Goomeri Pumpkin Festival

Before we left for our holiday we had been reading one of the caravan magazines and it has a section on what events are on around the country each month.  The only one that lined up with our trip was the Goomeri Pumpkin Festival.  That was rather opportune, as not only was it on our way, the timing was even right.  Add to that, we knew where Goomeri is and had heard of the festival and that it is fun.  Of course we added it to our very loose itinerary as a must do.

So, Goomeri, is a small town of about 650 people, a bit north of Kingaroy, and west of Gympie.  We have friends in that area, so have called into the town several times, even camping in the showground on one previous trip.  It is a lovely little town, with nice antique and other interesting shops.

Apparently, on the day of the festival there was an estimated 17,000 visitors!!!  This is the 23rd year the event has run.  The highway was diverted around the main streets of the town this year for the first time.  It worked really well, from our perspective.

We knew it would be hard to get a camp spot in the town, which is why we stayed at Biggenden the night before, an hour and a half north.  We are so glad we did, as there were caravans and motor homes everywhere in the showground and sports ground.

Any self respecting festival needs a street parade and of course it needs to be led out by a brass band.  We arrived in town just in time to find a possie at the side of the road to enjoy the spectacle.

Here are some highlights.

And a pipe band to bring up the rear.  The parade was really well attended by spectators as well as participants.

After the parade finished it was time to wander around the streets and stalls.

I didn't really take photos of the stalls, but apparently there were about 200!  There was so much to see and do.

There was definitely no excuse to go hungry or thirsty.

We chose to support the local community stalls.  Lamb and pumpkin sausage in a pumpkin bun for me and pumpkin quiche and salad for Mick.

Followed by pumpkin damper and cocky's joy (syrup) for sweets.

The day ended up getting quite hot, so while Mick watched the pig races, I went back to the van and changed into a cool sundress rather than my jeans.  How convenient.

The Fairy God Pumpkin was so cheery throughout the day and was happy to pose for photos.

I think the Toowoomba Morris Dancers would have been rather warm.

They popped up all over the place to perform.

The crowd was happy wandering around and taking it all in.

Naturally, the local shops were making the most of the increased foot traffic.

We can't resist an antique shop.  This one had so many interesting things and at reasonable prices.  There were heaps of lookers (but Mick happened to snap this photo without them) but I'm not sure if there were many buyers.

The aerial artists were good to watch.

The main feature of the afternoon is the Pumpkin Roll held on Policeman's Hill.

Funnily enough, the country Police Station is at the bottom of the hill.

So, how it works......

You pay $10.00 to enter.  You may bring your own pumpkin, or you may purchase one for $3.00. Your entry number is written several times on the pumpkin, to take into consideration that it may get smashed on the way down the hill.

You then roll the pumpkin down the hill and hope it stops in the marked circle at the bottom of the hill (or at least part of the pumpkin does).  If it does, you win $1,000.00.  At the start of this year's event no one had ever won the prize in its history.

Firstly, the kids roll their pumpkins down the hill, and there were lots of kids having a go.

To everyone's delight, an eleven year old boy had his pumpkin land just inside the circle.  You should have heard the cheer go up.

I have it on video, but unfortunately missed getting a photo of it.

Then it was the turn of the adults.

Or should we say "big kids".

Hundreds of pumpkins get rolled down the hill.  Many hit the gutter, some smash, others go too far and believe me, those protective fences are needed.  Some get quite out of control.

Sadly, right towards the end of the event a pumpkin came barreling down the hill and knocked the pumpkin out of the circle. The smallest pumpkin to the left of the circle is the one that had been on target for the prize.  You should have heard the collective moan go up.  Everyone reckoned the prize  still should have been paid out.

The whole thing was a great bit of entertainment.

After the pumpkin roll, everyone started to go home, as it was now after 3 o'clock.

As we walked back to the ute, we noticed that the chainsaw artist had finished his sculpture.  So clever to do this just with a chainsaw.

How empty the streets now looked.  I bet there were a lot of very tired people after the day.  It was a resounding success and we are so pleased that we were able to go along.

We still had a little drive ahead of us to find somewhere to camp, but more on that soon.

Rockhampton to Biggenden

On the morning we were driving out of Rockhampton we were delighted to find they had some markets on in the park.  We hadn't come across any others on our travels.  Of course, we had to have a quick look.

We had a chuckle at the descriptions for the loos at Mt Larcom.  No guessing that you are in cattle country there.

We had a look in an antique shop at one little town (I can't recall where exactly) and I rather liked a couple of framed collections that they had for sale.  I'm not sure if I was to take photos or not, but I did.  I quite like that idea for showcasing some old bits and bobs.  I have plenty of my own, so wasn't in the market for these.  Actually, I have nearly everything that is in this display hidden in drawers and boxes........

We continued down Highway Number 1 through Miriam Vale, to Gin Gin, where we had lunch and took no photos at all.  It's funny that when you have been through somewhere several time you tend not to.

We eventually turned inland where we enjoyed the vista of this lovely hill - Mount Walsh.  It forms the background scenery to the little township of Biggenden.  It is about 100kms west of Maryborough.

I first heard of the town on the radio show Australia All Over when Ian McNamara sang a song "Bigger than Big in Biggenden".  I tried to find it online but found this version by Johnny Chester, which I'm guessing is the original.  It mentions so many places we have visited over the years.

The caravan park was small and lovely and friendly.  We happened to arrive on the day when the park owners host a free casserole night.  It brought everyone together in the camp kitchen area, where we all discussed where to visit, how to improve our vans and how to solve the problems of the world.  A lovely way to spend the evening.

The following morning we went for an explore of the town. Come along with us.

