Toowoomba is actually one of the biggest country towns in Qld, with a town population of about 135,000. We came into the town from the westerly direction, almost desert like and very flat. Then, when in the town, we went up to a lookout and to the east, towards Brisbane, is the exact opposite. You can see mountain ranges and forests, and you can see that Toowoomba is actually on the top of a mountain range.
We had our own heritage walk around the town, and it is very impressive. They have lots of really cool murals around the town and there are some incredible old buildings, dating back to the late 1800's. The railway station is an extremely well looked after historical building, as are numerous hotels and 2 storey terraces in the shopping precinct.
As is our custom, we had to visit a couple of churches. I think Deb needs a bit of divine intervention at times. The first one we went into was St Lukes Anglican church. What a beautiful building. There are huge leadlights on most windows, but the SUN was streaming through and the photos didn't come out so well. The altar area of this church is just a credit to the church.
From there we decided to go and check out the opposition. We went into St. Patricks Cathedral, a catholic church. What an amazing building. When you go into the church, there are leadlight windows, but not of the normal religious themes. Looking down the centre of the church is an incredible sight. At the front of the altar area, it is all finished in white marble. The altar, the pulpit and what I think is the christening area are all awesome.
The church has a number of life size statues, of religious figures, and what appears to be a marble sculpture of Mary and I presume Jesus. All around the walls there are 3D models depicting numerous stages of the crucification of Christ. In the corner, inside the church, is a marble tombstone where a priest was buried in the church, in 1925, after 27 years of service. This church just left me in awe of its beauty. No, I haven't converted, but if I did it would have to be to the catholic church. They obviously have unlimited funds.
The following day we went and checked out the Army Air Corps museum at the little town of Oakey. Before we got there, we got some photos of a couple of awesome murals in the town, explaining the history of the town. So many towns in Queensland have murals, we just have graffiti.
Inside the museum it was really good. There were lots of helicopters and aeroplanes in this huge hangar, with heaps of information in front of all of the displays. There is a huge aeroplane, that is the first training air craft used at Point Cook, way back in the early 19th century. It was pretty scary, as there is only one seat, with the instructor sitting in front and the student reaching over his shoulder, and receiving tuition. Not for me.
Took heaps of photos, of which I will attach a few, but don't ask me to give you the history of them all. I think I liked the 'Iroquoi' (or similar) helicopter the best, with awesome firepower attached. They also have one of the first Australian war planes, from the 1st World War. Behind a glass cover they have a portion of the wing material that was taken from 'The Red Barons' plane, after it was shot down, flying over Australian Lines during World War 1. For an Air novice, this was a really good visit. One item of interest, just to prove that politicians haven't changed, is an aircraft that was purchased to train pilots. The only problem was that it didn't fly. Go figure.
We then took a bit of a side trip to check out a little historical railway station called Spring Bluff. A really lovely historical site, and would be great if the weather ever got over 10C for a picnic. It has well cared for gardens, as well as a café.
We decided that we had one more sight left in us, so we headed to the Toowoomba Rose Garden. Pity about the time of the year, because it would have been beautiful a couple of months ago. Still couldn't resist, and took a couple of rose photos. Need them to remind me of my own roses at home, that will need pruning when we get home. Actually looking forward to that job. I think I have an illness.
Today we headed out bright and early, and visited the Cobb and Co museum. This is a great place to visit, and it has dozens of early coaches on display. The first Cobb and Co coach was actually imported from the USA in 1854, to service the goldfields. Not long after that, they started building their own coaches in Australia. They were all in such great condition, with different coaches for all different uses. They had the mail coaches, that could carry 8 passengers, coaches for longer trips that could carry 14 passengers, an old style ambulance type coach, an omnibus coach, that carried the men on the roof and the women inside the coach and could carry 25 passengers. Some of the carriages for the rich gentry were pretty classy.
After Cobb and co we headed off to a place call Picnic Point, which is in Toowoomba. We went for a bit of a stroll and checked out a really cool waterfall. I got as close as I could, without getting too wet, in an attempt to get the best photo. The last time I did this was in Tasmania, where I fell over in the river. Yeh, yeh, not that funny. From up there, you could see for miles and miles, towards Brisbane. This is the direction of the mountain ranges and state forests. The exact opposite to the west.
Our last mission for the day was to check out the Japanese Garden. This is in the grounds of the University. It is such a peaceful and beautiful place to stroll around. (That's if you could kick out all of the other savages and just leave us in peace). Besides all of the other 'bloody tourists', we did manage to get some really good photos of the garden. In the true Japanese style, there is a lake with lots of bridges, manicured plants and some peaceful little areas to just sit and ponder all of the problems of the world. I think if I stayed in there long enough, I could solve most of them.
Anyway tomorrow we will be leaving Antarctica (Toowoomba) and heading to the little town of Goondiwindi. Will update you soon.
Barry & Deb.
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