DAY 12 - OFF TO MUNDUBBERA TODAY AND A VISIT TO GAYNDAH....

Our time with all three couples comes to an end today... John and Barb are heading home to the Sunshine Coast today whilst Ian and Kathy are traveling with us for another few days.

John and Barb were up at 5am as they had a heap of packing to do  as being in a tent, all their kitchen had to be packed away in boxes, their beds had to be packed away and then take down the tent...

They were pretty proud of the fact that they were all packed up ready to leave by 9.30am, before either us or Ian and Kathy.  Mind you, we didn't get up until just before 8am and we were only 5-10 minutes after them.

Needless to say, one camping trip with the tent was enough to convince them that they needed to look into another form of accommodation for touring and so were determined to look for a Cruiseliner Avan to buy once they got home...

As they were not traveling with us today, they left about 15 minutes before us.   It was a little sad to say goodbye as we had all been looking forward to this holiday for a good couple of months...

We only had a little over 100kms to travel today to get to Mundubbera where we were staying for the night...

Initially I had planned to head through to Gayndah for the night but Ian and Kathy convinced me that we would probably enjoy Mundubbera more as they had stayed in Gaynday a couple of years earlier and neither of the caravan parks there had received favourable reports on Wiki camp, and their experience there was not particularly pleasant...

We left Cania Gorge just before 10am and proceeded south, passing the painted silo's again, and also driving through Mulgildie as well.  It took us about half an hour to reach Eidsvold where we had planned to stop for morning tea...  

Eidsvold is a neat but tired looking little town which boasts a lovely little CWA park with a  beautiful rose garden adjoining it and it was  right in the main street.  

Main street of Eidsvold

Parked in the main street of Eidsvold..

 Being a Friday, the town wasn't too busy so we were able to park in the main street and walk up to the little CWA park where we proceeded to set up for morning tea.  Steve did have one local indigenous resident that really wasn't too happy that we had parked in the main street, but we weren't too sure where else she would have a park and in the end we just left the car and van there as we were parked within a couple of parking spaces.  

Once we had finished our morning tea, we had a wander around the rose garden admiring the beautiful flowering plants....

We all headed to the toilets before having a bit of a wander down the main street and then it was time to move on...

Eidsvold is also home to the RM Williams Australian Bush Learning Centre and Visitor's Information Centre.   This centre was purpose built to honour this great Australian and to showcase his skills and achievements and to bring his passion for bush tradition to life.  A place where all people can connect to their history, heritage and their land.  A core feature of the centre is a display dedicated to telling the RM Williams story with particular reference to his time spent in the Eidsvold community.  Part of the attraction at the centre is the Gallery which exhibits new and exciting art forms alternation every couple of months.  

Unfortunately, it's opening times did not suit us today so it will be put on our list of things to do and places to visit when we are next in this area....

We arrived in Mundubbera just around lunch time.  The park here is absolutely lovely and we received a couple of sites that were in the front row...

 

Once we had set up we had a very quick lunch before deciding where we would venture for the afternoon.  Ian and Kathy suggested we head into Gayndah for the afternoon as there is so much to see and do in Gayndah...

When booking in we had asked reception for a recommendation for a place to eat out for dinner and they were quick to recommend the bowls club.  They also suggested that we might ring and book a table as it was very popular particularly on a Friday and Saturday night, so we gave them a call and booked a table before taking off to head to Gayndah and explore the area around there....

Before leaving town, we decided to go and check out where the bowls club was so that we would know where to go that night...

The bowls club was situated right down on the banks of the Burnett River.  We took a drive along the river bank to check out the weir before we left...

 

As we headed out of town we came across the famous "Footsteps Tree".  This tree or trees are responsible for the town of Mundubbera's name...   The word "Mundubbera" is an aboriginal word meaning either "footsteps in the trees" or "meeting place of the waters". Both explanations are suitable, as there were once numerous 'Footstep' or 'Knobby' trees in the area and Mundubbera is located where the Burnett, Boyne and Auburn Rivers meet. This tree is located near the town Mundubbera and dates back to early settlement. 

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 The tree is a wild specimen and is significant because it exhibits a curious growth and is a local landmark. It is a community icon so much so that a public replica has been created for tourist purposes.

 

 This letter box took our fancy.  We stopped to photograph the tree, and there it was right in front of us.  I have a fascination for different sorts of letterboxes so was happy to photograph it and add it to more photographic collections of different kinds of letterboxes.

 The drive to Gayndah was lovely, the countryside is very green at the moment...  Once we arrived in Gayndah, Ian and Kathy directed us around town, and we first checked out the caravan parks.  We were so glad that we had booked into the van park in Mundubbera as it was a way nicer park in a much nicer setting...

