Our Murgon/Kingaroy Road Trip Part 2:

After checking out Mr P.'s museum recently, we also stayed a couple of nights in his old hometown of Toowoomba.  We always love visiting.  Even though it's summer, we had two extraordinarily foggy nights up on the range.  It was brilliant!

Toowoomba is located in a caldera (the top of an old volcano), at nearly 800 metres high on the Great Dividing Range.  From our hotel, you can see the hills surrounding the town.  You don't actually realise that it is a bowl until you're up high.  During the 2011 floods, water rushed down into the bowl sweeping people and cars away.

On our way from Murgon to Toowoomba via Kingaroy, we stopped at a cute cafe cum gift store in the wee town of Maidenwell.  We were amazed to find not just one but two fabulous cafes plus the old pub being well-patronised on a Sunday lunchtime.  Oh yes, I bought a cast-iron spider there; I'm trying to de-sensitise myself as my arachnophobia is huge!

cast-iron spider by Mr. Gecko

Unlike other silos on the Silo Art Trail throughout Australia, these are heritage-listed so cannot be painted over.  They really are magnificent, and are still used today.  Kingaroy is in the heart of a peanut-growing area, and you can still buy fresh peanuts here - sooo much better than packaged ones from who knows where.  There is a peanut van or two, and a peanut artwork in the town.  So cute!

historical silos at Kingaroy

artwork by The ZooKeeper

brilliant old car outside the pub at Maidenwell

an absolute beauty in Crow's Nest

inside the French cafe at Crow's Nest

street art in Toowoomba (by Buttons)

foggy night!

and a foggy morning

we had pastries at the bakery

and we visited the Japanese Gardens

and more fog rolling in

we took the scenic route home

this mailbox reminds me of that Russian folktale - Baba Yaga

Remember Baba Yaga? - the old witch who lives in a house that walks around on chicken legs.  I love the mailboxes that you find on country roads.

Well, that's all for this trip.  Just wait till February when we head to Northern Rivers again!

c. Sherry M.