My friend Jan collects ducks. Not real ones. It's a long story. Anyway, Boonah has a shop called Duck Junction. She screeched to a halt in front of the window, mesmerised by the wonders within. Five minutes later, she had a fine wooden duck to add to her collection.
There are three op shops in Boonah. Vinnies is in the main street and is neat and tidy. Not much for me there, though. Lifeline is around the corner and is bigger with an upstairs and downstairs. Next door is a camping equipment store, where I found a wonderful folding solar light which is just what we needed for over the sink in our camper. I sent a photo of it to Michael, but he didn't respond, so I didn't buy it. At $31.95 it was expensive. Back home I found one for a lot less at Brendale. Sorry, Boonah economy.
The Salvos store is over the other side of the highway, and opens later than the other two. We had a chat to the pedestrian crossing supervisor, then wandered through the impressive war memorial park, until nine o'clock. Well this shop is a treasure. Packed with wonderful goodies and oh, so cheap. Jan had been looking for a putter for John for the whole trip, without success. In their big section out the back, she found three! She bought the wackiest looking one.
I found a fabulous 3D English thatched cottage scene, all made of plant materials, and was soooo tempted. But where would I put it? Then I uttered my third YES! shout for the journey. Jo said she heard me out the back. I already own a pair of Tardis earrings but these were way better. And all earrings were $2! This was definitely the winning shop of the day.
We headed back over the pedestrian crossing, this time forcing the lollipop lady to pose for a photo, which she only did on condition it never appear on social media. She was delightful, and I wish I could use her photo in this blog.
I had promised the girls an op shop in Kalbar, so we headed there next, only to discover my memories were wrong. And the fabulous Emporium has closed. But there is a lovely coffee shop on the corner, so we consoled ourselves there with morning tea. The cactus growing out of a coffee mug on the wall of the Ladies there is memorable too.
We had only one oppy to go. Jan had decided we should explore Springfield, which none of us had ever done. The last time I was there, it was bushland where my son went for his Scout jamboree. We managed to wind our way through narrow streets and roadworks and ended up at a lovely Vinnies. It was a little expensive but had great stuff, although I was fairly stunned that they were trying to sell mismatched cup, saucer and plate trios for $8. I bought a pair of prints of Brisbane's sadly demolished Bellevue Hotel and St Martin's Hospital. These now hang in the hall.
The trip was now over except for the judging of the 'quirky objet dárt' competition. Once again, Michael was the lucky judge, once we reached my home, and he was presented with an impressive eight choices, without knowing who had bought what, of course. I am pleased to report that my penguin in boots from Capalaba won the day! He was worth the $10. Jo took him with her to give to her sister who appreciates such things. The seashell map of Australia went to my friend Emma, who squealed with delight!
A quick cuppa and the girls headed back to the Sunshine Coast, with plans for next year already swirling around in Jo's head. Op Shop Road Trip No 6 was over.
I knew there were two hotels in Boonah, and hoped that Jan had booked us into the nice old-fashioned one, not the modernised one. It turns out there are three. The Commercial is the pretty one, but it no longer does accommodation; and there is also the tavern. The third option is the Australian, which opened in 1888, but has seen better days. It certainly has character.
Our family room was at the top of the traditional two thousand steps that are compulsory in all two-story hotels of that vintage. It was basic, with only fans to cope with the stifling heat, but one of the best equipped hotel kitchens we had ever encountered. I hope you are reading this, Hinterland Hotel, Nerang. We were especially impressed with the salt and pepper shakers, which were little Sirromet wine bottles, a red for the pepper and a white for the salt!
The hotel is rumoured to have not one ghost, but many, with one website describing it as "one of the most haunted sites in Australia". Apparently several people have died while staying there. Creaking stairs, yes; ghosts no, in our experience. Dinner, also no, as they only serve lunch. There's very little night dining choice in Boonah, actually, so off to the Commercial Hotel we went. It has been recently refurbished, and there we relaxed over a delightful dinner.
We had only just stepped outside, when we heard some sort of commotion and saw a group of outlandishly dressed people cross the road and head into the IGA. They carried on loud conversations, danced around a bit, and then headed raucously off down Boonah's quiet night-time main street. Jan popped into the shop to ask what was going on. Apparently they were doing some sort of course which teaches you to "step out of your comfort zone'. Not a lot to do at night in Boonah!
At least our room had cooled down to bearably hot when we returned so we settled down to a ghost-free night. The next morning I went to prepare my daily Weetbix, but couldn't find a bowl, and had to be inventive. Only after I had finished did I discover the well-stocked cupboards UNDER the sink. I had previously only spotted the ones up top.
