You can't pass through Childers and not have a Mammino ice cream. They are thick and rich and wonderfully yummy. They are made at the Mammino farmhouse in Lucketts Road, just east of town. There is a big parking area, a small shop and a big undercover area where you may lick away to your heart's delight.
I managed to take a photo of the three of us by positioning the camera on the corner of our table. I chose Passionate Passionfruit and I know one of the others was Ginger and Macadamia.
With tummies full and nervy teeth jumping from the cold, we left Mammino's, Jo turned the car onto the Bruce Highway, and we headed homeward past countless op shop untouched. The only one I know that actually opens on a Sunday is in Imbil, Jo's home town.
As we approached Tiaro (which I must report now has a set of traffic lights!), Jo asked if anyone would be interested in a diversion through Gundiah and a look at the Dickabram Bridge. Would I what?! The Dickabram Bridge is famous in our four-wheel-drive club since a trip many years ago got lost and found it by mistake. So we turned south-west and our first stop was the Gundiah Pub. It is a little cutie and as I reached for my camera to photograph it, I realised I had a problem. Where was the camera? We just about turned out the car looking for it. Then I remembered the group shot at Mammino.
Luckily, there was a phone tower nearby so I had reception. I googled 'Mammino' and rang the number. No, there was no camera there. A second phone call: no, it isn't in the car park. I left my mobile number with her and grimly photographed the pub with my phone. 'You are incorrigible!' says Jo. It was time for the Dickabram Bridge...
Once were were settled in at Woodgate, we had a chance to show off our purchases, which we hadn't been able to do for a while.
Then it was off to the bowls club for dinner, where the menu included 'Fragrent' Thai Green Chicken. The place was packed. I wish I had seen it full of bikers, though. Anyway, we were seriously impressed by the decor. I have long been intrigued by the carpets installed in clubs, and wonder if there is a special factory coming up with startling designs just for them. Anyway, at Woodgate Bowls Club, they not only have high-viz circles in their carpet but high-viz multicoloured chairs to match!
By now we were a little hysterical and giggly and an equally giggly waitress took our photo. She was lovely. We ate our dinner and headed home for the evening's game. We hadn't played one the night before in Miriam Vale because we were out being glamorous. Otherwise it would have been Pictionary night.
This game was Jan's and was all about Australian geography. We began to get even more hysterical when we discovered that the answer to every 'where is it?' question seemed to be Queensland. If not, we could find a Queensland connection. Sampling some Bundaberg Rum Distillery purchases (eg 'Smooth and Shifty', which is Bundy & Sars) may have made it seem funnier than it actually was.
Next morning, we packed the car, checked out, and it was time to hit the beach.
Our beachcombing revealed a high-viz crab shell, plus a cowrie shell. Mum now has that shell in one of her plant pots in the nursing home. It was so lovely to just stroll along the sand after our hectic previous four days. When we reluctantly headed back to the car, we had a chance to have a better look at Woodgate and discovered that the interior designer for the bowls club seems to have been involved in painting the local houses as well!
The next item on our agenda was Mammino ice cream...
We had to be up and about early to get to Bundaberg in time to do justice to their op shops before they closed in the middle of the day. This meant having to forego Miriam Vale's own op shop which was such a shame. Note to Biloea: Miriam Vale with a population of 361 has an op shop; surely you with a population of 1590 can do better than one!
On the way out of town, we stopped so I could photograph the Gary Larson Oval. Jo had told us excitedly that he had come from this little town (just like my friend Margot) so I had to record the fact. It was hard to see as the sun was behind the sign, so I just snapped and ran. Imagine my surprise to discover when I looked at the photo back home to discover it was not Gary Larson the wonderful cartoonist, but some footballer.
First stop in Bundy was The Guide Dogs, an excellent shop that even sells plants and where Jo had managed to pick up some Delft pieces while on the recce. This is a most accommodating op shop because it opens at 8.30am, earlier than most. I picked up a pair of shorts for $3.50 and a K T Tunstall CD for $1. The RSPCA were next, and there I found one of my favourite bras, unworn, for $2 and a sharp knife for our crusty bread for 50c.
Bundy no 3 was Endeavour, the most expensive shop we encountered on the whole trip, but they just happened to be having a fill-a-bag-for-$10 day and into that bag went a beautiful pair of R M Williams jeans for Jan, along with two other items. This was the only shop I had encountered that not only sorts their clothes into colour blocks, but into plain and patterned as well.
Red Cross was next - quite a small shop and I didn't find anything there - and then on to Vinnies, within easy walking distance.
