50-cent Fun - Gatton about!

Most of our 50-cent adventures so far have been toward the Coast, usually along the one train line. Today's was a bit trickier.  We caught an 8:24am train to Rosewood, then a 9:03am bus through to Gatton.

We've been to Gatton a number of times previously but always by car, so it was nifty to see a bit more countryside when travelling by bus.  One of the highlights was spotting so many Whistling-ducks at the University of Queensland campus!

We arrived in Gatton very close to 10:00am.  There was an agricultural supply store adjacent the station, with chooks for sale!

Gatton has three opshops in a row along the main street, so we checked for bargains before strolling further. 

I'd checked for geocaches before leaving home.  We enjoyed walking over to it, before stopping in a park for some morning tea - and pondering what to do next.

It was a bit of a walk back to the station, or up to the Cultural Centre - which had a nicer outlook for our lunch picnic.  

There was a bus stop about 800m from where we were but a long delay before the next bus.  We opted to walk up to the Cultural Centre, with Nick carrying my bag most of the way.

The Cultural Centre houses the library, art gallery and a transport museum - as well as a cafe.  We looked through the current exhibition and decided to save visiting the museum for another day.

Lunch was necessary by that stage and we found a picnic table looking out over the lake, with some purple swamp hens for company!  There were so many birds - and the lake was a lot more full than it had been on our last vist.  There'd be some upgrades to the paths and other tables, which became evident when we walked around, before catching the 2:37pm bus back to Rosewood station.  We got home a bit after 4:30pm, very pleased with our bargain day out!

Morning tea and lunch were self-catered.  Drinks and snacks are bought on special, especially for our 50-cent adventure outings. Our 200ml insulated bottle is a new purchase, spotted at Kmart for $6.00.  It's just the right size for milk and now has extra can cooler insulation.

We walked about 6.5km in total.  The distance from home to Gatton is 58.5km. Local diesel is $1.76 per litre today. A return drive would have cost around $18.90.

I've checked my GoCard history and it seems the total cost for my journey was 50-cents!  I made sure to tap on/off at all the changes but was expecting to pay 50-cents each way, not in total. Bargain!

50-cent Fun - Happy Queensland Day (and Night)!

Queensland Day is celebrated on 6 June, being the anniversary of the state's separation from New South Wales in 1859.

To date, our 50-cent adventures have been day trips, departing our local station about 8am and heading back home from the city around 2pm.

Our Queensland Day adventure was prompted by a free ticket offer to the Croc! exhibition - and we do love a freebie!  I booked 2pm tickets and we set off from home after a quick toasted sandwich lunch.

Please note how appropriately attired we were for our Croc! appreciation!

The exhibition was very interesting and we spent an hour or so there, as well as more time in the general access museum exhibits.

We travelled a lot lighter for this adventure, having decided to dine out using a First Table discount offer.  

Afternoon tea was necessary and we sourced that at Southbank, sharing some sweet potato fries with our tea and coffee.  (We closely guarded our chippies after an ibis pinched someone else's battered fish fillet)!  

We had a couple of hours before our dinner booking, so walked down to the river and cruised on a CityCat - always a favourite activity.  We thought there was enough time to do a full river loop but we were wrong!

Even though we changed ferries as soon as we realised our error, we were well and truly late for our reservation - fully expecting the discount offer to be invalid.  The staff were so lovely and happy to honour our bargain offer.

We dined very well, then headed back down to the river for another cruise, for full appreciation of the city lights. 

Landmarks across the state will light up maroon on QLD Day to celebrate.

Neither of us had consciously worn maroon but were a bit chuffed with ourselves to be very on-theme for the day! I'd put on an extra thermal top before dinner, and thought to include a wool wrap for cruising.  I used it as a knee rug for some extra warmth, cos we sat outside most of the time. The lights were so pretty and it was fun to see the maroon-lit landmarks.  

It was close to midnight when we started heading back to Central Station - and we arrived home after 1am!  What an excellent bargain adventure!

How much of a bargain was it?  Our inbound fares were 50c each. The exhibition tickets were free as part of QLD Day - saving us $58.00.  We spent $25.00 for afternoon tea.  The pre-dinner ferry cruise was 50c each (for about 2 hours).  Dinner was $102.00 for booking fee, two courses and two glasses of wine - saving $57.00.  Our post-dinner cruise and train ride home was just another 50c each!

We spent a total of $3.00 for fares and $127.00 on dining - after saving $105.00, all up.  $130.00 for 13 hours of fun - hooray for us!

