Chapter 50 - The ACTUAL Toowoomba Expedition

In which our hero and her friend finally actually make it to Toowoomba, not like the first attempt where they only got as far as Mt. Tambourine ... 

So now the date is September 21, in other words immediately following the previous day's adventure to UQ. I haven't yet told you about the first expedition to Toowoomba, but I will. Basically, Rachel and I had a plan to go there, because it's supposed to be really nice. We took a slight detour to see Mt. Tambourine, and got distracted for the rest of the day. That was a few weeks previous. This time we actually had a goal, which was the Toowoomba Flower Festival (it was springtime, after all). And we had two other friends of Rachel's with us, so we couldn't just go off on our own tangents.

So off we went, departing my place at around 9:00 a.m. It's a couple of hours drive, so we arrived just before lunch time. First we stopped at a city park, where there was some music and ice cream and flowers and flower flavoured ice cream. We walked around a bit, got ourselves a map of the prize-winning gardens, and made a plan for the day. The final thing was to be back to the central city park for the parade at like 3:00.

But first, we saw some of the lovely things to see in the park where we were.

The lovely view. Toowoomba's on the top of a bit of a hill, hence the lovely views.

More lovely view, but with close-up trees.

Walking along the path at the edge of the lovely view.

Statue of a dog named 'Puppy' that was the mascot of the town band.

Garden and railings of the little restaurant that was nearby.

Picture of a lady taking pictures of a rose.

15000-ish km to Ottawa. 

Now most excitingly, remember in the previous bit of writing how I mentioned flower flavoured ice cream? Well, we all had some. Here is the little banner explaining what it was:

And here is the ice cream itself:

It was delicious. Not too sweet, just perfect. I highly recommend it. Also, just as a point of interest and trivia, the wattle, which is the yellow one on the banner, is the reason that the national Australian colours are green & gold. I'm pretty sure, anyway.

So here is the plan we made for the day: We'd go see the prize-winning garden, get a picnic lunch at a grocery store and head to the Japanese Garden for a picnic, then head back into town for the parade, which we planned to catch the end of as it came into the park.

What follows are the pictures of the prize-winning garden.

It was really really quite lovely. Heaps of flowers, lots of different colours, beautifully manicured lawn. Just great. And a little fairy house as well.

We then headed to Coles to get picnic. We got a half a roasted chicken, some cheese, some rolls, strawberries, chips, and ginger beer. Then we headed to the Japanese Garden, which is associated with the local university. I very much enjoyed that bit, because I love Japanese gardens.

The view from our picnic spot.

A picture of Rachel taking a picture.

Here is part of the local university. Probably the University of Toowoomba. I can't remember.

Here are some things we saw while walking from the car to the park.

I love these houses. Sort of wide and flat, with wrap-around verandas. I believe this is what's called the 'Queenslander' style. 

There were very old trees lining the streets. I could imagine when the trees were younger, and the roads were made of dirt, and the people went along them in horse and buggies.

This is the fabulous thing, see. They clearly paved the roads around the trees, rather than cutting them down to the road fit. It's great. It makes for a bumpy curbside though. 

Bowls club. (What we would call lawn bowling).

A beautifully naturally shaped tree.

When we got closer it looked as if it could be climbed like a ladder.

When we arrived at the parade spot the floats were already coming in, so we quickly found a place to stand and watch. It's funny how parades are basically the same everywhere. It was called the Flower Parade, so I assumed there would be lots of flowers, but it was pretty much just a parade.

Alice in Wonderland theme .... 

White and black and red suit and stick. Don't know what exactly this was. But some of the garb was familiar.

Pipe band...

Doggies ... 

Old cars ... 

The local Fighting 501st. 

They're basically an expensive Star Wars costume club.

Princess Leia Marching Band

Girls with giant balloon flowers were spaced periodically throughout the parade.

Giant teddy ... 

Peter Pan ... 

Pirates ... 

More old cars ... 

Derby Girls. Kind of hard to skate on the grass though.

Drum corps ... 

We passed this old taxi like three times on the way there, so then of course I had to take it's picture, once we knew it's purpose.

And then my phone went flat, so I didn't get a picture of the Doctor Who float. Luckily Rachel did:

Chapter 49 - First Trip to UQ

In which our hero is struck by how similar one physics building is to another physics building ... 

Timestamp: September 20, 2013

Location: Griffith University

The Story: Our intrepid hero and her friend find themselves with a free Friday afternoon. Their other friend, previously known as Their Friend the Friendly Giant, and heretofore referred to as Glen, because it's quicker to type, informed them that he was heading up to the University of Queensland on the train to meet with his UQ Physics Club friends and watch 'Contact'. So our hero and her friend (the first one, not the one we're calling Glen) (OK. We'll just call him Christian, because this is getting confusing). So Christian and I decided to go with him. Because it would be fun, and I'd never seen UQ before. So off we went. We took the bus to Helensvale, then met Glen on the train. Then we got off at Park Road Station, and, at my insistence, walked to UQ, because I like walking, and seeing things when I'm walking. It was a lovely walk. Here are some pictures:

Glen quite validly didn't want to walk, because he was carrying a luggage thingy for his sister's scooter. Also, that's not how he walks. He was getting a drink from a fountain, which the locals call a 'water bubbler'. 

Some lovely trees and shadows.

Some more lovely trees.

The little pedestrians and buses only bridge to cross the river to UQ.

So now prepare yourselves people. UQ is a bit older than Griffith. So while you've enjoyed pictures of Griffith's lovely modern angles and colours, you'll now have to brace yourself for old-timey sandstoney-ness. Behold:

Ta-daaaaaaaa! Isn't it lovely? I think it is.

Lovely big open space that's probably called 'The Quad', or some such.

More of the same lovely big open space. Those arches remind me of that scene in 'Chariots of Fire' where they race around the courtyard before the clock strikes twelve.

Look Annie! Rocks!

oooOOOOOooooh! School of Earth Sciences!

Closer up of the Geology building doorway. I first read, due to the shadows, 'Scientia et abore', which my brain translated to 'knowledge and trees'. Which makes no sense for a geology building, also it doesn't say 'et', also 'trees' is probably 'arbore'. It actually says 'scientia ac labore', which is probably 'knowledge through work', or something to that effect.

We then continued on to the physics building, and went inside to the Physics Tea Room, where the physics people hang out and there's a fridge and a hot water thingie for making tea. There we met Glen's sister Dana, with whom we went on a food finding expedition to find some food to eat. Then we came back, and went upstairs to watch 'Contact'.

Here is what the physics building looks like on the inside:

Christian about to enter the Physics Tea Room.

Eeep! Spidah!

I think it looks rather a lot like Western on the inside.

You see? Brass hand rails and whatnot? And doors and things? Just like Western.

Here's a few exciting things we saw on our food finding expedition:

Bush turkey!

Walking along the archway thingies.

The physics building sign. We tried to go to the physics museum, but it was closed. We saw the Pitch Drop Experiment, though. That's pretty cool. You can watch it live here: http://smp.uq.edu.au/content/pitch-drop-experiment

Then, to the bogglement of all our minds, Dana gave Glen a piggy back. 

Then Glen gave Dana a shoulder ride. They're blurry because they're moving, and inside, where my phone doesn't do very good pictures. Also, I'm pretty sure Dana thought she was going to fall off. 

And lastly, here's the hot water thingie for making tea:

Get it? Bernie? Get it? It's a very clever pun.