New York to Brisbane: December 2016

The sign that greets you when you reach the top of the range,

The first time I visited Toowoomba was back in January 2011, it was the middle of their summer and everything was flowering beautifully. Toowoomba is in the mountains, part of the Great Dividing Range, it's situated on the crest of the Great Dividing Range and it's 700m (2,300ft) above sea level. As of 2016, the population is 165,168. It's nickname is The Garden City. It's a much smaller town then Brisbane, Brisbane's population is 2,308,700 (2015) but I didn't realize this, is that the population of Queens is 2,339,150 (2015). So basically I moved from a 2 million population to another 2 million population, but now we've moved to Toowoomba, much smaller but still big. Toowoomba is the most populous inland city in the country after the nations capital, Canberra.

There are many things to do in Toowoomba. They are expanding the Grand Central Shopping Centre, they've recently opened an H&M. There's still construction going on, this mall is going to be huge. The reason for this massive expansion is that the powers that be would like people to shop in Toowoomba, not take there money to Brisbane or the Gold Coast. There are plans for new eateries to open, one of them is a place called Schnitz, I've eaten there and they are very yum! Of course we're keeping our fingers crossed and hoping for a Carl's Jr, they did say they plan to open 20 more in Queensland. There are many cafe's and restaurants to choose from. We have a few good butchers in the area, hey the Darling Downs are known for their beef, I see the poor cows on trucks going east, and even though I like steak, it still makes me sad.

In September every year, Toowoomba hosts the Carnival of Flowers. Every park and green space is coloured up with gorgeous flowers, from tulips and gladiolas, to sunflowers and pansies, and impatiens, to flowers I've never heard of but are gorgeous. Everyone with a green-thumb is encouraged to enter their garden, as they do have a judging contest. A couple that lives a few blocks from us won first prize, this man's lawn looks fake, and he said he'll never tell his secret, but all-in-all their garden is awash with snapdragons, and lilly pillies, and graevillias and other Aussie native plants.

How Toowoomba got it's name:
For some time leading citizens resented their rapidly growing town being named "The Swamp" and on New Year's Day 1858, during a sports meeting a red flag was hoisted bearing the name "Toowoomba" in white letters.
Of the many opinions regarding the origin of the name "Toowoomba" the most favoured is that it is a corruption of the Aboriginal word "Tchwampa" meaning 'water sit down' or 'place where the rushes grow'.(1)