Winelander Excursion...Part 3 I guess :-)

Our accommodation in Stanthorpe  that Saturday night was in the Top of the Town Tourist Park. The usual accommodation is a number of motels in the town centre and another motel the High St Motor Inn which is across the road from the Tourist Park. Unfortunately late last year a storm blew the roof off most of the latter motel, with only the restaurant remaining intact. The winds had been so strong that part of the motel's roof was found in the golf course a fair distance away. So even though we stayed elsewhere, we were served breakfast at the High Street Motor Inn; and a fine breakfast it was too!

After breakfast we met an old family friend who had returned to live in Stanthorpe after she retired. Dorothy's parents and my dad were old friends and also partners in the farm at Ballandean. Her parents were my godparents and my parents were her godparents! We were able to spend some time catching up on news etc before our train left.

Here is an older photo of Dorothy and I with her mother and one of her sisters; the photo was taken in 1966 at the farm...she is still taller than me as you can see...

The locomotive has changed 'ends' since the night before, ready for the return trip to Brisbane.

 I took a few photos of the town from the station...

 The white building at the right of the photo below was the Co-op store where the townspeople would buy all their farm supplies etc...now just a derelict building...

 We have left Stanthorpe behind in the next photo and the countryside is quite lush...

During  the journey on Saturday I had noted the reaction of the livestock in paddocks near the railway line. They were so unused to trains, especially west of Toowoomba, and the thundering diesel loco obviously frightened them somewhat and they would turn and run away from this 'monster'. There are lots of beef cattle between Stanthorpe and Warwick and I tried to get a photo of them running away but missed every opportunity to get such a photo. .

 I took a few photos of the town called Clifton...

Later on the journey we passed some silos...

 On Saturday I had noticed all these beehives between the road and the railway line...

 Sheep grazing ...

After the train passed through Toowoomba, I kept my camera ready for when we reached Grantham. In the 2011 floods, the town of Grantham was devastated, the township suffering not only loss of buildings but also lives were lost. New homes have been built on higher ground and in the next photo you can see these homes on the ridge in the distance...you would never think that there had been such devastation...

Grantham

Grantham

Eventually we passed through Ipswich and then on to Roma St in Brisbane where DsD3 was waiting for us...it had been a wonderful weekend away.

Some more about our train trip..

Lunch was served on the train between Nobby and Warwick...

 The land flattened out a bit but that's another range in the distance...

At times the train ran along high ridges with the land beside the lines dropping away to deep valleys

 Look at this magnificent hotel across the road from the Warwick Station...

More buildings near Warwick station

The very impressive front entrance to the station...

A little bit of history here...in 1917, Prime Minister, Billy Hughes was 'egged' by a protester here. The local police would not arrest the thrower, enraging the PM. From that incident he paved the way for the establishment of a Federal Police Force, the AFP .

Old points at Warwick Station. No trains come this way...only excursions...very sad!

More scenes at historic Warwick Station... 

 Views from the railway bridge...

Soon it was time for the train to continue on its journey...

Next stop was our final destination, Stanthorpe.

My dad used to tell me the story of when he was farming at Ballandean outside of Stanthorpe; on Saturday nights the boys would go into to Stanthorpe for a night out...I think he meant a night at the pub somehow! lol The railway line was a busy one with lots of goods trains making their way south. Late at night the boys would hop on a goods train as it trundled through Stanthorpe and hitch a ride for the 30 miles back to Ballandean. He said that sometimes they would fall asleep and the train would carry them on past their station. Because Queensland has a different rail gauge to New South Wales, the 'sleeping beauties' would only get taken on to Wallangarra which is on the border of the 2 states. But dad embellished the story a bit and reckoned they woke up in Sydney! When I was little I believed him too! lol  

My dad walked along this platform once and so did my mum and I...it's rundown and not generally used but the memories are there!

 The front entrance of the station...not quite as impressive as Toowoomba and Warwick and many of the station buildings have been demolished...

This is the bus that we were transferred to for our trip to the wineries...

 First winery was the Harrington Estate Winery...lovely views...

 The beautiful bunches of grapes ready for picking...

 On the hill overlooking this winery we saw this house...as we looked more closely we noticed that the house was built around a Vic Rail railway carriage...

 The next winery we visited was the lovely Rumbalara Winery. The wines here are all African themed names after the owners' heritage. Their Impi is like Baileys Irish Cream, only better. DH and I didn't buy any Impi...but it was tempting! lol

Our day finished with a magnificent dinner at the Queensland Wine Tourism College. More in a later post...

They left the doors open again...

Regular readers would be aware that DH and I are living next door to a building development. Once again the tradies left doors wide open, and yet again I sneaked surreptitiously crept into the new house at the back to take photos of the progress inside. Last time I stayed on the lower floor, but this time I also went upstairs...
I've walked from the garage here and am standing in the house's kitchen and looking at the living room area...

Note the sliding door out on to the front yard of this little house, is open...tut tut tradies! lol

 Then I swivelled around and have taken the photo of the view looking out and over the kitchen sink :-)

Looking back to the door to the garage...

In this photo I am standing at the sliding door looking out on what will be this house's front yard...

Walking up the narrow staircase now...

 At the top of the stairs and looking down...

The main bedroom...that is a standard aluminum sliding window so that gives an idea of the width of the room...

 The ensuite bathroom of the main bedroom...

The next photo below shows a better view of the ensuite's basin...

 The next photo is the view of our backyard from that little bathroom window...

The built in robe in the second bedroom...

 The rest of the second bedroom...again use the size of the window to help get an idea of the size of the room...

The main bathroom...shower cubicle on the left, basin in the middle and a toilet on the right; the room is just over a metre deep...obviously a bit longer but not by much...

 Looking towards the 'toilet end' of the main bathroom...

 Next photo shows the third bedroom...

 View from that bedroom...

 The laundry tub at the backend of the garage. I'm guessing the sliding doors will lead out to a courtyard area...no power point in this area so maybe the washing machine will be in another room??

So the people who live in the new houses next door will find everything will be quite cosy, compact and modern I think, but that old saying about 'no room to swing a cat' springs to mind.

Talking of 'small'...DH and I spent Saturday night in 'Snug 1' in the Tourist park in Stanthorpe. We had been booked in there when the usual motel used by the Historical Railway Society had had its roof blown off...(it must have been quite a storm as parts of the roof were found on the golf course on the other side of town) It was a little different to what we normally stay in but was perfectly fine for the one night...firstly the little shower room...

 The bunk beds covered with our belongings...we had a queen sized bed to sleep in...

There was a little seating area in the corner. behind that door was the toilet and washbasin...

So I guess 'Snug' in hospitality must mean a small, cosy little self contained room. There's quite a few of those next door to my place! lol