat engines. There are some scenic views along the road before we stopped in Kilcoy for a coffee and a look in the local Art Gallery, which actually had some pretty good pieces on display.
From Kilcoy we continue up the highway, stopping for another gallery visit in an old church in the town of Moore. It’s a pretty small place these days, but was once an important part of the logging industry. The old train lines in this area have all been converted to bike trails.
Some of the little towns along the road are really trying hard to show their best in this time when we can’t travel interstate. The town of Blackbutt has lots of flowers in tubs adorning the footpaths. Yarraman has embraced the ‘pink’ breast cancer awareness message. I had not previously seen a cow in tutu on the back of a truck. We stopped for lunch in Yarraman, but the options were a bit thin, so it was a beer at the pub, a pie at the bakery and gelato at the coffee shop.
From there we took a more scenic road through Kingaroy, and Wondai. We happened upon a Lavender Farm which was in flower. We ordered a coffee which took well over 30 minutes to arrive, but there were some nice things in the shop … like lavender vinegar – who knew?
We arrived at Goomeri around 4:30 and located the pub in the centre of town, our lodgings for the night. It’s pleasant enough, but we do need to share bathroom facilities. Many of the other patrons have been in the pub all afternoon, so lots of trash talk was overheard at dinner. It has been many years since I last heard leper jokes!. We had a walk around town and then a great dinner prior to turning in.
One of the other nice things about travelling in rural Australia is all the little country churches. Here’s a selection from today
Tomorrow we’ll be poking around the local area… so good night until then!
Rob's "Beats Working" Blog 