I had intended to drive past the old Ipswich Showground gates on our proposed route, where I planned to tell the girls the first of my interesting family history snippets. We didn't but I told them anyway.
In 1939, my father was to go fishing in Moreton Bay with a group of his mates. Unfortunately, my half-brother Roy had a really bad asthma attack, so Dad decided not to go; which was just as well because the boat and all on board were never seen again. You can read about it here. https://www.ipswichlibraries.com.au/the-fateful-voyage-of-the-nerita/
After we had changed into the first of our road trip outfits, we walked down the road to the Ipswich Jets Rugby League Club. We passed no 26 Downs Street, which is a beautiful old Ipswich house that I planned to photograph the following morning - along with the Jets Club, which is in a former Ipswich corner pub - but the weather had other ideas.
It turned out to be the weekly trivia night, but were a bit late and we were told that the room was probably full, so we decided to give it a miss and just concentrate on our food.
On our way back to the Motel Monaco, we walked along the eastern side of Downs Street, past Browns Park. There is a memorial fountain there, built in memory of one James Sangster, who died in the 1893 floods, while trying to rescue two women who were clinging to a tree. The interesting thing was that there were quite a few wreaths at the base of this memorial.
They were dried out, but not too old, so couldn't have commemorated the death of Mr Sangster who died in February. Several were Lest-We-Forget type wreaths, and we could see from the business cards attached that some had been placed there by local politicians. But this is not a war memorial. If anyone can tell us the story, we'd love to know. (We passed the Leichhardt war memorial next morning and there were no wreaths there.)
Next morning I woke early next to the front window and waited patiently for the sun to rise. It didn't happen. I took a better look and realised there was a decent fog outside. Like any good photographer, I hopped out of bed and wandered the streets of North Ipswich in my nightie, and was only sprung by one young man on a bicycle. The sleepyheads in Room 8 missed it completely.
Once they had roused themselves, we dressed in our animal print clothing and headed for Riverlink Shopping Centre just down the road, to have a cafe breakfast. This shopping centre is interesting on a couple of levels, one being that the railway line from the centre of town to the railway workshops at North Ipswich runs right through it, so it is the only centre I know that has a pedestrian level crossing in the middle.
The other is that many locals were upset that the development would overwhelm a historic old stone bridge, the Heiner Road Overpass, that was built over the short railway branch line to the wharves. The solution was to incorporate it into the design of the shopping centre as well. Nice work, Ipswich.
After breakfast and banking, we headed for Lifeline in the centre as soon as it opened. A nice shop, but only 50c worth there for me. It was also the only place on this trip where I found a serious spelling mistake. The sign on the change room said '3 ITEMS ONLEY'.
On the plus side, it has an upstairs level that is totally devoted to weddings. And I mean not just bridal gowns, but sets of bridesmaids dresses, flower girl and pageboy outfits, men's suits, table decorations... Ipswich is the place for a budget wedding, folks. And I happen to know that the Workshops Railway Museum just up the road is a great spot to get married.
We were a bit obsessed all day with animal prints, since we were wearing them, and one of the best we found was in this Lifeline store. Here's Jan with the animal-print mermaid number.
We drove back to the motel and parked in our allotted space, because the Red Cross shop was literally next door and it was now open. We were greeted by a rather flamboyant young woman, compete with floral headdress, but somehow I forgot to photograph her. Gobsmacked, perhaps?
I did, however, find my first entry in the interesting book competition: not just interesting but relevant to our home life, if you know our cat, Fang.
Now it was time to leave Ipswich, with half of its opppies still to be explored by us at some other time, but the Lockyer Valley beckoned.
As we headed west, I took the girls on one more little detour to see another site from my family history. We stopped at the Wulkuraka railway bridge where my paternal grandfather was killed in 1927, when he was hit by a train.
Op Shop Road Trip number 5 started on Monday 8th October, 2018. It was my turn to organise, so the girls had arrived from the Mary Valley the night before and over a few wines some good suggestions had been made. One of these came from my husband Michael (although he can't remember), namely that we look out for books with interesting titles and he would judge which was the best. Challenge accepted!
Another idea was themed clothing. We decided the first of these would be animal prints, so how appropriate that we were starting at the RSPCA oppy at Wacol. As we left the car, I said to Jo, "Now no leaving your glasses behind this year". Prophetic words...
