Tuesday, September 25, 2012

NANANGO


We arrived in Nanango to find that the battery in the van wasn't holding a charge and so Stuart’s Cpap machine is turning off about 2-3 am and he stops breathing through the night, and the Waeco Freezer in the back of the car isn't charging as low as we would like. Problem!!

If it isn't one thing it's another these days.  Once again an auto electrician wired the car all wrong - this is the third time we have had wiring done and it has been wrong.
Stuart took a drive around town and charged the battery a bit The other day and next day we went up to the Bunya Mountain. 
A huge Bunya Tree

 

 



A statue depicting man's melding with nature in the Bunya Mountain with the hand and the vines intertwining


 It was so lovely and peaceful up there with bush wallaby's all over the place and most with joeys in their pouches  - well the females anyway. 
 
The Bunya Pines are huge and magnificent and so uniform in shape with very spiky leaves and relatively smooth trunks.  Stuart got some lovely photos of blue wrens....
 
among other birds On the way back we came into Kingaroy to the tourist information where apparently someone with far too much time on their hands and a knitting skill went to work on the back garden including a full sized Alice Chalmers tractor.




It was finished off with some chain link along the fence in bright shades of pink, orange, green purple, blue and lemon.

Next day, Stuart went into town to do the washing while I battled the bank recs. in readiness for the BAS.

With the Waeco up to -11' it is a bit of a worry so we need to sort out power as a matter of urgency.

Thursday saw the first day of the music festival with walk ups doing their stint behind the microphone.  From where we are camped we think some of them should do their stint in front of the microphone - with it turned down.

Looking forward to Ted Egan on Friday and Anne Kirkpatrick amongst others.

Friday saw us lining up for the bush poets breakfast before the start of the real artists .

This is the tenth year the Nanango Country Music Festival has been running and at last count Saturday there were 801 vans in the show grounds.
The showgrounds

An aerial photo was taken on Saturday morning which was just amazing.

After Nanango I went home again for a few days as the Director of Boarding has resigned and I had to go home for his sendoff.  If was great to catch up with the kids again anyway.

Stuart picked me up at Brisbane Airport and we had a whirlwind of things to do including having a day with my sisters Shel, Pat and Chris which was spectacular, dinner with Andrew and Tom, the night after we went to Andrew and Tom’s for Dinner where Andrew again excelled himself with a night of Tapas and wine.  We caught up with friends in the north of Brisbane and then on to Mt Tamborine for 6 days of rest from our hectic lifestyle these days.
Stuart's birthday on the 23rd was pretty uneventful but we had a lovely italian meal in downtown Mt Tamborine and on a drive through the countryside found a great spot where there were a lot of hang gliders and parasailers taking off and disappearing out of sight over the next hills.
Early morning rays peeking through the mist at Mt Tamboring
Beautiful trees surrounding our camp site at Mt Tamborine

Our next destination on the calendar is Texas for the Country Music Festival but on the way we had coffee with Phil Daley in Warwick.
A small setback in our plans has been a nasty sound in the engine which might be the tappets in the BT50 so we are at a caravan park in Warwick and the vehicle is at the doctors at the Mazda dealers.

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Leaving Mackay (again)


Leaving today on another leg of our journey.  After weeks at home and coming back and forward a few times from all over the country I know now that we are fully staffed at home with reliable people and with Kath at the helm I think I can now retire (almost) with ease.

It has had its ups though – as without a home to come to I have shared myself with Kathy and Kylie and their familys and have had a great time on a personal level.  Unfortunately at times Kylie and I had toooooo great a time with a third party (grapes) but we had the best time together in years.  Thank you to both my Mackay girls.

Looking forward to catching up with Tracy this afternoon in rocky on our way through and of course Nana.

We will not be back this way until about March 2013 but I will still have to return twice before the end of the year for school business.

From here we go to Nanango for the Country Music Festival and then points south and so hoping to catch up with sisters in Brisbane and looking forward to Brett’s 40th birthday in October  where he is going to have a pig on a spit.  They will be settled into their new home on the outskirts of Ipswich by then and as it is on an acre block there will certainly be somewhere to park the van.
It will be a double celebration when we get to Ipswich as Eithen turned 7 yesterday and a birthday wish on the phone just wasn't enough.