It rained during the night at Mundubbera and the sky was heavy this morning.  The 'Smiling Smiddy' bike riders were up early and the bell rang for them to start pedaling at 6.00am.  Today's ride is to Biloela and I have found on the 'Smiling for Smiddy' Facebook page, that they had a terrible day with the rain, wind and hills, but they were all smiling that night when the green guitars were pulled out for the function in the town.  They had raised $200,000 by the end of Day 2 at Mundubbera.

By the time we got going it had started to rain reasonably heavily.  It was nice to see a bit of water running down the creeks.  We travelled on the Burnett Highway through Gayndah, and were surprised to see on the entrance sign that it is the 'Oldest Town in Australia'!  Research informs me it could claim to be the oldest town in Queensland as both Brisbane and Ipswich were settled earlier, but they are now both cities.  Gayndah was settled in 1861.  There was a pretty impressive 'Big Orange' on the highway as we passed through.  We did manage to find a spot to pull over for a snap.   Sheep and mining brought settlers into 
the area, but it was the drier, less humid climate, rich volcanic and alluvial soils and plenty of sunshine that set the area up as a prime citrus growing centre and is popular during the cooler months of May to August with local and visiting fruit pickers.

Then it was on to Ban Ban where we turned onto the Isis Highway.  We had travelled through here in 2014 on our way to Miles and then Roma.  As it was still raining, we kept going until we got to Biggenden.  We pulled up opposite the caravan park for a late morning tea and comfort stop.  The rain had stopped, but it was still very black behind us.  We took a photo of the teddies tied to the fence, raising money by donation for Motor Neurone Disease.  You had to go into the park though to put money into the donation tin. 

Next stop was Childers and we found the 'Peanut Van' once again.  Pete had been hanging out to get some more 'Salt & Vinegar' peanuts that are brought to Childers from Kingaroy.  They are yum.  I purchased a small bag of 'Kingaroy Kurry' peanuts.  The smiling lady in the van that has been there for 5 years gave us a fact sheet about peanuts.  It's all about "Attacking Hunger Pains with Nuts'.  Recent studies are now showing that adding peanuts to a healthy eating plan can help dieters achieve and maintain weight loss by suppressing appetite naturally.  The mono-and polyunsaturated fat in peanuts have been shown to lower total cholesterol and the incidence of heart disease. 

We left the vans parked near the 'Peanut Van' and walked into town, but we made sure we took the brolly as the weather looked to be closing in on us.  And it did!  The heavens opened and down came the rain when we were in looking at the 'Childers Backpackers Memorial'.  There was plenty of thunder as well.

We were given a guided tour this visit of the Memorial and a brochure.  No photos are allowed to be taken, but a snap of the brochure must be allowable.  By the 10th anniversary of the fire in 2010, over 500,000 visitors had come to pay their respects and visit the Palace Backpacker Memorial.  The memorial components have been installed upstairs in an area which formerly housed 10 bedrooms.  The memorial consists of the glass mural and the memorial portrait.  The Glass Mural contains 15 Memory Boxes, each one dedicated to each of the victims.  The box contains the flag of their country and photos contributed by the grieving families.  It was designed by Sam Di Mauro.  The Memorial Portrait is named 'Taking a Break in the Field' and was created by Josonia Palaitis.  The portrait took five months to complete and in consultation with the families, the artist has been able to capture their personalities.

There is also an Art Space in the Childers Palace Memorial and different exhibitions are presented throughout the year.  The current exhibition is the work of Jacque Eden from Gin Gin, a town not far from Childers.  Jacque has travelled Australia extensively and taken lots of photos.  She has presented her Australian scenes through textile embroidery.  They were absolutely beautiful.  We were invited to put a sticker on the map of Australia before we left the Memorial.  There were a few stickers from Geraldton and one from Perenjori.

There are over 20 heritage listed buildings in the main street of Childers.  There is also a lot of mosaics in the pavement of the main street.  The 'Pavement Gallery' was created in 2005 and it consists of 53 mosaic panels.  They tell the story of the history of the local area.  Some have been designed from drawings by local school students.  There is a sculpture of 'Cattle Dogs' fighting outside the Grand Hotel,which is the only building on that side of the street that escaped the Childers fire of 1902.  The sculpture of the dogs has been created because it was common to see cattle dogs fighting outside the local pub, whilst waiting for their owners.

Once we had finished at the Memorial, it was still too wet to walk back to the vans, so once again it was a pie from the Bakery.  We have had a few Bakery pies for lunch on our travels and today was certainly a good day for a pie!

Then it was off to Hervey Bay, with it still raining a little.  By the time we got there it had pretty much stopped, but water had been running everywhere in the park.  I think our arrival was good timing!

We are impressed with this park.  Nothing flash, but a fantastic location right on the edge of the water.  I will blog more about the park and Hervey Bay in the next blog. It is going to be great to relax for a few days beside the beach.  Looking forward to it.