Clover unplugged

Well, tonight we are at Claude Wharton Weir, a free campsite just out of a little Queensland country town, Gayndah.  This is in lieu of Fraser Island, where five straight days of rain are forecast, and we were planning to camp. So we have made an executive decision to go there instead on our return journey, after Cairns, probably around mid November. This place is rather delightful, has water but no power so we are experimenting with Clover unplugged!  So far, everything is just as luxuriously easy as ever, fridge works, lights work, computer and radio are on, and the shower water is warm thanks to gas. Clover, we love you. Anyway, here's what we see from our bedroom window tonight:

Just to update you on our last few days, I realise we have posted lots of photos of Sharloe and few of Lindsey and Rob, so here they are (with Sharloe, of course!)

So it was sad to farewell them last night.  Sharloe will be walking the next time see her...

A highlight of our Buddina stay (apart from grandparenting, sorry to go on and on) was the local Euro Master Bakery,  a Swiss patisserie serving good coffee and luscious treats. Staffed by Trudi-who-always-smiles-and talks, and her husband (Hans?) who makes good things like this French custard tart. We went there for breakfast or morning tea nearly every day. By this morning, they recognised us, shall I get your coffees ready while you decide? she said.

So we headed off in the direction of Gayndah, for no particular reason. It sounded like an interesting place - citrus territory. Stopped at Gympie en route. This little gem was a surprise, full of splendid examples of 19th century architecture, which are a tribute to its role as the first gold town in Queensland, saving the state's economy in the 1860's.  This one was the stock exchange, built in 1880, the year my grandfather was born.

These two were built in the early 1880's, notice on the left building, a rampant emu to the left and kangaroo to the right, on the roof! And this was well before Federation.

 It was a cosmopolitan place back then, and it still is now.  There was a fantastic Asian grocery shop, and on historic Mary Street, we found this charming trattoria, Emilia's. All dark polished floorboards and red walls, with leather armchairs where we sat in the front bay windows for lunch. Buongiorno Gympie, the chalkboard menu said.  They brought us Ferrarelle water. We ordered panini tostati and they were tutto bene. Ate them under the Murano-styled lampshades, held up by cherubs, while the bandoneon music played...Well, strictly speaking, that's Argentinian not Italian, but it seemed to fit.

On to Kilkivan, a tiny village in the middle of nowhere. Soon as we got out of the vehicle, there was the perfume of the flowering trees in the main street (Cassia?) mingled with the allure of a smoked smallgoods shop. Amazing.  We bought smoked ham and some organic pork. Opposite, there was a little curio shop, and a local artist Marnie Walters Burgess had done this wonderful Trompe l'Oeil mural on its wall.

So country Queensland gave us unexpected pleasures today. See what happens when you don't plan?