Gayndah was the first town in Queensland to be formally gazetted, in 1852. While Brisbane and Ipswich are older, they are defined as cities, not towns

Crossing over the Burnett River in Gayndah

After a bit of a drive around town we headed up to the Archer's Lookout for a panoramic view of Gayndah.   ‘Archers Lookout’ is just a short walk from Gayndah's town centre.   As one follows the service road off E Maud Street, the incline becomes quite precipitous resulting in amazing views in all directions. This amazing rocky structure seems to suddenly jut out from the surrounding landscape and is dominant in many of the sceneries in and around Gayndah.  It is well worth the ascend.

The lookout is named after two of the Archer brothers, who were the first to cross the  Burnett River at the very spot that Gayndah now occupies.

Panoramic views from Archer's Lookout...

 The Lookout is located on the top of the Duke and Duchess Mountain where a panoramic view over the town and the surrounding countryside offers an interesting perspective on Gayndah although the lie of the land means that the Burnett River, so important to the town, can only be glimpsed.

From Archer's Lookout, we headed down Pineapple Street back into the main street of Gayndah. Gayndah mainstreet has lots of old and interesting buildings.  As we drove into town we came across the famous Gayndah Jockey Club Sculpture which  is situated at the intersection of Pineapple Street and Capper Street (the main street in Gayndah)

The Gayndah Jockey Club  was the first in Queensland. Gayndah is the home of the Queensland Derby. It was first run in 1868 over 1.5 miles and was won by a horse named "The Hermit". In 1880 the local racecourse held the first Ladies Side Saddle Race. The race course is still in use.

From here we checked out Ideraway Homestead and Historical Museum area of Gayndah.  The ‘Ideraway Run’ was procured by J.B. Reid in 1848.  The original site of the homestead was some 6.5 km from Gayndah.

The Homestead has been relocated to Gayndah's Historical Museum precinct and is in the process of being restored. It is wonderful to see that this remnant of one of the very first European pioneers and settlers has been preserved for future generations to perhaps learn a little of Australia's humblest of beginnings – which was not that long ago . .

 

The ‘Gayndah Historical Museum’ comprises of a number of historic buildings including two significant pioneer homesteads, Ideraway and Ban Ban which have been relocated and restored.

Also, located just across the street, is an enormous pavilion housing an astounding collection of historical machinery, carts, artifacts, as well as a park with picnic facilities, amenities,  and a playground for the children . . .

As we were starting to feel a little peckish it was time to seek out a bakery and grab something for afternoon tea.  We located the bakery in the middle of town, and whilst the others went inside to order a treat or two, I decided to have a little walk around town.  

The bakery was right next  door to the Court House, so this was the first place I checked out... 

The first thing that caught my eye was the Gayndah Town Clock.  This was quite unusual, and is situated right outside the Courthouse.  It is designed in the shape of a citrus tree and has motifs made from stained glass and stainless steel.  It seems appropriate in a town which declares itself "the Orange Capital of Queensland"and is truly unique...

The Timber Gayndah Court House which was built in 1928 was designed by the Queensland Department of Public Works and is heritage listed.  It is situated in Capper Street and set back from the road.  It is a single storeyed building with a hipped corrugated-iron roof and two projecting gables.  A verandah runs along the front of the building between the gables.  The gables have bell-cast timber-boarded sun hoods over the windows.  The large central ventilator on the roof is the dominant decorative element of the building.  The exterior of the court house is reasonably intact, except for metal louvres enclosing the verandahs.

 

 There were lots of clay ceramics lining the built up walk on the footpath in front of the courthouse.  These works of art were interesting to see and were created to give those viewing them some of the history of Gayndah..

 

 There was a huge boah or bottle tree planted in the garden of the Court House.  This magnificent tree took my fancy as it appeared to have a single eye that kept an eye on the goings on around town.  Your imagination could run wild...

 

Another of the interesting buildings around town was Mellors Drapery Store.

This store is a true rarity: it is one of the few buildings in Australia which still uses a 'flying fox' to deal with transactions.  A 'flying fox' recalls a time where there were no computers, no bar codes, no cash registers and, because they could employ so many people, department stores used wonderful, human-intensive devices to deal with all transactions. Two people for every sale!
This is how it worked. Say, hypothetically, I went into the menswear section to buy a shirt. I would purchase the shirt. The salesperson would write out a docket in duplicate (there was carbon paper which would copy your handwriting from the original docket to one below it).
He or she would then place the docket with my money into a canister which would then be placed on a metal wire which ran up to an office in the middle of the store.
The canister would be sent hurtling up the wire until it reached a person in an office above the sales floor.  That person would remove the canister, check the docket and the money, place the change and a receipt in the canister and send it whizzing back to the salesperson.
With the arrival of cash registers these wonderfully arcane devices started to disappear.
In Gayndah there is one that still operates at Mellors Drapery. It is a novelty. The people who run the store – Bob and Marion Hodgson – have maintained it and, because it has been filmed a number of times – they attract tourists from all over the world.
The Hodgsons are proud of the fact that a couple from the Netherlands actually travelled all the way to Gayndah to see this strange antiquated “cash register”. It is well worth a visit.

