Category: Aussie Life

May 2018 be safe and joyful for you all

Eating too many avocados is apparently destroying Western democracy or something, so we did our best to speed up the downfall of civilisation as we know it by going to the Blackbutt Avocado Festival on the weekend. (Blackbutt, one of my very favourite small towns, is less than an hour’s drive from Lochanbar, and has hands down the best bakery with the best pies and sweet dishes I’ve ever eaten in Australia. Catch up on other events in the area through this facebook page.)

We watched the parade, listened to the opening ceremony, watched the parade, watched the wonderful reptile show by Dreamtime Reptiles, did not throw or roll any avos because I hate wasting food (and especially expensive luxury vegetables), did spend lots of money on photos from the Blackbutt Camera Club (which will soon be up on the walls at Lochanbar), and not so much money on some lovely pottery rice bowls (already in the crockery drawer at Lochanbar ” class=”wp-smiley” style=”height: 1em; max-height: 1em;” />” class=”wp-smiley” style=”height: 1em; max-height: 1em;” /> ), and ate some extraordinarily delicious foods based on avocados – chocolate avocado mousse (so good we went back twice ” class=”wp-smiley” style=”height: 1em; max-height: 1em;” />” class=”wp-smiley” style=”height: 1em; max-height: 1em;” /> ),  and an avocado lemon dessert, avocado lassi, and guacamole (of course ” class=”wp-smiley” style=”height: 1em; max-height: 1em;” />” class=”wp-smiley” style=”height: 1em; max-height: 1em;” /> ) from an ‘Indian food’ caravan stall whose name I wish I had written down (it’s a purple caravan.)

We had an absolute ball, and will definitely go back next year if possible. So far we are two for two on vegetable related festivals in the area being great fun!

Elegant stilt walkers in the Festival parade

A young girl is dubious about the attraction of this snake being demonstrated by Dreamtime Reptiles

Um…parade characters

A heart transplant patient who was ‘staying alive’ mid-operation and mid parade, courtesy of the local medical centre

Violet ringneck, one of the fancy birds on sale and display at the festival

Festival mascot – whoever this is, they don’t get paid enough

A gentleman representing the Australian Light Horse. His beautiful horse was extraordinarily patient with people launching themselves at him without warning to pet or stroke him

An inland taipan, also known as a Fierce snake – officially the most venomous snake in the world, on display through Dreamtime Reptiles

Mr Avo gets around, this time with local dignitaries as the Festival is officially opened

We’ve just come back from a glorious twelve days up at Lochanbar. The first few days were characterised by WIND!  And extremely dry air, which the already desiccated landscape could have done without. But slowly the temperatures rose, so we went from huddling under blankets with the heating on, to having all the windows open and wondering if we might need to turn the fans on.

Last night we had the pleasure of sharing a glass of wine in the garden of  the lovely and extremely kind Sue Unwin, who is managing director of the Bunya Mountains Accommodation centre, and who has lived and worked on the mountain for forty years. It was a glorious evening, warm and sweet-scented (also dog-scented ).

But overnight we had a couple of millimetres of rain, the wind returned in full force, and the temperatures dropped ten degrees! We had (a very tasty) breakfast at Poppies on our way out and I huddled over the mug of coffee like it was literally freezing (it wasn’t). So weather in the Bunya Mountains is never boring, to say the least.

Also caught up with the lovely Rebecca over breakfast, who is not only the best professional house cleaner in the world, but is also a talented artist. Look at her beautiful artwork on her facebook page.

Spotted this delightful Lycid beetle on our door frame during one of the warmer days:

We won’t be back up there until after the school holidays, but as we are now coming into the low season for the Bunyas, we hope to have some lovely long stays there before our guests come back over Christmas and the autumn/winter of 2018.

We popped up to the Bunyas on Wednesday to deliver a chair and some sleepers for the driveway, and my goodness it was cold! From 17° in Kilcoy, to 8° at midday on the mountain!

But the air was sparkling and dry, the sunshine perfect – the wallabies were all out sunning themselves in the most inelegant positions – and I was sorry we weren’t staying to at least go for a walk. But our hit and run visit showed me what the place looks like after our wonderful cleaner, Rebecca, has done with it. She is a wizard, and so careful and thorough. I was so proud of what the house looked like, ready for the guests who arrived today. Thank you, Rebecca! We really do appreciate you.

Not being resident all the time, we are very dependent on the hard work of the staff at the Bunya Mountains Accommodation centre, our cleaner, Allan Govan who cuts the grass, the man who delivers the wood, and the civil servants who maintain the roads and look after the national park. It’s nice to know we can rely on the pride they take in their jobs, and that our guests have the best possible experience because of their hard work and attention.

It’s 22.8° in Kingaroy right now, but up here on the mountain, a bright, lovely 14°C Fortunately, I’m tucked up inside with the sherpa rugs and the laptop, all snug and warm. (And for the information of prospective visitors, we have oil heaters for all bedrooms, electric blankets on queen and double beds, extra blankets for all beds and sherpa rugs on the armchairs and couch, a woodburning stove, and split system heating in the living area. You just need to bring warm clothing.) For the weather forecast, go to http://www.bom.gov.au/places/qld/bunya-mountains/

Yesterday we went to the Goomeri Pumpkin Festival – official, ate some great food, bought some lovely booze (Chocolate Port and Pumpkin liqueur from Moffatdale Ridge Wines), and a packet of pumpkin fruit slices from a stall run by the South Burnett Gumnut Place. Also discovered Gourmet Xcellence the purveyors of fine Italian small goods running a stall at the festival, are actually based in Scarborough, a short drive from where we live. We inspected some very big pumpkins:

Doug watched the pumpkin roll, and on the way home, we stopped in Memerambi for some delicious gelati.)