The Wilko's Australian Adventure: Toowoomba

Day 30 - Toowoomba

Toowoomba

Sunday, 21 August 2011

Today we were travelling to Toowoomba to see Anthony and Sarah Cerqui who are Anna's god parents. They have three children (Emma, Bec and Anthony jnr.). We left Noosa about 10 and popped to McWifi then set off on our journey. The weather wasn't great, warm but showery and we decided we would make better time going via Brisbane. However we didn't account for stationary traffic on The Bruce Highway so we took a detour and headed across country through Kilcoy and Esk and up onto the range that way. Anthony told us later that that is the way he would have gone anyway. We arrived in Toowoomba a little later than planned (about 1pm) and then struggled to find their house. I tried to phone them but couldn't get through and eventually Anthony phoned us and guided us to their home.

Anthony is a private Obstetrician and they live in a lovely house on the outskirts of Toowoomba. It was great to see them and we shared a chicken salad lunch. Anthony still thinks of Wendy as Wendy Jinks and thought it was really funny that she still pronounces words that end in G with a hard G at the end (sinG, rinGinG etc) and the girls do to. It sounds normal to us but Anthony thought it was very funny.

As you can imagine, we spent some time reminiscing (poor girls). Anthony and I worked together for a month or so in Toowoomba and we were often the only doctors in the hospital. We both clearly remember saving the life of an asthmatic lady who we had to intubate between us (Anthony intubated and I read out the instructions). I remember their shed, which was infested with red-back spiders. Just for your interest, 20 yrs ago Anthony influenced me by telling me that wearing a vest in hot weather made him more comfortable, and I've worn a vest ever since (not the same one). As you can imagine the girls were finding stories like these fascinating.

They also remembered Wendy's teddy bEar, Dakin, and were amazed that the bear was still with us, although the bear now belongs to Jess and is called Emily!

Then we went for a walk with their two dogs. They have a little dog called Baci (Italian for kiss) but recently they have been worried by security and have bought themselves a Blue Healer called Alvin, which is a cattle dog. This dog lives outside and it's not safe to go into their garden if Anthony and Sarah aren't with you. However I thought I'd made friends with Alvin so went out to take some video of their garden. Alvin noticed me by their summer house and came over and shepherded me back to the house. He is trained to nip the heels of cattle and he tries to bite the back of your jeans at the knee. Apparently then he just holds you and stops you leaving. I think he secretly liked me as he didn't actually bite me!

We had a lovely evening. We had a fondue with prawns, fish, beef and lamb, followed by marshmallows and strawberries in chocolate.

Anthony was operating at 06:30 the next morning but we went to bed quite late.