My research indicated that there was a geocache just down the road near the Blumbergville Clock. What? Off I went and found the town 's newest tourist attraction. Blumbergville is Boonah's previous name, and the Scenic Rim Council commissioned artist Christopher Trotter to create the clock, which he made from various bits of local farm equipment. The result is a sort of steam punk wonder. At seven o'clock, it started wheezing and whistling, bits started turning and it eventually chimed the hour.
Abandoning all hope of finding the cache because of (a) the number of people around watching the clock and (b) the serious refurbishment to the town square which was happening right next to it, I raced back to tell the girls. We made sure we were packed and out of the hotel before it chimed eight o'clock. Then it was time for a leisurely wander around town till the oppies opened.
We reluctantly left all things Margaret Olley and other gallery delights and headed for the Queensland border, via beautiful Numinbah Road, first stop Chillingham. One of Jo's many Buchanan cousins own Buck's Farm there, where Michael and I always stop when we are travelling that way. They sell all sorts of delicious locally grown produce, and the only munchies for miles around.
We hadn't told them we were coming, so Jo was a bit of a surprise for Mr and Mrs Buck! They were actually getting ready for a family wedding that coming weekend. After some preliminary chit-chat, we bought some pies and were soon munching away under Gerard's and Ann's gazebo out the back of the shop.
Our dress theme for the day was message t-shirts, and this proved quite a challenge the day before. Jan and I were both despairing when we each found the perfect shirt in the same shop at Currumbin Waters. In the end, we all managed to find one that matched our personalities perfectly. If you can't read the red writing on Jan's shirt, it says "DID NOT HAPPEN". Ann kindly photographed us in the shop, before we bought up big and headed off again.
We stopped at the border for the traditional border view photo, and then wound our way through the Numinbah Valley and around the back roads towards Canungra. There were two attractions to be found there: one op shop and a shop where Jan had bought some wonderful shoes in the past. Both she and I were keen to get at the footwear, so we found a park midway between the two. I headed off to the shoe shop at speed, only to discover that they no longer sold the shoes we wanted. It was most disappointing.
The op shop made up for the shoe shop. Cheerful and charming, bigger than it looks from the outside, with low prices to match. I found a brilliant book about guitars for my nephew Tom, a great little summer dress for my granddaughter and I forget what else. We all bought multiple items.
Our destination for the evening was Boonah, still a fair distance away. so we dragged ourselves away from pretty Canungra, through areas bushfires had recently gutted (the ones that destroyed Binna Burra Lodge, where Michael and I spent our honeymoon), to our final stop, Beaudesert.
We had "done" Beaudesert on a past trip, but revisited two of our past haunts anyway. One that we had really liked had closed, but we found the Uniting Church one this time. It is little, but air-conditioned, which was welcome as it was unseasonally hot. Despite its small size it delivered up not one, but two of the books I had been searching for. It is also conveniently close to a drive-in shopping centre, where we had a long overdue coffee.
My friend Jan collects ducks. Not real ones. It's a long story. Anyway, Boonah has a shop called Duck Junction. She screeched to a halt in front of the window, mesmerised by the wonders within. Five minutes later, she had a fine wooden duck to add to her collection.
The Salvos store is over the other side of the highway, and opens later than the other two. We had a chat to the pedestrian crossing supervisor, then wandered through the impressive war memorial park, until nine o'clock. Well this shop is a treasure. Packed with wonderful goodies and oh, so cheap. Jan had been looking for a putter for John for the whole trip, without success. In their big section out the back, she found three! She bought the wackiest looking one.
I found a fabulous 3D English thatched cottage scene, all made of plant materials, and was soooo tempted. But where would I put it? Then I uttered my third YES! shout for the journey. Jo said she heard me out the back. I already own a pair of Tardis earrings but these were way better. And all earrings were $2! This was definitely the winning shop of the day.
We had only one oppy to go. Jan had decided we should explore Springfield, which none of us had ever done. The last time I was there, it was bushland where my son went for his Scout jamboree. We managed to wind our way through narrow streets and roadworks and ended up at a lovely Vinnies. It was a little expensive but had great stuff, although I was fairly stunned that they were trying to sell mismatched cup, saucer and plate trios for $8. I bought a pair of prints of Brisbane's sadly demolished Bellevue Hotel and St Martin's Hospital. These now hang in the hall. 
The trip was now over except for the judging of the 'quirky objet dárt' competition. Once again, Michael was the lucky judge, once we reached my home, and he was presented with an impressive eight choices, without knowing who had bought what, of course. I am pleased to report that my penguin in boots from Capalaba won the day! He was worth the $10. Jo took him with her to give to her sister who appreciates such things. The seashell map of Australia went to my friend Emma, who squealed with delight!
