A mixed bag

Except for my daughter-in-law helping me to start a garden makeover on Saturday , there's been nothing about the last five days that I wish to remember.   I probably will remember the ambulance trip.  Travelling backwards whilst laying down around the corners on this road is quite an experience, especially when you're feeling a bit weird to start with.  But the experts at the hospital advised after many tests and much poking and prodding that my pain was a mystery and might never happen again so go away and forget about it.  Of course, they phrased it a bit better than that but I like to keep things simple.

If I have to remember anything I'd rather remember the day I was on holidays and my brother and his wife took me for a drive to Karoomba, a lovely vineyard near Boonah, not far from Brisbane.

My great-grandfather, Daniel was born in an immigrants camp at Purga in 1867.  I wonder what Purga looked like in those days?  There's nothing there now, nothing that I could see to remind us of those brave early settlers.  Can't find anything on the net either, except info about a vineyard.  I wasn't even exactly sure where Purga was until we whizzed past a sign and I snapped a shot out the window.

 

The countryside along the way changed from bone dry grazing land

 

to lush irrigated farms

 

We lingered a while in Boonah and admired the quirky new town clock, “Blumbergville”, the towns original name. The artist had a grin at the sound of the name and decided to have some fun with it.   It was commissioned to celebrate the community's spirit of resilience following the disastrous floods of 2011 and 2013.  Its creator used bit and pieces of old equipment found around the district, cobbling together pieces of the past to create something that will stand the test of time well into the future. For example, the bit that resembles a wind vane is actually a blade from an old double-dump chaff cutter, that would chop oats into looser pieces. 

 

A few paces away in the little square is a slightly larger than life sized statue of "With an eye on the sky" which "celebrates our association with the land we work and the heavens we rely on for life giving sun and for rain. The strength and endurance of bronze and stone parallels the quiet faith and tenacious spirit of the man on the land."

We arrived at the vineyard in time for lunch.  I had wanted to visit for the views, so the restaurant came as a very pleasant surprise.  Excellent food, courteous service, lovely views, a real surprise as it is located well off the main road.  It was as dry here as everywhere else in Queensland that I visited.  I must go back one day when the countrside is lush and green and the lavendar is at its best. 

I wish I knew the name of those mountains.  Since Brisbane started marketing this area as the "Scenic Rim" even the mountains are called the Scenic Rim Mountains.  Never heard such rot!