OFF AGAIN....

Friday morning, we left Pottsville and went up towards Brisbane and turned off on the Ipswich/Toowoomba Road, heading for a small town between Ipswich and Toowoomba called Marburg.

This is another small town that we have often bypassed, so according to our Camps Australia Book, it is a good stop over in the showgrounds.

The lovely caretaker Dave, showed us to a spot where we could park. Dave came from Melbourne two years ago, stopped in the showgrounds at the same time the last caretaker up and left. So he was asked just to fill in for a little while......and two years later.....he is still here. Really nice bloke.

At the showgrounds is a trotting track, which conducts a small meeting every so often. They have a family day with raffles and prizes to won as well as something they call "funny money" where you can "bet" on the horses.....all good fun.

The town is very small, no grocery shop as such, but as usual, there is a pub....of course!

There are also a few antique shops, that i find very strange as its such a small town with a very big antique store which is absolutely packed to the rafters.

Cant believe some of the prices, but they are antique?

 So we had a couple of days here, then we went off to another showgrounds about 20 klm away called Lowood.

This town is a bit bigger with a large grocery store, pub!

This is what we woke up to on our first morning. Beautiful weather, and a lovely mist covering the oval.

Second day here we went for a drive to explore the surrounding area. We are not very far from Toowoomba, and i think its this weekend their annual Spring Flower Festival starts. So around the area, they do a fantastic job of beautifying the place. These are some of the flowers.....

A credit to the area!!

We also went to have a look at Wivenhoe Dam, which supplies water to Brisbane.

It is a massive expanse of water, which i couldnt really capture, but as its says above, it holds twice as much water as Sydney Harbour.

After the Dam, we continued on to Esk, which is another small but lovely town in the area. Once again there was a few Antique shops......

which are more like coffee shops that sell quite a bit of old stuff! Had to take a photo of this........

just wondering why we would smile....if we smoked ?  We had some strange advertising back then, but didnt really notice it till now!!!!

We found a nice little Bakery in Esk which of course sold such yummy cakes, but we were very good and just settled on having a coffee......but it was a good one. Ed decided while waiting, to take a photo...not happy Jan.....but as you can see, it was a popular shop!

You can tell Ed took the photo.....you can see his thumb! 

So that was the end of another lovely day. We are here at Lowood until Friday when we head back to Marburg for a day at the races. Not sure how long we will stay there or where we plan on going at this stage, but the weather is warming up lovely. Love these small outback towns! Will keep you all posted xxxx

2015.....A NEW START....

Hello to all my family. I will start this new blog by going back a couple of weeks. I know you have all seen the photos, and heard, about our recent trip to Urunga Heads, but I would just like to start this blog with those photos, as it was our 'new beginning' after losing Dad (Bertie).

Dad would always give me travels books. And in the front cover would always write 'Via Con Dios'...
'Go With God' .
So Dad......these stories, and photos, from now on, will be with you in mind as our journey begins with A New Start!
Love you Dad ❤️

URUNGA BEACH, NSW
Friends of ours, we're going to try this lovely little seaside town, and asked if we would like to meet up with them.
We had never been to this little beach hideaway before. We had always passed the turnoff on our way down south, but never bothered to turn off the highway to just have a look.
But I'm so pleased we did. Urunga is just a small seaside town, with a couple of small supermarkets, the usual shops, like bakery (which sold the best vanilla slices and apple turnovers with real cream), post office, news agency etc...
The caravan park was so well kept, with big sites, and such clean amenities.
There was a boardwalk that went for about about 1 kilometer out along a rock wall, which followed the river, that lead out to sea.

We stayed a week at this beautiful place, and we will certainly be back. It was a very restful place.
Thanks Rita and Peter for showing us this beautiful spot! And thanks for your company, it was great.
So from there, we headed off  North, but unfortunately I hurt my back again, so we headed back to Tweed to get some physiotherapy done.

After some great treatment from Belinda, it was healed enough to head just down the coast about 25 klm to a small town called Pottsville. Rita and Peter were there as well, so good to catch up with them again! They suggested some great places!!!!
We have been there so many times, but have never stayed in the caravan park there before, which meant we have never really explored that area. We had no idea what a lovely surprise packet is was to be!

Pottsville not only helped me heal physically, but mentally as well. There is something about the sea for me that just brings me peace, no matter what the weather.

We saw lots of whales going south after being in the warmer waters up north to have their young. I did lots of shell collecting, and we did lots and lots of walking.

I was a bit loath to leave this place, but other places await, and we are heading down to Geelong to see the family. So leave we must. But....we will be back!!!