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Showing posts with label cultural-history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cultural-history. Show all posts

2 May 2024

April surprises, updates, and rollercoasters

April surprises

We were in Mt Marshall for a week when our daughter arrived with the grandies! Instead of staying for two nights as planned, they ended up staying for 5, and that was fun!

We celebrated my birthday and Cassie’s birthday…

We chatted our chins off…

We had pizza, pancakes and hot cross buns without end…

We played ‘nail salon’ with yours truly giving everyone a foot massage …๐Ÿ˜‚

Kiddies’ mum had a chance to catch up on some rest …

And the dog had many cuddles and lots of walks!


With three days of rain, we took a few days to adjust to an empty house. We were thrilled as the water tanks were filled to overflowing again. ๐Ÿ˜ƒ  After the rain, we got stuck into completing some chores around the house and garden for a few days.

Because we’re attempting to save funds, we are not doing much sightseeing. But the panoramic scenery all around us is a feast for the eye and calming to the soul.

We also took some time to give the van some TLC.

Website changes

First, I’d like to explain some changes regarding this blog and our website. You received notices on social media that the blog has been separated from the website, only to then receive an auto-generated email to say a new blog is posted on the website … then you see it was a post from a month ago! Confusing, I agree. ๐Ÿ˜‘๐Ÿฅด And I apologise.

To clarify, I felt it safer to separate this faith-focused blog from the unDESERTED website as it (the website) is registered in Australia. Religious persecution is rising, and Australia is becoming a battleground for Christians. It takes one person to report ‘hate speech’ and you are facing a potential litigation nightmare. We pray that the tide turns soon, but we are not hopeful as the two main parties, the incumbent Labour (socialist, Marxist) Party in Queensland and its opposition, the LNP coalition (supposedly more conservative), are simply two sides of the same coin. The Labour Party also holds the national government. Unless the voters boot out the same old, same old, corrupt self-serving politicians and the woke socialists, I fear Queensland, indeed the whole nation is doomed to more of the same. The ACL runs an informative website and campaigns against the draconian laws that are being put forward nationally and in individual states. I hope you find the time to click on the link and read about what is happening here; it is no different to what is taking place in the US and the UK.

But I digress … back to the website …I have brought our info up to date to reflect our current situation. However, when I removed the blog, I made a ‘Where are we now?’ page instead but found that it was harder to let everyone know when it updated. So, I created a blog page again, but this time it will be purely a travel blog. As soon as I published the Mt Marshall entry, the website remembered the previous blog settings and let everyone know that I had published a new post. ๐Ÿ˜† 

I need to knuckle down and post more regularly, as I hope to place ads and eventually monetise. I am also hoping to soon complete an online store with a few digital items (mainly with a camping/travelling focus) for sale. I’m afraid my head is still off in 100 directions daily … trying to generate a passive, diverse, income. Perhaps I've bitten off more than I can chew, time will tell.

YouTube Channels

On the website are links provided to unDeserted on Youtube, where I hope to post more travel and van-life videos, as well as the Home Cook in a Van channel, where I aim to post a few easy recipes. If you like what you see (I know they're rookie videos ๐Ÿ˜†) please like, subscribe and share if you want to, to give these channels a bit of a boost. 

LibSandy Proofreading

If you explore the website, you will see a page for LibSandy

Some may know that I had this planned in 2019 before Covid hit. Because of Covid, I was unable to get going and the whole idea had to be shelved in subsequent years. I have now resurrected the idea to offer proofreading services and have been doing some refresher training to that end. My focus will be on websites, business docs, social media campaigns, etc. The tricky part is marketing it … while it may seem that we must have HEAPS of time on our hands, I still find the days too short to accomplish plans. My to-do list keeps growing. I would appreciate a mention here and there if you know of anyone looking for proofreading. And, no, AI (artificial intelligence) doesn’t cut it! AI is just not there yet, unable to understand nuances, style and overall tone of voice in writing. Not to mention proper grammar, picking up typos, knowing style guides and dealing with subjective errors. I rest my case, for now … ๐Ÿ˜„

So, to summarise, our website is found, as always, on https://www.undeserted.com with its own ‘Where are we now? ’travel blog page. For these entries, subscribers to our site will receive a notification email from the website when there is a new post, and new posts will be advertised on Instagram.  

On the other hand, this (Christian) blog with updates for friends and family is found at https://undeserted.blogspot.com (hosted by Google). For these, I will post 'new blog post' notices on WhatsApp and Telegram. 

