Underground Creek.

So...today we went back to Girraween National Park and walked to and explored Underground Creek.

 

Getting a gate.

So...since our rude awakening the other night with the car getting stuck up our drive at 1.00am in the morning I am determined to get a gate for the bottom of our drive so that people do not think our overgrown drive is a continuation of Garth Lane.Here is my design incorporating the intended 'Frogknot' sign.

Thief in the night.

So...we have been suffering a number of soap thefts recently from our outdoor shower. We have found some evidence of the culprit involved after finding the nibbled remains of some bars on the roof or lying in the leaf litter but our last bar, a fragrant Frangipani soap has vanished. Tonight as Will braved the sub zero temperatures for his evening shower he suddenly cried out in alarm."What is the matter?" I called as I was crawling into our canvas ' fridge'." Come and look " he said.I did and there right above the shower head was the thief, caught red handed!

 

Not more voting!

So...today Australia goes to the polls after a six week election campaign.I have not recovered from the debacle 'Up Over' and each day my reluctant glancing at the BBC website appears to herald the UK's further descent into Doom. If Gove can become the Prime Minister then Trump can be President and surely the planned one-way manned mission to Mars will find no end of volunteers happy to leave Earth and never return.Like the UK, Australia also has it's fair share of idiots vying for votes and if Labour wins or the Coalition gets back in the Barrier Reef is still bu$%?!*d and asylum seekers will still be held in appalling conditions on offshore islands.I am unable to vote as I am not an Australian Citizen. All Australian Citizens have to vote here or you get fined.The voting system here seems very complicated and voting papers can be A3 sized or even like small, unwound rolls of toilet paper.Here are some of the more unusual parties on the ballot paper:Animal Justice PartyAustralian Anti Paedophile PartyAustralian Cyclists PartyAustralian Motoring Enthusiast PartyAustralian Sex PartyHelp End Marijuana Prohibition PartyBullet Train For AustraliaMature Australia PartyPirate Party AustraliaShooters, Fishers and Farmers PartySmokers Rights PartyThe Australian Mental Health PartyVoluntary Euthanasia Partyand Pauline Hanson's One Nation.Yes, Pauline 'I believe we are in danger of being swamped by Asians' Hanson is back and trying to get into the Senate this time.The USA has Trump, The UK Gove and Australia has Pauline."I may be only ‘a fish and chip shop lady’, but some of these economists need to get their heads out of the textbooks and get a job in the real world. I would not even let one of them handle my grocery shopping." Pauline Hanson.

Snowflakes!

So...this weekend is the inaugural 'Snowflakes Festival' here in Stanthorpe. We moseyed on down just before lunch to see what was happening.The World and his wife had decided to turn up too and it was packed. It is good for businesses in the Stanthorpe area and apparently, like Bethlehem, long ago there is no room at the Inn.People had been drawn by the promise of ice skating, a snow field and a human snow globe but I do not think that the planners had anticipated the numbers that would turn up.There are people here, especially in Queensland, who would drive miles to see some snow even if it was created by a machine.It was $10 per adult and $5 for children to get in.The ice skating rink was smaller than the floor space in Frogknot and the queue to use it was massive and full of the most miserable looking people waiting to get their skates on.OK, so the snowfield was made of snow apart from the bits that had turned to slush. It was only, perhaps, twice as big as the ice rink and was very popular. It was hard packed snow with all the foot traffic over it but some people were frantically scraping it up to try and make mini snowmen and pose for pictures beside them. Dotted about the area were sad piles of trampled snow with sodden, half buried scarves and broken carrots. Slushy snowballs were flying hither and thither and luckily we all managed to cross the area without being hit by one."We have a lost child," came a voice over the tannoy, "We are looking for Riley who is wearing red pants and an orange top. Riley, if you can hear this come to the main stage."Princess Elsa from 'Frozen' was wandering amongst the crowd with a group of penguins. She was waving at the crowd. She had certainly aged from the Princess I remember from the film. This Elsa was going through the menopause.Everywhere we looked people were queuing, for chips, hot dogs, churros, pizza and pasta. The queue for the Human Snow globe was very long. The globe was basically an inflated plastic bubble with what looked like torn up pieces of newspaper in it."Mum, I want a go!" Will heard one child say."I'm not queuing for another 2 hours like we did for that bouncy castle," his Mother replied."We now have a lost husband," said the voice over the tannoy. "Alexander, please come to the main stage where your wife and sick child are waiting for you."'If you are having a good time why not give us a donation so that we can ensure future events' was a sign by collection boxes dotted all over the place. We'd paid $35 to get in. What were they going to do with that?We were hungry but couldn't be bothered to queue for anything so we left and came home to the peace and quiet of Frogknot.We had a wander from the house up to 'Cathedral Rock' this afternoon, our walk accompanied by the sound of our neighbours blasting Heaven knows what to Kingdom come with their shotguns. Even here at Frogknot the peace and quiet does not last forever.