Day 88 Friday, 5/8/2016, Toowoomba, nice

A few kilometres out of town in the suburb of Highfields a narrow road drops down the escarpment in a 21% descent into the Lockyer Valley. Tucked into the hillside directly below Highfields is the Spring Bluff railway station. In the days of steam engines the crew at this station built terraced gardens that won them the Southern division of the Queensland Railways garden competition, nine times. The gardens were badly damaged in the 2011 Lockyer Valley floods but have now been restored to their former glory.

We have lunch at the Farmers Arms at Cabarlah which is Queensland’s old surviving hotel, licensed in 1863. Gee, I love all the different descriptions that make each pub the oldest in some particular way. But this pub does have one unique claim to fame…in 1979 they staged the first darts competition by satellite. It was played against The White Swan in Great Yarmouth and the English team won.