Jim

Sadly Jim lost his battle with cancer at 11pm on Monday, 6th May.    This photo was taken with Mum & Jim on Xmas Day.   He will be sorely missed by our family.   We are still in NSW but will be home by lunchtime to see everyone.

We are now home.  The weather has been kind.    The garden is looking very pretty with beautiful warm autumn colors, but leaves from the deciduous trees are everywhere.    Not sure how happy we are to be home but that's life I guess.

Maryborough Rally

 A couple of photos of Maryborough.  Queens Park Rotunda and this cute little garage.

At our Rally we have a ball on the Saturday night with a particular theme.  This year it was Ghouls & Ghosts.  Here are a few of our friends appropriately dressed.  Its usually  a mixed bag.   Half dress up to extremes and the other go just as they are.  Ros and I spent ages trawling thru the crowd trying to recognise friends to take photos.   One lot of friends eluded us for ages, I was thinking their costume/disguise must be pretty good for me not to recognise them.  Then I remembered they weren't going to the ball!!!!!! and I only had 1 glass of wine.  Hmmm.  Memory must be going.Graeme & Robin from Hervey Bay.  Met them in 2010 in Tasmania and have been friends since.   Lovely couple who have come and stayed with us in Melton and have dined with us at Rubys.

Coral & terry from the Gold Coast, met in Coolgardie WA in 2011 and have been friends since.  Terry is a Hot Rodder & he Rick get on very well.

Ros & Tony from SA met at Woomera SA in 2011 and have been friends since and have travelled to this Rally together.

 Deeana & Johnnie, from NSW.  Met this week at our rally for the first time.  They are a great couple, firm friends now, Deeana spoilt Rick rotten by giving him fresh mangoes from a farm out of NSW.  The best mangoes Rick has ever eaten he declares.   She went as a Virgin Nun and got plenty of offers on the night.!!!!!!!!! to relieve her of her "title"

Ken Rice, a Southern Explorer, from Moama NSW.  (our Chapter Group).  Lovely man who goes to the ball each Rally on his own cos he LOVES to dance and his wife wont,  so she doesn't go.   He will dance with anyone & everyone.

Sandy & Mary Jean from the Gold Coast.   Another we met in Tassie in 2010 and look forward each rally to catching up with and spending time with.

 

 

 

The Rally was great for catching up with old friends and some that we only barely knew over the years but it was nice to greet & spend some time bumping into one another as we went around the site.    Sadly we have left the Rally now. Just a day earlier than planned.   Left early because my Mum's husband Jim, is very unwell and we need to beeline it home to Melbourne to not only be with Jim but also my Mum.   I pray that Jim will hold on and be strong until we can get home and see him, tell him how much he means to us and thank him for the love & care he has given our Mum over the past 24 years.    He has battled cancer for three and a half years and he wants to go peacefully now.    His birthday is this weekend, Mothers Day.

Pubs

Like all towns, Australia wide, Maryborough has had an abundance of pubs in the past and in the present.      Here are some of them that existed or still exist in this town.   Queens,  Francis,  Royal, Engineers Arms, European, Great Western, the Aussie, Crown and Anchor, Elephant and Castle, Duke of Edinburgh, Rainbow, Golden Lamb, Rising Sun, Southern Cross, White Swan, The Carlton, The Carriers Arms, The Central ( the publican here, found his wife dead on the floor one day, he mourned her briefly, married again two weeks later.) The Criterion, Custom House Lounge, The Federal (a body was found here with 80,000 pounds underneath it) no one ever claimed either. The Granville, The Lamington, Old Sydney, Oxford, Post Office, Shamrock, Riverview, Tatts, Westside Tavern, White Lion, Prince Alfred, Royal Hotel, Station Hotel, Grand Hotel, Miners Arms, Theebine.

Maryborough shot to world wide fame when it hosted the Worlds Biggest Pub Crawl.  Every Queens Birthday weekend in June, parades of smurfs, super heroes, pirates, dancing girls, knights and characters from the Wizard of Oz or Rocky Horror Show trawl thru the town on a pub crawl.   The title has been snatched from them a couple of times but has been returned to this town.  Any wonder.  What a great weekend it would be.

Maryborough.

