Toowoomba to Lake Leslie

Toowoomba to Lake Leslie

Sunday 15th March
Before we moved on from Toowoomba Michael wanted to visit the Hot Rod Car Show downtown. Fortunately the caravan park management were happy for us to leave the van in place after we had packed up. It was another glorious day so Michael enjoyed a wander and even voted for his favourite...the purple one. Ten minutes was enough for me but luckily the show was across the road from Queens Park/Botanic Gardens so I enjoyed a leisurely stroll. The Botanic Garden was established in 1872. It has come a long way from pasture land studded with deep holes made by brickmakers. The snail was a big hit with the kids!
Toowoomba is an impressive city with many beautiful parks and I'm sure we will visit again, probably in the Spring.

While checking out our Wikicamps App we had noticed a camp site at Lake Leslie/Leslie Dam west of Warwick. Feeling it was time to have a bit of time in the bush we headed off. Once again the landscape was very green although we did see quite a few mini dust swirls on recently tilled paddocks.
We had 2 camping choices at Lake Leslie...The first one had a road between it and the lake, and a large group of Boy Scouts, so we kept going. We ended up staying at the second one, where you checked yourself in and put you money in an envelope and posted in to a box. We could chose powered or unpowered (we went powered) and we drove around and selected our own spot. The only restriction was to not go beyond the treeline. There were only 5 other campers overnight and so we had plenty of options.
Leslie Dam supplies water for Warwick and surrounding areas and, after recent rains is sitting at 17% capacity. There were plenty of birds but mostly a long way away, a good reason to invest in a scope perhaps. It is always odd to me to see Pelicans so far from the ocean and I did see a Great Crested Grebe. He was difficult to photograph as the wind was whipping the water up and he was a fair way away.  It was pleasant to wander along the lakes edge with no-one else in sight and we spent a very relaxed 24 hours there...Except during the night when the wind picked up and it sounded like a freight train was passing by. Around 2.30am, both awake, we decide it might be wise to put the awning down. Halfway through the process we realised it wasn't that bad at ground level, the noise mainly coming from the wind howling through the tree canopy. Never mind it was worth getting up to see the magnificent night sky without light interference.

Michael keeping an eye on the kangaroos, relaxing and a beautiful sunset over the lake

Pelicans, bills to the wind: Galah: Australasian Pipit: Great Crested Grebe

Our next destination was Tenterfield with a stop in Stanthorpe on the way, to pick up a few items. Stanthorpe holds mixed memories for us. About 10 years ago we spent a day on a very pleasant wine tour followed by a day I'd rather forget. I was violently ill and remember spending most of the journey back to Lismore laying across the back seat. No repeat of that!
Stanthorpe Council has encouraged street art so there are a variety of sculptures, mosaics and wall art, much of which relates directly to the area. One mural pays homage to the backpackers who come to pick fruit in the season. A sculpture that amused us was the brass monkey protecting his cannon balls, inspired by the fact, that the south east town  holds the record of the lowest temperature recorded in Queensland and the colloquial expression 'cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey'. In long ago wars artillerymen had a brass plate called a ‘monkey’, which sat on the ground along side the cannon. This plate held 30 iron cannonballs stacked pyramid-like, until on freezing nights the monkey would shrink and the balls would fall off, hence the expression ‘cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey’.This friendly chap is showing relief having protected the last two balls on the plate. 

The old man is  Angelo Valiante who turned 100 in the month the work was completed.  Mr Valiante was one of the first Italians to settle in Stanthorpe and the work pays homage to the Italian community that have made the region what it is today.

The major highlight for Michael was ...toilet rolls! As we wandered past the Reject Shop our eyes fell on a stack of them just inside the doorway so of course we had to buy some just in case.