I just remembered another part of the Thunderbolt story as I watched your video footage of Thunderbolt's cave. The cave is exactly as I remember it 60 plus years later. When we were at Thunderbolt's cave, my Grandmother was walking around like she was looking for something. I asked her what was she looking for. She told me that when Freddy Ward was killed by the Police Search Party it was because not long before that he had held up the mail stage coach and stolen a large a large amount of gold bars and gold dust that the stage had picked up from the gold mining camps as it travelled towards Warwick which was where the gold would be transferred to the mail train to Brisbane. When Freddy was killed, none of the stolen gold was recovered. The locals all believed that he could not have spent the gold in that short time period and that Thunderbolt had hidden the gold somewhere near his hideout. That is what my Grandmother was looking for - the hidden gold shipment. Really interesting history. You are so lucky to get to travel around and see all these things that interest me so much. I just said to Bertha, we need to do a trip back down to Inverell way (my family's neck of the woods - New England Tableland) in the not too far distant future. I want to go and explore all these places again and maybe take a metal detector and try and find the gold. That would be a hoot to find the missing gold shipment. Also, I was just thinking, Mark Fallon F111 would be about 60 years old if he were alive today (I think). He would probably have been happily retired after a brilliant career flying but to kill himself at 24 is a sad loss. I think his navigator was even younger. I can't believe that people so young are given the keys to these really expensive toys and told to go and have a hoot, go as fast as you want, and fly as dangerously as possible close to the ground. As an ex-aviator myself, what these guys were doing was exactly what I was taught not to do. The old saying comes back to my mind taught to me by my flying instructor - "There are old pilots and there are bold pilots but here are no old bold pilots". That says it all, doesnt it? I remember when Mark was killed, we were all devastated but mainly for lives taken so young. RIP old mate. Cheers Brian.
Oh that's awesome. It's a really beautiful area. Time it right and you can go to the rail museum too.... it's meant to be great but our timing was out and they were closed 🫤
Another great video, you have really got these videos under control now! Wishing the three of you a fantastic new year and may 2024 be all you could wish for. Stay safe and keep exploring. Cheers
I just read the sign at Thunderbolt's Hideout. It jogged my memory on a few things. Yes, he did love really good horses. My Grandmother was an extremely good horse-woman having been trained by the bushranger in that district and she was widely requested to ride horses in competition by many people. She had horses at her house (acerage in Stanthorpe) right up to when she died. I remember being in my Grandfather's 1950's-ish Chevy Fleetliner when we went to explore Thunderbolt's cave/hideout. And now I remember my Grandfather telling me that the spot was chosen by Thunderbolt because it was a great lookout. And I remember my Grandmother telling me how his ingenious plan allowed him and some others to escape Cockortwo Island in Sydney Harbour. I didn't know that was the main road to Warwick. But I did know that good horses were the key to successful bushranging or paddy-whacking as my Grandmother used to call it. I will think some more and see if I can remember other things I was told. I do remember standing under that granite rock overhang between other big granite rock boulders. I seem to remember there being as many trees or thick foliage cover there when I visited in 1960's. And yes, I remember my Grandmother saying that many people in the area helped hide the bushranger, feed them etc because the people were not wealthy and they hated the Government of NSW. And they hated the Police. Cheers Brian.
Great video mate Tenterfield is wonderful country use to live near there when I was a kid, always head up that way for a drive through Tenterfield way then out to woodenbong.
Comments on the bakery. The Apple Slice looked like an Apple Slice - proper Apple Slice. I am betting Granny Smith apples from Stanthorpe. Yum. I am getting hungry now - no I am not hungry now, I just looked at what Bertha is making for lunch. Not hungry at all. You know what they say about "hot pies". They are "hot". Cheers Brian.
I just realised why you guys are down on the New England Tableland. It is to escape the heat of the eastern seaboard of Queensland. Smart thinking. It is stinking hot up here. 44° C yesterday. I can't work because you just end up sweating your bottom off and the salt from the sweat stings my eyes. It is hotter up here than the flint on Shailer's cigarette lighter. Cheers Brian.
And there is a very interesting story about that old bridge that Em took a photo of. And it relates to WW1 (I think it was) - not WW2. And a famous recruiting march from somewhere down in NSW (Hunter Valley perhaps) or Armydale maybe? And the march finished at the Post Office in Brisbane City. And I will say no more about that except the march went threw Wallangarra and Stanthorpe and Warwick. And I will leave it at that apart from mentioning a whole "NEW" Regiment of soldiers was formed from that particular march - the 5th Regiment I think it was. But I will say no more. Cheers Brian. Google the march, it makes very interesting reading. Especially in understanding how come so many young soldiers from so many different places but with many of them having the same background/upbringing etc being off the land (farms, cattle/sheep properties etc) all ended up in the same Regiment. But I will say no more about that. Cheers Brian.
Another grate video guys. And it is only Saturday. You are early this week. I love Tentersfield. I was guessing a different reason why your driver vanished in the middle of the highway (previous experience with stopping for Bertha in the bush). Bertha loves taking photographs so I thought Em stopped to take photos of the old bridge........that was my best guess. I tell you this honestly - I stopped the video at this point - patting animals - blah, blah, so I haven't seen the F111 stuff yet in your video. What school did Mark Fallon go to? Hint....it was in Brisbane......starts with a "V". Clue .....him and I are of the same vintage (age). I will say no more. But they crashed using the F111 ground terrain hugging radar. I can say a lot more about that but I won't. But I will say giving a 24 year old kid the keys to an F111 is the same as giving him the keys to a Lamborghini Countach or a Ferrari Potofino.........but I will say no more and continue watching the video. I didn't even know they had a memorial erected at that crash site. Very interesting. It makes one wonder especially when the 2 guys flying that aircraft were pulled out of the ejection pod/capsule like being pulled out of the cockpit of a crashed F1 formula racing car. But I will say no more other than the ejection pod detached from the airframe when they hit the little hill and skidded across that road at a grate rate of knots. The ride is fun while it lasts but the stopping part is not much fun. But I will say no more other than "All the best for the New Year". And I will continue watching the video. I also have a million "true" stories about Thunderbolt. Suffice to say they start with the cattle rustlers Kenniff Brothers who killed a copper at Carnavon Gorge in the late 1800's early 1900's - one was hanged at Boggy Road Jail in Brisbane in 1903 and who may have or may not have been directly related to my Grandmother from Tingha near Inverell in northern NSW. But I will say no more about that except that perhaps Thunderbolt or Freddy Ward as my Grandmother called him, used to stop off at her parent's house (I think it was a sheep property) at Tingha with the Kenniff lads to camp down for the night and to have dinner with my Grandmother's family (the Finnertys). Especially when it was raining because Thunderbolt's cave was a bit leaky. But I will say no more about that except perhaps that my Grandmother's family had a stock of particularly high quality Thoroughbreed Horses that he bushrangers seemed to like. You know, it was a bit like calling in to trade in the old set of wheels for a new set of wheels - upgrading to a newer model etc - except in this case it was trading in for a new set of hoofs. And not wanting to say more, it is back to the video. My Grandmother told me that Freddy Ward always had a big roll of cash on him to pay for the horses. Bushranging must have been a profitable occupation in those days. I believe all income was "tax free". All true what I say. I can tell you a lot more but I am sick of typing. Cheers Brian.
Well technically not free......if you have to purchase dinner, it costs whatever dinner does to camp there, thus not free 🤔🤔 Free means no outlay whatsoever...if you want to get technical.....
I just wanted to correct you. In Australia, we call it petrol, NOT gas. That is an Americanism. Unless of course you are going to actually get gas, in which case, we would refer to it in Australia as propane. So which is it, "petrol" or "propane"? Apologies for nit-picking? Differentiate as "gas" is short for "gasoline". Confusing? Not really if you were travelling in America instead of in Australia in which case, they wouldn't know what "petrol" was or the meaning of the word. Perhaps "fuel" is a better term to use that way people would know weather or not you meant, gasoline, petrol, propane, LPG or just straight up "gas" as is generated when one is flatulent. In which case, the term "methane" would be more appropriate. You could say when in the toilet and someone is on the bog, "God, your methanes smell horrendous". Or you could say if travelling in the car, "For God's sake, wind down your window, I can't breathe because of your methanes". Unless you were driving past a cattle feed lot in which case you would insist on making sure all the windows were up. Cheers Brian.
@@jeepinoz Apologies, I missed that part with Ray going to buy propane. He probably ran fast into the store and then hid his camera behind the door while they filled up the propane cannister. I have told you before, I am as dumb as a star picket with only 2 sides and I have the attention span of a 7 legged spider who has got his web tangled upside down. Apologies again. I will say no more than that other than Happy New Year and may there be more songs written like "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" by Levon Helm and his band called The Band. Plus Robbie Robertson of course. Praise the Lord for the Confederate Flag and the good old Southern Boys. Cheers Brian.
That was 1 of your best epeodes I liked the army story all a
best in 2024 I’ll be watching
Thanks so much mate 👍 can't wait for 2024!!
