Toowoomba, Queensland

Toowoomba with a population of around 115,000 is a city in the Darling Downs area of Queensland. With over 150 public parks and gardens it is  affectionately known as the Garden City. Toowoomba's history dates back to the mid 1800's when the English botanist and explorer discovered 4 million acres of  it's rich farming and grazing countryside. Our Saturday night was an extremely cold night spent at the PBR Bull Riding. It was a fun night watching fifty bull riders from Australia and one from Brazil tackle the very angry, very big and very mean bulls for a very long eight seconds.

Australia's history consists a lot of the travels of the Cobb and Co. wagons, so it was natural that we visited the Cobb and Co. Museum. Not only did the museum consist of a number of historic wagons there were a few other exhibits and special events.

The exhibition A Room for Wild Animals features 20 large and very impressive taxidermy specimens of big cats, bears and deer from the Queensland Museum collection.

Another special exhibition was Let Me Be Myself - The Life Story of Anne Frank. Seeing her personal story from her birth in 1929 to her death in 1945 and her story during the second World War in photos made me remember how sad I feel about her life. I was once again so engrossed in her story I forgot to take any photos.

I had previously read about a couple of the gardens in Toowoomba that I really wanted to visit. Situated in the grounds of the Southern University of Queensland are the Ju Raku En - Japanese Gardens. Designed by Professor Kinsaku Nakane of Kyoto in 1989 consist of 3 kms of paths, 230 species of Japanese and Australian native trees and plants.

The other garden I wanted to visit was the State Rose Garden. Located in historic Newton Park these spectacular gardens have more than 1,500 roses planted. With most of them having a beautiful smell it was quite a delight roaming around.

Animals, Animals and more Animals

How many pets have you had throughout your life?

Having recently lost our beautiful little Zoe, it got me thinking of all the love I have received from the animal world throughout my life so far. So I sat myself down and made a list of all the pets I have had and loved. There has been very few times in my life that I haven't had some sort of pet. In fact the only time I can think of was our time living in Toronto, Canada back in the 1980's. So today I would love to share with you a list of my four legged (and in some instances two legged) family throughout my 61 years.

1. David - Golden Cocker Spaniel. 

David was my first animal. I presume I loved him but I don't really remember him. 

David (that's the dog, don't know who the boy is!)

2. Fritz - Dachshund (Sausage Dog). 

Fritz was a lovely dog and he was definitely my Dads dog.

 I remember the day he died was the first and one of the only times I saw my Dad cry. 

Fritz

3. Moe. 

Not sure where Moe got his name? 

Moe

4. Freddie - Poodle. 

My cousin Susan owned Freddie's father (Cuddles) and while visiting I just fell in love with this fluffy little puppy. Dad said we couldn't have another dog as we already had Fritz. 

So what did Mum and I do - we smuggled Freddie home under a blanket in the back seat with me. 

Freddie

5. Jack - Galah. 

Dad bought Jack home after finding him on the side of the road with a broken wing. 

Jack

6. Sam - Magpie. 

This was another new family member that Dad found with a broken wing. Sam was definitely my bird. He would sit on my window ledge and sing to the records I was playing. He also barked exactly like our dogs. 

Sam and Me

7. Blackie and Brownie - Bantom Hens

8. Chooks (Hens) - not really pets as we ate them. 

9. Lots of different types of birds in averies

10. Budgies and Canaries

11. Buttons

Buttons

12. Butch - Mix

Butch

13. Tara - Dalmation

As she had her papers I fully intended to breed her with another Dalmation. But she had other ideas and she got out of out our yard and mated with a black Labrador. 

Oh well - the eight pups she had were pretty adorable. 

Tara

14. Fish

15. Guinea Pig

16. Mice

17. Rambo - Mix

We owned Rambo while we lived in New York. 

He had the habit of jumping in the bath while Shane (my son) was having his bath. 

Rambo

18. Tammy - Mix

I must say out of all the animals I have had Tammy would be close to being my favorite. 

She had such a gentle, sweet nature. 

Tammy

19. Caspa - Black Cat

Caspa was my son Shane cat.

 He got her for Christmas and for many years they were constant companions..

Caspa

20. Zoe - Miniture Poodle, Australian Silkie Terrier Cross

Beautiful Zoe was a beautiful dog - if maybe a little loud. 

Zoe

Westall Way, Point Labatt and Sealions

Today we went on what started out to be a short drive and ended up being a whole day drive. Our first drive was on the Westall Way Loop Drive, just south of Streaky Bay. First stop was at what was called "Smooth Pool" but it didn't look to smooth to me. Very pretty with it's amazing ancient rock pools but not smooth.

Smooth Pool - not to sure about the smooth bit!

Then it was onto Point Westall, with an ocean calmer than we had seen in quite a while.

Point Westall

Next was onto the "Granites" with their lichen covered rocks.

Granites

It wasn't hard to know when we had arrived at Tractor Beach by the old rusted tractor.

