Laidley To Toowoomba

Breakfast on the verandah of the restaurant followed by a quick detour to Doonan's Road where Kirstie awaited our arrival. I was most interested to take in the Saturday morning markets at Laidley. None of us had been previously so it was an unknown quantity. Lots of cars and tents so it was obviously popular. Rows of stall holders pedalling their wares which ranged from live ducks to fresh produce. Fruit and vegetable vendors were my draw card for I desired fresh for our barbecue dinner. Laden with strawberries, grapes, rock melon and other assorted bits and pieces our next stop was Toowoomba. The Toowoomba Easter Fest suggested as a possible place of interest for tourists such as myself. However, upon arrival at Toowoomba it was clearly not for the feint hearted. News reports estimated that a 30 000 crowd had made its way to Toowoomba for the annual festival. The streets were humming with throngs of people in every street, campers in the park and enormous circus tents too. Our secondary mission was to investigate camera packages. Chats to people who knew about lenses and light exposures highlighted my meagre knowledge of the subject. A surprising discovery of a book/coffee shop provided welcome respite from the bustling and enthusiastic festival goers. Loved the comfy lounges, the friendly service and most of all the citrus tart. Meyer and Dymocks allowed us to shed a few dollars before another discovery that probably pleased me more than my ever so patient husband. Trade Secret, what does that sell I inquired of my Doonan's Road, local expert? Fashion. How lucky was I? The retail therapy outlet allowed one to purchase brand labels at a fraction of their usual cost. The outlet was almost as vast as our local Bunnings so for those doing comparisons you can imagine just how many racks of clothing awaited my scrutiny. Some days you just get lucky. This was my lucky day. An hour later purchases stowed with the fresh produce and we were off back down the steep descent; destination Plainland. A post script to this day was to wake on Sunday morning and read in the online news that Toowoomba's festival had been hit by overnight storms, flash flooding and the collapse of one of the circus tents. How quickly things transform and change at the force of a rain shower. In January of this year Toowoomba had tragically suffered loss of life and widespread destruction from a severe storm event that is still visible to this day and more likely than not, to be apparent for many months to come.