Sad to leave - time to return to Sydney Part 1

Bundaberg is reputed to have the third most perfect climate in the world, apparently.  It is certainly lovely.  Crops include sugar, bananas, macadamia nuts, ginger and different types of fruit.  Nathan was impressed with the sugar cane:

Some of the bananas were covered to ripen and protect them

Ginger was growing in huge paddocks

And of course being in the tropics there were palms everywhere, and tropical gardens. 


On the last morning we woke at 5.40, which was later than we had intended since we planned on leaving the house at 7am.  We had slept in the caravan overnight having packed a lot of our things back in there, but we all found it hard to get the momentum going.


I did take the time to go down to the park beside Jan's house though to take some photos of the  sunrise at 6.15, to try out my new Pentax camera.  Fortunately the basic functions are similar enough to my Nikon that I was able to start taking photos virtually straight away, though I still have to explore the instruction book to explore the functions in detail. I took lots and lots of photos of the sunrise, and this is my favourite one.  My daughter, who has studies photography, also approved so I feel quite pleased with that.

We were late leaving, to my embarrassment; it was 8am before Peter drove the van out of Sandy's driveway to the front of Jan's house (a whole 3 houses lol).  I was able to have some photos taken with Jan in front of Sandy's house,

And I actually managed to get one photo at Jan's house of Jan, Jim and their beloved Zoe, queen of the house, with Zoe only covering a part of Jan's face before we reluctantly said 'Goodbye'

Jim makes the most gorgeous model boats.  I don't have a photo of the ones in his garage, which he has made from scratch, I just snapped a quick shot of this one in their hallway.  He is rigging the one in the garage and it is even larger than this one, which is about 1 metre long (39").  

When we left Bundy it was 20deg, blue skies and beautiful.  It was sad to leave, Nathan had expressed that he wished we could stay longer, as had Peter.  In fact Sandy had said on the phone to Jan that we would be welcome to stay for another month - and if we didn't need to come back for my preaching commitment we would have definitely stayed longer.  


But at least we had the prospect of seeing our youngest daughter and four gorgeous grandchildren to look forward to and that is always a joy.  Our grandchildren were hoping we'd be there by tomorrow because they have a pupil-free day and will be home from school but we didn't know that.  It was however definitely an incentive to drive as far as we safely could today in order to lessen the distance left to travel tomorrow.  We want to see as much of them as possible of course.


Australia is a big country, and when you are driving you get a true feeling for how big it is. Here is a map showing it in relation to Europe.

Aus is about the size of the USA's 48 contiguous states.

 And Queensland is our second largest state, so we had a long distance to drive.  Aussies are used to getting in the car and driving - we have done so (without the caravan and with) for up to 12 hours but dislike doing that now we are getting older.  But for instance to get from Sydney to Brisbane in one go, that is just what you have to do - without a caravan.  This map shows Sydney in New South Wales and Bundaberg, north of Brisbane in Queensland.

I love road trips because you really get a feel for the place: the changing landscape and environment; the little hamlets or villages, towns, and cities.  It gives you a chance to meet with such a wide range and variety of people, see the different animal and bird species.


Some names and their meaning from this morning:
Ban Ban Springs - European interpretation of Aboriginal words for grass
Gayndah - either 'thunder' or 'place of scrub' depending on which Aboriginal language is used
Goomeri - broken shield
Murgon - a place where water ripples
Nanango - possibly means Large Watering Hole


Peter had insisted on doing all the driving so far and I knew he needed a decent break although we had had a couple of short stops. By the time we arrived at Nanango ((12.44) we were well and truly ready for a lunch break. It was pleasant weather for driving, still only 23 deg and with a nice breeze blowing but it is still tiring.  I noticed that there were locally-grown peanuts for sale there, but we didn't take the time to buy any.  Shame.


We pulled into a side street opposite the information centre, behind another caravan. I made a few notes in our travel journal while Peter went off to investigate the offerings of a noodle bar i Had noticed..  They were gone quite a while so I started working on some plans I am developing for 2 scratch-built quarter scale houses, one of them a typical 'Queenslander' house, a style I really love.  Here's an example I photographed a few years ago on Fraser Island.

They are raised off the ground - some higher than others, to allow the cooling breezes to pass underneath.  Toowoomba also has some lovely examples of these old Queenslanders, which have now become very desirable and highly sought after.  Being raised high helps keep them cooler in summer and of course underneath (as well as the wide verandahs) provides room to dry washing and for children to play in the wet season or when it is too hot to play our in the direct sun.


I have vivid memories of visiting my cousin, her husband and 4 children in Bundaberg when I was just 9 or 10, and playing in those areas in the shade because it was hot (over 100 deg F) .  Not that it felt it, because it was dry heat.  Sydney meanwhile at the same time sweltered in a heat wave with highter temperatures plus high humidity.  And people had scoffed at Mum and Dad for travelling north during the Christmas break, which of course is summer for us.    I have loved these beautiful high-set houses ever since.


We were no sooner sitting in the park to eat our noodles than there was a (by now) familiar sound and Nathan exclaimed in delighted surprise as not just one but three, then four, then five blue-faced honeyeaters arrived at a nearby picnic table.


This has been a really long post, so I will continue the tale later.  Meanwhile,
blessing,
Sandie.