Me ‘n’ the bucket…

I am a member of an online forum – Aussies Living Simply – and some of the members organised a get together (GTG)  today mainly for people in the South Burnett but also extending to all of South East Queensland. The GTG was held in a park in Nanango. While it is good interacting with people online, nothing beats meeting people face to face so of course I wanted to go along. I had met some of the members back in February 2009 at a previous GTG, so it was good to catch up with these people again but also good to meet other members who I hadn’t previously met.

For those who don’t know much about Nanango, here is a description I found on the web. I have no idea how accurate it is so apologies to you Nanangoians if it is wrong… 🙂

Nanango is a town in the South Burnett region of Queensland, 210km north-west of Brisbane. Nanango sits at the junction of the D’Aguilar and Burnett Highways.
Nanango’s principal industries are power generating and coal mining, agriculture, beef and pork production, dairying and milk processing, timber growing and milling, small crops, natural medicine, art and craftwork and tourism.
Nanango has two primary schools – Nanango State Primary and a catholic school called St Patricks. It also has a high school that was established in 1982 and is set over 35 acres of land. It includes a special needs unit as well as a daycare unit for the children of young students.
Nanango has its own hospital, with more hospitals in nearby Kingaroy.
Nanango has a vigorous cultural and sporting life and is host to several potteries and many craft outlets. Sporting clubs include bike, darts, golf, lawn bowling and archery. There are 13 well-maintained parklands, which naturalists believe are home to 250 different bird species.
Because of its proximity to Brisbane, Nanango attracts day and weekend visitors from South East QLD. Tourists also travel through the town on their way between Rockhampton in the north and Sydney/Melbourne in the south. The CBD features chainsaw sculptures and murals which reflect the town’s historical connections with timber-felling, farming and mining.
A great deal of Nanango’s colourful history is preserved in its buildings, especially Ringsfield House, a restored circa 1908 Queenslander, now the headquarters of the Nanango Historical Society. Unfortunately several fires throughout ravaged the CBD of the town, especially the fire of 1940 which destroyed all of the shops on the southern side of Drayton Street from Fitzroy to Henry Street. This led the CBD to have a 1950s ‘feel’, due to the architecture of the time. One building that escaped the ravages of fire was ‘Nobby’s Corner’, an example of an old-fashioned corner store with wide verandas.

Anyway, Nanango is about 220km or about three hours drive from home. I made it a day trip (six hours driving all up) so I left early in the morning and drove to Ipswich before heading up the Brisbane Valley Hway and then onto the D’Aguilar Hway. I passed through the towns of Fernvale, Esk, Toogoolawah, Harlin, Moore, Blackbutt, and Yarraman before finally reaching Nanango. Of course I needed some sustenance for that big drive so I called into Maccas at Yamanto (Ipswich) for the obligatory coffee on the way up.

Fernvale

A view of Wivenhoe Dam

Esk

Toogoolawah

Harlin

Moore

Blackbutt

Yarraman

Hannibal’s Bucket – Nanango

As we didn’t meet up until lunchtime and I got there about 10:30am, I killed a bit of time by checking out the Nanango Markets. The markets are held from 6am till 12 noon on the first Saturday of every month at the showgrounds. Apparently there are 300 – 400 stalls selling things like fresh produce, bric- a- brac, crafts, jewellery, toys, poultry, plants and heaps more.

Isn’t it funny how you always seem to meet someone you know when you travel. I saw this woman at the markets who looked very familiar. A distant cousin’s wife no less. We said hello and chatted for a minute before I checked out the rest of the markets.

It was then time to make my way to the park. I spent the next four hours at the GTG. There were a dozen of us all up and it was a very enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. We chatted, swapped some plants and goodies and generally had a good time. I went up there with some kefir grains and sweet potato plants and came away with marmalade, home made soap, tomato plants, beetroot seedlings, Chinese artichokes, pea, melon and coffee seeds.

We all left the park and I turned for home. But I haven’t made it home yet. I’m now sitting in Macdonalds with a coffee. I have driven most of the way home – half an hour to go – but I am feeling a bit weary so it is coffee time. I will sleep well tonight. All in all, quite a pleasant day…… 🙂