The Trip Home

On Thursday the 28th of July we left Beerwah in the Glasshouse Mountains and started heading for home. We did not have any firm plans of where we would stop except that Linda wanted to have a bit of a look at Toowoomba and drop into a particular shop at Tamworth. There were a number of ways to go from Beerwah after we leave Kilcoy but chose to go ways we were not likely to repeat. When we come this way again we will take the other routes. So we had a quick look at Woodford which looked like a lovely little town. Then onto Kilcoy and from there to Esk via Harlin and then to Hampton where we joined the New England Highway. Then onto Toowoomba. We dropped in to the Information Centre. It is such a big city and there is so much to see that it was best left for another time.
So we wound up staying at a free camp south of the city, Federation Park. The aim is to relax a little and enjoy the trip home before going back to reality of work and other responsibilities.

Friday morning we drove on and dropped in to the Information Centre at Tenterfield. There were a lot of good things to see there so we decided to stay for two nights and check it out. We stayed at Craig's Caravan Park. $25 a night for power and water.
After setting up we went next door for lunch. The venue was Stannum House which was built around 1888. It has been restored to its original state. They did a $10 smorgasbord there which was Ok. The bonus was that by having lunch there you got to walk through the house and check out all the rooms. The owner of the place had become rich through tin mining. We were told it was so lavishly built because it was thought that the town was to be the Capitol of the Australia. The fireplaces are made of marble. It really is a magnificent building.

After lunch we went down town to the Sir Hentry Parkes Museum. Parkes was known as the Father of Federation but he was more than that. The museum was interesting. It also included a display about Major J F (Frank) who was a resident of the town and who defended Breaker Morant and his co-accused during the Boer War.
Then we went on to the Tenterfield Saddlery. The reason for stopping at Tenterfield at all was Linda had an interest in Peter Allen and his connection to the town. We got to the Saddlery about 3pm and it closes at 2pm. So we were lucky when the volunteer worker had stayed late to polish the floors and invited us in. He was a great guy and gave us a lot of info. I was intrigued to hear the story behind the song, 'Tenterfield Saddler'. George Woolnough was the grandfather of Peter Allen. Peter took on the name of Allen when he performed as one of the Allen brothers on Bandstand. Peter grew up in Tenterfield. His father fought in WW11 and he returned a shattered man and turned to drink. He blew his brains out when Peter was 11. Peter was bullied at school because he was different and he spent a lot of time with the only male role model left in his life, his grandfather. Hearing the story evoked the images he spoke of in the song such as when he used to ride around with his grandfather on his horse and cart seeing 'kangaroo up ahead'. He wrote the song as a way of putting his early and tragic life behind him.

It was interesting how so many celebrities have been into the shop. The volunteer guy told us about how Johnny Cash use to drop in and no one use to know he was in Australia. He would ride his bike from Byron Bay and drop in and talk to the locals. He spoke to a fellow in town for half an hour one day who reported that he had just had a conversation with a guy that looked a lot like Johnny Cash, and, in fact, it was.
Banjo Patterson also spent time in the town and the following photo board talks about the Matilda who he mentioned in the song, Waltzing Matilda.

After the saddlery we just had time to slip up to Mount Mckenzie and check out the lookout.

On Saturday we headed out to the National Parks. Firstly to Bald Rock NP. We walked to the summit.

After lunch in the park we drove to the Boonoo Boonoo NP and checked out the waterfall. The drop was amazing, just huge valleys.

On the way back to town we checked out the bushranger, Thunderbolt's hideout and the WW11 tank traps that were prepared in the event of Japanese invasion.

We enjoyed Tenterfield very much. Left there on Sunday and headed for Tamworth. The plan was for Linda to drop into the Aussie Leather shop there to look for a handbag and then move on to a free camp for the night and arrive home on Monday around lunch time. That morning we checked to make sure the shop was open and found it was closed. We decided to stay at Tamworth and arrive home Tuesday instead of leaving Tamworth about 10.30am or so and going through peak hour traffic in Sydney. So after Tamworth we will stay in a free camp and get home about lunch time on Tuesday.

I may update this post once I get home to include things that happen, things we see and people we meet on the rest of the trip home. But for now this heralds the end of our tour of south east QLD. We have had a great time on this trip as we have had on all of our trips. We will eventually travel OS but I don't know if I will enjoy that any more than our Australian travels.

We have seen and done great things and met great people. There has been the great family and friends we have travelled with and caught up with, amazing landscapes of Carnarvon Gorge, skilled and brave coyboys and stockmen and people of the land and characters at the Bowen River Rodeo and Campdraft, the beauty of Airlie Beach and the Witsundays and other great coastal places, and other wonderful landscapes in QLD. For mine (Pete) the best time was at the Rodeo and the experiences on Strathmore Station. The single best moment was watching the cattle being driven from the Bowen River Rodeo grounds across the Bowen River.

Again I have enjoyed doing this blog and I appreciate all of those of you who have followed it to any degree. It's easy for you guys, you only have to sit back and read, I have to get out there and do it all and report on our travels. What pressure! Just joking. I'll let you know when we are back on the road and blogging again. God bless!