Aussie Travel Diary

Recently travelling to Toowoomba for a day, I struggled to find anything on the net about Toowoomba. Normally, I use a combination of tools to find interesting places to see in a particular place, but my normal tools (Google Search, Google Earth, and a few books) turned up very little.

After talking to a few locals and a visit to the Tourist Information Centre, I was on my way for a day of sight seeing.

Toowoomba is known as the “Garden City” and has quite a lot of public parks and in Spring, Toowoomba hosts a Carnival of Flowers. But what is there to see when it isn’t Spring?

After quite a lot of searching on the net, I found a website that had a little bit of info on the Toowoomba District. Queensland Holidays can get you started in the right direction, but when you arrive at Toowoomba, definitely stop in at The Tourist Information Centre and pick up a bit of local knowledge.

The Toowoomba Tourist Drive is great little drive around town and shows you some of the best bits of town and the surrounding areas. If you stopped at everything, I don’t think you’d see everything in a day – I certainly didn’t and I spent a good 6 hours around town. There are a total of 26 sites to see on the Tourist Drive, I picked out a few to get a taste of Toowoomba before moving on to a couple of attractions that aren’t on the Tourist Drive.

Lake Annand Park

Not far from the centre of town, this little park offers a great place for a picnic with BBQs and a playground for the kids. There is plenty of grass to kick a ball or just relax and feed the Ducks and Ibis that inhabit the lake. I don’t know enough about Toowoomba, but the Ibis are a pest in just about every other city in Australia and most local councils request that you don’t feed them. Unfortunately, if you want to feed the ducks, you’ll end up feeding the Ibis too.

Picnic Point

According to the locals, this is one of Toowoomba’s best spots. Picnic Point looks over the valley to the east of the range and you could quite easily spent a day relaxing having a BBQ with friends, going for a walk on the many walking trails or taking in the views from the Cafe while having a cup of Coffee, or something a little heavier. One thing that impressed me was the massive Australia Flag flying high looking over the land - I am very proud to be Australian! Travelling from the east, as you approach the range, the Australia Flag of Picnic Point can be seen quite easily.

The prices of the Cafe were a little expensive – A simple sandwich, $15.50. We ended up buying some chicken nuggets ($9.95) and a bowl of chips ($6.50) – I really struggle with how Cafes and Restaurants come up with their prices. I enjoy fine dining and am very happy to pay for silver service and a 5 star experience, but I don’t understand how a simple Cafe / Restaurant, that doesn’t supply these things, can still charge high prices.

Japanese Gardens

There are a few towns that I have been to in the last few years that have taken to creating a Japanese Garden. Toowoomba’s Japanese Gardens have been established for quite some time. I remember first visiting the Japanese Gardens approx 20 years ago.

The Gardens are run by the University of Southern Queensland and it is another picnic spot (Toowoomba is very proud of all their gardens). I spent about 30 minutes walking around the gardens. The centre feature of the gardens is the lake which has a couple of islands and bridges between each. There is also a couple of man made waterfalls and cascades.

Spring Bluff Railway Station

If you are a train buff, and I am, you will enjoy a stop at Spring Bluff Railway Station. The station is no longer in commission (decommissioned in 1992), but during the Carnival of Flowers, trains run twice daily from Toowoomba. The site is now listed with the National Trust and has a little Cafe, a picnic area and a dance hall.

On April 12 1867, the first train ran on the Ipswich – Toowoomba line. The trip from Ipswich to the bottom of the range took 3 hours and the remaining 16 mile section which incorporates Spring Bluff Station took a further 2 hours to complete. In 1867 the station was called Highfields Station but was renamed to Spring Bluff in 1890. In 1907 the Dance Hall was constructed and in 1913 the station handled 5500 passengers.

I enjoyed walking around Spring Bluff Station and looking at the old train signals.

The Round Up

I spent a lot of time driving the streets around Toowoomba looking at buildings. I drove past The Royal Bull’s Head Inn which was built in 1859, had a quick look at St Matthews Church at Drayton (the original settlement of Toowoomba) and admired the heritage along Russell Street in the centre of town. While I didn’t get to see everything that Toowoomba has on offer, it is pretty clear that the gardens and picnic spots play a big part in the tourism of the area. After seeing one garden, they all look the same to me – although my opinion may change if I visited during the Carnival of Flowers.

There are a lot of other attractions nearby that I believe would be worth a visit. Some of the attractions that I didn’t get a chance to look at (but wanted to) are:

• Cobb and Co Museum
• Jondaryan Woolshed
• Highfield’s Pioneer Village
• Acland Coal Mine Museum