Irresistible Toowoomba

Next morning, Monday 22nd July, we caught the bus into town and had a short wander before seeing Hester and Colin off to Toowoomba by coach. I spent some more time sauntering around town and making use of free internet before returning to Marie's to catch up on some relaxation and have an early night.

With Sue, Colin, Hester and Jenny

On Tuesday morning I was picked up early by Bill for a lift over to Toowoomba; he had a 9 o'clock lecture to get to - fortunately he made it in spite of my frantic last minute packing of not quite dry clothes! I met up with Hester and Colin, and Jenny who had been taking care of them, and we had a look round the sights including Lake Annand and the Waterbird Habitat. We visited Jenny's sister Heather, and her husband Ossie for lunch, and later in the day we also met up with mum's friend Sue, and cousin Ruth.

Wth Ruth, Hester, Jenny and Colin

Wednesday morning we visited Highfields Pioneer village, having traditional billy tea and damper before trekking over to Crows Nest for a pleasant walk by the creek. Dinner was a return to Meringandan pub for another enormous dinner!

Hester on the creek walk

Hester and Colin had an early coach back to Brisbane on Thursday morning and I spent some time exploring the centre of town, including the mysterious train station - while locals insist service to Brisbane does not exist, it turns out it in fact runs 3 times a week! I caught my slow afternoon bus back to Brisbane and made my way back to Tony and Theresa's.

Toowoomba train station

I went for a walk along the river to University of Queensland on Friday morning, taking in the views along the river and getting re-accustomed to the high gradients in the area. In the evening I joined my host family in July Christmas traditions - to celebrate while it is not too hot and most like the expected Christmas temperature. Singing carols felt somewhat strange!

Bus bridge