Theebine and a Telephone Call

The Dickabram Bridge was built 23 metres above the Mary River in the 1880s when Dickabram was a thriving township (the population now appears to be about 10).  During the 1893 flood, it was under water!
It is one of only two road&rail bridges left in Australia and is heritage listed.  It's a rickety old drive across, believe me.  I am particularly impressed with the way it goes up in the middle.

On the western side there is a little camping ground with toilets, and when we arrived, there was a family there who seemed to resent our intrusion.  If you were camped there, you would be pleased that the road goes nowhere, because the sound of vehicles crossing the bridge would keep you awake at night.  On the loo wall there was a sign advertising a fete at the nearby Theebine School. How's this for a school badge?

We headed back east towards Theebine and stopped to photograph a wonderful rusting old tractor in a green field that we had spotted on the trip to the bridge.  While I was lining up the shot (with my phone) the phone rang, and I was so excited, I accidentally started videotaping. On the audio, you can hear me panicking.  Yes, it was Tony Mammino on the line and he had my camera.

It turn out there is a Mammino shop in Childers shopping strip as well as the farmhouse outset, and that is where I had called.  When the shop spoke to the farmhouse, the confusion was revealed and the camera located.  Tony offered to mail it down, but dear Jo nobly volunteered to drive up to Childers the following week and collect it.
 It was time for drinks all round at the Theebine pub, another well-known watering hole I had yet to set my eyes on. And what a beauty!
We could hear music so headed out the back where there is a large covered barbecue area with a small stage called - funnily enough - Backstage at Theebine.  A group of students from Gympie High School were getting some practice in front of a live audience, and naturally Jo know one of the teachers.  We sat out in the sunshine, ate up and drank up, congratulating me on my good luck and us on a brilliant concept well executed.  Our thoughts then turned towards home.
  
We continued down the back roads towards Imbil, unloaded my stuff and Jan's stuff into my car; I dropped Jan at Carters Ridge and drove back to Brisbane through a spectacular storm near the Glasshouse Mountains.  Up until then, it hadn't rained at all during the whole trip. We had been smiled upon by both the op shop gods and the weather gods.