Toowoomba Part 2

As it was Sunday, Cyp was home - we asked him what he wanted to do. "Toowoomba."

We were out the door by 9:30 (our regular time - doesn't seem to vary) and on our two car road trip.

I decided not to take the scenic route this time as the highway route is just as scenic - there was one leg we didn't take last time - about 11 km from Towoomba, so I quickly turned right (like a left turn at home) across the highway to take it.

Dad decided this was a good time for mom to learn to drive on the other side of the road.

The funny thing about non highway driving is that the speed limit is the same (100 km) but it is way more windy with lots of hidden driveways. I decided to go 80 - but we had a few cars chasing us.

Dad also noted that the highway had cross streets - kinda scary to be batting along at 100 to see a car suddenly cross the street in front of you...

Anyway - the scenic route took us in the back way to Toowoomba and we got to see it is rather a large town. Second largest inland city in Australia according to Wikipediea.

Mom noted that it had nice gardens (it's also the garden city) and her other comment upon getting out of the car was - yup - I kept hitting the windshield wipers instead of the turn indicator. Other than that, I think she did ok.

We went to picnic point and had our picnic and then did a bit of a walk down to a lookout point. It is a very pretty place - I kinda felt like skipping through the grassy fields (but was lugging Rowan in a backpack so didn't have the energy - also was worried about snakes in the tall grass). We can't walk far with the kids so we got back into our cars and headed across town to another park (near the city gardens). We hung out in the park while G & G checked out the gardens. Not the best time - September is flower season here. Another mom there originally from Minnesota (now here 9 years) detected my accent and gave me her email address if I ever needed help or someone to talk to. People are just so friendly here.

We then hopped in the car and headed home. This time I stopped at the farm stands on the way home (again - right on the highway). We needed zucchini and leaks for our smoked cod pasta that we were going to have for dinner. I also pulled off the highway at the Meat Tavern and Big Dad's Pies. Cyp ran in and got his steak and cheese pie and mom checked out the Meat Tavern. It was a big meat store - she said it was interesting. Poor Cyp couldn't check it out as Rowan was melting down and I wanted to get going. At least he got his pie.

Even though the driving was only about 90 minutes - we all felt pretty bleary when we got home... we had a quick swim and then dinner and bed. Ellis was exhausted and today at school he voneted again, so I had to go get him.

G & G took the bus to town, Ellis is watching Dumbo and Rowan is napping.