Melonfest 2019
We were just about to have lunch on Friday 15th February, when we began to think about what we could do this weekend. We'd been wanting to get away for a mini-break....but where to?
Barb remembered that her cousin Helen (who lives in Chinchilla) had recommended that we attend "Melonfest" if we ever got the chance. It's only on every alternate year, and Mr Google confirmed it was on this weekend (14 -17th Feb)
We haven't got use of the van at the moment as we've loaned the Jackaroo temporarily to Garreth, so we searched for motel accommodation. None to be had in either Chinchilla or the nearby town of Miles! All booked out for the Festival ages ago. We did however find a room at Dalby Manor Comfort Motel at Dalby (about an hour's drive from Chinchilla).
We had lunch, threw some clothes in a bag and some food in the esky and were on the road within 70 minutes of our first thought of "we should go somewhere..."
Nothing like a bit of spontaneity!
We headed down the Maleny-Stanley River Road towards Kilcoy, and stopped for a drink in Blackbutt before continuing on to Yarraman and turning onto the New England Highway. Some way past Cooyar we turned off to go cross-country towards Dalby and arrived there by 4.15pm.
We found the Motel on the main Highway(Warrego) and dumped our stuff before heading into town to have a look around and find somewhere to eat.
We found a pleasant pub Bistro and ordered our meals. It was pub fare, but very tasty and filling. Barb pasted a photo of herself in Dalby and tagged her cousin Helen to see if she was in Chinchilla this weekend. Yes!
We left Dalby early and arrived in Chinchilla around 0830. The markets were already in swing, but we decided to have a coffee and fruit toast at Amelia's Place Cafe before contacting Helen.
Helen told us she was marching in the parade with the School Band, and we'd meet up afterwards at 11ish. Her brother Bill and his wife Liz were also in town for the Festival, so we'd catch up with them too.
We wandered around the very extensive markets, which were full of lots of things on a Watermelon theme. Of course we had to buy matching shirts and bucket hats, as well as watermelon earrings for Barb. Lots of people were dressed up in watermelon print clothing, getting well into the theme of the day.
We found a spot in the huge crowds to watch the parade. Sure enough we spotted Helen and her band, waving madly.
I got a text from my friend Claire whom I'd mentored at the PA Hospital years ago. She'd spotted John in the crowd and so we organised to also meet up with her after the parade.
Claire hasn't changed a bit, even though she now has three kids aged six to ten. She had a new boyfriend in tow to whom we were introduced. Then Helen, Bill and Liz also turned up.
We went off for a cuppa with them and then went back to the street to watch the first of the Melon themed events; the Dash for Cash.
Helen's husband Brad was running in this event where you had to carry a large watermelon as you ran. Needless to say, quite a few melons were dropped in the process and were splattered all over the road.
The main events took place on the school oval. It was packed with people. Not a bit of shade or seats to be had in the grandstand. We did our best to push to the front for a view of the Melon Skiing, Melon Bungy, Melon Pip Spitting, Slip Dip and Pull (tug-o-war). We were getting rather hot and bothered by now, so retired to find drinks and a loo. Sadly the town suffered a burst water main, so NONE of the loos were in action (apart from a bank of port-a-loos with long queues)
We decided at this point to retire to Helen and Brad's home. They have a new house on acreage, and since their grown children had all brought friends home for the festival, they had around 22 people staying in an assortment of tents, swags and camper trailers in their yard.
They seemed quite un-phased by this melee of people sprawled everywhere. At least they had water and a working loo!
We stayed chatting to Barb's cousins for the rest of the afternoon, sampling Helen's home cooked biscuits (she's as good as her Mum, Barb's Aunty Joyce)
It was a really lovely day.
We left around 4.30 so as not to be driving back to Dalby at night. We were pretty tired and sunburnt after our day out so stayed in eating biscuits, cheese and fruit for dinner.
The next morning we got away early and drove through to Toowoomba. We managed to find the Danish Flower Art Cafe at Highfields , just outside Toowoomba on the New England Highway (Barb had been there before with her Aunty Val) and had coffee and amazing scones. They have about 30 varieties of scones , both sweet and savoury , and they do them well. The walls of the cafe are covered with pictures of Princess Mary and Prince Fred of Denmark, which gives it a quirky feel.
We headed down via Ravensbourne to Esk, where we stopped to have a look at another really quirky shop. It had everything from Knights in armor suits and shields and swords to metal doorbells.
We drove home via Somerset for something different. We stopped briefly to view the dam wall and spillway from the back, but accidentally missed the turn-off to the dam spit, where a number of people were picnic-ing and undertaking various water-sports......next time!
Altogether a great weekend away!
