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Noy's 4th Walkabout
Now we're playing "Catch up" - this was written 10 days ago!! Our journey to Darwin, TWO weeks ago last Wednesday, was Qantas uneventful (everything went perfectly) and it was a joy to reunited with Val and Al after five years; we had a meal at an Irish Pub outside Brisbane (not the plan but the place we were meant to go to has had a motorway driven underneath it (literally) which threw Val - we missed the turning off and got lost in the centre of the city so were grateful to find somewhere to eat....and the road home!
Thursday saw us catching up on all that's happened since we last met and Jill had a haircut at Val's hairdressers, which was quite a laugh. Then we went to a new pub in a complex owned by Greg Norman (famous Aussie golfer) where we got a two-course "seniors' meal" for $10.90 (about £4!). Carrying proof that you're a pensioner down here certainly has benefits - flash your "Senior" card anywhere and you can get bit more off most things!
On Friday we went to Buderim Rain Forest, just a couple of k's down the road, and ambled down the boardwalk before going into Mooloolaba for lunch - this time barramundi and chips! Saturday was a bit more of an education - we went to a small town called Eumundi where they hold twice-weekly markets, the biggest we can remember seeing anywhere! Not all the wares were "tat" either...as Jill proved by buying a startling (rainbow coloured) blouse! There were several other things we'd like to have bought for home as well but the cases are already bulging!
Sunday was a bit more energetic! We had to be up at 06.30 and travelled 100kms north to Gympie (lovely names, aren't they?!) for a ride on the "Mary Valley Rattler" behind a steam locomotive built in 1927 in Newcastle upon Tyne. [It was a good antidote to the depression which set in following news from England that our soccer team couldn't beat Portugal and are out of the World Cup! We have to shout for Germany now because of Australia's loss to a dubious bit of refereeing which allowed Italy through!] "The Rattler" is involved in political intrigue at present due to the fact that one of the proposed solutions to Brisbane's water shortage (yes, there is one...despite tropical downpours every summer!) is to flood the Mary River valley, through which this lovely old train travels to another strangely named town, Imbil. The train was aptly named because it shook and rattled all the way, stopping at Karanga (where market stalls were set up on the platform to fleece us for a few more dollars (!) before arriving at Imbil where we dived into the Railway Hotel for an average lunch and a visit to all the shops and market stalls in the High Street (rather lavishly named as it lasted for all of 50 metres before disappearing into the bush once more!). On the way back we stopped at Dagun (told you the names were strange!) for a local wine tasting and more produce buying (Jill bought a pineapple for 50cents [20p] which attempted to knock out the lady sitting opposite us when it got dislodged from the hat rack above our heads, on the way back!). We should have arrived back at 16.00 but due to adverse circumstances (not all the fault of the locomotive or its driver) we were 20 minutes late. Basically we ran out of puff and couldn't make it up the last hill and into the station. We were stranded about 500 metres short but eventually the driver reversed down the line and gave it one final go which succeeded.
Monday we decided to take things easy before travelling once more, so stayed at home with Val and Al, simply going down to one of their clubs for a nice lunch and enjoying their company at home in the afternoon. Then on Tuesday we headed down to Melbourne for our farewells and to collect the case which couldn't travel with us 'cos there would never have been enough room in the campervans! There's another one straight behind this! Keep reading!
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