2 Texans Down Under

Being salary-dependent and knowing that we might be able to live in Australia only another year or two, Kristi and I take every opportunity to experience its various parts. And varied this country is, in its plant life, its critters, and its geography.

Like most people here, we had four days off for Easter weekend and we took advantage of every waking moment, leaving our driveway at 7:15 a.m. Friday and returning at 8 p.m. Monday.

Our plan was to visit national parks in the Granite Belt about three hours southwest of Brisbane in the vicinity of Stanthorpe, but by the time we got home, we’d also hiked in parts of Washpool National Park and the Main Range National Park.

And get this: we visited New England and drove from one side of Texas to the other. That’s what we’ll be writing about to friends and family, and it’s true.

We were on the New England Highway from Warwick, QLD, to Glen Innes in New South Wales, and, being as close as 60 or 70 miles from a town we’d heard so much about, we couldn’t resist adding in a trip to Texas, Queensland, population 900.

It was one quiet place on Easter Monday, but now we can say we’ve been there!

Not only that, but, thanks to an amateur Japanese astronomer named Aiji, we’ve finally been introduced to Read the rest of this entry »