Day 7... Kingscliff

Day 7... Kingscliff...

Kingscliff is a beautiful little coastal town in northern NSW... it is a place where my family spent a lot of a holidays whilst I was growing up. It feels like home.

The town has changed a little bit in the time that I have been going there... but the relaxed vibe of the town hasn't. I love the beautiful and long stretch of beach in Kingscliff and have countless memories of walking along it, making nude sand sculptures on it, playing bocce, splashing in the waves... and just sitting on the beach in the late afternoon and letting the beauty seep into my pores... My family used to have a tradition when we went to Kingscliff... we would arrive and unpack, head down to the beach and get our toes in the sand... and then we would head up to the main street to the local second hand book store... we would go in and each get to choose a small stack of books each for our holiday... we all love to read! Some of the books that I chose over the years... The Babysitters Club, Archie Comics, teen horror novels, Robin Cook books... I really wanted to continue the tradition today... but I couldn't find the store.

One store I did make a point of going into was a Cafe called 'Mockingbird'... The first thing I noticed was the gorgeous decor... a cluster of eclectic and industrial lighting pendants, mismatched chairs, raw timber accents, a cool clock... I just loved it! So... I ordered a coffee and a lemon and blackberry tart and asked if I could take some photos... they said yes and so I started a-snapping. The staff were really friendly and the chefs even let me take a photo of them! :) After that I wandered back to my car with my coffee and tart... it was time to go... I had to get back to reality and get some home responsibilities dealt with... The coffee was rich and creamy, the tart case short and crumbly and the filling was sweet and zesty... it was delicious!

Even though my trip to Kingscliff was short and wet (it was raining)... I thoroughly enjoyed myself... as I drove into and out of the town I was struck with so many fond memories... I felt very nostalgic and it made my heart happy...

18,974 on the dash... 2,029kms down...

xo

Day 6... Kilcoy

Day 6... Kilcoy...

Today I visited somewhere that I have never been before... and I loved it! It was so exciting getting in the car and knowing that at the end of my drive I would be somewhere totally foreign to me.

 Kilcoy is a sleepy little town with friendly locals and incredible natural beauty! One of the locals I met today was a man named Greg. Greg is known for his uniquely branded coffee... 'Yowie Coffee', which he sells from his van in Kilcoy's famous 'Yowie Park'. It was damn good coffee! YUM! ... Now you are probably thinking... what is all this about Yowies??? Well... local folk law says that during 1970's there were many reported sightings of a Yowie in the remote areas of Kilcoy... and because there were so many supposed sightings the local council commissioned a carved statue of a Yowie to be placed in a local park... aptly named... well you know... So now Kilcoy and Yowies are synonymous with one another and good ol' Greg gets to make a living out of it. While Greg made me my delicious coffee... I asked him if he could recommend any interesting spots to visit whilst I was in Kilcoy... He told me about a little winery just out of town (approx half way between Kilcoy and Woodford) named 'Woongooroo Estate'... and boy oh boy was that good advice... Thanks Greg!

The drive to 'Woongooroo Estate' was like a blurb that stimulates your brain-taste-buds before you read a good book. It is hard for me to tell you how long it took to drive the relatively short distance out to the winery because I stopped sooooo many times to take photos... with each bend in the road there was something beautiful that I couldn't resist stopping for. I kept thinking to myself... 'How does this road keep getting better and better... more beautiful and pituresque...??'... I further I drove the more enveloped I was in my gorgeous surrounds... the 'Stanley River' with its eery but stunning skeleton trees sticking out of it... with the most incredible lush, green, hillsidey backdrop... it was so breathtaking it made my heart ache... (this often happens to me when I am particularly moved by something)... the breadth of the farm land on both sides of the road and the way the land is divided.. yet bound.. by fences. This always reminds me of stitches binding squares of fabric together... and for some reason I find the lines created by the fences incredibly pleasant to look at... I also loved the cutie pie cows... even though when I tried to talk to them... they inevitably always ran away... sigh.

When I finally got to my destination... I was greeted first by the lovely grape vines and then by a very friendly owner, Phil! Phil had a welcoming smile and immediately put me at ease... I asked to try some wines and he showed me his wine list. I chose two wines to taste... the first was called 'Somerset Pink Moscato' and it was sooooo delicious. It was sweet (just how I like it) and it had lovely rose and lychee undertones... The second was called 'Somerset Sparkle' and it was just as delicious. I told Glen about my travels and blog and asked if I could take a photo of him with his wine... and he very obligingly said 'Yes'... Yay! He then invited me into his office and asked me for my blog name and he let me know that 'Woongooroo Estate' was on facebook... look them up folks :) the wine is fabulous! It was time to go so I bought a bottle each of the wine that I had tasted (Glen was very kind and gave me a discount! What a CHAMP!!!) and then I went on my way...

On my way home I made a quick stop at a quirky and fun little cafe in Woodford named 'Braisen Hussy'... it had pink sparkly doors and was decorated by highheels, handbags and a disco ball... and what is interesting about this cafe is that it also does CABARET! I liked the quirky and chilled out vibe of the place and they made very yummy coffee...

www.woongoorooestate.com
www.yowiecoffee.com.au
www.braisenhussy.com

18,767kms on the dash... 1822kms down...

xo

Day 5... Toowoomba

Day 5... Toowoomba...

So today was crazy daisy! I had to get my car serviced in the morning... in Ipswich... Soooo... Jesse went in early and dropped it off and went to work... Then, after I dropped Immy at school... I drove Jesse's car into the service place at Ipswich to pick up mine and leave his there, so that he could pick it up after work and I could continue to rack up the kilometers in my car. The service was supposed to be finished by 10am... which worked fine for me because I had planned to go to Toowoomba today... 10.45am rolled by and finally my car ready and I am able to start out on my drive.

Toowoomba is about 1hr 20mins from Ipswich... did I have enough time to get out there... get some half decent photographs, make some observations, stomp the streets like a crazy person... and drive back to pick up Immy from school??? Probably not... but I am committed... and so I did it anyway... ! I had about 15 mins in Toowoomba to run around, take some photos and get a coffee... and I can say right now... it was definitely not enough time to get a good picture of what Toowoomba is all about. What I did see however... I liked... cool buildings with really interesting facades... pretty, green hangy trees... a very busy town centre... and that is it!!!!! arg! haha! I think I will definitely need to take another trip out to Toowoomba to have a good look around...

I really, really, really enjoyed my drive out there though... I felt a true calm and peace in my soul as I drove past the beautiful, flat, far reaching farm lands of the Lockyer Valley Region... green, brown, orange, yellow... the expanse of land, the vastness of the earth and the distance that I could see... watching rain clouds roll in... and out... seeing the sun escape through the grey clouds and float down to settle on hilltops and grass swaying in the wind... so pretty! It tantalized my senses and charmed my soul... I found myself thinking things like... 'Maybe we should move out here?...' and 'I don't really love the city... I love the country.... Yeah... we should move out here...' and 'We could be farmers, work the land... grow some stuff... yeah...'  Of course once I was back in Brisbane and away from the country's alluring spell... I was able to think clearly... and I know for a fact that I don't actually want to be a farmer... I am happy to be inspired from afar, sometimes seduced by the thought of a different life... a simpler one... and for now be happy with the life I have... I love my little family and the life we have built together...

18,492kms on the dash...  1,547kms down...

xo