It's a nice little shop with lots of bric-a-brac, and we all found something there, then headed for Goodna. Lifeline was first and it is a big one, although there are no non-fiction books at all. More successful searching and then on to the big Salvos just down the road. When my daughter Heather and I visited this shop on the recce a few months ago, there was a young man at the counter who was slightly challenged, shall we say. She bought a DVD and it turns out he is a movie buff. Heather couldn't escape from the shop for ten minutes. We walked in and guess who was on duty! Despite the large range on offer, I found nothing for me there.
As we were getting into the car, Jo said, "I can't find my glasses". She has two pairs and one case, and was wearing the 'good' glasses. Dig, dig...no success. She thought she must have left them at Wacol. Anyway, we headed south on Queen Street to Goodna Street Life, quirky op shop no 1. I was impressed that the sign outside was made from rubber tubing.
It is designed for community support through very low pricing, as well as fundraising, so there were bargains here to be found. I bought a cross-stitch book for 20c. A 2016 Women's Weekly packed with crosswords and puzzles was free. They have a simple colour-dot pricing system, where yellow = 10c, pink = 20c etc. I tried this at my recent garage sale, but couldn't remember which dot meant which meant which price, so the system is flawed.
The change room at this oppy is a pop-up outhouse in the storage room out the back, which is a serious challenge; just ask Heather.
While I was outside going through books, I eavesdropped on a group of local women comparing their stints in prison: "I kept one eye open every night."
The Lifeline at Bellbird Park was next, and Jo continued her glasses search on the way. This is an isolated shop, but a good one, and it was on their radio that we first heard the warnings for storms and possible hail. We kept our eye on the BOM radar from then on, but the rain mostly skirted us.
Onward to Redbank Plains for lunch and Vinnies, while Jo rang the shop at Wacol to ask about her glasses. No sign of them there.
The shops these days are full of ridiculous shoes, which people buy, wear once, find them impossible to walk in, and then throw out. I was impressed with the display of studded ones at Redbank Plains, though. We were all impressed with the whole shop, actually, and gave it our vote for Best of the Day.
The next stop was quirky op shop no 2, Ipswich Community Care Fund at Kruger Village. I had promised the girls the best change room of the trip in this one. As Jo hopped out of the car, she found her glasses tucked down next to the seat. Whew! No need for an unscheduled stop at Wacol on the way home.
The shop is tiny, with all of its clothes outside. A door off to the side leads to their extensive book collection, and the change room is simply a curtained-off alcove in the bookshelves. My kind of change room, but why were there crutches?
When we had finished, Jo and I couldn't find Jan. Back into the shop to search again, and then the phone rang. "Where are you? I've searched all over the shopping centre!" It turns out she never realised that the side door led into another part of the shop, so never did see my favourite change room.
What she did discover, however, was an Islander grocery shop. I have never seen so much tinned corned beef in my life! There were many other exotic goodies besides.
The clock was ticking and many op shops close early, so we headed for the Big Salvos at Bundamba. They had changed the layout since my last visit, and not an improvement, I felt. They still have enormous quantites of clothes, though.
Our final stop for the day was the Lifeline Superstore at Booval. Earlier in the day, at Bellbird Park, we had spotted a number of thin statuettes of Japanese ladies. On close inspection, they were rather raunchy Japanese ladies. Lo and behold, there were more of them at Booval.
It turned out that I had been rather clever, choosing to start this journey where a lot of the women must be larger than life. There were so many goodies on the 16-plus racks that we all had plenty of clothes for day two, even me, including our compulsory animal prints.
We hadn't managed to fit in all of the shops on my list, but that's the way it goes. We headed for the Motel Monaco at North Ipswich, dragged in our bags, and showed off our booty. We voted the Kruger Village shop the worst of the day,
Jan started receiving messages on her phone about strong wind and hail near her home at Carters Ridge, but the hail came in quantity, not large lumps. Others were not quite so lucky, but the worst weather was still to come.
When I was belatedly and hurriedly composing the 2017 blog, I was going through the photos to jog my memory. There was a photo of Jan's earring, which eventually reminded me that it was the lost object at the Wallaby Hotel. She confirmed it.
Next to that was a photo of Jo's sunglasses, and I was wondering why I took it. Jo had no idea and Jan couldn't remember either. Then this morning it hit me.
We were halfway between Kyogle and Lismore when Jo (who was driving) started ferreting around for her sunglasses. We looked everywhere without success. Of the three places we had visited in Kyogle, the cafe seemed the the most likely, so after some Googling, we managed to discover both its name and phone number. Yes, they had the glasses.
