{"id":5880,"date":"2025-04-06T12:38:16","date_gmt":"2025-04-06T12:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=5880"},"modified":"2025-12-24T21:52:43","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T21:52:43","slug":"9-stanthorpe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=5880","title":{"rendered":"9. STANTHORPE."},"content":{"rendered":"

Our first overnight stop on the way to Stanthorpe was at Grandchester.\u00a0 On a previous visit we had stayed a night at Spicers Hidden Vale.\u00a0 This time the resort had priced itself out of the market as far as we were concerned!\u00a0 So a Rustic cottage on St Benedict’s Estate it was.\u00a0 Three kilometres south of the one-pub-and-one-historic-railway-station town of Grandchester.<\/p>\n

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Complete with three decks, this two bedroom historic dwelling set in a large estate came with superb views all round – even from the bedroom, the bathroom and the shower.<\/p>\n

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The huge living room was fitted with an overhead projector and wind-down screen for watching TV and movies.\u00a0 But the complexity of just getting the screen lowered foxed us!\u00a0 We are easily foxed by technology!\u00a0 Anyway, we hadn’t come all this way to watch questionable quality televisual transmissions.\u00a0 An evening on the front deck watching the night sky scattered with a million stars was more our thing.\u00a0 Sadly, an almost full moon meant the nocturnal celestial display was not at its best.\u00a0 I’m always surprised to see the constellation Orion so prominent in the southern skies.\u00a0 This, after all, is one of the most obvious star formations in the northern hemisphere.\u00a0 Our peaceful evening was shared with the local fauna.\u00a0 A bullock appeared out of the gloom …<\/p>\n

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… while tree frogs stared down at us from the rafters.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In the morning, our equine neighbour came for her share of the apple peelings from breakfast! …<\/span><\/p>\n

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… while the kangaroos and wallabys hopped around, although mainly through the undergrowth.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Spicers Hidden Vale was just three kilometres down the road.\u00a0 We decided that, having saved a small fortune by not staying there, we would splash out on their breakfast!\u00a0 This allowed us to have a sticky beak at the place to remind ourselves of the fabulous outlook over Mount Mort (which, it was explained to us, was actually the flat green plain in front of us!\u00a0 Not a mountain at all!)\u00a0 The Great Dividing Range is visible in the distance.<\/p>\n

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What a handsome chap!\u00a0 And, for no other reason than this is the furthest south we have seen cotton growing, and I have a picture of it, I have included it here!<\/p>\n

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Totally unusually, almost uniquely even, I took not a single photo of our time at Stanthorpe.\u00a0 Sorry Beryl and John!\u00a0 We visited Suttons apple juice factory.\u00a0 The half apple pie we came away with fed four of us for two meals and still we came away with more than enough for our pudding on the way home!\u00a0 To say it was ginormous would be an underestimate!<\/p>\n

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That’s not actually our pie – or my photo of it – but it was the same size!\u00a0 Thank you Ros!<\/p>\n

It was great to catch up with Beryl and John.\u00a0 Two John’s went walking by the stream which was running a little swiftly, but nowhere near what it was a couple of weeks later (as seen in the photo sent by Beryl.\u00a0 She thought there would be surfers on the standing waves if the flow increased any further!)<\/p>\n

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We decided to break the journey home with a night at the EcoRidge Hideaway Cottages at Preston – fifteen or sixteen minutes to the SE of Toowoomba.<\/p>\n

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Another delightful place with a fabulous view; this one run by Greg and Sylvie.<\/p>\n

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There are swamp wallabys on the property.\u00a0 This may or may not be one.\u00a0 But for us, it was!<\/p>\n

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BBQed salmon was supper that night.\u00a0 Bought in a poissoni\u00e8re in Toowoomba’s central shopping mall.<\/p>\n

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We were offered a three kilometre walk around the property.\u00a0 \u00a0But, as the path descended to the bottom of the hill in front of us before climbing back up again, we decided a nice glass of merlot was preferable.\u00a0 Distinctly so!<\/p>\n

The next day, crossing the flood-prone area around Gatton, we saw a lot more evidence of massive water movements following Cyclone Alfred.\u00a0 Vegetation flattened by the strength of the flow.\u00a0 \u00a0Bits of road washed away.\u00a0 Kitchen sinks lodged high up in the branches of river-side trees.\u00a0 That sort of thing.<\/p>\n

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And look what the tide brought in at the Criterion Inn at Helidon, just to the west of Gatton!\u00a0 My best guess is that is a 1955 Dodge Fargo Panel Van by Chrysler.\u00a0 Allegedly also known as a Dodge PUB055 – and that’s the rego on this vehicle!<\/p>\n