Edited to add notes regarding fuel and parking cost comparisons - the return distance from the Museum is 77km. Local diesel is currently $1.99, so the fuel cost would be just over $15.00. 

We often pay a flat-rate of $18.00 to park near the Museum but that carpark closes at midnight. (A 24-hour access carpark would have charged $35.00).  So there were additional savings of  $33.00 or $50.00, depending on carpark choice.

50-cent Fun - Milton ...

A few days after our Chelmer adventure, I booked for today's Milton Greet. The weather prediction didn't look great last night (or when we set off this morning) but we decided to go anyway, cos we'd coped with worse as Victorians!

Although there was some blue sky at home, all was quite overcast at Milton, where we met our guide and two other other participants.

Even though we became QLDers in 2017, we haven't really explored many of the Brisbane suburbs in depth, so there was lot of new information to take in.  We enjoyed seeing some very interesting places as we walked, chatting along the way.

We drive through the main part of Milton at times but it was fun to explore on foot, excellently guided by Charlie.

Suncorp Stadium is a landmark of the suburb and not somewhere we'd usually go.  There were so many currawongs in the area, calling to each other - lovely to see!  

We were near the stadium when all the dogs walked past.  Such a happy sight!  

A lady on her way to work commented the dog-walking was a daily event and lots of people paused in their activities to awww over the dogs!

It rained at different points of our walk, but not enough to dampen our spirits.  

It was only toward the end that the rain really set in.  We were near the river by that stage, so farewelled the rest of the party and made our way to Milton ferry terminal.

We sat undercover to eat some lunch, waiting for the rain to ease - then walked back to a park we'd seen earlier, which appealed because of the in-theme train playground!

Our pocket rocket stove did great work and we appreciated having tea/coffee with cake, sitting under cover.  The rain seemed to have stopped when we packed up and set off to Auchenflower station.  Hah!

Oh, we were truly saturated by the time we got to the station!  Our shared umbrella hadn't provided much coverage at all!

Hot showers and dry clothes were our first priority once home.  

We walked 8.5km in total, so were glad of our lounge chairs.  

The folding hiking cushions are being well used though and we're very pleased we bought them. I can leave mine partly folded, so it works a little like my regular seat wedge.

Today's total fare cost was $2.00 - 50c each way, for each of us. Bargain!

The distance from home to Milton 35.8km. Local diesel is $2.21 per litre today. A return drive would have cost around $15.80.  I'm not sure about parking! 

50-cent Fun - Chelmer to Graceville ...

The weeks are flying along and it's nearly a month since our wonderful Walter Taylor Bridge tour.  

In speaking with today's guide, tours of the bridge are not currently available due to remedial building works being undertaken - so it was lucky we went when we did!

I booked today's tour the day after we our Walter Taylor Bridge visit - because there were some links between the two.

There's currently some industrial action impacting train services and I had wondered if we might have to drive but everything clicked into place.  

Our morning train smelled like it had just been deep cleaned!

It was my custom bag's first 50-cent adventure and it worked very well.  I really like that my GoCard lives in a front pocket, where it is easily accessed to tap on/off.

We met our lovely Greeter guide, Rick, and thoroughly enjoyed learning of the area as we walked along.  

Our first stop was the Chelmer Community Centre (former School of Arts) building.  We fluked a look inside and admired the theatre area.

We saw so many beautiful homes! Two that had been designed (and occupied) by Walter Taylor - as well as his other buildings.  

Our favourite of these sites was the Graceville Uniting Church, though I was also very taken with the idea of him building a garage turntable which meant no reversing!

There are Greeter volunteers all around the world, offering free 2-3 hour walks in their home cities. Such a great iniative!

We walked about 5.5km in total, looping back almost to our starting point at Chelmer Station.  We farewelled Rick and thanked him for his time / company.  

Nick and I had our picnic lunch with a view of St David's Anglican Church (and the station) - entertained by many cockies and a couple of galahs, digging in the dirt for grass roots. Of course, our lunch was far superior! We had pasta frittata, some fruit and salted cashews as well as double-choc muffins. The pocket rocket stove did super-quick work of boiling water for our tea/coffee.  

Today's total fare cost was $2.00 - 50c each way, for each of us. Hooray!

The distance from home to Chelmer is just under 31km.  Local diesel was $2.27 per litre this afternoon.  A return drive would have cost just over $14.00, though parking would have been free.

Pretty well set-up ...

I've continued to work on my 50-cent adventure bag over the past week.  

Back in the days when we used our trusty trolley for family outings, we quickly discovered that organisation was key.  I made a handled bag to sit on top of the soft-sided esky, which held random stuff.  

