Western Adventures Day 11 & 12!

Day 11 & 12 of The Western Adventures Of The Meandering Meares’. Day 11 was pretty quiet, consisting of a few hours’ drive to Charters Towers, followed by an afternoon kindy-kip for the designated driver, GB, while I curled up with my kindle for a quiet read. When we holiday we try to balance up seeing as much as we can with having a break/rest, hence a few quiet arvos in the schedule. 😉

Day 12 was a fun one. Imagine my delight when we called into the local tourist info centre (usually one of our first stops when we hit town) to see brochures telling me that there were three historic homes open to the public that day! WOO! HOO! We spent the morning admiring high ceilings, original timber floorboards, GORGEOUS aqua window glass & fabulous vintage treasures & decorating. Alrighty, then … brace yourself for some heritage building spam. 🤣

Our first stop was once a church manse & this gorgeous chapel was next door. It’s not often these days you find bell towers with their bell intact. No pics of the manse as the rooms were a bit too dark & crowded with other visitors to get good pics.


House two was lighter & airier, so got a couple of snaps. I fell in love with the aqua windows! 🥰😍

This is the first time I’ve seen aqua windows, I have to confess. I now have window-envy! TEE! HEE! HEE!

House number three was a showstopper! I could definitely see myself moving in here. In fact … some of the rooms were decorated very similarly to our home … clearly it’s been decorated by someone with exquisite taste! 🤣 Actually, I had a nice chat with the lady responsible for the decorating choices & she said when she & her hubby bought the house, it was the first time it had been sold since the 1920’s … & she reckoned nothing had been updated or renovated in between sales! 🤣 Eight years of hard work, finance-juggling, wrangling tradies, sourcing vintage goodies & cleaning, cleaning, cleaning led to the state we were able to enjoy.

I was going to run off with the half-tester valance, as I’ve been hunting for one for about five years now for the brass bed in my sewing room. GB refused to cause a diversion for me! Selfish! Tee! Hee! Hee!

Each of the vintage brass beds was adorned in a beautiful quilt, as well as several luscious crazy-patch/embroidered quilts being displayed. 

The dining/lounge room was divided by the fabulous archway. If you click on the pic & enlarge it, you’ll see the ’crackle’ finish to the paint that looks like a special paint effect. In fact, it’s caused by paint layers & time. Apparently the timber tongue-&-groove walls were given a clear varnish finish when the house was built, then at a later time, this was painted over. Through decades of the timber expanding & contracting with different temperatures & air moisture levels, the outer paint developed its crackle look & the owners decided to leave it.


Bit harder to get a good pic of the main bedroom due to the door blocking the view into the room as it opened inwards. Still pretty special … & a similar colour to our guest room. 😜

After wiping the envious drool off our chins, it was time to explore the town … next instalment pending. 😜 Til next time …

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS 

Western Adventures Day 10 - Part 2!

Day 10 of The Western Adventures Of The Meandering Meares’ … part 2. After a tasty lunch at the local bakery, 

… where our little feathered friend & his mate hopped around our feet, we popped into the tourist info centre to check out the dinosaur display & say g‘day to Mutt, the Muttaburrasauris … pictured with GB …

This is a replica of the fossil critter found at nearby Muttaburra … hence its name. 😜



We mosied amongst the fossil collection, greeted Mutt, chatted to the friendly & helpful tourist officer & then decided we were all tourist-ed out for the day. 😜 I tell ya, if anyone is putting together a pub quiz team & needs people who know about the shearer’s strike of ‘91 or dinosaurs … we’re your bunnies! 🤣😂 Moving day tomorrow … stay tuned for more adventures. 😉 Til next time …

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS 

Western Adventures Day 10!

I hope you’re all enjoying catching up with our road trip adventures. I have to say, after being back to our regularly scheduled irregularity for two weeks already, I’m enjoying revisiting our holiday … & already planning the next one! 🤣 OK … on with the adventures …

Day 10 of The Western Adventures Of The Meandering Meares’ part 1 … Porcupine Gorge. 

About an hour from Hughenden the “Grand Canyon of Australia” was a pretty speccie way to start the day.

Here’s GB channeling his inner tourist. 🤣 I think we were seeing the gorge at its best with flowing water & lots of greenery around. The second stop in this impressive national park was Pyramid Rock …

Can you see the pyramid? We also enjoyed wildflower spotting, thanks to good rain falling in the region in the months leading up to our visit … some of which fell again during our visit to the gorge … the rain-bringing legend grows! 🤣 

I don’t know what this flower is … it could be a noxious weed for all I know, but it sure was pretty. 😁

And a few bovine beasties decided they didn’t want to get their hooves muddy, so were congregating on the bitumen. A nice way to spend the morning before heading back into town … part 2 coming soon. (My blogging ap objects if I include too many pics in a post, hence my’episodic’ reporting. 😜) 

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS 

Western Adventures Day 9!

Day 9 of The Western Adventures Of The Meandering Meares’ was a travel day, moving north from Longreach to Hughenden. Due to the rain &  road closures, we thought we might have to take the long way (8 hours) but thankfully, the shorter route (4 hours) dried out enough to be open to 4WD. So we arrived in Hughenden in time to make the climb up Mt Walker to take in the afternoon views. Oh … the climb was up a steep road by vehicle, NOT on foot … we left that to the crazy locals who tackle the Mt Walker Fun Run each year… which is an oxymoron if you ask me! 🤣😂

GB spent a couple of years in Hughenden about 30 years ago & he says it’s currently MUCH greener & wetter than he ever saw it.

Somewhere out there is the township of Hughenden … hence the name of the lookout! 😂🤣

… a different point of view, but still pretty.

And that was Day 9 of our road trip done & dusted. More Hughenden adventures coming next. 😉 Til next time …

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS 

Western Adventures Day 8 - Part Two!

Day 8 - part 2. Hopefully this will help my blogging ap cope with photo uploading.

After two rain-related cancellations, we finally managed to go for our paddleboat cruise on the Thomson River .

 Lots of water in the river at the moment & lush riverbanks. 

We chatted to other travelers from all over Australia & watched the sun sink below the tree line …

… before returning to base camp for a camp oven dinner, some bush poetry recitations & a light & sound presentation on the riverbank of the story of Captain Starlight the bush ranger. 

Enjoyable night, the highlight of which was Steven our bus driver’s running commentary … especially his opinions of the ‘logic’ of the local council … we could relate!! 🤣😂

And that was our jam-packed Day 8 over. Next stop … Hughenden. Stay tuned. 😁 Til next time …

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS 

Western Adventures Day 8!

Sorry for the posting intermission … I didn’t fall off the edge of the world, just ran into some tech issues & then got caught up in the post-holiday catch-ups at my grown up job. So even though our road trip is over, I’ll post the daily travelogues here in the next few days for you to enjoy. So … where were we?? 🤔

Day 8 -  Wet weather stopped us getting to the Lark Quarry dinosaur stampede site, but we got a great dinosaur fix at the Age Of Dinosaurs experience. (Near Winton). 

SOOOO much to see! There was a relocated focalised dino trackway …

… a reproduction of a boneyard, 

… life size statues of fossil critters found in the Winton area …

… including the first meat-o-saurus discovered in the area … Banjo … pictured with GB. 😜

There was also a tour of the fossil processing areas … very interesting.

Highly recommend a visit if you pass through Winton, but allow a minimum of four hours to enjoy it. We were chasing the clock to return to Longreach for another adventure … separate post coming. 😁

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS