Monday 31 July 2017

Short few days to visit Jumpers and Jazz

Last year was the first time we were able to attend the Jumpers and Jazz festival after many years of wanting to go but no free time on the weekends, especially at the beginning of school terms. Jumpers and Jazz takes place every year in Warwick, on the Darling Downs. It runs for 10 days at the end of July. This year was the 14th year the festival has been on. It is amazing how creative others are with their yarn bombing.
Jumpers and Jazz was the aim of the weekend and this year, as last year, we stayed at Clifton, a 20 minute drive from Warwick. Warwick is a place that we often stay at either at the beginning or the end of a trip as it is only 3 hours from home. We love it there. We have been lucky to be there on football gala days and horse training, but this time we were fortunate to see many polo games, from the comfort of outside our van. We arrived at Clifton at lunchtime on Thursday, and relaxed. On Friday and Sunday we went into Warwick to see the displays. On Saturday we enjoyed the polo. You can read about the history of Clifton here.
On the Friday we drove into Warwick and walked along the two main streets of yarn bombing. They had not judged the displays yet, but they were amazing. Although the Festival offically started Thursday, there was not a lot of Jazz going on. We only saw one busker outside a cafe, but it was Friday. One the up side, Friday didn't have as many people taking photos - most visitors come on the weekends. We had decided to have lunch at one of the many cafes, and had heard a lot about the Bluebird Cafe, so thought we would have lunch there. We were very disappointed. It was about 1.30pm and there were a few people sitting outside, and two couples sitting inside. There were only two tables that were clean, the other vacate tables still had plates and leftovers on them. We waited almost 10 minutes and then went up to the counter to see if we needed to order there. We were told no, it was table service. O.K. We waited a few minutes more and another couple came in, sat down, and was given water and glasses. We were still waiting. Some of the tables were then cleared, but we were ignored. We watched a server apologise to a couple that was there before we arrived, about their food taking a long time, and after a total of 25 minutes waiting (5 minutes discussing if we should stay or go), we got up and left. I doubt if they even knew were were gone!
BUT..... things always work out right? We had walked past many cafes earlier in the day, and even what appeared to be a pop up cafe, so knew we would not go hungry. We came across the Belle Vue Cafe, where Peter had bought his coffee from numerous times last year, so that is where we had lunch. It was so good, and the best chocolate milkshake I've had for a long time.
Saturday, as I wrote above, we stayed at Clifton and watched the polo, then on Sunday we went back to Warwick so Jonnie could see the old cars. The main street is closed and moving traffic is replaced by some pretty good looking cars. While Peter and Jonnie were looking at the cars, I went to the art gallery, craft shops and displays. I sat for a while watching and listening to the jazz outside the town hall, but again not much jazz going on elsewhere. When we all met up again we had a late lunch of asian food, which was ok, but not as good as Friday's Belle Vue Cafe.
Monday we came back home to pick up our daughter and two granddaughters who arrived from England for a month. Sad to leave Clifton but great to see our family.

1 comment:

  1. Jumpers and Jazz sounds like a great weekend. And how exciting to have family visiting from UK, with grand daughters to spoil!

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