Australia trip, Post 3: Various visits

We left Woodgate on Tuesday morning (Nov 16th) for Jimbour, a drive that took a few hours longer than usual as we stopped 5 times for visits etc!

We dropped in at Ben's old school in Gin Gin, where we were greeted enthusiastially by the staff, and given a tour of the school's impressive upgrades by the principal...

Principal Darren and Ben

Ben in his old staffroom

We also stopped at the cemetery to pay our respects to some friends we would much rather have seen in person.

In Wondai, we dropped in for a very quick visit with Ben's step-grandma, Thelly...


...And picked up some homemade fudge that Shell had left in her garage for us. She was at work, so we weren't able to take a tour of her flat, but satisfied ourselves with a prolonged gaze through the glass door. :)

In Kingaroy, we finally had the chance to eat some Red Rooster - an Australian fast food chain that I worked at as a teenager, and have been craving for the past 2 years! We devoured it while visiting my school friend Michelle at the office of the electrical business she and her husband own. It was so nice to see her again, and meet her sweet son, Joshua...



We snapped this photo of the picturesque fields shortly after leaving Kingaroy. One of the bonuses of going home after a 2-year absence is that you see your own country through the eyes of a traveller, appreciating all the beauty and quirks you once took for granted!


We reached Jimbour in time for dinner. Our hosts for the night were Owen and Philippa (my uncle and aunt), and Philippa had prepared an amazing Thai meal for us.

This was the first time I had met my little first cousin, Lara (19 months) - a long-awaited and highly anticipated event! She was extremely adorable - playing the piano, chatting on the phone, and riding a little tricycle around with a 4L icecream container on her head for a "helmet"!

Lara with our mutual Grandma

We had a great night and morning with the three of them, and Ben somehow fit in giving their computer a complete overhaul, installing Linux, and handwriting 2 pages of instructions on how to use it! (Yes, Ben providing computer help is a common theme on our travels!!)

We headed over to my grandparents' farm (10 minutes away) in time for lunch. Here we are with my Grandpa and Grandma, and some ex-neighbours who had dropped in...

Grandpa, Ben, me, Earl, Jackie, Grandma

And again at dinner time...


The (rainy) view from my grandparents' back door...




We stayed Wednesday night with my grandparents. I looked through two family history books while there, and discovered that - in one line of my ancestry, at least - I am a sixth-generation Aussie! :) After morning tea on Thursday, we set off for Toowoomba (1.5 hours away).

In Toowoomba, we wandered through a cemetery in the rain until we found my Great Grandpa's grave (he passed away at the age of 102, just before we left England). In the process, we discovered that he and my Great Grandma are buried less than 10 metres from Ben's maternal grandparents!!

For lunch, we met up with Mark (an old uni friend of mine) and his wife Bronwyn (whom we were meeting for the first time). We lingered for a couple of hours, chatting with Mark after Bron went back to work, and had a very pleasant time catching up!


At 4pm, we met up with my high school best friend, Kat, at her flat. It was a thoroughly wonderful visit and the time ran out long before the conversation would have. That's pretty much always been the case with Kat and I though!


That night we stayed with Tim and Chany in Withcott (just on the Brisbane side of Toowoomba). We had already seen them at the wedding the previous week, but it was great to have some more time with them and see the changes they'd made to their home over the last 2 years. Here we are enjoying Chany's delicious roast dinner...


The next morning, Friday, we returned to Ben's parents' home in Ipswich - having completed a 1000km loop and, as you can see, a great number of visits. Thank goodness for advance planning and Excel spreadsheets!!

To be continued...