We have spent two nights in Toowoomba, and have moved on to Laidley today.

My impressions of Toowoomba - dreadful weather, dreadful roads, dreadful traffic.

The day we arrived the fog was so thick you could cut it with a knife. By midday it was beginning to lift a bit. The good news was that the caravan park was literally around the corner from the Tourist Info Centre, so we deigned to drive that little bit further and settle in. The other good news was that it was close enough to the town centre to walk, so we did. Big town with lots of shops and a huge mall at one end which covers several blocks.

We discovered the horrible narow and steep roads and the dreadful traffic when we attempted to do the 'tourist drive' that afternoon, and then struggled to find a supermarket that evening.

Doing the tour with the tourist bus the next day was heaven sent. The guide knew his way around, and knew so much about the history (and geography) of the town. Toowoomba is situated up on the ranges in a dip that used to be a volcanic crater. Hence the soil is very fertile and the climate is much cooler than Brisbane. Many rich Brisbane families have summer houses in Toowoomba. This leads to several things - the thick fogs that roll up from the coast, the hilly terrain, and the houses on the escarpment looking out over the valley. Killer views and amazing multi-million dollar houses, but so glad we don't need to drive those narrow windy roads.

Speaking of windy roads, the last time we were in Toowoomba we had to go down the narrowest and windiest road I have ever been on, and the thought of doing it again had me worried. We were told they had recently built the Toowoomba Bypass, which could bypass Toowoomba altogether, but could also be joined half way from town to do the descent. It was still steep but the road was wider and the curves were gentler. Definitely worth the toll we had to pay.

Getting back to attractions, we went to three museums - two in Toowoomba and one in Laidley. Comparing them will give a good reflection of the different towns. The Cobb and Co Museum in Toowoomba was flash and new. It was trying to be all things to all people - a room about aboriginal heritage, a room about spying in Australia, a Scienceworks space for the kids, then finally a big hall with some Cobb and Co carriages as expected.

In Laidley we went to the Pioneer Heritage Museum which looked like the pioneers were still living there. It was in a dusty open area with old tmber buildings, old farm machinery and old carriages. But it was really authentic - the blacksmith shop had real bellows, not modern air blowers. The people were really authentic too.

The other museum we went to in Towoomba was the DownsSteam Railway Museum. This was also good and down to earth, with carriages and engines meticulously restored by volunteers, One carriage had been painted by an aboriginal man who was in the local prison, but since his art got known, he is doing very well.

Laidley is a nice laid back town with a main street of cafes and other interesting shops, lots of parks and waterways, and more "Queennslander" houses than we have yet seen, in various stages of disrepair.

Georgy's Bit

Being in The Jolly Swagman caravan park in Toowoomba meant paying top dollars for having power, all TV channels, Wifi ...etc. So charged all and edited many blog pages.

All navigation technology had little effect on the pain of Toowoomba traffic. My war on adjectives is again in force, the drive to see "Queenslander" style houses had the alternate aim of wrecking the van. Who will need to build a Queenslander house on top of a cliff? For what purpose?

The Japanese Gardens were beautifully manicured as were some breathtaking views from different parts of town with Lindsay driving. Lindsay Booth the tour operator had encyclopeadic knowledge and worth finding on youtube for more.

Queens Park in all its glory preparing for the annual Carnival of Flowers, but not as nice as Colac in country Victoria. Cobb & Co - well advertised but tried to be Soverign Hill and failed, Scienceworks and failed, War museum and migration museum and scored a D+ at best.

Some say the best view of Toowoomba is in the rear-view mirror of your vehicle, so the bypass was its saving grace.

The Navman kept its finest tradition of taking us there using the worst punishing way. After a bumpy ride we landed in Laidley, a nice authentic town. Adjectives will do no justice so, check the pictures for yourself.

We checked out Lake Dyer then Narda Lagoon where we decided to camp for the night. Went back to town for food, the Indian never opened and the Chinese had shut an hour ago and will re-open in two hours. Got the biggest Burger/chips ever, enough to feed an African village for a week.

Filled and satisfied, just in time for beer o'clock. A bird came to us looking for a feed, we gave him some dry bread. I wanted to improve his experience by moistening the bread with the beer in my hand. He started hobbling unsteadily and skewed. Worried about his airworthiness I had to stop feeding him. A family of ducks with eight fully grown ducklings was avoiding us, even with bread thrown at them from a distance. They scurried away from us unaware of the red belly black snake lingering in their domain. Nature at its best.