Warwick

We make a trip every 14 days to Warwick for groceries. On one occasion we took the day to view the city. It is known as the rose and rodeo capital. We walked the route to many beautiful heritage-listed sandstone buildings, which are dotted about the city. 

Warwick Post Office bldg.



We viewed parks and gardens, one of which has an iron sculpture as a tribute to the many roles of horses in society. 

The well-manicured Leslie Park had hosted the ANZAC day celebrations the day before, so we visited the war memorial to view the many wreaths laid in memory of the fallen, before enjoying a KFC lunch in the park. It was a lovely day.

Glengallen Homestead

We visited nearby Glengallen Homestead and Heritage Centre, located on the northern slope of Mt Marshall. 

Side view and kitchen entrance
Fascinating to see a project underway to restore the sandstone homestead to its former glory. Thought to be only half of the dwelling as originally planned but never finished, it was constructed in 1867, and has a colourful yet sad history. It stood empty, neglected, and left for ruin well into the early 2000s.

These protruding blocks are thought to be where an
exact copy of the existing wing would have been attached.
Its heyday was during the late 1800s and early 1900s, as successive owners invested in sheep farming, particularly merino sheep. I must admit, that walking around the property brought back memories of the beautiful mansions we visited on ostrich farms in the Oudtshoorn district, South Africa, where the booming years of ostrich farming allowed owners to live lavish lives in the late 1800s, before crashing to a sad, inglorious end by the time WW1 had ended.

Drawing room, Glengallen Homestead

Various factors contributed to Glengallen’s neglect by owners and caretakers, with the property being sold in 1993 at a fraction of its value to the Glengallen Historical Trust. The latter made a case to the Queensland government for its heritage status and won. One of the interesting facts raised was that it is one of only two sandstone homestead mansions built over two storeys. With grants from the Centenary Federation Fund, restoration commenced in 2002. Restoring the balconies and verandahs alone cost over $1 million. 

Glengallan Homestead, 2015
Kerry Raymond, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

On our travel blog, I hope to cover the story of Glengallen a little more fully.

With 2 weeks to go before heading to Gympie, we know we will miss these views and the glorious walks in the countryside. As winter approaches it has become quite cold already. God willing, we are aiming to take a week-long camping trip back to Gympie, stopping at a few new places we haven’t visited before.

Roller coasters are fun … right?

Why do people pay to go on a roller coaster? This I read in a discussion a few weeks ago. You take the roller coaster, they said, because it gives a rush of adrenalin and thrills per second, delivers scary twists and turns, fills your gut alternately with butterflies, fear, and tremors, and ends in a rush of victory! Safe at the base station and still in one piece. It provides belly laughs to all the spectators, who provide the photos to prove the contortions in your face, eyes bulging, hands gripping wherever they can, and hair waving wildly. If only photos could capture the screams …but we have videos to thank for that. All in all, roller coasters are fun.

Photo by Mitchell Luo on Unsplash
But when the roller coaster of life’s tumultuous circumstances takes you on a ride, you are not enamoured! You wish it away. With raw fear, silent screams, and real tremors in your belly, you wake up many a day wishing it was just a dream. That elusive base station is always one more bend and two more mountainous climbs away. One day you’re strong and face the wind. On another you’re down in the dip, approaching an imaginative hair-raising bend with a steep cliff at the edge of a very narrow road. Most days you know that you know that you know you are going to struggle to get through with no fuel in the physical, let alone the emotional, tank. 

And then God steps in! For the hundredth time you are reminded that you’re not alone. That He has a plan. That He is working behind the scenes on your behalf. You hear Him say that He will direct your paths. You find sudden peace amidst the storm; energy to put the next foot forward. The sun rises each morning, and the birdsong is new again. Our Lord’s brother James, in James 1 vv 2-4 encourages us with,

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.“

Oh my! Isn't that another form of thankfulness? Here is a quote from something I read last week: 

“… life is still an incredible journey. It is a gift from God, a never-to-be-repeated experience wherein we get to walk by faith and not by sight. And the key to thriving in a world that can be topsy-turvy is thankfulness.”

And this too,

“The thrill ride of life enriches us in a variety of ways. It challenges and convicts us. It develops character and intimacy through pain and perseverance. It shows us glimpses of glory beyond what we could have imagined. It takes us beyond ourselves while making us deeply aware of ourselves. All of it is an opportunity and a cause for thankfulness.” (From, The Transformational Power of Gratitude, by Yellow Balloons and Grace School of Theology.)