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There was a bad coffee decision made in Helidon.\u00a0 One of us wanted to stop for a couple of cappucini, the other was less keen – admittedly for no particularly good or, subsequently, defensible reason!\u00a0 So instead of sitting down to coffees, we spent half an hour on a detour into Gatton to look for the coffee shop attached to the Queensland Transport Museum.\u00a0 As Glenda will tell you, I do make erroneous decisions occasionally!\u00a0 (Expect that to say “often” or even “usually” by the time you read this!)<\/p>\n

By the way, as an aside, did you know the origin of the word cappuccino?\u00a0 I didn’t, so I checked.\u00a0 Mr Google informs me that the ‘Cappuccino’ takes its name from the Capuchin friars.\u00a0 The color of the espresso mixed with frothed milk was similar to the color of the Capuchin robe.\u00a0 The Capuchin friars are members of the larger Franciscan orders of monks.\u00a0 Their order was founded in the 16th century in Italy.<\/p>\n

Talking of caf\u00e9s, we haven’t yet\u00a0 had a discussion about their opening hours – or more specifically, their closing times.\u00a0 If you go looking for a cup of coffee or tea at anything after 3 o’clock, generally speaking you can forget it!\u00a0 This came into sharp focus when we arrived in Toogoolawah, north of Esk.\u00a0 Another delightful, well kept country town.\u00a0 The old Nestl\u00e9 condensery is almost the first thing facing you when you turn off the “highway”.<\/p>\n

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This was where, presumably, Mr Nestl\u00e9 condensed his milk before selling it in a form that could be canned and stored for years.\u00a0 Actually, the project was started by two local lads who had too much milk on their hands.\u00a0 Messrs McConnel and Munro.\u00a0 They sold the business to the nattily named “Nestl\u00e9 and Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk Company of Australasia” in 1907.<\/p>\n

Anyway, where was I?\u00a0 Oh yes, back to caf\u00e9 availability…<\/p>\n

But before that … for the record, in the process of condensation, raw milk is clarified and heated to 85\u201390 \u00b0C for several seconds.\u00a0 This heating destroys some microorganisms and inhibits oxidation.\u00a0 Water is evaporated from the milk and sugar is added.\u00a0 The sugar extends the shelf life of sweetened condensed milk.\u00a0 Sucrose increases the liquid’s osmotic pressure, which prevents microorganism growth. The sweetened evaporated milk is cooled and canned.<\/p>\n

After a visit to the rather fascinating art display at the rebuilt (following it being burnt-down), renovated and now re purposed factory, we headed into town for a coffee.\u00a0 We found the “Have a Chat Caf\u00e9 ” on the main drag.<\/p>\n

It was 2.15 pm.\u00a0 And the caf\u00e9 is scheduled to close at 2.30 pm!\u00a0 But the place was already closed up as tight as a miser’s wallet.\u00a0 AND … the staff were already out on the street waiting for going home time!\u00a0 This proved to be 2.29 and 55 seconds!<\/p>\n

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Maybe 2.30 pm closing is a bit of an extreme case, but many, if not most, Australian coffee shops are firmly SHUT by 3.00 pm.\u00a0 Just when one is dying for a hot drink of tea.<\/p>\n

However, in a garden up a side street, we found a couple who had recently started a coffee emporium in a tiny trailery-caravanny thing.\u00a0 “Snowdunder Snow Cones and Barrista”.\u00a0 On Fulham Street.\u00a0 It came with all the bells and whistles!<\/p>\n

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Their plan was to be open when needed for the supply of a latte or a cappuccino or an iced coffee and to stay open until not needed any more.\u00a0 We spent a happy hour drinking coffees in their company.\u00a0 We got a good chunk of their life history before we had to get back on the road.\u00a0 Their geographical and employment histories.\u00a0 Their family history and a near introduction to their son who we passed on the street making his way home from school.\u00a0 All very typical of\u00a0 Australian country towns!<\/p>\n

By the way, the OED claims that the term “bells and whistles” originally comes from the practice of large organs having bells and whistles.\u00a0 Some large organs certainly did have bells and whistles, most notably in the silent film era when they were expected to provide sound effects to what was happening on screen.\u00a0 Just thought I’d mention that.<\/p>\n

Oh, and on the caf\u00e9 thing I feel, reluctantly, I have to acknowledge that some of them do open at 5.30 am and most by 7.00.\u00a0 So by 3 o’clock the barristas have been on the go for at least eight hours already.<\/p>\n

But I still think 4 o’clock is tea time!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Our first overnight stop on the way to Stanthorpe was at Grandchester.\u00a0 On a previous visit we had stayed a night at Spicers Hidden Vale.\u00a0 This time the resort had priced itself out of the market as far as we… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thailand-and-australia-travels-in-2025"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5880"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5920,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5880\/revisions\/5920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}