Day 8 – Kingaroy

After a busy few days and nights we all went to bed early last night and took our time this morning, finally gathering at about 10am to hit the sights of Kingaroy and surrounds. I had done some research on Trip Advisor and discovered there was a lookout- Mt Wooroolin, admittedly only the 9/12 thing to do, but hey, it was a place to start. As we approached Kev declared “that’s not a mountain’s bootlace” and it was certainly a bit tame. It did, however, provide a nice view over the town. It was also pretty windy and chilly.

Our next destination was the old trusty Tourist Information Centre where we spoke to a lovely lady who gave us some ideas for the rest of the day. So it was off for a 45 min drive to Moffatdale Ridge Winery near the Joh Bjelke-Petersen Dam … yep, we’re in Joh territory. There we found a nice little winery where we tasted some wines and ports. Gaz and Kev made some purchases and then we were back on the road.

Trip Advisor, who never lets me down, had suggested the Goomeri Bakery, a short 15 min drive away so we got to see another small town. We had a great lunch – pies, pizza, and pastries – while there was a 5 min shower of rain (the first we have really seen the whole trip). After lunch we walked up and down the Main Street – took about 10 minutes. There is a rail trail that passes through these small towns and we watched that run parallel to the highway as we headed back to Kingaroy, passing through a number of other small but bustling towns along the way.

Gaz and Kev decided that walking through the Art Gallery and Historic Museum would be something akin to being poked in the eye with a burnt stick, so they dropped Maz and me off and went to do ‘men’s business’. They didn’t know what they’re missing! We spent a pleasant hour or so wandering through both gallery and museum, learning lots about peanut farming along the way. We also had a chat with one of the volunteers who explained the medium sized bushes we had seen growing in paddocks this morning were probably plants called duboisia, which apparently thrive in the local red soil and are used in pharmaceuticals, particularly eye medications. See! The boys would not have discovered that without us. We did enjoy wandering around the museum as well – they had a very big range of peanut related and non-peanut related historical items. The staff there were also very friendly and welcoming.

I insisted on stopping at the famous Peanut Van which has apparently been there for 30 years or so. We tried some different flavoured peanuts but ended up just buying some peanut paste (that’s peanut butter for southerners). We were supposed to go to an Observatory tonight for some star and planet gazing but unfortunately the clouds put paid to that. Instead, we had a BBQ, ate in the cabin, and stayed warm! Followed up with an epic Euchre battle in which Gaz & Maz were victorious. Sitters!