Market Day

While it was cold here overnight, it turned out to be a lovely sunny day. We walked to the Farmers' Market at Evandale Parklands. Blue was distracted by other dogs so I carried him most of the way. It seems that every person we pass smiles at the sight of the head of our teddy bear puppy sticking out from my backpack. I explained that he provides me weight bearing exercise.

There was a large gathering of people at the market. The children's playground was full and in some areas social distancing was not being observed. Our coffee order was for 16 different manifestations of caffeine. We sat under the ferry shelter by the river where we had the option of sun or shade. Blue was very popular and met lots of new people. He was very clingy to start with, but relaxed and spent time with others. He never stops finding things to put in his mouth - leaves, sticks, grass - but we had to stop him from tasting discarded bubble gum and chocolate. He chewed pea pods to bits. My friend gave me a pink toy for Tilly as her kitten doesn't play with pink toys - Tilly really likes it.


Our gardener is due tomorrow so I went to Bunnings to buy two new pots for plants that are in now cracked pots. These plants were in the garden when we bought the house in 2013. At that time it was too late to remove the plants from the pots. I took Blue to Bunnings and it took twice as long to buy the things I wanted because of the attention he received, especially from Bunnings' staff. I decided on two lightweight plastic pots, but one had to go in the top tray where Blue was sitting, so he had to go inside one of the pots. The only way he could see out of the pot was to stand on his hind legs. As soon as we had paid and left the store he was happy to walk through the car park. 



We ordered a meal to be delivered from the Garden Restaurant at the Star Casino - it was lovely and the two servings were very generous. Our entre was avocado and prawn salad. Tilly is not allowed on the table but climbed onto the chair next to Anita to check out the prawns. The chef provided descriptions of the dishes and serving suggestions. We have enough left for a second meal. Great value for $70 thanks to Anita's discount through her casino membership. 



Blue was very tired after his outings. I took advantage of this and tried a jacket on him that we had been given. A raincoat we bought for Blue when he was little is likely to fit Tilly when she is fully grown.


I modified the gate for the top of the staircase by lowering the height but adding a pole for humans to use to open and close the gate. I also put a piece of PVC plastic back on the corner of the railing to provide a slippery surface to deter Tilly from further climbing. Blue just rested his head on the arm of the lounge and slept.




Popular posts from this blog

Aussie Road Crew - Finished

Image
After our final dinner and concert some Roadies were continuing their celebrations near our Bushtracker. We could hear the noise even though all windows were shut and the van is normally soundproof. As it was after 10pm I ventured out to negotiate with them. While one person accused me of being the fun police, other Roadies supported my suggestion they turn off the amplified music and keep the noise down. The general expectation in caravan parks is noise stops after 10pm. There were non Roadies trying to sleep in tents, and I suggested their activities would reflect badly on Aussie Road Crew and Beccy who might not be able to return to this park on future tours. Fortunately there was very little noise after my visit. We drove out of the Crows Nest Tourist Park just after 7am looking for a MacDonald's in Toowoomba for coffee and brekkie. Instead we spotted Valetta Cafe in time to park the van across the road. I bought a take away brioche egg and bacon roll and coffees. The cafe is i...
Read more

Around Chinchilla

Image
The Condamine River is flowing over the Chinchilla Weir 5kms out of town. It has reached the 6m mark on the gauge and is an impressive sight. It is forecast to reach 8m by Tuesday in two days time. Chinchilla has suffered several floods when Charley's Creek rises. This is the post office in the 2010-2011 flood and as it was today. On 28 December 2010 the water level at Chinchilla Weir topped 15m. Despite this history of repeated flooding Chinchilla appears to be a prosperous town with many community facilities such as a water park, 700 seat cultural centre, and major road improvements. Many of the out of town workers are employed by QCG, a Shell company "producing" natural gas in the Surat Basin - presumably this means collecting the gas by fracking. Just down the road there is accommodation for 1,000 workers in Stayover so the town is benefiting from the presence of this large workforce. Tilly finally slept through the night. Today I kept her outside as much as possible ...
Read more

Broken Hill to Burra

Image
We left Broken Hill about 8am for our drive to Burra. Our first stop was at Mannahill. We followed this load of sheep as we dawdled through roadworks. On a recommendation from friends we explored Terowie, an historic town that is almost abandoned. The town grew late in the nineteenth century as a transhipment point from broad gauge rail to narrow gauge. In the 1970s the line to Peterborough was converted to broad gauge and Terowie became a near ghost town. Several abandoned shops are now owned by the South Australian Government. Unfortunately there is a risk associated with asbestos being blown around the town. The population fell from about 2000 to 130. In 1942 General Macarthur passed through Terowie on his way to Adelaide and Melbourne. He made a public speech at the railway station famously asserting "I came out of Bataan [in the Phillipines] and I shall return". A plaque marks the location at the rem...
Read more