Billo and Beyond

Another beautiful day; another beautiful drive.  I forgot to mention that the other theme of the trip besides high-viz was vistas.  Everything was so green, that we remarked upon heaps of these. 'Look at that beautful vista!', we would cry. We gazed upon some lovely vistas that morning, including Kroombit Tops from the west, and that's when we discovered that Jo's car has a sunroof.  We were almost Thelma and Louise (plus one)!

Biloela, at the junction of the Dawson and Burnett Highways, is a busy, thriving centre with a population of nearly 6,000 people, but it has only one op shop.  Gayndah has a population of under 2,000 and it has two! We decided to have lunch first, before we set about finding it.  The remains of the Monto cooked chook were put to good use at a roadside picnic table near the tourist information centre.  Jan then went into said centre to ask the whereabouts of the local Vinnies, and just about had to tell her life story before the information was divulged.

Vinnie's Biloela is well away from the centre of town and we would never have found it by ourselves.  It is quite a good shop, though.  I managed to pick up three blouses there for $3 each. Unfortunately,the fill-a-bag-for $5 day had been the day before. Maybe all the Vinnies in Queensland had that sale on the same day?

As we drove eastwards out of town, I spotted a large director's chair sitting in a park. It was a tribute to the late Bille Brown.  He was at the University of Queensland when I was, and I saw him in a couple if student productions at the time. Who could have known that he would one day become a leading light in the Royal Shakespeare Company?  Or one day appear in an Aussie classic, The Dish?  The chair was erected by the local Lions Club, who chose Bille as their inaugural Youth of the Year in 1969.  Of course, he was just plain 'Bill' then, as he was at Uni. On the subject of people I saw on stage while at Uni, I should mention Geoffrey Rush's memorable portrayal of Snoopy in 'You're a Good man, Charlie Brown', at the Avalon Theatre. 

As we headed east, our vista viewing was interrupted by (a) a view of the Callide Power Station and (b) a couple of times by huge collections of workmen's huts, like great gulags beside the road.  Obviously something big is going on in the area but we don't know what.  Please feel free to enlighten me if you know.

Onwards towards Calliope we travelled. I had always been curious about this town, ever since I had seen its name on a roadside sign. As a kid, I discovered these amazing musical instruments via a Scrooge McDuck comic featuring the Beagle Boys and a stolen calliope and have been intrigued by them ever since. So how did a small town in Queensland get to be given the name of a steam-driven pipe organ?  Apparently it is named after the ship that brought New South Wales Governor Fitzroy to Port Curtis in 1854.  Anyhow, I have finally seen Calliope. It is much bigger than I expected, and nicer. I didn't spot any op shops, but it has a pretty impressive new servo.

It's a commuter suburb of Gladstone these days, really. And it was Gladstone that was our target, as closing time was fast approaching.