Committed Travellers

My one complaint about the Ivory’s Rock camping facilities is the almost non-existent phone and internet connection.  While the only road through the 1700 acres is winding single lane gravel, this serves to keep vehicles at a slower speed. There are plenty of toilets and showers in either single cubicles or as ensuites with a toilet, shower and hand basin.

The rock dominates the landscape. It is a volcanic plug which appears to be a different shape when⁸ viewed from different locations.

We were part of a group of 60 or so women from as far afield as Harvey Bay down to the Gold Coast. One morning I was walking with a woman from the Sunshine Coast, when we came upon this family of kangaroos.

On Friday morning we drove to Ipswich as I wanted to see the only building in Queensland that was designed by the American architect Walter Burley Griffin. It was an Art Deco style incinerator located in Queen’s Park!

The building has been repurposed as a small theatre. It is securely fenced so the only way to see the inside will be to attend a show. Griffin’s wife, Marion Mahoney Griffin, was also an architect, and they won the competition to design Australia’s federal capital city.

The streets that border Queen’s Park have many well-preserved historic buildings, mostly constructed from timber.

On Sunday we drove to the small scenic rim village of Kalbar. Unfortunately lunchtime dining options were limited, so we shared a serving of nachos at the largest cafe.

The Wiss Bros building houses an ecclectic array of clothing and other goods that are for sale.

We packed up ready to drive home on Monday, but this pair of birds was resting on our two aerials. We drove slowly and they flew off.

It rained a bit overnight and this morning, but stopped for Bluey to go out for a quick toilet trip. I poured the rest of the kero into the diesel heater tank this morning and the exhaust is cleaner and the heater less noisy.

We had breakfast at the New Italy Cafe. Our specific orders for egg and bacon rolls were accurately followed and my crispy bacon, hard egg with BBQ sauce was delicious.

We left the rest area before 10am and drove through more mist and rain. Some drivers had no lights on, while others overtook us but moved into the left lane too close to the front of our car.

At Halfway Creek we had a chat to a couple travelling in a longer Bushtracker – other Bushies always ask the length of our van as theirs are generally 19 to 22 feet compared to our 15 footer. We loitered there for while as check-in at the Sapphire Beach Holiday Park wasn’t until noon.

As we neared our turnoff a couple of Roadies were driving beside us then in front of us. They didn’t respond to Anita’s CB radio call, but sent a FB message and we had a quick catchup on the side of the highway, and made plans for lunch tomorrow.

After backing onto our site I took Bluey for a short walk to the beach. He was so excited to be on the sand!

On Sunday afternoon I learnt that my neighbour had lost her pet eclectus parrot, so I offered to post a photo on our local FB page. Another neighbour responded and suggested I also post it on a FB page for Gold Coast lost and found pets.

Today there was a message from a neighbour two streets away saying they had found Bickies. I rang the owner to make sure it was OK to share her phone number, and an hour later she called me back with the great news that she had her cheeky bird safely home.

As well as playing together a lot since we have been home, the critters have been keeping each other company. After I brushed Bluey and removed dozens of seeds from his fur, Tilly decided to give him the finishing touches.

Yesterday morning this work boat installed two pylons near the jetty in front of 1 Yacht St. This is the house where a fence on the jetty has a locked gate that prevents non residents from walking on a public beach. The pylons appear to have been placed in front of parkland, not in front of the house.

I was at Chevron Island when I saw this man laying out bowls on the ground near the sewerage substation. It took me a minute to realise he was laying out feed stations for rosellas chattering in the tree.

Our neighbours have recently got a three year old Scottie dog. Their 12 year old son has been wanting another dog for five years. He now joins me with his dog on my afternoon walk with Bluey. I have introduced him to several neighbours and their dogs.

Some jobs can be crossed off my list – the plumber came yesterday and fitted stoptaps and new hoses. Unfortunately after said plumber had left and I was out, Anita noticed Tilly playing in water in the bathroom! One of the joins was leaking and there was a lot of water in the cupboard and on the floor. She turned off the newly installed stoptaps to prevent further leaking, and cleaned up the water –  with Tilly’s help!

Our camera technician supplied a new battery pack and rebooted the system, putting our security cameras back online.

I took the Landcruiser in for service. I was shocked to see a $10 visa charge added to the $1,000 bill. Most large businesses don’t charge that fee directly to customers. On the upside, Toyota quoted for repair of dents in the rear panel about $1,000 less than our two previous quotes.

Two nights ago we were at different ends of the house, when there was a loud bang. A large light fitting had fallen off the ceiling in the kitchen and landed on the floor. We can’t get an exact replacement, but have identified another light fitting that will suit our decor. That is another job for the electrician.

On Saturday night I went to Miami Marketta with a friend to see the Felicity Urquart and Josh Cunningham show. Neither of us had been there before and were amazed by the large crowd choosing their meals from the many food trucks that were all under cover. The walls are covered by artwork, including the Bathrooms.

The ticketed event was in Studio 56, but when the volume was low during our show, we could hear other music from nearby. The walls of Studio 56 are adorned with multiple pictures of Frida Kahlo. I had to laugh at the sign prohibiting moshing and crowd surfing. There were only about 100 people at our show, sitting at well spaced cabaret style tables, but recently 600 crowded in to Studio 56 to see a band I have never heard of, when the sign might have been relevant!

Felicity and Josh released their Birdsong album last year and it won them three Golden Guitars. It was a great show!

We have had some wonderful sunsets over the past week. While the sun sets in the west, our view is the the east where the sunset is reflected off clouds and buildings.

Since being at home we have been busy washing clothes and bedding from the caravan, catching up with mail, making bookings for our trip to Europe, and doing various other jobs around the house.

Weeds thrived in the rain and sunshine, so we tackled them today, pulling some out and hopefully killing the rest with salt and vinegar.

A plumber is due next week to repair a toilet cistern and replace stopcocks and hoses that are 25 years old. When I turned off the tap for the faulty toilet, water dripped onto the floor. Fortunately when I turned the water on again, the dripping stopped!

Our electrician will come to sort out a couple of issues with lights, and we are trying to get our security cameras back online.

The car is being serviced next week and we have accepted a quote to repair the dent caused by a shopping trolley.

Getting things done to the Bushtracker is more challenging. After being woken at 3.30 am by a man complaining about our noisy diesel heater, we decided to get that checked out. We booked the van in to the nearest authorised service centre which is in Brisbane.

Bluey and Tilly have chased each other and played every day. He has caught up with his friends. Yesterday this swan chased a dog that got too close, but when Bluey approached slowly from behind, the swan took off.

There has been no rain here since we have been home. There have been interesting cloud formations and sunsets. One morning we had to be up very early to book excursions on one of our cruises, so I have seen one sunrise.

When we finally got back into planning and booking our overseas trip, we were surprised to find we cannot travel on Eurostar on the day we wanted in November as it fully booked for that day. We had to make a couple of changes to our itinerary to work around this hiccup.