I’m not quite sure why Mum got the idea to go to Boonah for an overnight stay but I wasn’t going to say no to an original golden girls trip. The plan was for us to all meet at my house around 1.30 but a series of small events combined to make that timeline faulty. For a start Pauline got up dizzy and nauseous and rotated between the bed and the toilet. Meanwhile Mum’s Merc that I drove to Sydney was conking out on the freeway near Morayfield. She says it’s a bit freaky losing power at 110kms an hour. She waited 45 minutes for the RACQ guy to start it first go and it hasn’t happened since. While all that was going on Auntie Sue was also running late thanks to visitors. I believe this was all just so Pauline could go because by the time everyone got there she felt better and decided to come with us. Which was great because I got to drive!

Mum picked Brook Cottage as our accommodation which was an inspired choice. She’d found it on the Boonah Tourism site, which is impressive because Boonah isn’t big enough for a McDonalds but it’s large enough for it’s own tourism site. Glenys the cottage owner timed her arrival perfectly to meet up with us and give us the key. She showed us around the garden, taught Mum how to use the fireplace and pointed out the breakfast in the fridge. Bacon, tomatoes, hash browns, toast, yoghurt and free range eggs no less. There was also a jar of lollies in Auntie Sue’s room. It’s almost like walking in to your own house instead of a room for the night. There is cling wrap in the drawer, expensive floral toilet paper and champagne glasses in the bathroom. Not bad for a total of $205 a night for four people.

Before we could settle we decided to walk in to town and see if there was some place to eat. On the walk mum noticed all the new shiny tin roofs and thought the roofer must be good thanks to word of mouth. After seeing about 10 in a row she remembered that there had been a big hailstorm last season or so which would account for the amount of roofs. There were so many in fact that you’d feel ripped off that yours survived. We walked up and down the main street looking for a pub mum’s friend had mentioned as a good place to eat but nothing matched the description. We stopped to check out the real estate where we ran in to a few people (the young country real estate agent with too much aftershave was particularly notable – especially when Boonah isn’t THAT country) so mum pumped them for information. They told us the pub we were looking for was a half a minute down the road. I asked if that was half a minute walking or driving and he said a minute walking. I’d like to point out here that it was probably 10 minutes walk before we arrived at the Dugandan pub.

Ah the Dugandan pub. Wonder if it was owned by Doug and Dan? They have bundy and coke on tap (which apparently isn’t as nice as mix your own) as well as guiness. We had our drinks while we waited for our dinner. The best part about it was that you got to put whatever side you want on it – vegetables, salads or both! I had rissoles for $11 which was a bargain! It’s not fine dining with the lady yelling at the staff all the time, but I really enjoyed my meal.

Back to Brook Cottage where we pulled out the Brisbane Monopoly game. Since Auntie Sue had lost the dice I had to scrounge around to find a replacement and thanks to the cards and dice game provided we were able to go ahead. I ended up bankrupting Mum, Auntie Sue and Pauline by owning a whole side of the board and then sticking hotels on them. It helped that it was the most expensive neighbourhoods. Mum got shitty because Auntie Sue suckered Pauline in to handing over the only train station that she didn’t have – and she made Pauline pay her $100 as well. Once mum got knocked out she headed for the spa. All this was done in the very cosy environment of the log fire we had started.

Next day after breakfast we drove to the non flowering lavender fields, Moogerah Dam, took a walk around Templin historical village and had some excellent waffles in Kalbar. Then we headed for home. A short break was all it was but all we needed.

Boonah photo gallery

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