Uni started back last week, the painter has returned to the house and I’m trying to get back into the routine of work, study, play, eat, sleep again after the uni holidays!
A few signs from the road trip.
I came across North Star in an address at work a couple of months ago and when I looked on the map to see where it was I decided that I would be stopping in on the way to visit Mum. North Star, isn’t it just the delightful name for a town? I do think the town sign should say “Star of the Golden Triangle” instead of “Heart of the Golden Triangle”.
If you’re on Facebook with me you may have seen this little ditty I penned about the Newell Highway. If you’re not, here it is.
Southward bound on the Newell,
Said goodbye to the Gore,
Cotton, the white jewell,
Covers the verge, it’s no bore.
I love signs like this đ I was sort of tempted to drive to Darwin but didn’t know I would make it there and back in the five days I had.
This drive fatigue sign is part of a three part series. This one though about country drivers getting tired too made me giggle.
That is a few signs from the trip. I’ve got oodles of photos of buildings and op shop finds to post yet. Ornamental brickwork! Pressed tin ceilings! Gorgeous ĂÂ Art Deco and Modernist shops, hotels, town halls and more.
This weekend just gone I took a five day weekend and headed south of the border. Well really more south west but it wasĂÂ definitelyĂÂ across the border. I put on a number of caps for the trip, I was an interstate removalist, ĂÂ a fruit wholesaler, a handy person, a providore, ĂÂ a general hand, a driver and countless other caps.
Yep, I packed up the car and went to visit Mum. I left Brisbane on Wednesday night and after a taco dinner (south of the border … ) with some dear friends I headed to Millmerran for the night. I pennedĂÂ typed this little rhyme after getting to myĂÂ accommodationĂÂ for the night. It pretty much summed that leg of the trip up.
Drove on the Gore,
It’s a bit of a bore.
Catching shut-eye in a donga,
Going to read about Beluga.
Of course, I didn’t actually read about Beluga but it was the only word that I could think of that was even close to rhyming with donga.
If you need a place to stay in Millmerran, IĂÂ recommendĂÂ the Millmerrran Village Caravan Park. Clean, tidy and very helpful staff.
My donga in Millmerran ticked all the boxes for somewhere to crash for the night and I had the best shower there I’ve had in some time, oh the water pressure!
Arty shot of autumnal plant in the caravan park.
Breakfast shot. The contents of that PET bottle? Orange juice squeezed by me (well perhaps the Kitchenaid), good hit of Vitamin C.
Cacatua galerita! Lots of them. These birdies were part of my first mass bird sighting of the trip. There would be many more. The size of this flock would be chicken feed to what I would see south of the border. Still, I do love a Sulphur-crested Cockatoo. They are just such personable birds.
Bye-bye Millmerran.
From Millmerran I headed onwards toĂÂ Goondiwindi or Gundy if you speak the speak. My stopover in Gundy will be another post, ahh sweet Gundy. Gundy was where the op shop deities started to shine on me. Oh sweet Gundy.
Props to you if you picked the source of the post title. According to last.fm, I’ve played this song nine times, I’ve actually played it whole lot more than that, the OCMS CD had a period of very high rotation in the car.
That sums up the first leg of my road trip. What I’ve not told you about is the fact that I managed to get lostĂÂ take a creative detour both going into and out of Forest Lake on my way to dinner (all those darn changes to those roads) or that the cloud was so thick heading up the range and through Toowoomba on Wednesday night that I barely got above 20km/hr for that stretch …
Thursday arvo, Tom and Tiana/Tiana and Tom arrived in town after making the drive from Canberra. The Hotel Chelsea show of Tom, Ange and Cam was going to be playing Joes Waterhole in Eumundi on Saturday night. Thursday night though we hung out at Thor’s, I bang up my ankle, we laugh etc.
Saturday, Thor was working. I spent the day resting my foot to conserve as much energy as possible before the marathon of Saturday night started. Tom and Tiana went up early in the afternoon, they are from Canberra…they had places to explore. Thor and I made the trip up after Thor finished work. No trip happens without a saga, the day before Thor’s car broke down, this meant that she was bussing to work. A bus trip that takes the better part of 90 mins. I had a new car and a tank full of petrol so I drove south and we rendezvoused at a bus stop. We made it back to Thor’s and then after getting organised we were back on the road a while later than we had originally planned but most importantly we were all going to be up there for the show. We had a really good run up the highway and it was only a little more than an hour to get up to Eumundi. Talking, eating fruit and chocolate, making the most of the mini-road trip.
I had a great night in hanging out with the three Ts and Ange, talking, laughing, whatever else we do. Musically and Photographically I didn’t get into the night till Tom played. Mostly a case of wanting to be able to enjoy Tom’s set 100% which meant that I couldn’t give anywhere close to that for Ange and Cam. I had to take photos because how could I not. I see photos everywhere I look, bung ankle or no bung ankle I was going to take photos. However, there was pain. Pain that made it difficult to get into the positions that I normally find myself in when taking photos. I only took a few photos of Cam and Ange. I did however take up a film camera and a roll of Fujipress 1600, it will come with me for the next few gigs, really looking to see how it fares. Cam and Ange played first. Both played good sets. I really can’t tell you much more than that though đ due to my brain not been fully aware of the happenings.
Then it was Tom. and Tiana giving some backing vocals for a few songs. Lots of new songs. Good Stuff. There was one song, it was really new and I was listening to and thought to myself, that is the song. The song that will most likely stick to everyone who was in that room. I mentioned it to Thor afterwards and she said the same thing. I can’t tell you what it was called or even what it was really about due to my brain and the fact that it does not like to remember songs.
Post gig chatter, enjoying a few moments out on the footpath, before we headed to the cars and started the trip south.
Before we knew it, we pulling over just south of the Pine River for Thor to jump into TianaââŹâ˘s car and to go back to her house and there were hugs and laughs and plans made.
Speaking of Thor’s house/flat/home, I must share this photo of her ceiling. The plaster on her ceiling is raked. I swear every time I have visited, I tilt my head back and say your ceiling is sooo cool.
This is sort of what my ankle looks like at the moment – the bruise is a whole lot darker in real life than it looks in the photo. I also have a bruise on the inside of my ankle as well. oh joy. No it is going good, less swelling, less pain and haven’t popped any pills today.
