Quirindi Archives - INSPIRING MAX

Sunflower Magic

January 24, 2021January 24, 2021 inspiringmax

Sunflowers are a very special flower. They are so bright and magical. Although up till yesterday I had only seen them in small groups at the florists or growing wild beside the road.

Then a casual chat in the kebab shop changed my life. The other lady was showing my daughter and I as well as the shop attendant photos she had taken in a local sunflower field. I instantly knew what we were doing the next day, and I wasn’t disappointed.

A local award winning farmer had specifically planted the Quirindi sunflower field for locals and tourists to experience walking in sunflowers. The cost was a donation and we were able to pick our own sunflowers to take home.

I loved it. It was like nothing I had ever done before. I couldn’t believe the height of the flowers or the size of the flower stems or the leaves. I was also fascinated to learn that sunflowers follow the sun. If you ever get the chance to walk in a sunflower field don’t let the chance go by.

The various stages of opening up.

After a 4 hour trip home and some sugar in the water, today our special sunflowers are enjoying life in our lounge room.

Who’d A-Thought It Lookout

November 25, 2020November 25, 2020 inspiringmax

I loved the name of this lookout when we first drove past. How quirky I thought.

Who’d A-Thought It Lookout overlooks Quirindi. It is at the top of Ray Carter Drive, and offers 360 degree panoramic views of Quinindi, the Liverpool Plains and the Great Diving Range. The day we visited was clear and you could see for kilometres in each direction.

The surrounding area has some of Australia’s most fertile soil. Crops of the area include; sunflowers, canola, wheat, barley, sorghum, cotton, oats, flaba beans and corn. I love the vivid yellow of the canola just before harvest. You can see it in the top photo.

Peter Brock World

October 20, 2020October 20, 2020 inspiringmax

Last weekend was the 2020 Bathurst 1000. This years race was special because it was the final race for Holden’s factory team. The reason for the change is because the factory closed earlier in the year and the Holden brand has been retired. Thought Holden’s history at Bathurst it was well known that “when Holden cars won on the Sunday, Holden sold cars on the Monday.” To help keep up tradition Holden won their last Bathurst 1000.

Holden’s most successful racing car driver was Peter Brock. To this day his record of 9 wins at Mount Panorama Racing Circuit, Bathurst still stands. For this reason he was known as the King of The Mountain. Since his death in 2006, the winner of the Bathurst 1000 (The Great Race) has been awarded the Peter Bock Trophy.

In celebration of this great Australian race car legend, Bob Kollns created Peter Brock World at Bob’s Shed, Quirindi. Peter Brock was a crowd favourite and nothing was to much trouble for his fans. Kollns states that he had met Brocky on a few occasions and has many signed pieces of memorabilia in his displays.

Above are replicas of some of the cars Brocky raced over the years. I loved learning the stories behind the legend especially from his early career.

Peter Brock died doing what he loved. He was driving in a car rally in Western Australia. A national tragedy, when the country was still mourning the loss of Steve Irwin, (The Crocodile Hunter) 4 days earlier.

I think the following classic cartoon says it all.

Ruby Tuesday#2 Quirindi

September 22, 2020September 23, 2020 inspiringmax

Well, our first trip in Ruby was memorable. It started when the Antarctic blob hit Australia. This was a blast of extremely cold weather that brought snow to parts of the East Coast that hadn’t seen snow in over 15 years.

During out first trip Ruby moved about an inch to the right and was obstructing the driver’s mirror. This meant upon arrived in Quirindi Caravan Park, we had to take her off the ute. This was a double challenge. Partly because the weather was freezing, and secondly, because I am not great at directions. We could get her either centred or square on. But we struggled to get her both centered and square on quickly. After about half an hour, we had succeeded and we were inside celebrating preparing for our firat night in Ruby with the air conditioner on heat thawing out.

The quote “Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans” by John Lennon totally described our first Ruby trip.

We had planned to spend our first night in Ruby, at Wallabadah Free Camp. This is half an hour south from our eventual destination. When we arrived at Wallabadah, we discovered the free camp was closed. Later in fact, we discovered all free camps in Liverpool Plains Council Area were closed due to COVID. The advantage of needing to change our plans was that w2e stayed in a paid caravan park and had electricity so we could keep warm.

Quirindi is a small town on the North West Slopes in the Liverpool Plains Shire. The area itself has a rich agricultural history and the main street pays respect to the area’s heritage by displaying the original stock brands on the footpath.