Stanthorpe is in what is known as the granite belt. It’s about 250 kms inland and more than 800 metres above sea level. So it’s hotter because it’s away from the coastal influences but cooler because of the altitude. Overall, altitude wins – Stanthorpe is officially recognised as the coolest place in Queensland – but as we’ve noted before – everything is relative.
And there’s a lot of granite about! And back-packers!
We spent several days with Glenda’s (distant in more ways than one!) cousin Beryl and John. Relaxing, doing rather little, the occasional outing to a dried up stream bed to search for gemstones, a visit a very drought beleaguered winery to restock on wine…
A trip to Tenterfield a few miles and an hour back into NSW
The old School of Arts building – now a cafe (closed on Sunday!)
… and just generally hanging out waiting for rain. We did actually get 0.00005 mm one afternoon and the locals were out celebrating!
The area is as arid as we’ve seen it. Really not a good place to lounge under the eucalypts! (Remember the incident on the Warby Ranges near Wangaratta all those weeks ago!)
Needless to say, the gemstone hunt resulted in thousands of stone-grade gems being found and discarded. For every thousand stones John and I picked over, we found exactly zero actual gems. No topaz, no garnets, no emeralds and defiitely no diamonds or gold. Neither did we find any evidence of tin residues which would have been abundant in earlier times. Just a lot of low grade quartz rocks! So, hot, dusty and bothered, we retreated home for a beer. (Of course, if we had found a treasure trove in the stream bed, we wouldn’t be telling you about it anyway! So you will have to decide for yourself if we hit pay dirt – or not.)
Water was quite severely rationed in Stanthorpe while we were there. All spare water was collected and lovingly shared out in the garden. When we left we drove through some heavy showers but these apparently didn’t reach town! Twenty-four hours later rationing was tightened to 120 litres per person per day. Of course, the very next day the whole SE corner of Queensland was subject to a massive, widespread and very wet bit of weather. We got 80+ mm in an hour on the coast. Beryl and John got more than 10 mm which was very welcome although not enough to fill their rainwater tanks. I say they should have increased water restrictions sooner!
On the way home we drove via Ma Ma for a coffee at the general store. “It’ll be closed” said Glenda “It’s March!”… And it was. Both March and closed!
As an aside, we have noticed that Australians take road works very seriously. And they do seem to have a lot of them. For example – imagine the scene – we are approaching a bit of sidewalk repair at a legal 80 kph Some 5 kms out we get a warning. “Prepare to slow down. Roadworks ahead 60 kph”. 2 kms out we are slowed to 40 kph. “Prepare to stop”. 1 km out there’s a man (or woman) with an enormous sunhat, armed with an insulated drinks bottle and a picnic boag round their neck and a “Stop/Slow” board – obviously showing the stop side – Oh, and a radio. Ten minutes later, after one car and a push bike come the other way, matey-boy (or girl) has a brief discussion on the radio about the weather, the up-coming lunch-break and a traffic update. The stop sign is lugubriously changed to “slow” and we are off. One kilometre down the road we get to a narrowed section of highway which lasts about 50 metres. Another km on we pass a similarly yellow-clad, hat-wearing person with a matching picnic bag and stop/ slow board (which is of course telling us to continue driving slowly!). 5 kms later we are eased progressively back up to 80 kph. Now let’s get this in perspective. The narrow section of road is about twice as wide as the widest road in Devon (with the possible exception of the M5 motorway). And there is almost no traffic about. The workmen (if there are any not at lunch, are usually 50 metres away from any moving vehicle). Why the hell they don’t use traffic-lights with sensors on. Or, in most cases just have two signs posted 250 metres apart saying “Slow. Roadworks 100 metres ahead” They could optionally add “No overtaking” if that eased their conscionce.
Sadly, experience has shown us that traffic controllers are at greater risk than the folk they are “protecting”. Bring in traffic lights and sensible restrictions. Much safer.
On the subject of road signs that say ” No Overtaking”, these are often seen in one of three variations. Firstly and simply just the two words. These are posted when there’s a solid white line down the middle of the road. I guess that’s sensible belt and braces stuff. Secondly, with the extension of “- Unless Safe”. This is clearly sound advice, if a little unnecessary! Finally, with the extension “- Or Passing”. My favourite. Commonly seen on 10 foot wide, single lane bridges – especially the old wooden ones which have no side rails! Really!
While whinging about road “safety” signs, I just don’t want to know about speed bumps. We thought continental Europe was bad. But Australia has installed thousands of the things all over the place. To be fair, often protecting things that need protecting. But with teeth-shattering effects – they are wildly overdone. Probably sponsored by “Suspensions-R-Us”! The worst are to be taken at 0.2 kph, the best can be negotiated at maybe 2 kph! Yuk! So distracting you just don’t notice the pram you just ran over. Sound just about the same as the speed bump!
Anyway, I think we were on the way home from Stanthorpe when i got side-tracked. As we passed Gatton we stopped for a cup of tea. It felt rather warm that afternoon. It transpires that at 40 degrees, the town was experiencing it’s hottest EVER March day.
We were on a mission to meet Jack and Ben (AKA Phroggy – best not to ask!) – so we weren’t taking the scenic route round Somerset Dam. We didn’t even stop in the pleasant town of Esk. But we did need a break so we stopped in Kilcoy. The little coffee kiosk we “normally” visit was shut. In fact it wasn’t there at all. Well, come on it is March!
Just behind where the kiosk wasn’t there is a rather nice art gallery. Run by a group of artist/volunteers. On that day Julie was on duty. She took pity on us and brewed us a cuppa while we chatted on the Lakeside Deck.
With a great view of, you guessed, a lake!
You just don’t get that sort of thing happening in the UK – ever.
Next stop, the Sunshine Coast but that’s for another day.
Two older couples were having breakfast.
old man 1: We went to the best restaurant last night
old man 2: What’s it’s name?
old man 1: Oh, I have such a terrible memory. What’s that red flower?
old man 2: Carnation?
old man 1: No, the one with the thorns.
old man 2: Rose?
old man 1: That’s it. (turns to his wife) Hey Rose, what’s the name of that restaurant we went to last night?
I think when you come back to Oz next time, and are doing road trips, you need to bring a thermos, as obviously finding cafes that are open is not your forte!
If I had known I was going international I would have worn my best apron!