Obscure SE Qld towns

Having spent most our allotted travel money on a rudimentary collection of parts masquerading as a street-legal vehicle from a chap in a dusty north Queensland town where the only other inhabitant seemed to be a one-legged chicken working at the post office, my brother Dave and I applied for some fund-rejuvenating work on a property in Diddillibah, an hour north of Brisbane.

Upon mastering the pronunciation without implications of marital aid and subsequent offence to the women folk, like competitors in an episode of that Japanese Endurance series, we resolved to assist with sprucing up an area which could conceivably have occupied two time zones.

Upon hospital release some days later, the funds accrued allowed us to explore the surrounding area. Funnily enough, Dave had been to nearby Woombye on a previous visit but, when responding affirmatively after landing in the country to a misheard question at Brisbane Airport in respect of the terrorist-affected Mumbai, he very nearly missed out on the trip altogether.

Nearby is the Big Pineapple. Like some Chernobyl-induced 16 metre herbaceous perennial, the Big Pineapple seemed in reasonable proportion to the nightmarish insect life we had already encountered on this leg of the trip and is but one example of Australians’ indefatigable need for enormous town symbols. Indeed, it seems there are about 150 of such outlandish creations dotted around this vast country. Most bizarre (to my mind at least) a kilted Scotsman in Adelaide, although the perverse detail of his rendering apparently cannot be gauged by front-on pictures alone.

With a fervour I attributed to fruit envy, a Woombye local regaled us with the story of another, now-demolished but seemingly inferior Big Pineapple at Gympie, north of Woombye. In support of his case, he pointed out a plaque commemorating Prince Charles and his then wife, Princess Diana’s ride on the Woombye Big Pineapple train in 1983. It is presumed the couple shunned the copycat Gympie version for fear of being exposed to the effects of in-breeding although, being royals I’m not convinced they could have cast the first stone. After a relaxing trip on the Big Pineapple train or the dubious-sounding Nutmobile, the sundaes served on the premises are, like this diverse and beautiful region of Australia, heartily recommended.