KIM – Once again a bunch of catching up to do! We finally got out of Toowoomba and instead of trying for Fraser Island we headed south to New South Wales to a place called Kings Plains Castle. We have now been in Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia & The Northern Territories – 4 of the 7 states – not bad!
King’s Plains is in the heart of an area known as Celtic Country and I swear you’d believe it. The names of the places and people are straight out of Scotland & Ireland and the land itself is rich, open rolling hills and tall trees. Our hosts were Colleen and Don. They owned 12,000 acres and bought the King’s Plains for its additional 3,000 acres of grazing – the 28 room castle was a bonus! So being enterprising souls with surely an excess of energy, they decided to open a B&B! Incredible hospitality,I felt more like I was visiting long lost friends in their home than a commmercial venture. The castle was built in 1906 for a young scottish bride to make her feel at home – nice wedding present, but it didn’t take as she divorced and left soon after. Lots of history and ambiance and a glimpse of life in the days of servants, white lawn dresses, afternoon tea, croquet on the lawns and so on!
Colleen and Don run a couple thousand head of Black Angus cattle, about the same number of Merino sheep and two displaced Texas long Horn steers – big fellas!
We only stayed there overnight but I could easily have stayed a lot longer!
Back to our home base of Archer Field for Barb and me via the Gold Coast. The seas were still quite dramatic but boy is it stunning! Especially as we got clearance to fly at 500 feet – practically blow the bathing suits off the surfers!
We spent all day – well I did anyway – SPA DAY. I loved being in the outback and living out of a smallish suitcase and the heat and dust and flies were all at part of that but a girl needs pampering after a while! So hair done – grey begone – mani, pedi, facial and massage and I was a new woman! I just have to have some down time once in a while!
Last night was a bit teary and lots of laughs too. Everyone is heading out their seperate ways today so we had a last get together at a Turkish restaurant down the street from the hotel. Let me tell you the sight of Mark working up a sweat with the belly-dancer defies description!
I shall be sad to say goodbye; I think we have all become very close over the past few weeks and while I’m sure everyone had their moments, the group got on amazingly well. I hope we can all get together to swap photos and reminisce soon!
G’Day Mates!