Week 10 January 25th to January 31st

Charcoal cooler - early "fridge"
Jondaryan sheepshed


SheepShearer



Jondaryan Woolshed


1912 Plane




Rusty and Gretyl best of friends.

Champagne High Tea. Susan and Valerie


Lorraine Valerie Bryan and Brian

On Monday morning we set off early for Bribie Island, which lies just off the coast North of Brisbane. It was took a couple of hours from Kingscliff, a good straight run along the Pacific highway. Bribie is reaced by a narrow bridge. It is a very popular place to retire to. We spent a very happy day with Val and Tom catching up on all our news. Brian and Tom worked together when Brian was here in 1969. It was so hot we just spent the day indoors with the air con.

Tuesday was Australia Day and val and Tom planned to take us out for a picnic out at the Glass mountains on the road North of Brisbane , the hinterland from the Sunshine Coast. As we ere driving off the island we could not believe the hundreds of cars pouring on to the island to celebrate Australia Day, which is a public holiday and the last day before the children all return to school for the start of a new school year, It is a very important day and every one hangs the Australia flag on their houses and also on their cars. It is great to see families out enjoying themselves on the beaches, picnic grounds having barbecues on the public gas fired barbies found in every park. We drove right up into the mountains and enjoyed superb panoramic views from the various lookouts. The montains were named by James Cook when he first spotted them and they reminded him of the glassworks back in his native Yorkshire. We visited a little town full of craft and gift shops aimed at the tourists.

On Wednesday we said goodbye and headed back to Brisbane, first calling in on my first cousin, Debbie and her daughter Elizabeth. Sadly Debbie is very unwell with a weak heart among other problems. It was so good being able to spend just a couple of hours with her as she one of my very last Lee relatives.

On Thursday we had a catchup day - washing, ironing and blog.

Susan and Richard have two pets - a grey cockateel called Gretyl and a ginger tom called Rusty. Gretyl rarely stays in her cage and she and Rust are the greatest of friends! See the photo.
Susan took us into the city on Friday for a very nice posh "champagne high tea" at a lovely restaurant in a beautiful old shopping arcade in the centre of Brisbane- reminiscent of the Burlington Arcade in London. Susan's parents, Dorothy and Ralph joined us. We went into the city by the bus way - this is a purpose built road going straight to the centre of town with stops along the way - much easier than driving. The weather was so hot that we didn't stay too long in the city.

On Saturday we decided to drive to Toowoomba , which is a picturesque town which lies about 150 km due west of Brisbane. It is known as a floral town and has a spectacular carnival of flowers each September. Unfortunately it has recently suffered severely from the drought. We went further West and visited the very interesting Australian Army museum which has a fine collection of old aircraft dating from 1912 and other war memorabilia. We then went on to visit the Jondaryan Woolshed, which is a huge shearing shed built in 1859, when sheepfarming was at its height. It is reputed to be the largest in Australia.We were very lucky to be the only visitors at that time and the guide gave us a personal tour of all the buildings including a working dog demonstration and sheep shearing. All the buildings date from the mid 1860's and the whole place is one big living museum. It was in fact a working sheep farm until well after the Second World War.

On Sunday we joined Richard and Susan in their church service, which was a very different experience from the church services we know in England. The very large hall was packed to overflowing - with standing room only. It was surprising to see so many teenagers and young people attending and taking part with such enthusiasm. Benjamin was playing the guitar in the band and Bethany was playing the piano.

In the afternoon we went over to visit Karen and family for afternoon tea.