Hope

And then there’s hope!  Endless hope, because our Saviour, Jesus, is for us and has promised to not leave us or forsake us.

We are still very much in the ‘waiting room’ as it were. We have faced trying moments as God continues to work in us, on our fears and insecurities, teaching us to cope with disappointment as a few of our plans have fallen flat. Living remotely has helped us to think in isolation, and the Lord God has taken this time and place to put us through the refining fire.

In a devotional I read last week by Reinhard Bonnke, he was discussing having the ‘eyes of faith’ when things seemed impossible. He said, 

“We have got to get a new set of eyes first. We’ve got to have the eyes of our hearts opened, and to do this requires that we abandon our fears to our King and trust Him absolutely.” (From, “Watch With Me Series 2, on YouVersion.)


“Lord, I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” Mark 9 v 24

May His name be glorified at the end of this road.๐Ÿงก

Well, that’s us for now. Thanks for stopping by. We appreciate each of you, your prayers, your messages and your encouraging wishes. 

Blessings, Sandy (& AJ). ๐ŸŒผ


18 January 2023

Peanuts, peanuts and more peanuts

Where are we? In KINGAROY, the peanut capital!

(c) Seen in the Heritage Museum

We drove southwest along country roads for one and a half hours from Gympie to the not-so-small town of Kingaroy. Its name is derived from the language of the local Wakka-Wakka aboriginal people and means ‘small red ant’ for a specific type of red ant which is found in the area. 


But instead of ants, think peanuts! Tons and tons of peanuts. Apparently, 40,000+ tons per annum make their way via this peanut capital! ๐Ÿ˜Š

We will forever remember Kingaroy with fondness, as here we stayed in our first caravan park – Kingaroy Showgrounds Caravan Park – for one night with our new van! Luckily it was a pull-through site. ๐Ÿ˜…

We had an amazing peaceful night's sleep.
We began housesitting the next day, looking after two doggies ... a geriatric (foxy?), 18 yrs old and a 3-year old dachshund. ๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜ Two cuties ... 


Kingaroy info

The Heritage-listed Peanut Silos are smack bang in the middle of town. We use them as a beacon to navigate our way around. ๐Ÿ˜Š

peanut silos
Peanut Silos of Kingaroy taken from a town Brochure

History has it that two French drovers, brothers Charles and William Haly, trekked (with sheep) across country from New South Wales, and chose to settle nearby on land that they staked out. They built a homestead (Taabinga Homestead) somewhere between 1842 and 1846 and developed a sheep-farming station. The conditions were too severe for sheep farming and they soon switched to cattle. The brothers eventually sold their cattle station, and the second time it changed hands was in 1848 or thereabouts to the ancestors of Ms Libby Leu who lives there today. It is still a working cattle station, and the homestead is the oldest continually lived-in homestead in Queensland. Today they open their home to guided tours and operate a B&B for those who wish to stay overnight or longer.

In 1878 the valley, nestled between the Booi Range and the Bunya Mountains, became home to the brothers Markwell, among others, who set up a homestead known as ‘Kingaroy paddock’. By 1904 the Kilkivan railway line passed through the valley and a station was erected. This drew more activity and ‘Kingaroy Paddock’ grew into a small town. By 1907 the hamlet that had formed around Taabinga Homestead decided to pick up sticks (literally … since houses were made of timber), and they moved closer to the ‘town’ now known as Kingaroy. Kingaroy was declared a ‘shire’ in 1912.

Example of early wooden homes

Soon folk discovered that the rich fertile soil of the floodplain was good for a variety of crops, especially peanuts and navy beans (aka baked beans). The latter were planted during WW2 when large numbers of US Army personnel stayed in Kingaroy. Seeds from the USA were introduced, and vast amounts were harvested to feed the troops. As for peanuts, according to the QueenslandGovernment Heritage Register (2023), “Peanuts have been grown in Queensland since Chinese cultivators planted them on the Palmer River goldfield in the 1870s. Small acreages were grown by several farmers in the South Burnett from about 1901 and these peanuts were sold to confectioners and shops in Brisbane, Maryborough and Rockhampton. From circa 1920 significant acreages in the South Burnett became devoted to peanut growing.” A visit to the Heritage Museum shows you just how innovative these farmers were.

early peanut farmers








peanut bush display
Images taken in the Heritage Museum
Without access to complex machinery, they designed their own planters, harvesters, sorters, etc. An incredible testament to man’s ingenuity when there is a dire need. Some of these machines are huge wood and metal structures. RESPECT to the farmers of yesteryear!









