Maryborough City Hall

Maryborough is packed with beautiful buildings such as the City Hall built in 1906.

Still in Maryborough

Yesterday I showed the Post Office, today I show the Post Office Hotel

Maryborough Post Office

On our recent Mystery Tour, we stopped in Maryborough and discovered some beautiful buildings in the town centre, so for the next few days I'll be showing some of them, starting with the Post Office.

The Ettamoogah Pub on the Sunshine Coast

The Ettamoogah Pub is a cartoon pub that featured for years in a comic strip in the 'Australasian Magazine'. Created by the late Australian cartoonist Ken Maynard. It is on the Bruce Highway just before the Mooloolaba turnoff. We passed it recently driving up the coast on our mystery tour.

Photo by George Jacobson

For more information about the Ettamoogah Pub Click here

We're home again. Yesterday afternoon we arrived at Redcliffe Peninsula after an exhausting but fabulous 11 days mystery tour through outback Queensland. Ann, our excellent mystery tour guide had booked us into a beautiful beach front apartment at Redcliffe with fabulous views over Moreton Bay. Dinner was at Morgans Seafood Restaurant where we were met up with Paul and Helen who were supposed to be with us on the trip but couldn't make it due to health problems, so we enjoyed a very good seafood smorgasbord  with them.

Our unit on the 5th floor (you can see George waving)

The magnificent view from our balcony

Homeward Bound

We are getting closer to home now. Our second last day. Yes Bruce, unfortunately we are heading home. After staying in a farm-stay home last night called Bunyip Springs, amongst the cattle, horses and dogs up in the hills, we drove for some six hours and ended up on the beach at Redcliffe. But we did stop in the small country town of Esk in the Brisbane Valley.

The historical Larson Home

The historical home above belonged to the Larson family. Mr Larson was the original architect who designed the town of Esk. He was a philantrophist who in the first world war promised the young men volunteering he would give them all a gold watch and build the biggest cenotaph in a small town in Australia. He did.

THE BIG RIG-ROMA

We have been out of range for some days and haven't been able to blog.

We left Carnarvon Gorge and drove for 3 hours to Roma, where there is a BIg Rig museum about the oil and gas drilling in the area. After lunch there we continued on for another 3 hours to Chinchilla

We're Back Out of the Wilderness

Hi Bloggers, we're back out of the wilderness. On Saturday, we were able to drive in to Carnarvon Gorge. The dirt road had sufficiently dried for us to drive up there. It was magnificent. An absolute fabulous experience. 

We did a couple of very long walks criss crossing the river and climbing lots of stairs to Moss garden and to other places.

We had no phone, television or internet access at the Wilderness Lodge. So today we ended up at Chinchilla where we're staying with Judy and John friends of all of us.

Carnarvon Gorge 

You'll see much more on Diane's blog. Click HERE

Where to tomorrow, only Ann knows and she won't say.

The mystery tour hit a Problem!

We hit a snag! We left Cania Gorge this morning heading for Carnarvon Gorge. It had rained during the night and all day while we were driving. So, we received a phone call from the Carnarvon Wilderness Lodge advising us that the road had been closed due to heavy rain. Now, that is not supposed to happen this time of year. So we had a choice, either drive 140km north to Emerald for the night or 100km south to Injune. So we opted to drive to Injune where we booked into a Motel. Hopefully the road will be open tomorrow so we'll drive north again for about 100km to the turnoff to Carnarvon Gorge.

Traffic lights in the wilderness

For Colin and Bruce, tonight we're going to the pub for a feed next to the Motel.

Cows in Carpark

We are still in Cania Gorge in Central Quensland (cattle country). We parked at the old Shamrock Mine for a walk up to the old Gold Mine, a fairly steep climb up. The mine has long closed but the huts are still there with the shafts now closed off. Arriving back at the car, we had visitors. A bunch of very curious cows. 

Tomorrow morning, we're off on an all-day drive to Carnarvon Gorge but first we cook a bar-b-que tonight in the camp kitchen and I think we still have a couple of bottles of wine to go through. Cheers!