Closing time was rapidly approaching, but Jan and I managed to pose for a high-viz fashion shot. Jo bought something just as the women were closing off the till. It might have been a lovely little green Japanese Stoneware jug and sugar bowl that I know she found somewhere in Bundy for $2. I forgot to mention that in Endeavour I had found the matching sugar bowl for the white casserole that I talked about in my no 2 blog post ('Dressing Up'). It cost me $1. The op shops of Bundy were now closed and we were done.
We found the coffee shop recommended by the ladies in Vinnies and had lunch there. We then headed for the Bundaberg Rum Distillery (as you do in Bundy) and on the way stumbled across the local hot rod show. There were some remarkable vehicles on display. There was even a beach buggy like ours (does anyone want to buy it?).
The cost of a distillery tour was too much, so Jan and I bought gifts for our menfolk and then we moved on, as the sea breeze was calling.
It's an awfully long time since I have been to Bargara, but boy, has it grown! I was pleased to note that the Don Pancho Motel still exists though. Back in my youth, there were Don Pancho advertising signs along almost the entire length of the Bruce Highway!
Our destination for the evening was Woodgate, and we were halfway there when we spotted sea of motorcycles outside the Alloway Country Club, which is in the middle of nowhere.
We didn't want to get too close as we were afraid we might be charged with association under the VLAD laws, but just over the road there was a farm shed that advertised sales of honey, avocados etc. I had been looking for some local honey, so we stopped, bought some goodies and checked out the bikers.
At Woodgate, we were unloading the car and taking our booty into our cabin, (with its delightful view of both coffee shop and ocean) when said bikers arrived in town. We counted over 100 as they drove past, heading in the direction of the bowls club. Our later research revealed that they were on a charity run and 140 of them had signed in at the bowls club for lunch. How tasteful of them: that's where we were going to have dinner.
I first visited Gladstone in Grade 7. We went there on a school tour in a Sandringham flying boat that we boarded at Redland Bay. That was a mightily memorable day, so my thoughts were very positive as we entered the western outskirts, with op shop closing time rapidly approaching.
Googling 'Gladstone Op Shops' showed there were plenty to choose from, but we only had time for two close together, with Vinnies first up. This was a good shop, bustling with customers, and with a fabulous collection of cookware and bric-a-brac in a separate room. The day before I had found a one-handed whisk of unusual design in Gayndah. The first of these I ever saw was one Jan used to own when she lived in Rockhampton. I was so impressed that I tracked one down and it has been part of the McBurney camping gear ever since. This one was better - metal rather than plastic where it matters - so I bought it. Blow me down if there wasn't an identical one in this op shop! Maybe there was a good door-to-door one-handed whisk salesman in the area some years ago. Anyway, Jan bought the second one.
I had been becoming increasingly desperate in my search for some sort of necklace to wear with my dress-up outfit, and tonight was to be the night. Anyway, Vinnies Gladstone came good in the nick of time. I won't ever wear it again, but it was perfect under the circumstances. I also picked up a top and a pair of trousers for $7. Then it was off to the Sallies. This was a BIG shop, and High-viz Central. I didn't find anything to buy there, and we were the last customers out the door.
It was time for a breather. Jan suggested we go visit the Gladstone Yacht Club, destination of the Brisbane-to-Gladstone Yacht Race. She and John had visited there many years before to see the yachts arrive. She didn't have to ask twice. When we arrived, she said it hadn't changed one bit in all those years! It was lovely to sit there looking out over the estuary in the afternoon light.
Our next task was to find provisions for Miriam Vale. We were going to a barbecue at the home of a local schoolteacher, who had herself been a pupil of Jo's many years before. We found the necessities at Woolies Gladstone Valley, but the BWS next door failed to produce the goods. All I wanted was a cold two-litre cask of Chardonnay. Undaunted, we piled back into the car and turned southwards, the first small step towards home. First stop in Miriam Vale was the pub, where you can purchase a one-litre bottle of French Chardonnay for $17! Boo Hiss, Gladstone BWS!
Off to the Miriam Vale Motel, and a frenzy of ironing to get us ready for our Formal Night at Jess's place. I think we scrubbed up rather well. Jan and I had found our dresses at the Sallies in Kingaroy, but I can't remember where Jo found hers. All jewellery was op-shop sourced (Jo's freshwater pearls at Vinnies Monto and Jan's necklace (from I-forget-where) but I think mine were the only shoes (Vinnies Kingaroy).
Unfortunately, by the time we arrived, Jess's husband, who is a volunteer firefighter, had been called out to a road accident near Many Peaks, so was not able to join us for the backyard barbie. When he did return, just as we were leaving, he told us it was a rollover. The occupants of the car were a grandmother and her three-year-old grandson who walked three kilometres home. The grandson just complained about the length of the walk, and the grandma ended up in Gladstone Hospital. They breed them tough in Many Peaks!
