Well…that was a laugh a minute!

There had been excitement and mystery surrounding the tour we booked with Jo Jo’s Day Tours.

“It was a Mystery Day Tour” with no hints as to the day’s journey.

We arrived at Quay Street car park for an early departure as it would be a long day with so much to fit into the day. Our departure was set for 8.00 am.

Our two daughters were with us, one aged eleven years and the other nine years, we were sure they would enjoy a coach trip, especially with this particular bus driver’ a lady called Jo Jo. Her reputation had gone before her. From the minute we embarked Jo warmly greeted her guests. Jo chatted away with us over the microphone her happy, bright, and quick wit kept us, in the moment.

Jo, Jo was telling us all about the places we were driving through and what the names of the different towns meant, warning us that she would be asking trivia questions later with prizes to be won.

Ha, testing our memory!

Arabelle and Gracie “pricked their ears” when they heard about prizes, WOW!

At one stage Jo played some music and we had to all count to see where in the order of towns, Gin Gin, came in the song, “I’ve been everywhere man”, the song was so fast and such good fun. Next thing, Jo announced “morning tea time”.

A couple of volunteer workers were out the front to welcome us to a beautiful Native Land-Care Nursery, urn boiling and before we could blink we had the most delicious spread. Sausage rolls, quiche, fruit, and other goodies were spread out before us! A gentleman spoke to us about plants and gardens, he demonstrated propagation, most interesting.

He even kept the girls interested and involved.

Next thing we were boarding the bus…Where were we heading?

As we touched the ground, at our next stop, we were given samples of the mineral Molybdenite to pass around, our driver showed us how to speck for specimens.

Well…that was a laugh a minute…

Here, we had people of all ages bent over staring at the ground, backsides in the air, looking for this interesting and sparkling mineral, combining that with our knowledgeable, Jo Jo, most of the guests specked successfully, getting samples to take home, evidence of a newfound talent.

Back on the bus for one more stop before we reached a well-known country pub, dating back to the late 1800’s. This pub was snuggled in a mountainous area surrounded by majestic gums and native shrubs massed with red bottle-brush their branches swaying with the movement of the colourful crimson parrots.

Arabelle and Gracie ran around the pub garden, taking photos with their new cameras, and interacting with their new friends. Other guests wandered around chatting, while our country lunch was brought to the verandah.

An extensive menu was offered as we travelled, lunch orders were prearranged minimizing waiting time. Before long we were served a beautifully cooked meal during which we heard snippets of where to next amongst the oohing and aahing over the delicious hot lunch.

On our trip home, we had trivia competitions, amongst lots of laughter, as guests competed against each other…it was so much fun.

More in store for us!

We turned into a farmer's packing shed. The farmer was outside to meet us. He showed us the fruit being graded and packed.

The shed was buzzing with workers.

We heard amazing stories of the life of a farming family.

Oh, what a day!!

With Willie Nelson singing, “On the Road Again” we shared experiences as we made room for the fresh produce we were kindly gifted.

On arrival at the Car Park, there were happy calls “See you next time” echoing as people drove off home after a wonderful day.