Every second year the town hosts a Rose Festival.  The Biggenden Rose sculpture was created in 2016 and weighs in at about 2 tonnes.

The workmanship is beautiful.

Beside the railway line there is a free camp and another sculpture was added there in 2018. 

For a little town, they are really making an effort to look good and welcome visitors.  Good to see.

We had to get going fairly early, as we had an event we were going to visit on that day.  More soon.

Rockhampton Area

When we have visited Rockhampton previously we have mainly been visiting with our friends, but this time we got to play the tourist, which was great fun.

As we drove south we had noticed some signs for "Capricorn Caves".  We'd never heard of them, so thought we may as well go and have a look.

We have a couple of cave systems not too far from where we live.  Jenolan Caves is just the other side of Oberon and is rather famous and spectacular.  It was one of my first school excursions and whenever we had family visit from Queensland it seemed to be the standard family outing.  I was over caves.  One of my school friends came from out there, so I'd walk up the hill to visit her rather than have to visit the Lucas Cave again.

About two hours to our west are the Wellington Caves. They are quite different, being a dry cave system, so not as spectacular as the wet Jenolan Caves.  We've been there a few times and there is a great camp ground and Japanese Garden adjoining the caves complex.

Capricorn Caves are more like Wellington Caves, as they are a dry system.  The other unusual thing about them is that they are privately owned.

Apparently, Mr Olsen, a Norwegian early settler in the region stumbled upon the caves while out searching for a horse that had wandered off.  He kept them a secret until he was in a position to purchase the land they were on.  Over time he explored them and started taking tourists through.  Initially this was by candle light and traipsing through knee deep guano (bat poo).  Yuck!  I think I would have been very happy to stay outside.  Guano was mined for quite a while, so now we walk on rock and some compacted guano, so much easier.

Our guide was a hoot.  She reckons this tree root frames her nicely.  The tree roots find their way through cracks in the stone and eventually cause them to break.  Fortunately, this is a very slow process. 

There is a section that is wheel chair friendly to enable access to the cathedral cave.

The cathedral cave is a popular wedding venue.  The way we entered is quite steep and has very uneven ground.  Brides entering in their stilettos sometimes had accidents, so now they general wear flatties until they arrive at the cave.

It is rather lovely with the candlelit effect.  The venue also hosts opera concerts twice a year.  There was to be a couple on the weekend after we visited.  While we were there they played some opera, which set the scene nicely.

The wheelchair friendly access was added after a bride's grandmother was not able to attend her wedding, so the cave owners thought they had better address that for the future.

To exit the caves we had two options - take the easy one or take one that was a little more difficult.  We nearly all took the second option.  The passages were quite narrow, but it was fun.  The whole cave system was definitely not the easiest, with uneven ground and quite steep steps etc.  It kept it all a bit real.

One our way out we crossed the above swing bridge.  A nice way to end the tour.

After an event like that it was time for a yummy pub lunch at the nearby village "The Caves".  No photos, as we were too busy tucking in.

In the afternoon we went to the zoo.  Yes, Rockhampton has a zoo within the botanic gardens.

 

Meet "The Colonel".

I don't think I'd like to meet him out of his enclosure.

This is Sean.  He has a genetic condition which has left him blind in one eye and with very little sight in the other.

This little fellow is quite young and has grown up in captivity after his mother was killed.  Therefore, he will not be released into the wild.

It was feeding time for the koalas, so they were quite active while we were there.

There was a good variety of animals and birds, but not many were easy to get a photo of.  We really enjoyed having a wander around the little zoo.  Surprisingly, entry was free, as part of the botanic gardens.

Next we visited the actual botanic gardens.  They are huge and with a wide variety of plantings.  This was the most formal.

This banyan fig was planted in 1895.  It is a truly amazing plant with all the different roots coming from the branches.

"Wamin Bamboo" is the name of this one.  The stems are huge.

I know it is graffiti, but I was intrigued by all the names carved into the stems.  Some are about 10 years old.

Now, just to back track a little.....

We were told that a small plant was kapok when we were at Mount Isa.  I forgot to blog about it at the time.

This is an example that was growing near Richmond.  We were told it was introduced by the Afghan cameleers to make the pack saddles for their camels.

There was a large tree at the botanic gardens with these pods that looked like cobs of corn with fluffy stuff in them.  The sign tells us it is the kapok tree from South America.  It makes more sense, when you look at the fibres.  They look much more like what was in mattresses and pillows.  Here is a bit about the tree.  I'm not sure what the smaller plant is really called, but it is interesting learning these funny little facts.

This was a rather strange looking tree. It is the Sausage Tree.  Funny that.  We have seen one before in a park at Maryborough.

After our wander around it was time for coffee and cake.  We were joined by a rather tame blue faced honey eater.  It was waiting patiently for a tit bit.

Speaking of birds.  While in the area we were introduced to "Chuckles".  He comes in late every afternoon for his snack of mince.  He is so very quiet, gently taking the mince from your fingers.  He even let us stroke his chest.  He isn't quite tame enough to sit on your hand, but not far off.  It was a real treat to feed him.

Of course, no visit to the area is complete without a walk along the beach at Yeppoon.

I had to have a look for some shells, as you do.

We had heard that you can occasionally find a sand dollar on this beach.  We didn't even know what they were, so had to ask Mr Google. We have never found one until this time, when Mick spied two.  I had thought they were bigger, but there are many varieties.

There were heaps of little sand balls all over parts of the beach.

This little chap is the culprit.

Other parts of the beach were just a mass of tiny shells.

We really enjoyed having a leisurely stroll with no time limits.

To finish off the day we enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the weird hills between Yeppoon and Rockhampton.

Then, it was time to get back on the road for the next section of our trip.  More soon.