Maryborough is a lovely clean and neat town set on the banks of the Mary River.  Like many towns we have recently visited they have  also experienced flooding and we saw some of the after effects here.  We have really enjoyed walking around looking at the heritage buildings here which have been maintained.  Lots of historical walks/ghostly tours/etc. done in the town itself.   This is also the birthplace of P.L.Travers, the author of the series Mary Poppins.   Born in August 1899 in  Maryborough and had her early school years here.   As a child she loved fairytales, myths and legends and her passion for reading led her to become a storyteller. She wrote her first book in 1934,  made into a Disney movie in 1964 and is very important to the tourist trade for this city.   She wrote 6 books in all.  She was in her 90's when she passed away. Her heritage listed birthplace remains largely unchanged from the time of her birth, as do the streetscapes and parkland near her original home. You can do the Mary Poppins Discovery Trail.  There are street murals, street art, a Mary Poppins statue, and you can" take a tour with Mary or even take Tea with her.   She even came to visit us at the Rally.!!!!!!!!!

As the famous nanny states  "anything can happen if you let it.   Anything can happen if you just imagine.  If you chase your dreams you wont regret it."

Maryborough Rally.

We are parked up at the rally without about 860?? other motorhomes.  Spread out all over the Showgrounds. There are some big rigs here, some really weird and wonderful as well.   There are a lot for sale ranging from $660,000 down to about $22,000.   Something for everyones budget and size We have a pretty good spot, on grass, 5 mins walk from just about everything so we aren't complaining.    So far its been a pretty good rally.   Today is Friday, and its the very first time that we have had a minute to actually walk around the site and check out the motorhomes.  In saying that, we are concentrating only on the big rigs.     We have trawled the trade stands, done some seminars, had communal morning teas and happy hours, caught up with old friends and made some new ones.   Our nightly entertainment so far is 10/10.    Two completely different comedians, one Rodney Vincent, we had the pleasure of seeing at our Numurkah Rally.  He is a really good singer, has sung with the Delltones, toured and written songs with Gene Pitney.   But his humor is cheeky, irreverent and there wasn't a dry eye in the place as he had everyone in tears of laughter.   We had recommended him to everyone we spoke to, and he didn't disappoint.    Another night we had a Neil Diamond tribute band and even though I don't like the music, they were really good.   Wednesday night we had a trivia night, our table wasn't the brightest, but we had some fun and spent it in good company.  Ron & Kerrie, from Brisbane are friends we met in 2011 on the big trip and whom have stayed with us in Melton,  their friends Max & Christine, who hail from sunny Mt. Dandenong, and Ros and Tony.    Tonight is country music.  I don't think we will bother.   We are hosting a pretty big happy hour tonight, so by the time that is finished I think we will stay put and enjoy the quiet.

Well the top photo is of an American rv.  Looks so much like the front of a ship that they have given it a ships name.  For sale for $220,000 plus.   So ugly, you wouldn't want it.    Next up is the Swagman, 2nd hand, $660,000.   Third up is a Swagman, which we really liked, bought at Grays Online when Swagman went bust.   Fourth, and the picture isn't great is a double decker motorhome with a matching trailer.   To the left of the photo is his helicopter that he stows in the trailer.  An American.  He has one back in the States as well.   He does videos, movies etc. and is filming around the rally for a series on the Discovery Channel.

 

We have had terrific weather so far up until last night when during the start of the evenings entertainment it started to rain, then pour, then bucket down.   I made a beeline for the bus to close up the windows and hatches.   Got soaked myself, but the bus was nice and dry inside.   Had an inch of rain overnight, its sunny but threatening this afternoon.

Childers

Before arriving at Maryborough we did a day stopover at a town called Childers.   It was an absolutely lovely town.  Lots of heritage buildings, clean & green.   We visited an old pharmacy that the Council now owns.    It is exactly as it was when it was built more than 100 years ago.   The first pharmacist died in the 1930s.  His son took over until the 1960s and then his business partner took it on.   The pharmacy was then handed over as an historical site.   The Council now own it. When they went thru the sheds etc. in the back, there were hundreds of boxes of brand new medications, lotions, potions, products etc.   Been stored in these sheds since the beginnings of the pharmacy. Bottles of all shapes and colors, boxes of products not seen these days.  The tiled floor is over 100 years old and looks almost new.   It was great to look at all the bottles of lotions & potions from yesteryear.   Great stuff.   But the best was to come.   We visited the Memorial Hall and saw the most beautiful war memorial that we have ever seen.   Of course, it was just a few days after Anzac Day, and all the floral tributes were on display.     Lots of wreaths made by local school children, poems etc. made it even more special. Each of the fallen soldiers from the area, in all of the various wars that we have had, have their own special plaque, with their name & photo.   So many young looking "boys".    It was a very special place and made us feel very privileged to have visited.

An engineering workshop in a country town

A tribute to the pioneers, the men of iron that made this great country.

 Street Art in  Childers

The RSL, another great old building

Toasting the arrival of Xavier Michael Maroszek,