Steam engines!

We were staying in a motel opposite Queens Park in Toowoomba. As we walked through one day I noticed a steam engine parked up in a local sandpit. Apparently this used to be pretty common - old steam engines were cleaned up, painted in bright colours and used to amuse children. It still works today

 The park was also the source of much reminiscence because of this....

Spot the excitement? Trees that shed their leaves. Brisbane is so tropical that the trees don't shed their leaves and so the seasons pass unnoticed. Seeing a nearly bare tree clothed in only a few auburn leaves makes you think fondly of the old country. Although that blue sky again gives the game away.

Toowoomba has an escarpment called 'Picnic Point', which has one of the biggest flags I've ever seen to remind me that I'm not in England any more (Toto)

along with a magical view over the hills beyond

You can just about see the road that climbs 700' up into Toowoomba in the middle of the picture below

 

On the way home we drove through some of the areas that were devestated by the floods earlier this year. The entire region was completely flat and huge - very scary to think that somehow this entire area was under water..