You know you're in the country when you start seeing bull horns and cattle fences!
The alarm went off at 4am; it was still dark. By 4:20 we were in the car and on road to Pittsworth!
South west of Toowoomba and about 2 hrs 15 mins inland of Brisbane City, this small town boasts about its 5 cafes, 2 banks and 1 pub. At the last census there were just shy of 3,300 people living in this historic town.
The town came into being in the mid 1800's as there was land being farmed with stock (cattle) nearby. It grew around a pub that was the hub for travelling workers. The original name of the town was "Beauaraba".
Though long before the cattle were farmed and the buildings were built and the roads were made, the Giabal (aboriginal) people lived on this land.
We were heading to Pittsworth in order to visit a parkrun (read: 5km free, weekly, timed running event) that we'd never been to. Hence the very early morning alarm clock; parkrun starts at 7am on the dot!
The entrance to the Pittsworth Showgrounds, where local events are held regularly and the local parkrun is held every Saturday (when there are not cows and horses running around, that is!)
We always aim to arrive at a new parkrun at least 30 minutes early. That gives us a buffer in case we can't find the starting area, it let's us find and use the toilet, and it gives us the chance to warm up our legs after sitting in the car for a long drive.
The course was a mixture of sealed road, concrete path, gravel, grass and, after all the rain we had the last few days, some mud!
A cool change had come through, so after days and days of sweating with the endless humidity and then hiding from the downpours, suddenly I was reaching for a jumper! It was genuinely windy and cold at the start line and I left the jumper on until it was time for the run to officially start.
Then, because Brad and I have tentatively decided to enter a marathon as our one key race next year, it was time to set the benchmark and see how fast we could go. Once we had a clear idea of our current best on this reasonably flat course we could go ahead and write ourselves a training program.
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Me, at the finish line, talking to Wayne and Jo: two of the key volunteers keeping Pittsworth parkrun happening each week.And run fast I did! The jumper was back on because I was rapidly cooling down but the sandals I ran in were still on and I was smiling because I finished so far up the front! It helps when it's a tiny parkrun :PYay! 1st in my age category, 2nd female, 6th overall, with a total of 34 runners and walkers. The youngest person there was a six year old boy and the oldest was a man in his 70's.I started fast and worked hard and smart as we picked our way between the gravel and the mud (and some glass on the footpath!), as we stayed out of the way of oncoming runners and missed meandering children who don't yet know how to 'stay left' and battled a head wind to finish in my second fastest time for this whole year in 23:54. Wooo! Stoked! (Photo is a screenshot of the parkrun.com.au website finish results)Brad (my partner), me (in sandals) and Lindy (a local with her shoes in the top left of this photo) pushed each other pretty much the whole way. We all felt there was no way we would have run that hard if we hadn't been sitting on each other's shoulders the whole way. All parkruns are 5km, however the actual course varies from parkrun to parkrun. This one is a three lap course, with a lap around the oval and then an out-and-back section alongside the road before coming back to the start/finish line. It was fun actually, seeing how fast I did each lap and seeing if I could hold the pace for each subsequent lap. But I can see how some of the locals would get bored doing the same three laps, every, single, Saturday! (Screenshot from Strava app).After parkrun it's tradition to go to a local cafe. Lindy, her husband Wayne and a few of the other runners were headed to "Diner on the Downs" so we joined them. I was shocked that I was able to order my usual "almond dirty chai" in a small town like this, but was also delighted that it was possible. Funky decorations, hey?And then it was time for a walk around town. This was a local corner park and garden, that, according to their sign, was made in 1876. So it's no new kid on the block ;) One of the town's more recent claim to fame is a man that went by the nickname "The Crimson Flash". Arthur Postle was his real name and was known for wearing all crimson (red) coloured clothing while running. At one point in time he was proclaimed as both the fastest man in Australia and the world.The original post receiving office for "Beauaraba" was opened in 1880 and was renamed the Pittsworth Post Office in 1886. Whether this is the same building in the same spot was unclear to us as we walked by on this weekend day when it was closed. But it was pretty and old nonetheless :)Out the front of the Post Office was a bricked footpath with some individual bricks sponsored by local companies and, in this case, a family who has lived in this area for a very, very long time.There were a few cool stone mosaic things near the street corners on the main road through town. This one was the best in my opinion. It's a koala! Can you see it?Each street corner in the middle of town also had some kind of small garden filled with flowers. It was super pretty and Brad and I were appreciating how, in small towns with a lot of space, they can do things they just don't do in bustling, busy urban areas.These were one of my favourites. Before you plant lovers ask me what it is; I have no idea! All I know is that I loved the colour (soft pink) and I love that the specked petals were growing right next to the solid coloured ones :) Old school telephone shelter. I'm guessing with that prominent seat it also doubled as bus stop? (Or was it a horse and carriage stop?)Historic old windmill in the middle of town. We saw a few working ones out on farms, but this rusty old one seems to be for show only.After we left Pittsworth we wanted to do a short hike before driving home. We had spotted an "environmental park" on a map in town but when I Googled it, it showed it was inside "Irongate Conversation Park". This was the turn off... Soon after we were onto dirt roads...We past several cows...And more cows... And hayfields...And food farms...And more farmed country...And crossed over one of the several train lines in the area (that service the farms I think!)...
But... the Conversation Area ended up being no more than a chunk of saved bush surrounded by farmland!!
So we kept driving north to discover the next possible spot to hike: Mt Tyson.
We soon discovered we were entering a tiny town, that, thankfully had public bathrooms, but alas! No hike-able mountain! We took a short break to eat a picnic lunch in the car before trying one more time to go hiking.Before long we were in another tiny country town, this time, it was Kingsthorpe; smaller than Pittsworth but bigger than Mt Tyson!And it had an actual "mountain"! Yay! Well, I should say it's a mountain by name but a hill by nature because it was less than 1km return to walk up to the top (and back), and took us less than 20 minutes total. Here's the view from the top of nearby farmland.But it was good to stretch our legs, check out the view and go somewhere new before the long drive home again.
Another parkrun-fueled adventure to take us somewhere new that we'd otherwise never have been inspired to visit. Thanks Pittsworth, Mt Tyson and Kingsthorpe; it was a pleasure to get to know you :)
(Photos taken by me on my Google Pixel 2XL phone camera and by Brad - @new.things - on his Samsung s21 phone camera unless otherwise specified. Historical information about Pittsworth from Wikipedia).
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