During morning tea our Membership Man (Peter J) aggravated a previous back injury, which necessitated the calling of the ambulance from Boonah. We all felt for him but there was some ribbing and joking as to his penchant for being “accident-prone”! He was in a lot of pain and after a short stay in hospital, where a muscle spasm was diagnosed, he and Margaret travelled back home to the coast. Monday he was slightly improved, now I believe it's a matter of lots of TLC (and taking it easy). The remainder of us, following our visit to the Historical Village, headed off for a drive up to Mt French where the views over the Fassifern Valley and to the mountains forming The Scenic Rim were superb.

Intrepid Hikers Take a Rest!

By now we were hungry, (!) so back down the hill to The Dugandan Pub for a delicious Sunday roast. There was a log fire to add to the atmosphere, and a very talented piano man had the girls up dancing and everyone singing along.

On the way home several of us made a stop to visit the beautiful St Brigid's church at Rosewood, then it was time to prepare to go out for another meal...

Once again the Ipswich people went all out to provide a great BBQ with very tasty special sausages and rissoles, sauerkraut and salads, followed by dessert. We even had a display by a local possum as it ran up and down the gum trees. The BBQ was held at Fail Park, (named for the Fail family, FF Ipswich club members) a great venue that also boasts a rose garden and Friendship Force Board with plaques commemorating inbound exchanges from other countries.

A small gift was presented to the Ipswich President with many “thank-you's” to all the hosts, and as the night suddenly became cooler we said our goodbyes and made our way home. A few people travelled back to the coast whilst most of us spent a final night with our hosts and left next morning.

A very enjoyable few days was spent and I feel sure new friends have been made.

Barb O'Neil     Co-ordinator