By now it was close to 4pm and we still had a couple of places to check out on our way home to Mundubbera, and we needed to be home within two hours as we had booked to go out for dinner around 6.30pm.

I had read about McConnell Lookout and as it was on our way home we decided to head there next.  The Lookout is located about 7kms out of town on the way back to Mundubbera.  Once we got to Mount Debateable Road, we  had another 7kms of mainly dirt road until we got to the lookout...

 The dirt road was in pretty good condition and the drive in was quite spectacular with the low sun lighting up the pink heather like fields.  

McConnell Lookout is set 356m about sea level and is quite spectacular in it's own way offering stunning views across the valley, the township of Gayndah over the citrus orchards and farmlands and the Burnett River and then across to the mountain ranges in the distance.  A viewing platform hangs on the edge, providing the opportunity to really absorb the panorama eastward and southward. 

 The flora is amazing, gripping on to the rocky, arid terrain – ‘black boys’, eucalypts, paper daisies, grasses . . .

 

 The steep road leading to the lookout reveals the rock of this outcrop, sections of which are white to pink in colour.  As the ascent continues the views all around are as fascinating as they are beautiful.

 

As one reaches the summit, the narrow road opens to a car park, picnic and viewing area.

We had read about the  Ideraway Upside Down Bridge so really wanted to check this historic bridge out also before heading back to Mundubbera.  It was only another couple of kms down the highway and we needed to take a right turn onto the Ideraway Road and then it was just a case of follwoing the signs.  This is the most unusual, upside down railway bridge which was built in 1902.  Instead of holding the bridge from above, the structure holds it from below.  The bridge is no longer in use and is now heritage listed.

The Ideraway Creek Railway Bridge spans 46 metres, and is the only bridge of its type in Queensland.

When it opened in December 1907, there was only one more river to cross before the railway line could be opened to Gayndah. 

By the time we left here, the sun was almost setting, so our drive home was beautiful as the sky reflected beautiful shades of orange, pink, purples and we were all in good spirits and feeling so thankful and blessed that not only did we live in this amazing country, but we had sight to see the splendor and colours of the views and scenery that we had experiences this afternoon.

 

It was just on dark when we got back to Mundaberra and we only had about 45 minutes until we were due out for dinner.  We also needed to get a few things from the IGA before leaving tomorrow, so we ducked into the supermarket and did a quick shop in record breaking time...

Then it was a quick dash back to our vans for a quick change.   No time for a shower now, we had to be at the Bowls Club within 10 minutes.  

The restaurant was pretty basic inside but most tables were full and it was a hive of activity.  The menu choice was good and the meals were served pretty quickly.  Being a bowls club, I figured the meals would be quite big and as I wasn't too fussed on having the garlic prawns and rice that Steve had ordered, I asked if I was able to order a children's meal, as I knew I did not want a big meal.  They were very accommodating and allowed me to do this...

We were seated at Table 5.  The boys ordered a jug of Lemon Lime and Bitters which we all shared...

Our meals were enormous when they came.  Even my children's meal was too large for me to eat, and Kathy's piece of fish was absolutely massive.  There was no way she could eat it all, in fact she was struggling to eat half of it....

Steve ordered garlic prawns and rice..

Ian ordered rissoles, vegetables and chips..

Kathy ordered the Barramundi and chips..

I had a children's chicken parmi with salad and chips...

Apsolutely massive piece of fish..

Lovely night out..

The deserts also looked amazing but there was no way we could have fitted another mouth in.  Didn't stop us from photographing them though..

It was around 8.30pm before we left to head for home.  We were all a little tired as we had been on the go all day.  Once we got back Kathy and I headed for our showers whilst the boys held the fort back at the van.  

The Caravan Park lights a big bonfire each evening  till 10pm for the guests to sit around and get to know other travelers.  Once we had our showers we decided to head down to the bonfire for a little while.  It was quite cool so sitting around the fire was the perfect end to a lovely day.  There were very few adults there when we arrived, only a handful of young teenagers.  We shared the bonfire with them for about 15 minutes before they headed off.  

We remained at the fire until 10pm.  We weren't sure whether staff would come and put out the fire or how the evening would end.  In the end, all that happened was they turned off the festoon lighting that was strung around the firepit.    The fire obviously burnt itself out.,

We headed back to our vans just after 10pm.  It didn't take much for us all to fall asleep tonight..