BSW - Clifton Showgrounds II

Saturday 9 March

All of a sudden a nice breeze (or call it: a strong wind!) has come up and I am typing this trying to hold on to my lightweight laptop. ;-)  Just as well, because it has been terribly hot and I had yet another problem with the camper: the top hatch with the ceiling fan doesn't open!  What a bummer in this hot weather, and not an easy fix either.  If it isn't one thing than it is another with this vehicle.....

Anyway, let's go back to this morning, the start of a mainly hot day.  Rodney offered to be the shuttle-bus driver, since they own a caravan, and dropped Carol, Keith, Christine and me off in town.  We enjoyed strolling around the markets, on both sides of the railway line, and we also had coffee at the local bakery.  While there the train arrived, the major attraction in town and the reason why this weekend was being held a week later.

The train arriving in town after the railway was officially closed in 2015, was supposed to be an old-fashion steam train.  People had booked for this special trip because of it and must have been a bit disappointed that they now arrived being pulled by a diesel loc.  Unfortunately the steam loc had burst a pipe a few days ago and could understandably not easily be repaired.  

Many towns open railways to steam trains if possible, to make it a tourist attraction.  So did Clifton and Warwick, and it did attract a lot of people.  We watched as the diesel got locked on to pull the carriages the other way into the station again, where they were met by the town crier and the mayor who opened the line officially by cutting a ribbon.

After that we had a bit of a look around and stopped at the animal farm for the children.  I really loved the alpaca.  They have just such funny, endearing faces!

A mobile toilet got my attention too:

By now it was mid morning and Carol and Keith had had enough and went back with Rodney.  I kept going as I had been talking to a few ladies at the crafts market who demonstrated their weaving, macrame and other techniques, and I was told that the local craft shop was demonstrating with paper pulp clay.  I went and talked to the lady there and she gave me her recipe to make this type of clay myself and even her contact details for if I wanted more information.  How kind.

A few more pictures taken on my walk:

In the meantime I had directed my walk such that I could include a search for a few geocaches.  I found three this morning:

#2072 - MORTAR-FIED (cache)

#2073 - Have a Seat (cache)

If I hadn't been an experienced cacher I would not have taken this in my hand!

Look past my hand, on the metal leg of the bench

#2074 - Clifton Walkway (cache)

When the hint mentions 'a troll' I am generally not interested,
because I hate crawling under bridges, but this one was okay. :-)

Well, with three caches 'under my belt' it was time to walk back home for lunch.  The showgrounds were not far off:

Well, after lunch the usual:  a short nap, work on my blog, afternoon tea, a bit more work on my blog and tonight we'll go out for dinner to the Irish Pub.  Will follow up with photos hopefully.

Well, we had a great night at the Irish Pub, but as usual I haven't been great with my pictures, although I managed two:

Guinness, my favourite drink at an Irish Pub

The meal was nice, but unfortunately the Guinness Beef Pie was very different from one I had before.  It was like a stew in a bowl and I missed the crust and the mushy peas.... Not to worry. I had a great night out in good company.

Next I will be at Kingaroy, which, for me, will be a life-changing event! How? Read on... ;-)

BSW - Clifton Showgrounds I

Friday 8 March 2019

As I hadn't packed on Thursday, as planned, I had to do this quickly on Friday morning, however I am getting better at it.  This doesn't mean I don't forget anything though, as I do!  Every time something else, but luckily never anything major. Yet!

I had already filled up with water and had everything else in readiness except for fuel, which I topped up first close to home.  Lessons learned!

I always dread the part of the trip that leads through the city, but I made it through in the end and reached the Warrego Highway after 1-1/2 hour.  Another half hour and I could stop at the 'Big Orange' where I bought my fruit for the week and had my lunch and a quick rest as well. At Gatton I turned off the highway on a country road to Clifton.  A beautiful and scenic road which I mostly did at 80 kms/hr and even less when it became a winding road for several kms.

I made it into Clifton at 3.30 pm and was met by Christine, Ron and Rodney.  I sat down for a bit of a rest.  It's a pity I didn't have much time this week, because it would make more sense to leave a day or two earlier with a few overnight stop-overs on the way.  Perhaps next time.

Happy hour was held at the grand stand of the showgrounds where we could watch the disc bowl players at play.

After dinner we played cards.  Back to Hand and Foot with a little adjustment after just learning to play Canasta.  However, Christine and I won, so all was well. :-)