Neil and Pauline bid us farewell before we were completely ready to leave; they had appointments to keep and we had already agreed our next rendezvous would be in New Zealand, hopefully early in the next year, although sensible forward planning for us is quite impossible.
Despite the forecast for dark skies and rain, we left the Sunshine Coast in bright sunshine. We had been delighted to reacquaint ourselves with the brush turkeys last seen so very long ago, and with the cane palms, frangipani and bougainvillea so brilliant in this climate. But now we had to seriously apply ourselves to the return to our family across the ditch.
We travelled directly toward Brisbane, pulling off the Bruce Highway at Burpengary and calling into a couple of RV Centres. At one we perused their second hand rental motorhomes, all too expensive and none which appealed. The second outfit had but one, so we pressed on to our next task; to find Keith near Lowood with whom I had been in email contact with from time to time over the past few years.
Lowood is a small town of just over three thousand three hundred inhabitants, situated on the Brisbane River, thirty one kilometres north of Ipswich and sixty six kilometres west of Brisbane.
Its European history began when it was established as the first terminus of the Brisbane Valley branch railway in 1884 and the town grew around the new station. There is far more history to Lowood than this one liner, but more recently it has been in the news when it was hit by the floods of 2011, those about when we started this great adventure. It is here too that one can set off along the rail trail that is slowly being developed through the region. It should be noted that floods feature regularly in the area’s history, but then so do they for many places about Australia,
Our Tomtom brought us directly south into Brisbane along the Gympie Road, through a series of tunnels, clogged intersections, tight streets, masses of road works and several bits of several different motorways. We were not impressed; I would have taken us south toward South Brisbane staying on the motorway and then directly west to Ipswich. But then I guess that is my fault for having delegated the responsibility of today’s navigation.
Finally we left the Warrego Highway for the Brisbane Valley Highway as far as Fernvale. There I acquired some local maps and we had lunch before turning west in search of Keith.
Our very first contact with this curious person was when we were looking for a caravan or a camper back in November 2010, and then we drove out to Minden looking for him and the vehicle. We never did find them, but I remember us picnicking at the side of a small lake just out of Minden and being thrilled by the tree-loads of cattle egrets, resplendent in their breeding apricot. Of course, you will be well aware that I have continued to be thrilled and awed by the wonderful Australian birds; I shall so miss these when we leave.
When we passed through St George, you may recall we met up with fellow Kiwi motorhomers, Stan and Kath, whom we had met at rallies in Northland, they who store their motorhome with Keith here so they can still dabble in Australian travel. We were delighted at the co-incidence of meeting and of the fact their storage man was the same Keith we had once tried to track down.
Well, today we were successful and Keith, who shuns all punctuation in his emails, impressed us when encountered in the flesh. We saw motorhomes at his premises that would suit us, his premises suitable for storage, and a plethora of possible solutions to our current muddle were offered. In the meantime we have several interested buyers sitting in the wings; those who have yet to sell their house, another lot waiting for the proceeds of an insurance claim, another we will probably meet up with next Sunday.
But for this afternoon, we are happy to be set up here at the Lowood Showgrounds, a delightful spot which has just been subjected to a short and sharp storm, and the location for the annual Christmas Rally for one of the CMCA chapters. The second Ashes Test has commenced and television reception is good now the storm has passed over and given some relief to the 35 degree temperatures; my husband is happy and I have caught up with my older son on Skype, which makes me happy.
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