Author: Gary

Only planned to stay one night but with forecast heavy rain and possible flooding we will stay in Emerald until the weather improves.

Third time lucky, our 2 earlier attempts were aborted due to health issues. This time the weather was not in our favour with heavy rain forecast for at least 2 of the 4 days we had planned for the gorge adventure. Making the most of our time we arrived as early as possible and started the “big walk” at midday. God’s creativity was on full display… constant variety of bird calls; many palm trees; long grass; creek crossings & yes, I (not Jennifer) lost my balance and had to “jump” into the creek… fortunately remaining upright but ending up with very wet shoes and socks!); major points of interest were the Moss Gardens and the Amphitheatre during the 15km grade 3 walk. The video does not do justice to the natural beauty but you do get to see me lose my balance walking across the creek!

Overnight stop at Possum Park, Injune Racecourse on the way to Carnarvon Gorge. Power & water for $20 ($10 if not needed), pretty good when caravan parks charge much more. Really only needed power due to the ongoing fridge problem and lack of solar production due to overcast/dull weather.

Ivan, Possum Park caretaker feeding the birds. He was also pretty handy with leather goods craft. Jennifer bought a leather belt and purse and had an old, but much loved belt shortened!

Planned overnighter, but following cancellation of a farm stay due to muddy road conditions, we decided to stay another night to explore the local sights… but not much to do in Chinchilla though, particularly when it’s raining.

Coffee; Kingaroy visitor centre to view information about the peanut industry, a museum and the art gallery. Then off for a late lunch (Japanese takeaway) to take in the views from Mt Wooroolin lookout.

Over an hour with a Toowoomba sparky. Still haven’t been able to fix fridge 12v issue.

We finally reached our camp for the next two nights. It took us almost an extra hour to travel to our vineyard stay because of dirt roads, wrong turns and being directed down a dead end. Gary is very good at backing the van out of tight spaces.

We enjoyed wine tasting late afternoon and watched the sunset from our van while sipping a verdelho we bought. A lovely birthday for me.

Day 1

Visiting the Farmer’s Market first up on Saturday was very rewarding. We bought barramundi fillets, fresh meat, chicken and mushroom pies, vegetables, spiced pumpkin soup, sourdough bread, green tomato pickles & more.

Interesting visit to the Cobb & Co Museum.

Ice cream and a walk at Picnic Lookout, Toowoomba

Japanese gardens… late afternoon before sunset…

Free entertainment while enjoying a glass of wine and dinner at the city centre

Day 2

Weather was less than perfect… another wet day but that didn’t stop our walk through city streets to view historical buildings and street art.

Great catching up with Brian & Wendy. Also having the caravan’s annual service done a couple of repairs and 2 new tyres fitted during the 4 day visit.

Transit overnight stop only… then on to the Gold Coast

After months of planning and preparation we depart for the next adventure…