Examples of early machines designed and built by local peanut farmers.



One of the earliest inventions, which paved the way for future designs.
 








Since then people have tried their hand at an even larger variety of crops leading to wine farming. This success for specific varieties has resulted in cellars dotted about the region. We hope to visit at least one not far from town, in the 10 days that we are here.  

Image by Brigitte Werner from Pixabay 

Kingaroy is considered the capital of the South Burnett Region, comprising settlements within the Nanango, Kingaroy, Murgon, Wondai and various other districts. Clearly, the town is thriving. A newly built hospital is just opposite the house that we are caring for. Much to AJ’s delight, the AW139 Helicopter (his speciality) regularly arrives to pick up a patient for transferral to one of the Brisbane hospitals, and it feels as though it will land on the lawn behind the house. We have heard that the hospital is not fully staffed as yet, with certain cases referred to doctors in the city.

(c) SB

Touristy stuff

Kingaroy boasts some interesting tourist attractions:

There is Kingaroy Holiday Park (this would be called a ‘resort’ in South Africa ๐Ÿ˜Š) just outside the town. Fun for the whole family, with cabins and camping.

The humble Peanut Shack on Kingaroy Street/D’Aguilar Highway/Route 96, has offered tasting and sale of many different flavours of peanuts since the 60s. It is a famous stop for everyone driving through, and so contributed substantially to the rise in tourism to Kingaroy. 

roadside shop

Which flavour did we fancy? The BBQ Pork Ribs! ๐Ÿ˜€

There is a big peanut sculpture in town, although it is not THE Big Peanut (one of Australia’s Big Things), which is further north in Tolga. ๐Ÿ˜Š It is constructed from scrap metal.

One can take a drive (or a walk if you’re fit enough, up to Mt Wooroolin, to view Kingaroy from the lookout point at the top. 

Mt Wooroolin, seen from the garden where we are housesitting

We drove! ๐Ÿ˜…

Kingaroy valley
Kingaroy from Mt Wooroolin

Kingaroy’s Observatory welcomes visitors. On a cloudless night the sky is lit up with stars as there is little interference from city lights; the Milky Way is clearly visible.

Image by Bapsae from Pixabay 

Kingaroy Heritage Museum walks one back through time to the early days of peanut farming, cattle stations and brave, innovative farm folk who needed to design their own machinery due to a lack of local availability. Lovingly overseen by volunteers, this museum is a must-see. A gentle reminder to appreciate the history associated with today's agricultural and mechanical development.

Kingaroy Regional Art Gallery is another must-visit for all, not only for the art lover. It is run by the not-for-profit Kingaroy Arts Team, seeking to develop regional public art.

Queensland’s ’Rail Trails’ are old abandoned railway corridors that have been converted into cycling or walking tracks. One of these stretches along 89 km from Kingaroy to Kilkivan. You can walk as long or as short as you like while taking in the fascinating country scenery and historical viewing spots associated with the old rail tracks.

The Bunya Mountains are about 60 km from Kingaroy. There you can find an array of walking trails among the pristine forest and tall Bunya pines. There is a gorgeous cafรฉ for refreshment and a variety of accommodation options for those who want to keep exploring or soak up the peaceful surroundings. We hope to get to visit this area on another trip.

Wrapping up:

We are immensely grateful for the opportunities on offer to discover this beautiful land and its people. In another week we move back to Gympie and ready ourselves for a week-long housesitting near the town; this will be quite a different stint, taking care of three cats and two horses. ๐Ÿ˜…

Soon I hope to post a ‘catch-up’ blog on the challenges we have faced and how we view things going forward. We have met some amazing folk, and we have had so many meaningful encounters in just 4 months of being in Australia. So much to be grateful for. However, housesitting has its challenges; settling into a foreign country has not been a walk in the park; getting our heads around van life is a work in progress;๐Ÿ˜ฃ๐Ÿ˜… and following a new (often punishing) work routine (AJ’s) has not been easy. We often find ourselves emotionally and physically stretched. We have had mishaps, misunderstandings, and have made mistakes. But we remain hopeful and positive.๐Ÿ™ 

Thanks for stopping by. We wish you all a Happy New Year! May you experience countless blessings coming your way in 2023.

