We drove from the showgrounds to downtown Toowoomba. We stopped by the Railway Station. They had a restaurant that had memorabilia from the hey day of rail travel. There were big toasters, pans, mixers, etc to help them prepare food for the train passengers who got off to eat at Toowoomba. It's still a working restaurant and they were preparing for a party later.
We strolled around the busy downtown. This is the commercial center for the region and it showed. Lots of restaurants and local stores, plus a shopping center near downtown. There were some beautiful buildings. There was a store that sold Japanese anime and it had a giant micronaut-looking piece in the window. Inside it had Japanese toys and candy. It also had a huge selection of Monopoly games - South Park Monopoly, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Monopoly, Marvel Comics Monopoly.
Then we drove to Picnic Point, a lovely park with a waterfall and lookouts over the Lockyear Valley. We could see the road we took up the mountain and the road construction.
Toowoomba is known as the Garden City and has many gardens. We chose to visit the Japanese garden, the largest in Australia. The name was Ju Raku En, Longevity Joy Garden. It was really beautiful and serene.
From there we headed south and stopped at Allora. There we found St David Anglican Church, another wooden church. This one was described as the "finest timber church in Queensland". A woman was arranging flowers in the back and she let us into the church. The interior wasn't painted like St Brigid, but was stained wood. The church was built in 1888, but most of the stained glass windows were recent - 1980s and later.
We asked the flower lady about a crop we had seen and she confirmed that it was sorghum. Her husband was a farmer and he grew corn, sorghum, soy beans, mung beans and chickpeas. I wonder what chickpeas look like when they're growing.
We stopped at the visitors center in Warwick and met another friendly lady there, but we only went to a lookout, which we didn't find, and drove on.
We're heading through the Great Dividing Range to the Gold Coast on the east coast. We decided to stop early in Beaudesert and make the steep, winding portion of the trip tomorrow. Tonight will be a pizza night!
Pictures - Jeanne & Samson in RR Restaurant, White Horse Hotel, Toowoomba Cinema, Jeanne at Waterfall, Japanese Garden, Samson in garden, St David Church, Interior, Interior,
Fascinating reading! I'm all current now, with the exception of the entire month of May! I will at least look at the pics, though! Glad to see Sam actually smiling up in a couple of photos, usually he has a frown on his face! Safe, safe travels as you head home. I'm sure it is bittersweet it you will be very happy to be home!
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