With the mooing still ringing in our ears, we were packed and booked out of the motel by 8:30am and headed into town with Stuart in search of breakfast. Gary, upon my instruction, had done extensive research the night before on the most suitable venue and so we were directed to the main street where we were told “oh we don’t have sit down meals during the week and only do take away.” Hmm – no problem, there was another café across the road that welcomed us warmly. Remember the name! Em’s Café. Best poached eggs on toast I’ve had in the last decade. Gaz & Stu also enjoyed their meals.
I had always wanted to see the Stanthorpe Museum and, as we had a spare hour, that’s where we headed after a short stroll around the shops. As advertised on a large sign outside, they have 15 buildings and 20,000 pieces on display. A very impressive array of local and generalised ‘old stuff’, beautifully displayed across some quite impressive buildings. Lots of cries of “I remember those” and “Look at these” rang out over the next 45 minutes as we wandered about. Gaz found a bench after a while and was more than happy.
The main purpose of our stop in Stanthorpe was to finally lay the ashes of Moops (my mum) and Uncle Bob to rest. It was their wish to be together with their parents grave and so I have been liaising for months with a very helpful chap from the council that maintains the cemetery. In the end we opted for an interment of the ashes at the grave site and a couple of plaques installed at the Memorial Garden, not far from there. Gary had insisted that he remembered where the grave was and spent some time aimlessly wandering around before he succumbed and was forced to do what all men hate to do … ask for directions. The previously mentioned chap, Mark, was found and we moved to the site where I said a few prayers and words, we each laid some dirt into the hole where the canisters of ashes were placed, and it was all over in I’d say 10 minutes or less.
It went very well and then the five of us – Clare, Kim, Stuart, Gaz and me – went to inspect the new plaques in the garden which we were also happy with. The only hick up for the whole process was that we all forgot to get flowers! Anyway, next time. It does feel nice that they are both now finally laid to rest where they wanted to be. It was then off to O’Mara’s Hotel where we had a mini wake, just the five of us, and reminisced for a couple of hours.
Stuart headed off with Kim to get a guided tour of the farm (next time for us!) as we had to head off to Toowoomba as we had plans to meet up with friends for dinner tonight. An uneventful trip found us back at the Jolly Swagman Caravan Park where we had stayed a few years ago on another road trip. We unpacked the car only to discover that we didn’t have a wardrobe so Gaz marched off to reception to see if we could be moved. No worries. Thankfully it was only next door so it wasn’t too much of a hassle. Then after a couple of hours to relax it was back in the car and off again for our third meal out today. We had a beautiful meal at Sofra, a middle eastern restaurant in Toowoomba – very nice indeed. We got to meet up with Kev & Maz, our Road Trip buddies, their friends, Wayne & Vicky, who will also be coming along for part of the trip, and some other couples who have been long-term friends – Leon & Cheryl, Dave & Sue, and Mario & Denise. Tomorrow, we’re all off to a wedding!
But … the news of the day seems to be … Longreach, Winton & Blackall are flooded. Biggest rainfall in 83 years. Yep, you guessed it, we’re heading there in less than a week. Stay tuned.
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