Tuesday 9 April 2013

I shall finish this trip with this one. It is also taken at Nobby.  It is Dad and Dave's Historic Rudds Pub. It is in Steele Rudd Country. Across the road is a free camp spot and there were eight vans in there when we came past. Renovations are being done to the pub. It has new owners. We are having two nights at Toowoomba and probably a couple of nights at Bauple meeting up with the Wide Bay Wanderers Group at Bauple before coming home.
This is on the tourist route. It is a place north of Allora called Nobby . It has a little village. These are two of the shops there.
This is Queen Mary Falls at Killarney. They are a beautiful sight and a lovely walk on the mountain side  to see them. Took a walk to the cafe opposite the car park.  They have a caravan park behind it.
Took a drive to Killarney and here we visited Daggs Falls. At Killarney the mountain is falling away from floods two years ago and they're just starting on it to fix it up. We encountered the same thing on the road from Coffs Harbour to Glen Innes. The mountain road was half a road on the mountain and boy it looked dangerous! Killarney has an Abbatoir.As we drove through to Allora and Toowoomba we crossed red water flowing in creeks and we had to detour. When we stopped at road works we were told they were fixing up the Toowoomba Road.
This is the Big Apple at Stanthorpe. We visited it and came away with cheeses. Col found a lactose free one. They had cheeses from England and Germany as well as the local ones.
This is apple picking at Stanthorpe. We were at the right place at the right time to capture this one.
This is Edgars Lookout.
This is Dangars Gorge. If you look hard at the photo just under the rail is the waterfall.
This is Conifer Country Nursery. It is a Nursery with a difference. It has old rusted machinery. This is on the way out to Dangars Gorge.
This is the glass houses that grow tomatoes hydroponically at Guyra.  It is one of the few sites in the world conducive to year round tomato growing.Twenty hectares of Blush glasshouse in the temperate Guyra climate means Blush currently produces more than 12 million kilograms of premium truss tomatoes per annum, delivering year round consistency in terns of quality, flavour and availability.  Guyra has the best combination of cool summers and high winter light to produce the best tasting tomatoes is at 1,330 metres altitude. It has less than two days over 30oC per year on average.It has a council that supports the Glasshouse and has a community that support the Glasshouse.
This is Boundary Falls. They are between the two trees in the middle of the picture.
This is Raspberry Lookout. Wild Raspberries used to grow here many years ago. Aborigines probably picked them.
This is the view from Heframs Lookout.  People had red sauce plastic tomato bottles hanging in the trees by the road side.
This is the bridge over the Manning River. It is on the road from Coffs Harbour to Glen Innes. They have a caravan park here and live music too!
This is the bridge over the river at Grafton.One dark red tan coloured dingo crossed the road in front of us.

Thursday 4 April 2013

Today we passed the Big Banana. Plenty of bananas are grown around here. There are also a lot of igloos covered in white plastic in which they are growing fruit and vegetables. We hope to be home in about two weeks time. Our trip is slowly coming to an end.
Many of the narrow bridges down here look like this one. They have a heavy iron structure. Thone River has a narrow bridge that looks like this one.
This is one of the best photos we have taken of the endangered snow leopards. They were sitting under a large log in the shade. There were two of them. This is at the Billabong Koala and Wildlife Park at Port Macquarie.
This is the Billabong Koala and Wildlife Park at Port Macquarie. Here we saw koalas, kangaroos, monkeys, monster crocodile, endangered snow leopards, emus and a brogla. We did the talk with the zoo keeper at the monkeys, then went and did the snow leopard talk with the keeper and lastly did the talk with the zoo keeper with the koalas. They were lovely. I even patted a dingo.
This photo was taken on one of the mountainous roads. It is between Walcha and Wauchope. The trees are so tall and straight. There are even some tree ferns thee too!
This is the Aspley Falls. Col couldn't believe how steep a gorge it was! Col took this one. I could really pick the mountainous ones! You could walk down steep steps for a different photo but this was not for me.
This photo is taken from the Lookout at Tamworth. On our way down a woman with a pram was pushing it up the hill to the lookout. Hope she held on well to it coming down the mountain.
At Tamworth we had to go see the Gold Guitar. Visited the Craft Centre there. Went back to see the Woodworkers.
This is where we went for Easter. We drove out to Nundle for the Chinese Go For Gold Easter Festival. Stopped on the way out to see an art gallery and craft shop and then went on out to Nundle. They had 100 stalls. You could pan for gold if you liked. Chinese put on a show for everyone to see. Nice isn't it?

Wednesday 3 April 2013

This is Chaffey Dam on the way to Nundle. To the left is Bowling Alley Point where campers camp beside the dam. It was very popular.
This is a photo of a coal train at Werris Creek which has Sunset Park, Magpie's Nest Cafe, an old green shop and an Historical Railway Station, Matilda Blue Stop and Go and an old big disbanded sheds. Currabubula has an old shop, a Hotel and public school. It has Lorne Byrne and Bi-Centennial Parks. A property we came across was called "Wereaway."
This is a photo of a rocky hill on the way to Tamworth. Murrindi has Shell fuel station, Bakery, Motel, few shops and an oval. Went over Pages River. Murrindi has 2 pubs, Metro Fuel, old houses and a park, and a Van Park Motel. Willow Tree has a Bowling Club, pub, fire brigade, church and grain silos. Colly Creek Rest Area has big trucks.Braefield has houses, farms and milo. Quirindi has a Hotel, plenty of shops, shopping centre with some empty old houses a high school and IGA. Population is 3523.
Muswellbrook has Magna Coal, houses and a grey hound park, an old post office and shops. We lunched at the RSL here. Decided to drive to Tamworth a day earlier than expected. Wanted to be off main roads for Easter. We spent Easter here at Tamworth. Drove to Scone known as the Horse Capitol. Here is one of the horse photos taken here. Ilala has a horse stud as does Goanna Downs. There are plenty of horse studs around here, Gunnadoo, Flame Tree Stud-Carramar. Twin Gables has adjistment for horses. Parkville as a quarer horse stud, Carinya and Southern Cross has horses. Passed Tin Hut Gully, Cressfield, Bridal Vale on the right and Springvale stud. Wingen has a pub, Durham Hotel and Railway House, Community Hall, Antiquesand an old church. Murrulla Stud. Burning Mountain has a rest area on the right. Blandford has motor bikes, general store, cars everywhere and a rest area on the right. Horse country studs galore. Heard at Tamworth they built an Equine Event Complex here and people from West Australia shifted over just to be close to the Equine Complex.

This is a Mining photo taken outside Ulan. Moolarben Coal . Water pipeline. Mine blast sign at 12 midday today.
Stayed at Mudgee. Leave for Muswellbrook and Scone. Cudgegong Park had a Murray Grey Stud. Plenty of black cattle, sheep and wineries. This photo is of one old shop or house in Gulgong. We found it an interesting old town. It has a Pistol Club, old Flour Mill, Motel, Showground and Engineering. It would make a good western movie. It has a $10 Town Motel.Bradville is a property. Underground Coal Mines Opencut Mining. Minestore and Post Office.