The entrance to Tractor Beach

After a bit of a drive along the Point Labatt Sealion Drive we reached Point Labatt to look at the only permanent colony on the Australian mainland of Australian sea lions (Neophoca cinera). From the viewing platform you can watch up to 50 of one of Australia's most endangered marine mammals and the world's rarest sea lions and New Zealand fur seals.

A small portion of the sealions and seals

Then to cap of a pretty good day we arrived at "Murphy's Haystacks". Murphy's Haystacks are ancient, wind-worn pillars and boulders of pink granite estimated to be over 1,500 million years old. The actual name of these rock formations are Inselbergs. They obtained the Murphy's Haystacks name when an Irish traveller in a coach saw the formation in the distance. He asked how a farmer could produce so much hay. As the farm was on a property owned by a man called Murphy they became Murphy's haystacks. It didn't matter to me how they got their name they were pretty spectacular.

The only word the describe the sight is ........

..........Amazing

Albany to Lake Grace

Lake Grace was really only intended as a stop over on our way to Wave Rock, but we have decided to stay two nights to have a rest day as we thought. But this morning we headed off to have a look at the countryside and it turned into a full day adventure. Lake Grace is a small country town named after the Lake Grace Salt Lake, one of the many and the largest salt lake in this region. The township is rather small but is in quite a large shire created around agriculture and community spirit. This area is a major grain growing region for wheat, canola, oats, lupins and other legumes. Another main agricultural industry is the farming of sheep for wool and meat. The community spirit is evident in this small town by the artwork that is scattered around the streets. But today I was on a mission! I had read about the "Tin Horse Highway" and wanted to check it out. I never dreamed there would be so many Tin Horses! They started about 14 kms out of the township of Kulin and it took us around 45mins to drive the distance. Shane was getting sick of stopping the car to let me out to get a shot. But I also noticed he was spotting some before me so I think many he was pretending he was getting sick of them. These funny, bright, quirky community creations were originally started as a campaign to promote the annual Kulin Bush Races held every October. But they have devised a wonderful attraction to get visitors to their township all year round.

 

Salt Lakes intrigue me!

The salt in the lakes has been deposited and built up from rainfall and
wind over thousands of years.
Salt lakes such as Lake Grace act as huge evaporative basins for groundwater.
As the water evaporates the salt concentrates on the
surface to form a stark white, crystalline crust.

 

Here are just a few on the many Tin Horses we saw.

Flying Horses



Elle McFillyson - The Clothes Horse

Oooops! Someone has been bucked off!!

Ben Horse - A Charlton Horston Epic

Fillypoosis

Dragonorse (covered in bottle tops)

Ooops! Someone didn't make the hurdle!!

Pemberton to Walpole

Walpole was originally established in the early 1930's as a group settlement for farmers. Soon after the timber milling industry was developed. This region is most famous for the Giant Red and Yellow Tingle Trees, many over 400 years old. The timber industry is still important in the area but it is also known as a rich dairy and beef farming area.
Today we went for a drive through some of the forest that contains some of the most magnificent trees I have ever seen. One such tree is the Giant Tingle Tree that is a large, old tingle tree that has been hollowed out by fire over many years. After parking our car it was an easy 800mtr circular walk which leads down to the Giant Tingle Tree and there is a board walk that protects it. At 24 metres, this is the largest, living, girthed eucalypt known in the world.

Our camp in Walpole is surrounded by nature

One of our many visitors we get each night

Shane looks tiny inside the Giant Tingle Tree

The Giant Tingle Tree

The beauty of nature never stops amazing me

Walking through the forest I didn't know which way to look, I was surrounded by beauty

 

Melbourne to Perth

I know I haven't posted for about 10 days and I am sorry but I have had the best visit to my home in Melbourne visiting family and friends. All our medical appointments went well. Even though I am now on a waiting list to have an operation on my shoulder due to my torn shoulder ligament. My family have always been very important to me but being away from them for an extended amount of time really makes me aware of just how important they are to me. The only thing that could have made my wonderful two weeks any better would have been if I could have caught up with my son Shane, his partner Stacey and my adorable little grandson O'Shea. But Stacey is due to present me with my fourth grandchild in about three weeks and a six hour drive wasn't going to be to enjoyable for her. We are now back in Perth at a caravan park called Karrinyup Waters Resort, which is situated 12 kms north of the CBD. Even though it is a fairly large caravan park our location is very quiet and about 10 steps from the lake. So we have lots of bird life visiting our camp site on a regular basis. We are staying here a week to check out things in Perth and its surrounds.

It's always a joy to catch up with The Bridesmaids. We have all been friends since school and were bridesmaids for each other. It's so nice to have friends that you have so much history with and they accept you for who you are.

Our dog Zoe is getting old and it is very hard to leave her.
But I know Rachel will look after her in her old age.

Clare and I had lots of fun at Art Class.

What can I say - Mikayla is absolutely adorable.

Back in Perth we have visitors every time it looks like we might have food.
They are so tame they jump up to get stuff out of your hand.