Cheers. ๐ŸŒผ 

9 September 2022

Hello Gympie!

Where are we? We have arrived in Gympie.

Image: Alexas Fotos from Pixabay

A quick update

Hi everyone … it was a sad moment, bidding our loved ones in Doha farewell. All went relatively well with our last few days in Doha. We managed to do all we needed to for Andries to get that all-important ‘I’m-exiting-Doha-for-good’ stamp. Returning our Qatar ID cards brought home the finality of it all. Once those were returned we had 1 month to exit the country, so we prayed that all would proceed without a hitch. And it did! In July all Covid requirements for international travellers were lifted by the Australian government. We were relieved that we did not have to go through the DPD App's immigration process again, nor did we need a PCR test before or after the flight. 

We are so thankful to Father God for journey mercies. We arrived in Brisbane on a Friday evening after a great flight, and slept over for one night so that our family could take the 2-hour trip on a Saturday, pressure free. We managed to visited our caravan manufacturer en route to select interior colours for the van! ๐Ÿ˜€๐Ÿ˜ Great excitement. It felt unreal. We also stopped by a store to get SIM cards for our phones before continuing the journey to Gympie. Once in Gympie we stopped off at our son-in-law's parents' place to say hello and pick up the grandkids. There was great excitement meeting up with them. Pure joy! There is no other way of describing that moment.

We have hooked up with a bank, applied for Medicare, and managed to get Andries' phone working, but I'm having difficulties with a SIM that won't work and getting it replaced is proving even harder. This has ticked me off to no end ... I hate not having comms. ๐Ÿ˜‘๐Ÿ™„ 

The next step in the process of remaining here as permanent residents is to apply for the next stage of our visa, which is the permanent one. It's a major process, and almost ready to lodge. It will place us back into a queue for annual immigration quotas. Our current visa expires in about 18 months, so we're praying it'll be finalised before then. If not we would need to go onto a bridging visa.

We have managed to get Andries set up for work, as he starts a course on 18 September. So kind of our kids to stand off their main bedroom for these 3 weeks, so that we can have our own space, big enough for Andries to have a desk to teach from in a peaceful room, away from kiddy noise. ๐Ÿ˜ His birthday was also celebrated on the 7th with great fanfare, much to the kiddies' delight. His greatest gift was meeting his Ute for the first time! Since then he's found a daily excuse to go for a drive, even if he needed to make up a reason to do so. ๐Ÿ˜„ 

Now, on to the topic of today’s post: Gympie

Where is Gympie?

Gympie is in south-eastern Queensland, lying on the Gympie Creek and the Mary River. It is a rural town, 2 hours north of Brisbane by car.

Map data: Google, ©2022 Qatar


Map data: Google, ©2022 CNES/Airbus, Landsat/Copernicus, Maxar Tech. 

History

Early European settler-graziers (today activists are calling them invaders ๐Ÿ™„) were already in the area when, in October 1867, James Nash, an English farm worker who migrated to Queensland in 1863, put Gympie on the map with a discovery of gold. A gold rush of an estimated 60,000 miners ensued. Nash’s Gully – a double line of prospectors’ tents along the sides of the digging bank – sprang up which is now the historic Mary Street.

This discovery came at a time when Queensland was going through a severe economic depression. (Sure wish I could find a little nugget! ๐Ÿ˜„) It is said to have saved Queensland from bankruptcy.

Gympie became a thriving mining town. A Post Office opened in December 1867, a small hut was erected in 1868 to be shared as a church by three denominations, with the Methodists raising the first church in July the same year. Seems they needed a church, as a series of hotels were opened within weeks of the gold rush. Twelve licences were granted in December 1867. ๐Ÿ˜„ Here is an ad from the period ... 


 The Nashville Times was operating by February 1868, which became The Gympie Times and Mary River Mining Gazette in October 1868.

The Tattersalls Hotel, Gympie. 1868

A railway from Maryborough along the coast was completed by 1881. (The Historic station is still in use by the delightful Mary Valley Rattler.) 

Gympie Hospital, 1891

In 1981 the Town Hall was built on the site where Nash found the first gold nugget (worth a whopping £1.6 million in today’s currency). They had a fire brigade by 1900. And finally in 1903, the Queensland state declared Gympie a town, but by January 1905 it was proclaimed to be a city by the Governor of Queensland.

The Tattersalls Hotel, Gympie 1900

Why "Gympie"?

