…blessed to live and travel in Australia
Second visit to this farm just as an overnight stay. Previous visit was 4 years ago. Dean has accomplished so much over this time… sites for caravans, rock fencing, upgraded power, etc. His cryopack smoked trout are a must buy and also the pate!
Crossed back into NSW today and the temperature keeps dropping… expecting 0° tonight.
Foxbar Falls is a campground located in Queensland’s cold country, the Granite Belt. Two-and-a-half-hours from Brisbane, and 15 minutes north of Stanthorpe. Camping is a secondary business to carrot production.
We pretty much had the place to ourselves. Loved our site location with views across Amiens lake, the bird life, walks, the peace AND carrot ice cream. Yes, carrot ice cream… it was delicious, one of the best flavours of all time!
Stanthorpe
The town is home to a range of cafes, boutique stores and galleries, all surrounded by farmlands, fruit orchards and vineyards. We visited a winery, an apple producer/cafe, cheese factory & Donnelys Castle (natural granite outcrop).
About 30 minutes north of Toowoomba is the 5th generation farm called Bannock Brae. We met 3/5 of the generations. Set up in a paddock with no other guests we had a marvelous farm stay experience. This included mustering and a farm tour by “Pop”.
Returning to Caloundra gave us the opportunity to visit Mum, Brian & Jenny, to have the car/caravan weighed, to do some laundry (big items which would easily fit in our washing machine) and for the caravan’s 1st service. We stayed about 20 minutes west of Caloundra on a rural property… very peaceful.
Mum is much stronger and confident as she moves about with her walker. She is happily participating in many activities offered at Little Mountain. Looking pretty in her new dress.
Very flash machines!
Both the car and caravan were weighed. Pleasingly both passed!
This is a beautiful, peaceful place but not on weekends, with the Mary River meandering past 100’s of camping acres. Originally and still operating as a dairy farm sometime ago a section of the farm was made available for camping. All guests must be self contained except for a toilet. I made the rookie mistake of underestimating how popular this region is. I am guessing but on Friday & Saturday there would have been 40-50 camp sites with an average of 3-4 people. At $20/person/night that works out to be a tidy sum for very little expense.
Visited Kenilworth early Saturday to get a coffee and have a look around the town. Very busy including market stalls. We were astonished at how over occupied the showground was. Every available space was taken by a caravan, motorhome or tents! The town title “RV Friendly” seemed appropriate.
Such a sunny day, we drove a short distance to Mapleton National Park, took in the view, did a short 1.5km walk, had a prepared lunch and then moved onto to for a bigger and more challenging walk to view Gheerulla Falls… unfortunately there was only a small volume of water flowing.
Maleny Botanic Gardens is a unique, privately owned garden, consisting of nearly 23 acres of gardens, set on a 110 acre property. Overlooking a backdrop of the iconic Glass House Mountains and surrounded by magnificent rainforest. Layered and terraced gardens interspersed with a multitude of stunning waterfalls and lakes only add to the majestic nature of this unique attraction that sits high on the escarpment.
It’s not quite the same shopping “experience” when travelling in a caravan compared to shopping at home. Often it is difficult to find a parking spot close to the shops. This walk wasn’t too bad with 4 shopping bags and a 200 metre walk.
We continue in a southerly direction…
One of the points of interest for Gayndah was supposedly it being the oldest Qld town. We also stayed a few nights to take a tour of the rail carriages, sightseeing and more.
Gayndah Rail Tour…
Couldn’t resist a visit to a nearby quirky bridge…
We could see our 90 year old neighbour having difficulty getting the tv aerial up so with a wrench, some olive oil for lubrication (no silicon spray available) & a car roof rack to act as a ladder the problem was resolved.
A quirky and interesting site. Owned and operated by a man I’ll guess is in his mid 80’s, this overnight stay allows travellers to set up if self contained for the night; view the farm animals which include Clydesdale horses; walk through multiple buildings (called a museum) containing farm and early Australian memorabilia… all for a small donation. It was a wet and windy place being exposed at the top of a ridge.
