Wow, two posts in one day. But I am only trying to save face and playing catch-up really.
We did factor in some quiet time for Auntie to recover from jet-lag, but it really wasn't needed as she had no problems adjusting to our time zone, but we did ease her into a couple of local trips.
Toowoomba is renowned for it's gardens, and the annual Carnival of Flowers is held in September, so the first trip to introduce Auntie to our beautiful region was off to the Japanese Gardens, and Laurel Bank Gardens (my favourite as this is where we were married 31 years ago). The gardens didn't disappoint, although not fully in bloom until the second week of September they still put on a good early show of beauty.
As many of you may know, Mr R. and I are 'bushies' at heart and we love the bush and its peace and tranquillity, so it was only natural that during the first four weeks of Auntie's visit that we would head for the local national parks for short day trips. 
Our first was to Crows Nest Falls, just 35 minutes from Toowoomba. A lovely quiet park mid-week - not a soul to be seen. The only set back here is the track gets a bit rough and steep in parts before reaching the Falls lookout (exceptionally rough in some parts after last year's horrendous floods). Unfortunately, Auntie was a bit lame the day we decided to do this walk and struggled a little with a painful hip. She was very brave though and completed the walk, but did need to rest for the next few days.
Our second NP visit was a little more successful - Ravensbourne. A lovely short walk of 1km taking in some beautiful rainforest and natural lookouts over the range.
As the Carnival period approached our garden blossomed even more, Mr R. and I also had a few commitments with the info centre and quilt group. Undeterred at being left on her own for a few hours Auntie seemed to enjoy sitting in one of my rockers whilst she read books from my collection of Catherine Cookson, or spent time knitting dolls clothes with the umpteen balls of wool stored in my craft cupboard. We didn't however, neglect her, and she and I had a lovely "girlie" day out to Highfields, just 15 minutes from home, wandering through antique, jewellery, and crafty shops, with a lovely lunch to finish.
O
ut next "event" was a trip to Lake Broadwater, about an hour's drive from home, SW of Dalby. Here Auntie experienced our wild life 'up close and personal'. With an abundance of wallabies and kangaroos around the lake we enjoyed watching young joeys trying to get back in the pouch and had some wonderful photo opportunities. LB has a wonderful variety of birdlife and we were delighted to see a very large flock of spoonbills wading in the lake as well as two black swans with their young. Our journey home from LB gave us the opportunity to show Auntie some of the rich cotton fields and locally grown crops.
Already more than half way through Auntie's visit downunder and I am yet to put pen to paper - shame on me! However, I shall now try my best to right such a terrible wrong and give you a little insight to the first four weeks of her historic visit.
No-one could say that this visit was going to be anything but eventful - and I mean full of events. The morning of Auntie's arrival was certainly not straightforward. But first let me regress to the day before - that being the day we travelled from Toowoomba to Boronia Heights to stay the night with Bro and wife to ease the travel to the airport since Auntie's ETA was 6.40 am and it's a two and half hour journey from home to the airport. And a jolly good thing we did make the trip the day before because when we arrived at Bro's the speedy sporty Astra just died on the front lawn. RACQ assistance was extremely quick in responding to my cry for help but only to tell us he couldn't really help as the alternator had given up the ghost and we had only been running of battery power for most of our trip from home! Great - 4.45pm the day before going to the airport - thank goodness for a kind-hearted Bro who knew a mechanic was only five minutes walk away - and lo and behold he actually had an alternator for our model Astra. Of course, wouldn't be fixed until midday the next day but at least we could borrow Nellie's motor to collect Auntie at 6.40am.
Rising bright (well not so bright really) and early (yes, very, very, early) we headed off to the airport at 5.50am to avoid the start of the peak hour traffic, only to find we were driving into early morning fog!! Wonderful start to the day. Very pleased with ourselves we arrived at the airport at 6.35am only to discover - yep you guessed it - flight delayed. But not just delayed for 30 or 40 minutes - delayed FOUR HOURS!!!!! As we all know, airport parking fees are astronomical and four hours was not long enough for us to return to Bro's but too damn long to stay parked, so we headed off to DFO to get some breakfast and free parking (must mention here though, DFO car park does not open its gates until 9am, so we parked at the Village and stretched our breakfast time). Asking the question re the delay, information provided - "an elderly lady was taken ill and the aircraft diverted to allow her to be taken off" - are we now more than anxious? - darn right we are, especially as it approached 11.30am and still no sign of Auntie through customs. Then she appeared and Mrs R. cried with relief.
Although that first day was full of anxiety, it was also full of love and hugs with a short reunion at Bro's house with Mr and Mrs G. and part of their family making a short trip from their holiday site on the Gold Coast. The car was ready by 1pm, and after a lovely lunch, short reunion, and fond good-byes we took Auntie away from the city and planted her in the beautiful rural surrounds of the 'Rayward Resort'. So endeth the first day of a ten week visit. EVENTFUL or EVENT FULL, not quite sure.
We did factor in some quiet time for Auntie to recover from jet-lag, but it really wasn't needed as she had no problems adjusting to our time zone, but we did ease her into a couple of local trips.
Toowoomba is renowned for it's gardens, and the annual Carnival of Flowers is held in September, so the first trip to introduce Auntie to our beautiful region was off to the Japanese Gardens, and Laurel Bank Gardens (my favourite as this is where we were married 31 years ago). The gardens didn't disappoint, although not fully in bloom until the second week of September they still put on a good early show of beauty.
Our first was to Crows Nest Falls, just 35 minutes from Toowoomba. A lovely quiet park mid-week - not a soul to be seen. The only set back here is the track gets a bit rough and steep in parts before reaching the Falls lookout (exceptionally rough in some parts after last year's horrendous floods). Unfortunately, Auntie was a bit lame the day we decided to do this walk and struggled a little with a painful hip. She was very brave though and completed the walk, but did need to rest for the next few days.
As the Carnival period approached our garden blossomed even more, Mr R. and I also had a few commitments with the info centre and quilt group. Undeterred at being left on her own for a few hours Auntie seemed to enjoy sitting in one of my rockers whilst she read books from my collection of Catherine Cookson, or spent time knitting dolls clothes with the umpteen balls of wool stored in my craft cupboard. We didn't however, neglect her, and she and I had a lovely "girlie" day out to Highfields, just 15 minutes from home, wandering through antique, jewellery, and crafty shops, with a lovely lunch to finish.
Out next "event" was a trip to Lake Broadwater, about an hour's drive from home, SW of Dalby. Here Auntie experienced our wild life 'up close and personal'. With an abundance of wallabies and kangaroos around the lake we enjoyed watching young joeys trying to get back in the pouch and had some wonderful photo opportunities. LB has a wonderful variety of birdlife and we were delighted to see a very large flock of spoonbills wading in the lake as well as two black swans with their young. Our journey home from LB gave us the opportunity to show Auntie some of the rich cotton fields and locally grown crops.