With discovery of gold the town was quickly known as “Nashville”, after James Nash, that lucky prospector. A year later, however, it was renamed “Gympie”, a word derived from the local Kabi-Kabi people’s language referring to the ‘stinging tree’ or gimpi-gimpi. This plant, the Dendrocnide moroides, delivers a painful punch … I mean, sting. ๐Ÿ˜– Deceptively harmless in appearance with a lovely heart-shaped leaf, inviting you to inspect it more closely, it delivers a sensation that has been described as “being burnt with acid and electrocuted all at once” (Hurley, 2018.)  ๐Ÿ˜ซ๐Ÿคฏ

gimpi-gimpi plant

It grows in light-filled gaps in the ‘understory’ of a rainforest – yep, you guessed it, that’s the space you and I would be walking around in. ๐Ÿ˜ฌ The stinging hairs can remain in the skin for up to 6 months, and re-sting every time they are touched. I imagine a host of miners coming into contact with this plant and living in pure agony, so to alert everyone of the existence of the plant they took desperate measures and named a town after it!  ๐Ÿ˜…  (This is just my imagination running free.) However, one of Australia’s strange marsupial creatures, the pademelon, part of the sub-family of kangaroos and wallabies, munches with delight on this plant. Lol. ๐Ÿฅด ๐Ÿฅด

Pademelon

Gympie Today

The GympieRegional Council area covers almost 7,000 sq. km and has an estimated population of around 50,000. This is currently mushrooming due to various reasons, some to do with Covid-19, others because of existing residents not moving elsewhere, and also due to new interstate arrivals in the region. This has brought about severe housing stress for many, with rental increases and a serious shortage of available rentals. 

The area includes the small towns of Amamoor, Cooloola Cove, Curra, Goomeri, Gunalda, Imbil, Kandanga, Kilkivan, Rainbow Beach, Tin Can Bay, Traveston and Woolooga. There is a thriving agricultural industry with beef, dairy, livestock; horticulture  including mangoes, macadamias, corn and pineapples; last but not least is forestry. 

Gympie attractions

There are many – farms to visit where you can pick your own seasonal produce; restaurants, wineries, distilleries, and a brewery; nature trails galore for walkers; picturesque sites to enjoy picnics, some with gorgeous swimming spots; canoe and kayak trails; 4WD tours; abundant cultural and themed tours; customised tours; museums; heritage walks through the city; music festivals; beautifully maintained parklands and much more.

One icon is the MaryValley Rattler, a Heritage Steam Train, operated solely by volunteers, which runs to the small town of Amamoor and back. In 2019 we experienced the thrill of taking this outing. It comes highly recommended and didn’t disappoint. ๐Ÿ˜€

Images: (c) S Brandt 2019









The Gold Mining and Historical Museum makes for an interesting outing too. Also run solely by volunteers, it offers an impressive array of objects with information about the area’s early days as a gold mining hub. One can go fossicking at Deep Creek, nearby. (Yes, a licence is required from the Lake Alford Visitor Information Centre.)

The Woodworks Museum is well-known, highlighting the timber industry in the region, from its early days until now. Timber was in high demand for the mining industry, so the industry's rise followed hot-on-the-heels of the gold rush. Today the timber industry is constantly a hot topic because of deforestation and logging practices. Be it as it may, it provides employment to many in the region.

Loggers in earlier times, Gympie.

One of the art galleries in the region is the Regional Art Galleryhoused in the Gympie School of Arts Building of 1905. 

Mary Street, the historic centre of the city, is a must to stroll up and down. Sadly, it was recently inundated by severe flooding; some businesses are still reeling and struggling to get back on their feet. The Lady Mary statue is a local icon. She was the wife of Governor Fitzroy who toured Queensland in 1848 after her accidental death. The Governor named various landmarks in memory of his wife. The statue recognises the struggle with flooding in the area. She appears to bare her dainty bare feet as she crosses the Mary River, also named in her honour. ๐Ÿ˜„๐Ÿ˜€ 

Image: Lady Mary

The local parks are wonderful. Memorial Park with its old pavilion (also recently inundated up to its roof by the flooded Mary River) is a peaceful place to rest and enjoy some contemplation. 


Lake Alford Park provides space for families to spend time picnicking, playing, feeding ducks and bird watching. 

Hopefully we’ll get to visit many of the attractions in the area soon, to highlight them in more detail.

Until next time, blessings, and thanks as always, for stopping by. 

Cheers. ๐ŸŒผ