18-19/8/21 It's a Tough Life: Toowoomba to Greenup Meeting Place

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 Wednesday 18th.

Large towns exert a significant gravitational pull, made up of all the services and opportunities to spend money which they provide. It was early afternoon by the time we achieved exit velocity from Toowoomba and hit the road again.

Back through the Felton valley we went, past Leyburn and Kararra.


We had grand plans to spend the week camping at all the dams: Beardmore, Coolmunda, and Glen Lyon. That was until we checked in here at the Greenup Meeting Place on the banks of Coolmunda Dam, and now I don't think we'll go anywhere in a hurry.


There's just too much nice to be leaving any time soon.

Greenup provides us with a waterside camp and plenty of wood for a campfire. We feel like we're alone in the bush but have hot showers and toilets. There's a whole rustic events/cafe complex built around the old Greenup School. The cafe, usually only open Fri-Mon, is apparently open tomorrow as a concession to the campers already here who have begged and pleaded for a Cafe breakfast.  This puts us in a dilemma: stay at camp and have our usual muesli in the morning or tag along with the other campers to the cafe? Ah the decisions one is faced with when on the road! We shall no doubt debate this long into the night.

Putting future coffee-related debates aside, we headed off to watch the sunset. 

Livestock of the day: cattle in the sunset at Coolmunda dam.

Coolmunda Dam turned on a beautiful sunset for us, just a short walk from camp.

Followed by a beautiful sunrise the next morning.

Thursday 19th.

Alas I didn't bring a fishing rod so the fish that splashed, swam, and chopped all night were safe from me, although the pelican patrol and cormorant cruise took their fair share.

Beware fish who swim here.  The pelican awaits.

 We had our obligatory coffee at the Cafe and met C and his mum J, who both work and live at Greenup and who were as happy, chatty, and helpful as could possibly be. 

Wood from the local sawmill.  Art by the local artists.  Olives from the local olive groves.  "We get a lot of business from over the border but Covid has squashed that.  We had five big events cancelled but people are still making bookings for next year.  It's been two years in the making - my husband went to the Greenup school and we wanted to preserve it for the memories, but at one stage it felt like everything we touched was broken and we had to fix it before we could do anything."

After chatting, I went for a drive...

...and then a bike ride.

And then we lit a fire, watched the sun set and the moon rise, and listened to the frog chorus.

See the old dead tree there?  It's a high-rise apartment block for birds: at least two nesting pairs (one galah family, one corella) with a constant stream of others coming to check out the Real Estate.  I'd love to say that it is a harmonious community, but the amount of squawking and carrying on suggests regular neighbourly disputes.

Small and delicate for today's animal: Dragonfly.


 



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