We woke to the first day of bad weather we had come across! You could see that the rain was on its way.We were just about out the gates of the caravan park when the rain started! What a great time to move on? (The place we were staying in made it hard to ever leave I reckon) fingers crossed that the weather in Toowoomba was good! We punched in Toowoomba Garden City Caravan Park (Big 4) into Tom (Tom Tom Navigation System) and we were on our way. We have grown very fond of Tom, he comes with us everywhere, and he has not let us done until now! Getting us lost in Beerwah due to road changes at the new highway turn off was the first blot on his copy paper. We pulled into Kilcoy quickly for some lunch before getting back on the road. From here on you could see the trail of destruction left after the floods, all the way to Toowoomba. Due to the road from Esk to Crow's Nest being closed our route took us through Gatton to the bottom of the Toowoomba Range. As we hit the bottom of the range the traffic had come to a standstill!The floods had caused alot of damage to the range road, this 6km drive up the range took just over an hour, (all of it in low range, a move which should have been copied by many other drivers towing big loads that came to grief on this hot slow day!) this made our trip to Toowoomba take about 5 ½ hours for 241km, and made it a long day! When we finally reached the top of the range we had counted 5 cars which had broken down along the way. Wasn't far now to Garden City Caravan Park, this was our first Big 4 park stay.We become members of Big 4 on 30 June 2010, knowing that we would use it on our travels. Membership cost $40 for two years. This gives you a saving of 10% (or up to $30 max per stay) on accommodation every time you stay at a Big 4. Big 4 have over 170 parks Australia wide. I recommend joining if you are planning on travelling, and this one stay we saved $22.50! So by our next stay we would have got our money back. After setting up camp we went for a walk around the park. For a smaller style park in the middle of town it had a lot to like about it.

That first night in Toowoomba was fairly windy and a little chill in the air, "who would live in this place" we thought after coming from the coast. The next morning bought our first caravan component failure. Our annexe roller had broken the end locking pin and lost all its tension. After careful examination and planning (read: drinking beer and swearing!)of any and every rough arse bush mechanic wire it up idea I could conceive the white flag was raised and I made a trip to the caravan shop in Mansell Street. The boys at Trail a Van all declared that this particular pin had never failed in all the time the whole crew had been fixing vans. Great!! $250 skins later and an $80 call out Matt fitted the new part and adjusted our annexe bows as well. The next day we headed to Cam's place for a BBQ lunch, beers and to watch the cricket. The weather was great! While in Toowoomba I had planned to have our Patrol given the once over by the MTQ boys who had done the turbo upgrade not quite a year earlier. We discussed a small exhaust leak it appeared to have and rather then have trouble down the road they made the repairs straight away all under warranty with drop off and pick up provided. They have been a real good outfit to deal with both times now and their work continues to make our forward progress much smoother! http://www.mtqes.com.au The weather was good for us, and into the pool we went. Cam, Angie, Thomas & Ellie (Kylz brother and his family) joined us for an arvo in the pool. The next afternoon was spent at Picnic Point, the top of the Toowoomba Range. We pulled into view the Lookout which captured beautiful views of the Lockyer Valley, there is a coffee shop and restaurant up here also, then to the park to have a BBQ dinner. This park had great facilities and excellent kid's playground, a great afternoon. Next morning we jumped on our bikes and went for a ride to the Japanese Gardens. This is Australia largest and most traditionally designed Japanese stroll garden. It was only about 2.5km from where we were staying. There are some very authentic looking bridges and water areas which all add to the experience. However one little bridge provided a very "Charli" moment for our blog. The pictures tell the true story but the look on Charli's face was GOLD! As she leaned in over the bridge rail, to look for fish, turtles or other random objects that catch the eye of every inquisitive child, her hat fell off her head and into the water below. After a quick blow-up I checked myself long enough to see the funny side of it!? Removing my shoes and wading in to reclaim the unfortunate piece of headwear provided the girls (even the big one!) with a good laugh. Having Charli help me put my shoes back on all the while apologising, made the morning round of aqua-aerobics worth it. These gardens are beautiful, and worth a visit. We called over to Cam's place to say farewell as we had decided to head off to Queen Mary Falls in the morning. It was great to catch up with Cam, Angie and the kids. Toowoomba surprisingly, (not so for those who live there) was a real highlight for the simple fact we had not had very high expectations for our time there. It has alot of nice places to go, and the caravan park was located in a really top spot, being only a short stroll to a small shopping plaza. Take our word for it, (a couple who swear black and blue we won't live below the tropic of Capricorn!) Toowoomba on its day is pretty hard to beat!