So Jan and I made ourselves comfortable in the motel in Lismore, while Jo drove to Kyogle and back. How could you forget that?!
That makes three dramas: my leaving the camera at Mamimo near Bundaberg, Jan cutting her finger, and Jo losing her glasses. Time for a drama-free trip, methinks...
The afternoon was passing quickly as we headed down the Ballina cutting. Ballina has so many op shops that they hand out a map. We were given ours at (naturally) the Anglican one. It was nice, but the ADRA one down the road appealed to me more. A lot more stuff to rifle through.
The next stop was Ballina Care, further east on Tamar Street. This was the most interesting of the three. Of all the descriptions I have seen of clothes for the more amply proportioned, theirs was the best. And while you rifled through the rack, strange creatures looked down at you.
They had some lovely Hornby china, but it wasn't my pattern, so I resisted. We would dearly have liked to visit more of the Ballina beauties (next time), but it was getting late and we were tired. Our final night's accommodation awaited us at the Mudgeeraba Hotel, which I still think of as Wallaby Bob's, because the last time I drank there, as a Uni student, it was still owned by ex-wrestler and rugby union legend Bob McMaster.
The accommodation there was in a separate building out the back, sort of glorified workers' dongas, but OK. We settled in, headed over to the pub proper for dinner, and before you know it were deeply involved in trivia and musical bingo. All went well until we discovered that Jan had lost an earring with great sentimental value, as it had been given to her by her late mother. We searched, and searched in vain.
Next morning, Jan had a brainwave, and went looking for a cleaner. Bingo! One lost earring reunited with its mate. Jan put them on.
It was then time to pack up and move out. We had put our coldies in the little fridge in our room. Jan was emptying it, when the support bit for a wine bottle on the door collapsed and the bottle hit the tiled floor. Jan had tried to catch it as it fell, so the result was a lot of blood and a lot more wine. We used up an awful lot of toilet paper, then went looking for a medical centre, leaving our room smelling like a winetasters' convention.
Fortunately, there was one just down the road, and they took Jan in straight away. Needles and stitches later, we were able to have a calming coffee and a late breakfast at a cafe nearby. Then we managed to squeeze in four oppies before heading back to BrisVegas. The Red Cross was very neat and tidy and yielded nothing. Vinnies was nice too but there were bargains to be had there, including cute earrings for me. The tiny little Anglican one, up a sort of side carpark, also yielded nothing, and then we found the best of them, the Uniting Church Op Shop.
It is in an old house on church property, a bit out of town, and there we found many interesting things. I couldn't resist an arty little white bowl, complete with holes, so pretty much useless but decorative. Jo found a wonderful art deco wooden box with an intriguing opening.
We decided to call it a day, and headed for home, with one last stop to check out Studio Thrifty Four at Albion. It is definitely one for the young, being very hip, but everything there is only $5 and proceeds go to the homeless. The people there are lovely too.
We now had a car filled with so much stuff that Jan endured the final stages with a watering can on her lap. Once they dropped me home, she travelled back to the Sunshine Coast in more comfort.
We had our usual great time (except for the dramas in Mudgeeraba).
Roll on the 2018 trip.
We resumed our trip southwards along the winding Mount Lindesay highway, an eye-opener for Jan as she had never been that way before. The mountain did not disappoint (it never does).
There is an op shop drought between Beaudesert and Kyogle, so by the time we arrived there we were hungry, in more ways than one. After lunch, we headed for the Anglicare Op Shop and Vinnies. Not a lot on offer, but once again, we had managed to clothe ourselves for the next day. It was nice to see that some of the trees in town had been yarn-bombed.
Our stop for the night was Lismore, where my parents met and where I spent many happy holidays as a child. Sadly, it is not the town it once was. I think the 2017 flood was one flood too many. Lots of shops in the downtown area are empty, and there is a feeling of despair hanging over that part of town.
Anyway, we headed for the Wilson Motel (even classier than the Analee) and broke with tradition by having dinner at the Asian directly over the road, which was a lot closer than the nearest pub.
We were a little nervous to discover we were sharing the motel with a team of teenage footballers, but they were as quiet as mice come bedtime, and were gone early in the morning.
We started next morning at Lifeline South Lismore. Now that is a good one. After the clothes, I always head for the books. They had so many children's books that they were broken up into categories, eg Enid Blyton Books, Horse Stories. Impressive.