I just remembered another part of the Thunderbolt story as I watched your video footage of Thunderbolt's cave. The cave is exactly as I remember it 60 plus years later. When we were at Thunderbolt's cave, my Grandmother was walking around like she was looking for something. I asked her what was she looking for. She told me that when Freddy Ward was killed by the Police Search Party it was because not long before that he had held up the mail stage coach and stolen a large a large amount of gold bars and gold dust that the stage had picked up from the gold mining camps as it travelled towards Warwick which was where the gold would be transferred to the mail train to Brisbane. When Freddy was killed, none of the stolen gold was recovered. The locals all believed that he could not have spent the gold in that short time period and that Thunderbolt had hidden the gold somewhere near his hideout. That is what my Grandmother was looking for - the hidden gold shipment. Really interesting history. You are so lucky to get to travel around and see all these things that interest me so much. I just said to Bertha, we need to do a trip back down to Inverell way (my family's neck of the woods - New England Tableland) in the not too far distant future. I want to go and explore all these places again and maybe take a metal detector and try and find the gold. That would be a hoot to find the missing gold shipment. Also, I was just thinking, Mark Fallon F111 would be about 60 years old if he were alive today (I think). He would probably have been happily retired after a brilliant career flying but to kill himself at 24 is a sad loss. I think his navigator was even younger. I can't believe that people so young are given the keys to these really expensive toys and told to go and have a hoot, go as fast as you want, and fly as dangerously as possible close to the ground. As an ex-aviator myself, what these guys were doing was exactly what I was taught not to do. The old saying comes back to my mind taught to me by my flying instructor - "There are old pilots and there are bold pilots but here are no old bold pilots". That says it all, doesnt it? I remember when Mark was killed, we were all devastated but mainly for lives taken so young. RIP old mate. Cheers Brian.
Yeah wow 😲
Thanks for sharing this info for this area. We’ve added it to our to do list.
Oh that's awesome. It's a really beautiful area. Time it right and you can go to the rail museum too.... it's meant to be great but our timing was out and they were closed 🫤
Another great video, you have really got these videos under control now! Wishing the three of you a fantastic new year and may 2024 be all you could wish for. Stay safe and keep exploring. Cheers
Thank you, appreciate it 🙂🙂 Happy New Year to you too 👍👍
Awesome video guys was loving the sounds too. 😅love the animal stops lol. The bushranger history cool. Love you guys, stay safe in your travels ❤️ 💙 ❤
Thanks Skye. Hope you're doing well 🙂🙂👍👍
I just read the sign at Thunderbolt's Hideout. It jogged my memory on a few things. Yes, he did love really good horses. My Grandmother was an extremely good horse-woman having been trained by the bushranger in that district and she was widely requested to ride horses in competition by many people. She had horses at her house (acerage in Stanthorpe) right up to when she died. I remember being in my Grandfather's 1950's-ish Chevy Fleetliner when we went to explore Thunderbolt's cave/hideout. And now I remember my Grandfather telling me that the spot was chosen by Thunderbolt because it was a great lookout. And I remember my Grandmother telling me how his ingenious plan allowed him and some others to escape Cockortwo Island in Sydney Harbour. I didn't know that was the main road to Warwick. But I did know that good horses were the key to successful bushranging or paddy-whacking as my Grandmother used to call it. I will think some more and see if I can remember other things I was told. I do remember standing under that granite rock overhang between other big granite rock boulders. I seem to remember there being as many trees or thick foliage cover there when I visited in 1960's. And yes, I remember my Grandmother saying that many people in the area helped hide the bushranger, feed them etc because the people were not wealthy and they hated the Government of NSW. And they hated the Police. Cheers Brian.
Love it 👍👍
Great video mate Tenterfield is wonderful country use to live near there when I was a kid, always head up that way for a drive through Tenterfield way then out to woodenbong.
Yeh we definitely loved it 😃😃
Comments on the bakery. The Apple Slice looked like an Apple Slice - proper Apple Slice. I am betting Granny Smith apples from Stanthorpe. Yum. I am getting hungry now - no I am not hungry now, I just looked at what Bertha is making for lunch. Not hungry at all. You know what they say about "hot pies". They are "hot". Cheers Brian.
The bakery was great 👍
I just realised why you guys are down on the New England Tableland. It is to escape the heat of the eastern seaboard of Queensland. Smart thinking. It is stinking hot up here. 44° C yesterday. I can't work because you just end up sweating your bottom off and the salt from the sweat stings my eyes. It is hotter up here than the flint on Shailer's cigarette lighter. Cheers Brian.
Yeh weather up here is amazing
And there is a very interesting story about that old bridge that Em took a photo of. And it relates to WW1 (I think it was) - not WW2. And a famous recruiting march from somewhere down in NSW (Hunter Valley perhaps) or Armydale maybe? And the march finished at the Post Office in Brisbane City. And I will say no more about that except the march went threw Wallangarra and Stanthorpe and Warwick. And I will leave it at that apart from mentioning a whole "NEW" Regiment of soldiers was formed from that particular march - the 5th Regiment I think it was. But I will say no more. Cheers Brian. Google the march, it makes very interesting reading. Especially in understanding how come so many young soldiers from so many different places but with many of them having the same background/upbringing etc being off the land (farms, cattle/sheep properties etc) all ended up in the same Regiment. But I will say no more about that. Cheers Brian.