Sunrise, time to get up and move on

Today, we got up early, had breakfast and strolled down to the beach, the sun was already up but George had been up much earlier and was able to capture the sunrise.

Sunrise over the Town of 1770 beach Photo by George 

Then we drove north to Mirianvale where we stopped for Morning Tea. Then we turned inland for about 100km to Biloela for lunch and a bit of shopping. Finally, another 100km south we arrived at Cania Gorge National park where we'll stay for two nights.

Town of 1770

Leaving Bundaberg after lunch yesterday we drove 175km north to the Town of 1770, yes, that's really the name of it. It's a very important town in Australia's history, it is because in 1770, Captain James Cook in search of Terra Australis (The Great South Land), stopped here to look for fresh water.


So this morning, we jumped on an amphibious vehicle for an all-day tour to the Bustard Head Lighthouse, travelling along the sandy beaches and crossing rivers and estuaries to get there.

Bustard Head Lighthouse

To see more pictures of our mystery tour, check out Diane's Adventure Before Dimentia blog

Bundaberg Barrel Home of the famous Ginger Beer

Ok, yesterday we ended up in Bundaberg on our Mystery Tour and today we went exploring. We found this barrell building which is the home of the famous Bundaberg Ginger Beer drink and to our surprise, they also brew other soft drinks which they tell us are NOT cordial but brewed soft drinks containing yeast. We took a tour through the place and tasted all the yummy drinks.

The building is in the shape of a half barrel.

The question is, where will we end up tomorrow night.

Mary Poppins in Maryborough

Amazing what you see when you go for a drive:


Mary Poppins in Maryborough, of course. Mary Poppins books were written by Maryborough author and journalist P.L. Travers, hence the statue of Mary Poppins in Maryborough.

We're going on a mystery tour.

Some of you might be familiar with our birthday bear group of seven friends. We meet for lunch or dinner whenever one of us has a birthday. Shortly it's Diane and Mary's birthdays so this time we've decided to go away on a 12-day mystery tour through Queensland. Ann is our tour guide and George and I are sharing the driving. We've picked up a Tarago 8-seater yesterday and we leave very shortly. Ann will tell us every morning where we're heading that day.  Unfortunately Paul and Helen are unable to travel with us on this occasion as Paul is recovering from a stint in hospital. Hopefully next time. 

 

Because we're away out bush, for 12 days, I will probably not be able to visit and comment on as many blogs as I usually do, although I'll try. However if we have broadband access where we're going, I might be able to post some interesting shots.

Breakfast Creek

Breakfast Creek is s tributory of the Brisbane River towards Albion.

GoMA at South bank

The Gallery of Modern Art building at South Bank. This shot was taken from the Kurilpa Footbridge.

Sky over Brisbane for Skywatch Friday

For more Skywatch Friday paricipants,

CLICK HERE

On the Story Bridge

Crossing the river on the Story Bridge

Don't Pay The Ferryman

And the Ferryman was old but he moved the boat so well,
Or did the river move the boat? The traveller could not tell.

Get ready for the Show

Spotted in Queen Street, this aboriginal chap was getting ready for his native show.

Funny sign

While we're still on funny signs, I think something is wrong with this one.

The mid season sale attracts

The mid season sale is on in Queen Street

Brisbane Mormon Temple

The Brisbane Mormon Temple stands upon Kangaroo Poing cliffs. Driving home from the city yesterday, we took this shot out of the car on Captain Cook Bridge. it is heavily cropped in the shot below, that's why the quality is not the best.

Riverside Expressway

The Riverside Expressway taken from the Kurilpa Footbridge

Below the Expressway is the pedestrian / Bicycle way which goes from the city all the way to the Queensland University in St Lucia.

A balloon vendor attracted the children in Queen Street Mall when we were there the other day. Children have been besotted with balloons ever since rubber was discovered.

Queen Street Brisbane scene

Queen Street is Brisbane's main shopping mall. During lunch hours there are usually a lot of people browsing and enjoying a break. This was taken about 10 AM.

No kidding!

City Daily Photo's June Theme is "Funny Signs". They don't get much funnier than that. Seen in a little side street in Brisbane.