There are lots of op shops in Lismore. I can't remember them all, but I do recall the Animal Rights and Rescue Group one, and the big Salvos, newly refurbished after the flood. There was a piano on the mezzanine level, and while we were there, a young man wandered in, and sat down to play. He made beautiful music while we shopped.
We had lunch at the old Mecca Cafe, where the pictures on the walls are hinged, so they can be raised above flood height, then headed uphill to the happier suburbs of Lismore Heights and Goonellabah, via the nice little Seventh Day Adventist shop right almost next door to the Base Hospital. Another good one. We found the Anglican one in Rous Road, and by then were feeling pleased with our efforts, but we weren't finished yet.
Alstonville has a beauty. Next to the beautiful St Bartholemew's Anglican Church, there is a big op shop in the timber hall, with more goodies in a second building out the back. They even had local bananas for sale (cheap).
I have just realised that there seem to be a lot of churches on this trip, and the Anglicans are winning.
As the 2018 Op Shop Road Trip starting date looms, I realise I never actually wrote my blog for last year's trip. My memories are a bit sketchy, I'm afraid.
We started on Brisbane's southside at Annerley, then Moorooka (lunch) and Salisbury. Reto to Hope OP Shop at Acacia Ridge was certainly one of the strangest I have visited. Lots of collectables but they were expensive. I must admit, however, that I was impressed by the way they displayed their jewellery.
We managed to find enough clothes to get us into Day Two and Jo as usual had her oppy radar well-tuned and picked up some interesting goodies.
Bed for the night was the Analee Motel in Beaudesert, a bit classy for we Road Trippers, and opposite a lovely park. We didn't completely forgo the pub experience, however, as dinner was at the Beaudesert Hotel.
The next morning was rather crisp, as we headed into the local oppies. There is a Red Cross, a big Vinnies and the Animal Welfare League. We found good cheap clothes at the Red Cross and at Vinnies I picked up a little green depression glass jug that pleased me.
The Animal Welfare League was definitely the quirky one, and very cheap. I fell in love with a pair of wonderful brand-new warm, fluffly-lined slippers which came in handy on the trip, and I am actually wearing them as I type this morning. Here I am modelling them with Jan and her socks beside me.
We had morning coffee overlooking the fine Beaudesert War Memorial, then headed for the border. I suggested the girls might enjoy a look at the heritage-listed Tamrookum Anglican church,designed by Robin Dods, which stands alone on a hill east of the Mount Lindesay Highway, and dominates the surrounding area. We were wandering around taking photos, when a very enthusiastic, friendly woman approached. She was the caretaker. It turns out she and her husband are grey nomads who were passing through the area and just the right time, and landed the job, which includes accommodation at the next-door rectory.
I have stopped there many times, but have never been inside before. It is beautiful. She told us everything there was to know about the history and the wonderful timber within.
Once we had learned everything there was to know about the Collins family, it was off to the cemetery. Besides all the late Collinses, it is the resting place of Grenville Kingsley, son of the English writer Charles Kingsley. The other really interesting grave belongs to Constable George Doyle and Albert Dahlke, who were murdered by probably Australia's last bushrangers, the Kenniff Brothers. Patrick Kenniff was hanged in Boggo Road Gaol in 1903, but his brother escaped the executioner.
We were particularly impressed by the inscription on the back of the headstone. It reads: ERECTED BY SYMPATHISERS AND ADMIRERS OF TRUE MANLINESS THROUGHOUT AUSTRALIA.
In 1939, my father was to go fishing in Moreton Bay with a group of his mates. Unfortunately, my half-brother Roy had a really bad asthma attack, so Dad decided not to go; which was just as well because the boat and all on board were never seen again. You can read about it here. https://www.ipswichlibraries.com.au/the-fateful-voyage-of-the-nerita/
On our way back to the Motel Monaco, we walked along the eastern side of Downs Street, past Browns Park. There is a memorial fountain there, built in memory of one James Sangster, who died in the 1893 floods, while trying to rescue two women who were clinging to a tree. The interesting thing was that there were quite a few wreaths at the base of this memorial.
After breakfast and banking, we headed for Lifeline in the centre as soon as it opened. A nice shop, but only 50c worth there for me. It was also the only place on this trip where I found a serious spelling mistake. The sign on the change room said '3 ITEMS ONLEY'. 
We were a bit obsessed all day with animal prints, since we were wearing them, and one of the best we found was in this Lifeline store. Here's Jan with the animal-print mermaid number.
I did, however, find my first entry in the interesting book competition: not just interesting but relevant to our home life, if you know our cat, Fang.
