Our 2022 There and Back Again tour has commenced. Home renovations take a backseat for a bit while we take the front seats again to explore our amazing continent. We will head south west and see how far we can go across the southern half of Australia in 6 weeks venturing mostly through arid areas. After all the cancellations and closures over the last two years, there are no guarantees how far we will get. Hopefully the only Third Wave we catch will be at the beach. I will also try to find out about the habits of grey nomads as they undertake their annual migrations and share some grey wisdom – some Fifty Shades of Beige! There and back again – wherever There is!

Today was a well known path from the Sunshine Coast to Dalby visiting Toowoomba en route.

These cows near Peachester seemed udderly surprised we stopped to look at their bovine beauty.

An image of a herd member with the dairy air.

It was a mostly safe drive today but things got a bit hairy in Kilcoy.

The Toowoomba Second Range Crossing is a 41km freeway constructed to the north and west of Toowoomba that opened in 2019. It bypasses 18 sets of traffic lights and has a maximum slope gradient of 6.5% across the Toowoomba Range. This is a significant decrease from the existing range crossing which is up to 10%. I love percentages but 98% percent of the population struggle with maths at times. Luckily I’m part of the 3%!

Toowoomba is the biggest inland non-capital city in Australia (Canberra is bigger) and famous for its Carnival of Flowers in September. This is at the Queensland State Rose Garden.

The Big Sausage King at Gray’s Modern Meat Mart in Toowoomba. In 2010 it was stolen, and despite a reward of 10 kilograms of sausage from the store it was not found. Radio station Triple M even offered a $500 reward. Eventually, it was discovered eleven months later in a local quarry. The robbers must have been the wurst kind of people.

The author excited to be in the presence of royalty. That’s an offally big sausage. Apparently the butchers here string sausages together by their casings to make ends meet.

Bowenville is a small town just east of Dalby. This is the historic hotel that was once a Cobb and Co changing station but now is a changing station for grey nomads. Bowenville was named after Sir George Bowen, first Governor of Queensland (from 1859 to 1868). Sir George visited the district and went shooting for plains turkeys which were very abundant at that time. Apparently he failed with all his shots and was feeling rather bad about missing all the birds. He was consoled by a colleague who told him,”Don’t let the bustards get you down”.

The drive into Dalby

A light industrial area in Dalby is a treasure trove of quirky and interesting attractions. These attractions are underappreciated by most tourists….and probably for good reason!

The Big Shock Absorber was an exciting find. Shock absorbers help with my unease of speed bumps that I am slowly getting over.

All in all it’s just another Mack in the wall.

This amazing sculpture has featured in my blog before. It was at risk of falling apart but it steeled itself.

The owner was told by friends that a Toyota would take him to new heights. I don’t think this is what they had in mind.

Myall Creek (a tributary of the Condamine River) in Dalby in Barunggam Country. The first European name for Dalby was “The Crossing.” This is the site of the first European settlement of the area in the 1840s which grew to eventually become the township of Dalby (named after a village on the Isle of Man). The creek was still high from recent floods.

Good night from Dalby