what a week :D

Monday 27th April Darryl drove me to the University of Queensland in St. Lucia  Brisbane so that I could take part in a study as to the effects of a Virtual Reality program on those who suffer from Meniere's Disorder/Vestibular instability.  This was quite interesting and I was glad to help BUT the Virtual reality thing REALLY upset my wobbles and made me quite nauseous and unbalanced for three days.  But again - hopefully the data they gathered from me has been useful.
Then we had a great week.
Last Thursday we hitched up the caravan and headed off to Killarney in South East Qld with our Caravan group - the Morton Bay Drifters (MBD) Branch of the Australian Caravan Club (ACC).  There were 19 vans booked in for the weekend.
It was drizzling when we left home and it continued to rain lightly all the way there.  We travelled via the Mount Lindesay Highway to Rathdowney and on to Woodenbong and then followed the Mount Lindesay Road through North East NSW into Legume and then back into QLD into Killarney.
The road between Woodenbong and Killarney is being updated in several spots and it is making it two car widths wide - which will make it a lot safer to travel on.  A bit scary when going around a narrow bend to be met by a B-Double truck coming the other way.  Was easier for us to get off the road and let the truck have it then to have him throwing up stones.
The creeks along the way were babbling along and were quite picturesque.
We got to Killarney and booked into the van park to find that most of the group were already there and so began our Muster.
We had steady showers of rain all afternoon but we (14 couples) had a great time up in the camp kitchen.
On Friday we had steady heavy rain and were not able to go out and about BUT we did get to sit in the shed and chatter and the camaraderie was wonderful.  We were unable to play Klopp/Finska as there was nowhere solid enough to play, so we played Quoits or played card games - SkipBo or Phase 10.  Phase 10 is VERY similar to a game that we were shown last year by our friends Doreen and Ken - called FRUSTRATION.
That evening we ventured out in the rain to the Bowling Club for dinner as a booking had been made on our behalf - there were 28 of us there and the rain continued to pour down and we watched the news with all the scenes of flooding around the south-east and thanked the Lord that we were high and 'dry'.
Saturday morning the sun was out and the skies clear so we decided to go for drive into Killarney and were VERY surprised to see how close the town had come to being under water.  The level had got to 7 metres and was lapping the underside of the bridge.  On the downstream side you could see where the water had almost got up into the playing fields and we were also to learn that the road into Warwick - 4 kms from where we were staying - had been cut about 4am that morning.
That afternoon we again had showers of rain - so the outdoor game was again out of question - so back to cards and quoits.  Those that didn't play got to know each other in the chatter.
Sunday was Market day at the Town Hall in Warwick, so we ventured in.  The road was open but you could see where the water had been and where it had washed away the fences.  The markets were a virtual non-event with only 5 of the usual 30 stalls braving the cool, sometimes wet, conditions.
We then walked up the street and realised that it was an outback town and NO shops were open (except for a couple of cafes).  Back to the park and did some knitting and then up to the camp kitchen again for cards and quoits :D
Monday was a lovely clear day and sunny and we said farewell to four couples who headed home and one couple who was starting an 18 month journey around Australia and then we went for a drive up to Brown's Falls (couldn't get more than 300m up the walk as the creek was up over the path :C);  Then onto Dagg's Falls, where Darryl took the photos as my spins were trying to start :CC.  Up past Queen Mary Falls to Carr's lookout.  We were hoping to have morning tea at Spring Creek Cafe and look down the valley to the "Head of the Condomine and beginning of the great Murray-Darling Basin' BUT it was closed for the day.   So we headed back down to Queen Mary Falls and had a coffee at the cafe there.  We were going to try a Devonshire tea but they had run out of scone on Sunday and had not made any more :C.
Whilst there we saw a couple of articles about the nephew of my dear friend Val Mawhinney, young Chris Macgregor was a very TINY baby when he was born in Brisbane and I think he still holds the record for the smallest surviving baby.  Anyway he is a renowned whip-cracker, and a poem titled "The Killarney Kid" is written about him.  I thought he was about our Beckie's age, but his partner works in the cafe and corrected me.  Chris is only 27 not 35 :DD
We then went for a walk around the circuit to see the falls, the first bridge crossing was fine but once we got to see the falls proper - I could take a quick photo and then had to hug the rail and move back to the rock face where I knew I couldn't topple over the edge.
Back to the park and chatter and cards once again.
On Tuesday we said farewell to some more of the group before Darryl and I did a drive to Casino for the day.  A lovely drive which we didn't see much of on the way there due to the very thick fog for the first 2 hours 15 mins of the drive.  The fog cleared about 20km out of Casino.  We had a great day wandering the town and checking it out and young Sarah at the Information Centre was a wealth of knowledge.  We then had lunch and began the journey back.  It was here that we saw the country clearly as the skies were cloudless and the sun was shining.  The journey back only took us 2 hours 5 minutes :D.  It was interesting seeing how HIGH the creeks has risen in the rain but were almost back to there normal heights now.  There was evidence of where the road to Casino had been cut about 7 times from Woodenbong.  On arrival back at the park it was still too wet for Klopp/Finska and so we played cards once more.
Wednesday  My Sister JENNY has her birthday.  Wished her a very Happy Birthday and then Darryl and I headed into the Pig and Calf Markets along with about 4 other couples.  Very interesting and they also have a car-boot sale as well as a fruit and veg market, soft serve ice-cream van and a coffee van.  We then went up the main street, had a wander, got a couple of gifts and then headed back to the van park.  More of the group had headed out this morning and there were only 4 vans left.
We all congregated in the shed for happy hour and then two couples headed out to the local pub for dinner.  A nice meal and great company and the pub shut at 8.10pm and we were asked to leave.  We were quite happy sitting and chatting but did not want to cause angst - so headed back to the vans.
Thursday (today) is our BECKIE's Birthday, so wished her a very Happy Birthday nice and early before the rest of the group headed homewards.  Two were heading out to the highway and then down Cunninghams Gap to Brisbane and the other two were heading back through Woodenbong to Rathdowney and home that way.
We got home to find that our lovely neighbours had put our bins out yesterday and they were now empty.  A great big thank you to Debbie and Paul.  Appreciate your thoughtfulness.