Yeh right 👍
Another grate video guys. And it is only Saturday. You are early this week. I love Tentersfield. I was guessing a different reason why your driver vanished in the middle of the highway (previous experience with stopping for Bertha in the bush). Bertha loves taking photographs so I thought Em stopped to take photos of the old bridge........that was my best guess. I tell you this honestly - I stopped the video at this point - patting animals - blah, blah, so I haven't seen the F111 stuff yet in your video. What school did Mark Fallon go to? Hint....it was in Brisbane......starts with a "V". Clue .....him and I are of the same vintage (age). I will say no more. But they crashed using the F111 ground terrain hugging radar. I can say a lot more about that but I won't. But I will say giving a 24 year old kid the keys to an F111 is the same as giving him the keys to a Lamborghini Countach or a Ferrari Potofino.........but I will say no more and continue watching the video. I didn't even know they had a memorial erected at that crash site. Very interesting. It makes one wonder especially when the 2 guys flying that aircraft were pulled out of the ejection pod/capsule like being pulled out of the cockpit of a crashed F1 formula racing car. But I will say no more other than the ejection pod detached from the airframe when they hit the little hill and skidded across that road at a grate rate of knots. The ride is fun while it lasts but the stopping part is not much fun. But I will say no more other than "All the best for the New Year". And I will continue watching the video. I also have a million "true" stories about Thunderbolt. Suffice to say they start with the cattle rustlers Kenniff Brothers who killed a copper at Carnavon Gorge in the late 1800's early 1900's - one was hanged at Boggy Road Jail in Brisbane in 1903 and who may have or may not have been directly related to my Grandmother from Tingha near Inverell in northern NSW. But I will say no more about that except that perhaps Thunderbolt or Freddy Ward as my Grandmother called him, used to stop off at her parent's house (I think it was a sheep property) at Tingha with the Kenniff lads to camp down for the night and to have dinner with my Grandmother's family (the Finnertys). Especially when it was raining because Thunderbolt's cave was a bit leaky. But I will say no more about that except perhaps that my Grandmother's family had a stock of particularly high quality Thoroughbreed Horses that he bushrangers seemed to like. You know, it was a bit like calling in to trade in the old set of wheels for a new set of wheels - upgrading to a newer model etc - except in this case it was trading in for a new set of hoofs. And not wanting to say more, it is back to the video. My Grandmother told me that Freddy Ward always had a big roll of cash on him to pay for the horses. Bushranging must have been a profitable occupation in those days. I believe all income was "tax free". All true what I say. I can tell you a lot more but I am sick of typing. Cheers Brian.
Yeh wow
Ray, to cut down on time to get to the bakery. Fit the biggest horn to the truck so the horse will run away. Boooooom, pie in the tummy earlier.
Haha well we actually do have a big horn already 🤔🤔
Self contained overnight at the golf club if you buy dinner. FREE
Well technically not free......if you have to purchase dinner, it costs whatever dinner does to camp there, thus not free 🤔🤔 Free means no outlay whatsoever...if you want to get technical.....
I just wanted to correct you. In Australia, we call it petrol, NOT gas. That is an Americanism. Unless of course you are going to actually get gas, in which case, we would refer to it in Australia as propane. So which is it, "petrol" or "propane"? Apologies for nit-picking? Differentiate as "gas" is short for "gasoline". Confusing? Not really if you were travelling in America instead of in Australia in which case, they wouldn't know what "petrol" was or the meaning of the word. Perhaps "fuel" is a better term to use that way people would know weather or not you meant, gasoline, petrol, propane, LPG or just straight up "gas" as is generated when one is flatulent. In which case, the term "methane" would be more appropriate. You could say when in the toilet and someone is on the bog, "God, your methanes smell horrendous". Or you could say if travelling in the car, "For God's sake, wind down your window, I can't breathe because of your methanes". Unless you were driving past a cattle feed lot in which case you would insist on making sure all the windows were up. Cheers Brian.
Gas as in LPG.....in the very next scene you can see Ray walking into the store with the gas bottle 🤔🤔 pretty self explanatory
@@jeepinoz Apologies, I missed that part with Ray going to buy propane. He probably ran fast into the store and then hid his camera behind the door while they filled up the propane cannister. I have told you before, I am as dumb as a star picket with only 2 sides and I have the attention span of a 7 legged spider who has got his web tangled upside down. Apologies again. I will say no more than that other than Happy New Year and may there be more songs written like "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" by Levon Helm and his band called The Band. Plus Robbie Robertson of course. Praise the Lord for the Confederate Flag and the good old Southern Boys. Cheers Brian.
@@cyrenacyrena3041 no worries, hope you a great new year 🎊