It was much easier to lift the bag to access the cooler, rather than try to take out items individually. 

Although my picnic bag is much smaller in scale, I wanted it to be as easy to use. 

We used our usual green mugs when testing the pocket rocket stove but their handles were a bit awkward in the bag.  

I started looking online at possible alternatives, before I remembered these insulated tumblers, bought on clearance in 2022. They looked quite smart when new but the colour coating hadn't fared well.  Aesthetics aside, they were still perfectly usuable. 

I used a scouring pad and was able to remove all the teal coating, bringing the tumblers back to stainless steel. They are larger than the green mugs, and a better multi-purpose size - praps for soup on cooler days. 

I had pre-printed batting for a patchwork bottle tote and adapted that to make a custom holder for the tumblers.  (I'll fold the handle over when the tote is inside the main bag). Nick's sweetener tablets and a mini tea-towel sit in one of the tumblers when packed. The small co-ordinating pouch holds coffee and tea bags. 

I reckon we're pretty well set-up for our next 50-cent adventure!

Red Beverage Case ...

We've enjoyed many picnics over the years, refining our picnic gear over that time. I talk about some of those upgrades, here.

When posting that update, I'd recently changed the contents of our beverage case.

Two years on, the vintage lawn bowls case has been used often and is still going strong, as is the Engel esky that was bought to fit in with the vintage vibe.  

The Engel esky incurred minor damage during our Valentines picnic in February, when it was being used as a windbreak.  It's OK, the blemish is heart-shaped and adds to the cooler's charm!

In August 2024 I spotted a red vanity case on FB marketplace and organised to purchase it, so I could have a matching red set for my picnics.  

The seller had purchased the case new in the 1970s, used it for her makeup business - and then packed it away in 1983!  It was in such great condition!

It's a bit larger than my others (which now live in my craft area, storing various notions), with almost the same footprint as the former bowls case.

The red beverage case came away on our Eight Weeks of Awesome adventure in 2024 and has been used regularly since we returned home.  

These days the red beverage case, the former lawn bowls case and the Engel esky are our usual choices for car-based picnic outings.  Setting up my 50-cent adventure bag has prompted me to cull excess picnic cutlery.  I'm looking at some of our other picnic/camping stuff to see if anything else could be sold or donated.

I regularly use the other, smaller bowling bag as a handbag, particularly when wearing my custom tea towel dress!

50-cent Fun - Adventure Bag Testing!

"It is fun to have fun but you have to know how" said The Cat in the Hat - and the phrase is used here, at times.

After finishing my custom adventure bag, I rounded up items to put in it - and researched others. As much as we bought opshop cushions for our return trip from Caboolture, they were cumbersome for ongoing use.

Bunnings had $9.98 foam kneeling pads.  We bought two of those, which I had considered using for 50-cent adventures.  After more thought, I decided they'd be better suited for car-based picnic outings.

I spotted these Hikelite seat pads on sale at Anaconda. - $9.99 rather than $19.99.  Even better, if I bought two the price dropped to $14.99, plus click and collect orders received a $5.00 voucher.  Bonus!

Nick and I both thought about a hiking stove, pretty much at the same time.  We looked at those when picking up the seat pads.

Erin offered her $20.00 voucher, which brought the sale cost of the Furno Stove and Potset down to $67.99.  I was then able to discount the butane cartridge to just $5.59 using my $5.00 voucher.   

We took our new gear for a local test today, to a park fairly close to home.  Mr Dog was very happy to come picnicking with us!

The 50g seat pads are quite neat and definitely made the bench seat more comfortable.

I tried different ways of packing the stove this morning.  The gas cartridge fits inside the pots, along with the cannister stabliser stand.  

The pot set fits neatly into a padded lens bag that I rarely use, which then sits quite nicely into my adventure bag.

The stove, in it's case, will be packed separately - probably inside the stacked mugs.  I'm still working on that bit.

We were hugely impressed with the little stove, which has been dubbed "pocket rocket"!  It was so much quicker than the butane stove we take on our car outings - we know cos we did some back-to-back time-trial testing!  It's also much, much quicker than the Spacevan's gas burners, so it might become a multi-purpose gadget!

I've used our kitchen scales to weigh the various components.  On it's own, the stove is 109 grams, then 140 grams packed.  The lighter adds an extra 15 grams - so 155 grams in total.  

The pot set weighs 194 grams and 217 grams with the stabiliser.  The 230 gram cartridge weighs 337 grams?!  When all items are packed into the lens case, the total weight is 888 grams - which is less than my large lens!